Desk duty echoed in my head over and over. “What the hell?”
“Are you really going to argue with me about this right now? After what I just walked in on and what I have to ask Simon to clean up?”
I couldn’t remember a time, since I’d joined the Office, that I’d ever had desk duty. Not even on my first day.
I stood up and shook out my jacket. “Anything else, sir?”
He waved at me with an epic frown on his face and I stormed out of his office toward my desk. Hawk loomed by his own desk, hovering and watching me throw things into drawers. I needed to leave before I took a stapler to his face.
The man in question stepped forward and I mentally played pin the staple to Hawk’s nose.
“What’s your problem?” I demanded.
He pressed his lips together and shrugged. “I don’t have a problem, but I think you will if you keep talking to the chief that way.”
I lost it. I slammed the drawer shut so hard the metal frame scraped across concrete to a new position.
“How about you stay the hell out of my business and take care of your own problems?” I faced the room where everyone witnessed my historic meltdown. “And all of you too. Fuck the fuck right off and leave me alone.”
Hawk didn’t even blink at my tirade and I scowled at him while I caught my breath. Screaming in vehemence took a lot out of a girl. I finished clearing everything off the top of my desk and part of me had already decided to say ‘fuck this place’ and go home for good.
The other half wondered what the hell I was doing since I didn’t have a home. No home. No Family. Nothing to look forward to at the end of the day. Nothing and no one to fight for.
Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. No way these bastards would see me break down for real. Especially Hawk who hadn’t even twitched from his vigil near my desk, as if I was about to take my ire out on the chief and he planned to stop me.
Desk duty. Psh. I grabbed a handful of candy from the jar on Ralph’s desk and started to walk out.
“Not so fast,” the chief called as I clutched the door handle.
I held tight and faced him. The anger lining his mouth and chin should have been enough to chase me out into the night. But I stood my ground. It wasn’t the first time he’d looked at me like that.
“You can keep your desk duty and do it from home. I don’t want to see your face, or hear anyone breathe your name, for a while. Not after that little hissy fit.”
I blinked once. Twice. Hissy fit? My head pounded and the tears burning the corners of my eyes came back in full force along with the heavy pulse of rage through my blood.
I could cut off a finger and probably not cry, but when I was pissed, I couldn’t control the angry tears.
“Sir...” I tried.
He held up his hand and shook his head. Hawk loomed at his right side, silently backing him up, which I found rich considering he’d helped me. Where was his desk duty? Traitor.
I stared them both down and walked out of the building, my pockets stuffed with pilfered candy and an ID for one dead mage. Since I didn’t have any jobs lined up, the Black Mage just became my sole focus.
Chapter Four
‘Rage quitting’ was something only rich people could get away with. Wealthy people could stand on their principals. Lowly bounty hunters had to work so they could eat.
So I’d pretend to work, so I could hunt down the Black mage. My problem was I had no reliable internet at home, and had to flirt the neighbor’s password out of him whenever I needed a connection.
Therefore, after a lot of thinking, I found myself sneaking back into the office the next day, before sunrise. To hunt the Black Mage I needed my notes, my laptop, a coffee pot, and an internet connection that couldn’t be hacked no matter who tried.
Arriving at five in the morning sucked, but I could deal if it kept me out of the chief’s crosshairs. I sat at my desk and sipped my coffee, thick and black, and stared at the files spread across my desk. A halo of light from my lamp illuminated the surface, and with the rest of the office dark it was like I sat inside a bubble of my own creation.
I rolled my shoulders forward, then arched them back to stretch some more. Last night, as I stewed in my anger, I’d realized I needed to change my entire outlook to this case. I’d hit a brick wall for a reason, so I had to start at the beginning.
So I was determined this morning to look at all the information with a fresh mind and completely read the files from the beginning.
I also made sure to set my phone alarm so I could split before Hawk or the chief caught me here. That was not worth the hassle.