“Uh huh,” Tristan said, not believing one word of bullshit coming out of her mouth. She was one of the biggest gossips and troublemakers in the office and if she’d had her way, he would have been fired a long time ago.

“It’s okay,” Marty said with a forced smile.

“No, it’s not.”

“It’s fine. Really,” Marty said tightly, shooting him a look that clearly told him to let it go.

Tristan rolled his eyes before looking back at Rosemary. “Anything else?”

“It’s eleven-thirty,” she said, looking at Marty as if that was supposed to mean something.

“And….” Tristan prompted.

She looked imploringly at Marty as she shifted anxiously, obviously expecting Marty to somehow save her.

Marty looked up from her work and sent the woman an apologetic smile. Then she looked back at the clock and sighed. “I guess it’s my turn.”

“Um, yes,” Rosemary said, nervously licking her lips.

“Turn for what?” Tristan demanded.

“Nothing much,” Rosemary answered quickly, too quickly.

Marty began gathering her things. “To cover the phones and finish the paperwork from this weekend.”

Rosemary’s face turned bright red as she tried to back out of the room, but Tristan held up a hand to stop her. “Whoa, what’s this?”

“It’s nothing. It’s just the things that Hank wanted her to do,” Rosemary hastily explained.

Tristan gestured to the computer. “She’s already doing what Hank wanted her to do.”

Rosemary cleared her throat and made one last attempt to save her ass. “He thought that she could help out with daily reports.”

“Bullshit,” Tristan snapped.

Marty’s brows arched up in surprise. “Tristan, what is your problem?”

He ignored her as he continued to glare at Rosemary. “Get the hell out of my office.”

The woman just about tripped over her own two feet trying to flee the room while Marty glared at him. “You didn’t have to be so mean to her. What is your problem?”

“Nothing except for the fact that she was trying to unload her workload on you. Daily reports are her job.”

“What about the phone?” Marty asked, nibbling on her bottom lip.

He shrugged. “It goes to voicemail for a half hour during her lunch break if no one else answers it. It’s not the emergency line, Marty. She just didn’t want to have to deal with returning phone calls when she got back from lunch.”

Marty looked at the door where Rosemary had just exited and frowned. “Oh.”

“Yeah, oh. You have to be careful. While you’re here in this weird little position you’re going to have her and a few others trying to unload their work on you. She tries to do it to all the new secretaries. Just check with me before you agree to do anything and you’ll be fine.”

“Thank you.”

He pushed away from the desk and stood up. “Don’t thank me. I’m just covering my own ass.”

“Why am I not surprised?” she mumbled to herself.

His jaw clenched as realization hit him. The one person who used to trust and like him now hated him along with everyone else. He was now truly alone in this world. There would never be another person that he could be himself around or feel free with. He had his family. They loved him and he loved them, but they would never, could never, handle the real him. The one person who came close now hated him. Their easy going friendship was good and dead, because he’d killed it.

Even though their friendship had ended years ago, his heart felt like it was being squeezed in his chest. Why the hell did doing the right thing have to hurt so damn much? It was the right thing to do. He was sure of it. He knew his future. For the rest of his life he would be sought out by restless spirits. That wasn’t something that he wanted to have to endure on top of acting oblivious to it in private. He needed his alone time at home to deal with it. No woman, especially Marty, could ever be part of his life.

He walked over to the window and leaned against the wall, staring out into the bright afternoon. For several minutes he watched the playground across the street as the elementary school children had their morning recess. It was one of his favorite times of the day. It always made him feel better to watch them. Their carefree smiling faces always did that for him, but not today. He looked over his shoulder to see Marty working at her computer.

This wasn’t going to work. He could not work with her in the same station for the rest of his life. Even knowing they’d only be sharing an office for a few weeks was killing him. Years ago he’d accepted the fact that she’d move on and marry someone else one day, but did he really want to be around to see it? No. He didn’t want to see her with another man, didn’t want to see her stomach round with another man’s child. It would be too much even for a cold bastard like him to handle.

He cleared his throat. “I think maybe we should find you a desk in the pit,” he said, knowing even that wouldn’t be enough to make him stay. It might be enough to keep him sane until he got a transfer and was able to sell his house.

She didn’t even look up when she answered. “No.”

“What do you mean by ‘no’?”

She shook her head slightly, never taking her eyes away from the computer screen. “This is my office.”

“No, this is my office.”

At that she finally looked up. “No, this is our office. It will remain our office even after I officially start my new job.”            

“Says who?” Tristan asked, feeling his temper flaring. This could not be happening.

“My father. Half of this office was meant for my position. I thought you knew that,” she said, looking back at her screen.

For a moment he couldn’t talk, couldn’t move. Then finally after what seemed like an eternity he was able to manage a coherent sentence, “Oh, f**k no.”

*-*-*-*

“Well, this is fun,” Shayne said wryly from his position on the couch. He laid his head back, sighing and then looked back up again to glance at Marty and Tristan, who were still glaring at each other over their desks.

“Ye’d think after two weeks that this would get old,” he shook his head, “but it hasn’t.” Tristan ignored him as he usually did during their daily standoffs.

After another scowl in his direction, Marty returned her attention back to her work. He took advantage of the moment by looking her over. His lips twitched into an appreciative grin as he took in her conservative, but sexy black blouse that showed a hint of cle**age and hugged her br**sts the way that his hands itched to. He groaned inwardly when he thought about the short black skirt and heels that she wore today. Was she trying to kill him?

“Tell me something,” he said, clearing his throat, “how exactly are you supposed to catch me today if you’re wearing heels?”

Her glare shot right back at him as she opened her bottom desk drawer and pulled out a pair of tennis shoes. Tristan couldn’t help but chuckle. “Do you really think that you’ll be able to change your shoes fast enough to catch me today?”

For the past two weeks he’d greatly enjoyed messing with her. It was so much fun to watch her get pissed. Her cute eyebrows would draw up together, her eyes would narrow on him while her lips pursed up and she made a little sound of frustration. It might be sick to purposely piss her off for his own enjoyment but….what the hell.