Hate Mates

1 | repercussions

"I'd appreciate it if you removed your arm from my chair."

He gave her a disdainful look, scoffing like he found her request comically amusing. "You don't appreciate anything, kitty Cate. Say please first."

Kitty Cate

She cringed at the nickname. He had tagged it to her on the first day of their meeting when he had sat on her chair instead of his own for a casual chat with his client. She had gone through a terrible breakup that day and was in a shitty mood. When she saw him, that mood had inflated to such a degree that she had fought with him right in front of that client, who to no one's surprise, was supposed to be hers.

In her defense, it was her chair.

"Ryle..." she gritted out, sweetly smiling at him with venom in her voice. "Please remove your arm from my chair before I cut it off your body."

She noted the motion of his Adam's apple which bobbed under tanned skin as he did as asked politely, noting the irony of her words. She could see upon his face that he didn't wish to mess with her any more than he already had this evening. Replacing her cake order for Sam with strawberry instead of her favorite vanilla had been enough trouble he had raised tonight.

Footsteps drew near and they both lifted their gaze to find a sweet-faced nurse coming out of Sam's hospital room. The entire office had been here but one by one everyone had left leaving only the two of them behind to clean up the mess they had made in their hating games.

"The patient is doing fine. He needs to be off his foot for some days," the nurse informed them. Cate thought she saw a blush on the woman's cheeks when Ryle stretched his arms beside her to relieve his stress. "He wants to see you. You're allowed to go in but please don't make him talk much. He's slightly sedated due to the painkillers."

"Thanks. We'll take care of him," Ryle said, flashing his pearly white teeth at the young nurse as he stood to his feet, Cate following along.

The woman seemed to be flattered by the attention. She smiled at him, eyes dreamy and Ryle tucked Cate's arm within his, pulling her with him towards the room where Sam was currently in.

"Can't you keep your flirting under control for just a second?" Cate said abashedly, yanking her hand out of the crook of his arm. "It's a hospital, in case you have forgotten."

"It's hard to do that with such a gorgeous woman near me," he said, throwing her a wink.

Cate felt a bug in her stomach flutter. She knew he wasn't talking about her but there was something in his tone that caused a slight shiver to greet her.

When they reached the door of Sam's room, one of Ryle's thick arms came on top of her head as he pushed the door open. She bit her lip, telling herself not to watch his muscles flex again.

"After you," he ushered her, holding the door open.

She entered after flicking a lock of her black hair over her shoulder such that it hit his face. She entered and her spirits fell more when she found the figure of almost sixty-year-old Sam lying on his white hospital bed on his birthday with his left leg propped up on a pillow. She felt guilty when his beady eyes met hers. The old man had been the most amicable boss for her for three years, ever since she took the editor's position at his startup - Pages Unbound. He was the kind of boss who celebrated every occasion, be it the birthdays or anniversaries of each of his employees. He was like a father figure to all of them and it suited him with his greying hair and growing white beard which he didn't plan to style until it reached a good length.

"Sam—"

He didn't let her speak as he raised a hand to shut her up just as Ryle came in to stand beside her, both of them looking like kids about to get grounded. She could only pray the old man didn't lose his respect for her which he probably had. She couldn't afford to be fired. Her apartment still had its lease to be paid in full and she wouldn't hear the end of it if her Mom found out that she had no job.