“Oh, God,” I said, shaking my head.
At least Ms. Tate was getting more action than me. Come to think of it, maybe I should pull out my own from the depths of my nightstand drawer. It would definitely help relieve some tension.
But now that the rumors were done, we had to pick up our phones and start doing our jobs. As much as it sucked today—I’d have preferred spending the day thinking about other people for a change—I still turned to the phone and started taking calls.
The hour in the journal on my desk was marked with a pale pink marker. Not bad, but not good either. The dream still haunted me, and images of it flashed before my eyes at the most inappropriate times, but I forced myself to focus. This was my job. It deserved all my attention.
Still, every time I heard footsteps, someone passing by our desks to get to the other side, my heart would skip a beat, thinking it washim. He hadn’t showed up around here for a month and a half, but I still expected him to come. It’s the reason why I kept on sending in transfer requests every other week, even though they kept getting denied.
Eventually, though, the Chief would approve it. Even if it took another month or two, he would.
When he did, I’d be far away from this place, and I’d never have to be afraid of running into Dominic Dane again.
ChapterTwo
When Chief Randallcalled my name a little before lunch break, I was so invested in my log sheet, I barely heard him.
“Pink—he’s onto you,” Hunter said, nodding his head toward the offices. I looked up to see Chief Randall waving his hand at me to come to him.
How many times had I dreamed about things like this in the past two years, before that undercover mission happened? Probably over a million times.
Now, it felt like I was carrying a thousand pounds on my shoulders when I got up to go see what the Chief wanted to talk to me about.
I dragged my feet, too, though I was forced to smile at everyone sayinghito me while I walked past them. They all liked me now after the undercover mission—and after each one of the five other missions I’d been given by the Chief in the last month and a half. Nobody thought I was useless anymore. They were allshockedwhen the report of the San Francisco crew came in, and all agents—minus poor Tailsburry, who got his head cut off by those high fae—had had great things to say about me. Apparently, I wassharpandsmartandeasy to work with.Alsokindanda true team player.Guess that should have made me feel better—and it did in the beginning, but now, I just cringed every time I remembered.
I knocked on Chief Randall’s door, a part of me hoping that he’d tell me my transfer request was finally approved. I’d sent the last one just ten days ago, and still hadn’t heard anything back from him or HR.
But one look at his face and I knew it wasn’t that at all.
“Come in, De Ver. Sit down,” he said, waving at the chair on the other side of his desk.
“Hey, Chief. How are you?” I said, feeling weird to get right to the point, though I wanted nothing more than that.
“I’ve been better, honestly. This place is going to drive me fucking nuts,” he mumbled, his eyes searching the mess of documents on his desk. I’d gotten used to it by now. My hands didn’t even itch all that much, and I had no urge to clean it all up for him like I did before. He liked his mess. To him, that wasorganized.
“Why do you think I’ve been begging for a transfer?” I said half-jokingly—and the Chief did smile.
“You’re not getting transferred, De Ver,” he said when he finally found the documents he was looking for.
“Why not? Everyone who’s ever put in a request has been approved.” I’d sent in five requests by now. How much longer until they said yes? I wanted to be gone by the time Dominic came back, damn it.
“Because, De Ver,” he said and looked at me. “Why do you even want to transfer, anyway? You’re getting missions. More than some agents out there.” He nodded his head at the left of his office, meaning the cubicles where my desk was.
“I know that, but—”
“It’s a good place. Trust me, not all ODP Headquarters are created equal. Did you know that three agents have been killedinsidethe offices in Chicago just last week?”
Shivers washed down my back. “I didn’t know that.”
“Exactly. We need you here, De Ver. New York’s crime rates are double those of every other place,” he said, and his words filled me from head to toe.
We need you here.
I should have been happy to hear those words—and I was. Just notonlyhappy.
“I can’t stay here, Chief.”
“Why not?” he demanded, and half my mind was made up to just spit it out. Tell him the reason why I wanted to leave New York City, a place I’d grown to love, where I had friends and the perfect apartment for me and now the perfect job, too…