Beyond Blood

All the Shades of Red

Chapter 4
All the Shades of Red

The Gaelic song faded to a whisper as I climbed the stairs, the bass inaudible but still thrumming through the walls.

I tried to talk some sense into myself as I climbed, imagining what Laura might say to give me a confidence boost, but I felt like I was walking to my doom.

So I was late, I thought angrily, it wasn't like Taran had somewhere else to go, right? He was the boss. He had to be here. It was my day off and he'd made me change my plans to come to a pub the night before I had an early class to get to!

I huffed, soft steps becoming angry stomps as I crossed the landing at the top of the stairs, finding the entryway to the balcony closed off. Maybe Taran needed peace to work tonight

At the door to his office, I paused and gave my reflection in the frosted glass a good look. Not a hair out of place. But I looked petrified. And I didn't have time to knock or school my features before the door swung open.

The air between us thickened with tension as his eyes intensely studied every inch of me, from boots to braided hair and back again. His expression was an impenetrable mask that might as well have been made of marble.

I thrust out the folder that contained all the forms I'd filled in, in the hopes that would be the end of it.

He didn't look at them. Instead he reached out and swiped his thumb over my lips then studied the smear of cherry red on the pad.

Tingles remained where he'd touched, my breath hitching.

He frowned. "Not your colour."

Ouch.

It was like being doused in cold water.

He rubbed his fingers over the lipstick on his thumb till it disappeared and cast onyx eyes back at me. "Don't let Laura take the corset back though."

Was that a compliment?

I said nothing. There was no use rising to the bait. If I was to survive working here, I needed to ignore him.

He huffed at my refusal to bite.

"You're late. By fifteen minutes. And I thought I told you to keep your head down and come straight to my office? Not to have a conversation with Wren."

Sucking my teeth, I forced a smile onto my face and shrugged a shoulder. "I was going to ask him if you were definitely in, or if I was going to be disturbing you."

Opening the door wider, he grunted and motioned for me to enter. "I said I would be in. You're not presenting as an employee good at taking instruction."

"Look," I growled, finally meeting his gaze with a glower. A glower! I always managed to keep polite, but this man. "I have class in the morning, I stayed up to come here and hand these in. So take them so I can go. Please."

Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath as if to calm himself, and when he opened them again, there was a burning in their depths that made me snap my mouth shut and step through the doorway into the office without further protest.

"Sit."

I plonked myself onto the uncomfortable metal chair in front of his desk and folded my hands over the folder on my lap.

"You ignored my text as well," he continued as he closed the door. "When you didn't arrive, I thought something had happened to you."

So he'd been the one blowing up my phone in the car.