She’d left her phone at home; she’d removed the battery with shaking fingers on the ride down in the elevator to avoid Portia’s impending barrage of messages. Jamal—Thabiso—had hurt her, and badly. But deception by a guy was unexceptional; from your best friend, it was unbearable.

“Good morning, Brian,” she said politely, refusing to show emotion in front of him and also really not up for his shit.

“My favorite lab assistant! I’ve told you you’re my favorite, right?” She wondered if he really thought the constipated grimace he was sporting passed as a smile. She supposed he thought if he asked nicely, it wouldn’t matter that he somehow only had eyes for her when it came to foisting his work on her. “I know you’re supposed to do the Wright-Giemsa staining today, but Kevin was on sac duty this morning and he’s out sick.”

“Again?” Ledi had been exhausted for a long time, but she was veering dangerously close to burnout. Going into the lab after the shitshow of the previous night was supposed to be a reprieve. Do some cytospins, stain some cells—try not to think about the handsome jackass who had gotten past her defenses, not once but twice.

Jamal’s reveal had also unearthed a pressing question, one she had been hiding behind her anger and disappointment all night: if the prince was real, what was she supposed to make of all the “spam” emails she’d been receiving from Thesolo?

“Naledi?” Brian’s brows lifted, crenellating his forehead like the tiny brains he wanted her to retrieve and slice up. “You can do the mouse sacrifice, right?” He held her lab coat and safety goggles out as if they were the sacred garments needed to perform such a ritual. “If you could do a transcardial perfusion on the C57BL/6-backcrossed group? That’d be super.”

He dumped the coat and goggles onto the table beside her, as if she’d already said yes. She’d barely processed her own life and now she was supposed to serve as rodent executioner? Fucking Brian. Fucking Thabiso. Fucking everything.

“No.”

Brian kept walking, so she said it again a little louder.

“No, Brian.”

He turned around, annoyance plastered over his face. “What do you mean, no?”

Ledi inhaled deeply. “I mean, I have my own stuff to do this morning and I can’t do the saccing. You asked me if I could, and the answer is no.”

Brian’s face went red. “What is it with you? Part of being a team member is helping out when you’re needed.”

“And part of being a supervisor is making sure that you delegate tasks equally,” Ledi replied. She was shocked at how calm her voice sounded even though her face felt like it was flaming and her breathing was thin. “Whenever you have some grunt work you come searching for me, even though I’m one of the most experienced people in the lab. You call me out for being late, but give Kevin a pass for magically getting sick every time he’s up for sac duty. I said ‘no.’”

They stood glaring at each other. Ledi was already formulating rebuttals, was already prepared for whatever he would say to make her the offending party in the situation. She was done putting up with people’s shit.

Apparently, oh-sure-I’ll-do-that Ledi had been incinerated by the flames of her frustration and I-wish-a-motherfucker-would Ledi had risen from the ashes.

Try me, she thought as their standoff continued, but then the door to the lab opened. Ledi turned to see a woman enter, long dark hair brushing against her fuchsia blouse.

“Dr. Taketami?” Ledi hadn’t seen her PI in three weeks. “I didn’t know you were back yet.”

“I got back from the immunology conference last night. Still jet-lagged,” she said with a smile. “I’m calling in a favor today, though. I have someone who’s interested in learning more about our laboratory, and I’d like you to show him around.”

“Ledi was about to perform the saccing actually,” Brian said, a smug smile on his face.

“I was actually about to do my own work. I’m pretty tired of doing yours, too.”

Dr. Taketami looked back and forth between them. “Brian, go wait for me in my office.”

He made a sound of objection, but Dr. Taketami was already focused on Ledi again. “I know you have work to do, but you’ve been specifically requested.”

“That’s a thing? Why would someone request me?”

Ledi was trying to process everything that had happened. She’d said no to Brian. And then again in front of their PI. And everything was fine. Relief coursed through her, but it was quickly replaced by apprehension. Nothing good had happened in the last few days without exacting a hefty toll. Why should that pattern suddenly deviate?

The door to the lab opened and all thoughts were blotted out by anger.

This motherfucker.

“What are you doing here?” she demanded as Thabiso strode into the lab with that damned long-legged regality of his. He wore dress pants and a finely woven shirt with some kind of hexagonal pattern in red, black, and yellow that almost distracted from the smooth dark brown skin of his forearms.

Naledi whirled toward Dr. Taketami. “No way. Sorry, you’ll have to find someone else to show him around.”

“Ms. Smith!” A firm grip landed on her bicep, even though Dr. Taketami was smiling with all of her teeth. “This man is a donor. A Very. Generous. Donor.”