Page 27 of (Mostly) Human Resources

Entity Employee Handbook: Warden Edition

Stomping down the hallway did little to ease her anger. Alexys should not have been surprised that Nic managed to add himself to her reservation. She didn’t knowexactlyhow he had pulled it off, and she was afraid to ask. The man was morphing from a corporate nuisance into a criminal mastermind.

Was altering a person’s reservation criminal? Itfeltcriminal.

Alexys jammed her key into the door to unlock it and stormed through. Nic followed closely at her heels and managed to catch the door before she could slam it in his face.

Nic Dyre was in her hotel room.

Woefullynota hallucination.

“How in the hell did you change my reservation?”

“Quite simply really, I had a lovely conversation with a young woman at reception.”

Bubblegum girl.

“It isn’t my fault they’re fully booked. Who knew birdwatching was so big this time of year?”

“Itisyour fault, actually. All of this isyourfault.” She paced back and forth. “You can’t just hijack a booking.”

He held his hands up in a defensive posture and said, “It was really the only course of action.”

“You think adding yourself to my room without my consent and forcing me to share a room with you ispractical?” She stared at him, entirely dumbfounded by his reasoning. “What is wrong with you?”

“Well …” Nic finally had the good sense to look sheepish. “I suppose when you put it that way, it does sound a little questionable.”

Alexys threw her hands up in the air. “Itisquestionable!”

“And here I thought you’d be happy to see me,” Nic said dryly.

She hated him. He was the most infuriating, galling person she’d ever met. And worse still, he was still looking at her with that familiar, smug expression.

Her response was ground out through clenched teeth, one slow word at a time. “And why would I be happy to see you?”

“Because two sets of eyes and ears is better than one,” he offered.

The fact that he was throwing company handbook quotes in her face made her want to slap him.

“So what was your plan, exactly? Spend a few days shacked up together like a couple of old friends?” Alexys slowly breathed in, filling her lungs with air. She counted to ten. The last thing she needed on top of everything else was to test her therapist’s client confidentiality with the confessed murder of a coworker.

“Frankly, I hadn’t managed to get that far, but Elliot’s safety, surely, is the priority now?”

She couldn’t believe him. How dare he attempt to manipulate her by dragging Elliot into this. Of course she was concerned for his safety. It was essentially the basis of her entire job!

“We’ll waste fewer company resources if we work together,” he continued. “We only really need this room to sleep one, maybe two, nights? Let me assist you in the field, locate Elliot, I’ll do some poking around, and no one will ever know about this little indiscretion.”

From anyone else, it would’ve felt like a threat or extortion. But Nic said it so matter-of-fact and with such a level tone that she knew he genuinely believed it was the most reasonable course of action. A fair trade, even.

Alexys mulled over his words, begrudgingly acknowledging the truth behind them. But she hated the idea of needing his help. It was her District, her employee. She was perfectly capable of finding him herself.

Wasn’t she?

Nic sat on the edge of the bed and stretched out his ridiculously long legs. Only then did Alexys realize he was wearing jeans, of all things, and she took a moment to wonder if she’d ever seen him in anything other than slacks. The facial hair was new, too. He always had a bit of a well-trimmed shadow, but his face was now sporting what she could only call scruff.

The small smile that said scruff framed made her hackles rise.

He tilted his head and offered, “I promise to stay on my side of the room.”