Protect Me Not ((Un)Professionally Yours 2)

Perhaps that was why Tyler had finally decided to speak up about the lies he’d known Cassie was telling. Because he wasn’t thrilled about having to do her work.

And to be fair, he shouldn’t have had to.

“Cassie,” she called, steeling herself for the unpleasant task ahead by throwing back her shoulders and lifting her chin. “I’d like to have a word in private, please.”

Ty watched discreetly as Vicki led her lying, useless, soon-to-be-ex—he hoped—employee into her back office and shut the door. She looked miserable as hell, but Cassie really should have been fired months ago. He could not believe Vicki hadn’t once questioned Cassie’s mother’s four falls, seven visits to the hospital, one mysterious gynecological ailment, eight migraines, a broken wrist, and scores of other complaints over the last year. Or the fact that these incidents usually occurred on Mondays…and sometimes bled into Tuesdays.

He’d bitten his tongue because his job was to keep her safe from physical threats. How she dealt with a blatantly lying employee was her own damned business. And he had no idea what had prompted him to intervene today.

But he had intervened and now Linda watched him warily from across the room, where she was ostensibly reorganizing some of the dry twigs and other fluffy, feathery shit they put in with the flowers to make the arrangements look fuller.

“It’s a necessary evil.” He spoke without warning, and Linda jumped. He and Linda had a good relationship. He liked the level-headed woman and they had amiable chats—usually about her kid or husband—whenever Vicki was occupied in the office.

“How do you mean?”

“The background check,” he clarified, not at all sure why he was explaining himself. Or feeling the need to apologize.

“So, you know about Danny’s…former problem?”

Her husband was a recovering alcoholic.

Ty nodded. “I do. Rest assured, everything we’ve learned is confidential unless we feel it poses a threat to Miss Hollingsworth.”

“Danny hasn’t touched a drink in seven years.” She sounded defensive.

“I know, Linda.” He kept his tone gentle. “He’s a good guy and a great dad. I know that.”

“I’d prefer Vicki not know. People tend to look at him differently when they find out.”

“It’s not relevant information. And I’m not a gossip.”

“Well, since you barely speak with her unless it’s directly related to her security, I can’t quite imagine you gossiping with her,” Linda said with a grin, relaxing somewhat.

He nodded, feeling awkward with the subject matter.

“You must have known about Cassie’s mother for months,” Linda said. Ty did not like the speculative tone in her voice.

“Since the beginning, yeah.” His voice was hoarse, and he coughed self-consciously. This was exactly the turn of conversation he was hoping to avoid, but it had been inevitable from the moment he’d opened his big mouth about Cassie’s lies.

“So why tell Vicki now? Why today? What’s different?”

He lifted his shoulders. “She’s an intelligent, savvy businesswoman, I don’t know why the hell it fell to me to shed light on the situation.”

“But you didn’t have to. In fact, you’ve sat in that chair most weekdays for over a year and listened to Cassie’s bullshit without ever feeling the need to speak up about it. So, I’ll ask again, why now?”

Ty considered her question, but he didn’t—couldn’t—give her an answer. Not one that made any sense to him. He had just been irritated. Watching Vicki’s eyes soften in sympathy and seeing her generously allow the ungrateful bitch extra time off to help her non-existent mother, had just…rankled.

And he’d found himself unable to contemplate another day of witnessing Cassie take advantage of that sweetness and generosity. And yeah, maybe Vicki had been ridiculously, almost willfully, gullible but he didn’t want to see Cassie lie to her, or take advantage of her good nature, ever again.

And he didn’t know why that was. He couldn’t say why today was any different from the hundreds of days that had preceded it. It just was.

Linda was still watching him, her head tilted, her brown eyes quizzical. But he remained mute, refusing to respond, because he had no answer.

He deliberately shifted his focus to his crossword puzzle hoping that she would take the hint and back off.

Linda snorted, and from the rustling of the dried foliage, he knew that she’d gone back to rearranging the fillers.

Ty was off his game today. His skin felt taut, itchy, and uncomfortable, as if it were stretched too tightly over his body. He felt wrong, and he wondered if he was coming down with something.

Perhaps he should take some time to visit a doctor. He glared unseeingly at the crossword puzzle, doing internal inventory. His pulse was slightly elevated, his breathing uneven, he felt hot, but not to the touch…although he never could tell. The only way to be certain was with a thermometer.

The truth was, he hadn’t felt right since Saturday night. Everything was off. And he didn’t like it. When he had shielded Vicki from that reckless bike messenger, and he had felt her body—small and trembling—in his arms, her vulnerability had sent his protective instincts into overdrive. In fact, he wondered if speaking up about Cassie wasn’t a byproduct of that protectiveness.