“You can’t fucking hide from me, Cam,” he says as his eyes connect with mine. I feel like I’m going to be sick, my knees threatening to give way beneath me. Oh God, oh God.
Marcie is next to me, her hand gently resting on my arm as the whole reception area erupts into chaos. Security come racing in as Danny reaches the door to the conference room, and I feel like I’m going to faint as he rips it open and storms in. Why the fuck does everything have to be made of sodding glass in this place? Good old fashioned brick walls, that’s the way to go. Stupid Mr Garrett and his obsession with everything being what he deems modern and high class.
“You can’t just fucking leave me,” he says, but as he goes to launch for me, Caleb is there, holding him back and pushing him up against the glass walls, as the rest of the room sit there, stunned.
“Dad?” Danny questions, his rage settling down for a second as its replaced with confusion. “What are you doing here?” He looks from his dad to me, and then back to his dad again, the anger surfacing once more. “What the fuck is this?” He starts to try and push Caleb off of him, but Caleb doesn’t let him go, keeping him pinned to the wall.
“This is a workplace and you’re making a show of yourself,” Caleb says firmly. “Go home and cool off. God, I can smell the alcohol on your breath.”
“No, you don’t get to tell me what the fuck to do,” Danny spits, still struggling. Caleb’s clearly had enough by this point, and he wrestles him out of the door, handing him off to the security men.
“Take him out and make sure he’s never allowed back in here,” Caleb barks at them, as if this is his place of work. The security guys handcuff Danny’s hands behind his back and then march him out, with Danny screaming obscenities the whole time.
“This is not fucking over, Cameron,” he shouts before they haul him into the lifts and away from my shocked co-workers.
I’m trembling as Marcie puts her arm around my shoulders.
“It’s okay, babes, I’ve got you,” she says, letting me lean against her for support. But then Caleb is there, and with Marcie on one side of me and him on the other, he starts to lead us out of the room.
“We’ll just pause this for a few minutes,” Caleb says, but it’s not a question, it’s a command. I have no idea what anyone else says as we’re out of the conference room and going to my office, where Caleb gets me sat on the sofa in the corner as Marcie starts to pull all of the blinds closed, so no one can see in here.
Caleb sits beside me and takes both of my trembling hands in his. “It’s okay, you’re okay,” he soothes. “Marcie, could you go and get a cup of sweet tea, please?” he asks, and I hear her say, “Sure,” before she rushes from the room, closing the door behind her.
“Okay, look at me,” he instructs when we’re alone. My gaze meets his and he tells me to breathe slowly in and out, over and over again, until I feel myself begin to calm down enough that my hands aren’t shaking as much.
Marcie returns with the tea and Caleb lets go of my hands as she passes it to me whilst encouraging me to take a few sips. I do, and after a few more minutes, I start to feel… what? I have no idea what I’m feeling right now because what the fuck was Danny thinking? We weren’t even together for that long, so I have no idea why he’s turned into some kind of crazed maniac.
“You good, babes?” Marcie asks, with nothing but concern.
“Yeah,” I manage to say. “I think so.”
“Jesus Christ, that was some crazy shit,” she says, and I nod in agreement. Caleb stays quiet, but I know he’s watching me. I can feel his eyes boring into the side of my face.
The door to my office opens, and Mr Garrett walks in, looking beyond pissed.
“What the fuck was all that about, Cameron?” he barks. Oh boy.
“I don’t know—”
“Not good enough,” he shouts. “Your boyfriend, or whatever the hell he is, has just caused a scene in front of potentially our biggest client, and all you can say is you don’t fucking know?” he fumes, and I swear smoke is about to come out of his nostrils. I’m about to grovel, because I really don’t want to lose my job, but Caleb stands and starts to speak.
“I suggest you speak to your workers with a little more respect, Mr Garrett,” he says, no fucking around in his tone. Oh shitting hell.
“Excuse me?” Mr Garrett balks, clearly offended that someone has stepped in and talked back to him like that.
“I think you’ll find it’s highly inappropriate to come in here and speak to your employee in that manner after she’s been subjected to verbal abuse already. In fact, I’m pretty sure HR would have a field day with that kind of issue, whether you’re the owner or not, and especially with witnesses.”
I gulp. I didn’t think I could be shocked any further today, but I guess I was wrong, because Caleb calling out my boss is more shocking than Danny’s behaviour, and it’s totally going to get me fired. Fuck. My. Life.
“And here’s something for nothing, Mr Garrett… I can absolutely tell you that my boss would be judging the way you’ve just spoken to an employee rather than judge what is beyond her control.”
Mr Garrett’s mouth opens and closes like a fish, because it seems he’s lost for words. So am I, bud. So am I.
“Miss Curtis will be taking the rest of the day off,” he instructs, and then he’s gently taking my arm and guiding me from the sofa until I’m standing.
“Caleb, I can’t just—”
“You can and you will,” he says, cutting me off and grabbing my bag from my desk before walking me past Mr Garrett and out into the reception area. Mr Dweller is waiting by the lifts, and I drop my head, ashamed of him having to witness what happened here today.