That's Not a NO

Chapter 26: Would You Stay if It Mattered?

Chapter 26: Would You Stay if It Mattered?

Elise had gotten used to their rhythm again.

Not the kind where they were constantly orbiting each other physically — that had been too loaded, too dangerous — but the quieter kind of connection. The one not directly obvious.

The one made up of constant messages flung back and forth across the day: sarcastic GIFs during meetings, stupid photos of the office plant with captions like he's thriving more than I am, reminders about whose turn it was to make coffee.

It was a good rhythm. Not safe exactly, but steady.

Some days, she could almost convince herself that they'd never been at odds. That the cracks had never been there in the first place.

Today was one of those days. Until she noticed him.

Ash was leaning against the corner of the copier room doorframe, phone in one hand, the other pressed loosely to his hip. Nothing unusual about that — except for the way he wasn't really leaning. More like he was holding himself up.

His tie was missing. Sleeves rolled. A faint pallor under his usually warm skin.

"You look like someone wrung you out," she said, walking past him toward the kitchenette.

He glanced up, smile flickering into place like muscle memory. "Are you checking me out, Navarro?"

"You wish." She poured herself coffee, not looking at him but watching his reflection in the stainless-steel pot. "You're not sick, are you?"

"Just keeping things interesting for you," he said. "I hear pale and mysterious is in this season."

"Right. Because contagious men are the pinnacle of allure." She took her mug and brushed past him again, the heat of the ceramic in her palm not quite enough to erase the faint chill in her stomach.

He looked tired. But if he could still manage a joke... it couldn't be that bad.

The thought carried her through the next few tasks until, nearly an hour later, she realized she hadn't heard from him. Her phone sat face-up beside her keyboard, stubbornly blank. She typed a line into the quarterly report draft, deleted it, typed it again. No buzz. No quip about her "professional yet vaguely threatening" email signature.

After ten minutes, she sent him a message:

Elise: Did you finally die?

No answer.

Five minutes later:

Elise: Okay, now you're just ignoring me.

Still nothing.

She stood, tapping a message to their group chat as she headed for the elevator.

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Elise: Anyone seen Ash?

Crystal: Not since the morning debrief.

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Elise's pulse ticked faster. That was hours ago.

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Josh: Maybe he's in with legal?

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No. She'd checked the shared calendar earlier — he didn't have a meeting until three.

Her steps toward his office were quicker than she wanted them to be. The blinds on his door were half-drawn, the thin slats cutting light into pale stripes. She knocked once, then pushed the door open.

He was slumped over his desk, head pillowed on one arm, the other hanging loose toward the floor.

"Ash."