Page 60 of All That Glitters

I walk into the newsroom and over to Marigold’s desk. Her hair is up in the Miss Perkins style again, and I can tell with one look that Paisley was right to be worried. The dark circles around her eyes make them look almost hollow, and she seems to be barely there even as she types at hyperspeed.

“Goldie,” I rasp, and her head snaps up.

“What are you doing here? I thought you weren’t coming?”

“Paisley said you weren’t feeling well.” I decide it’s best to out Paisley early, since she’ll be a part of the plan later. “So I came to get you to go rest.”

Marigold turns to glare at Paisley, who isn’t at her desk. She huffs.

“I told her I’m fine. It’s just a headache.”

I shake my head. “You know that lie won’t get past me.”

She shifts her glare to me.

“I need to focus. Go back to whatever you were doing before.”

“If you don’t let me walk you back, I’m going to pick you up and carry you myself,” I threaten.

She laughs. “You wouldn’t.”

I raise a brow. “Try me.”

Her eyes roll. She starts typing again with extra force as if she’s proving a point.

“You always did like to do things the hard way,” I say as I walk around her desk.

I pick up her messenger bag off the floor and hang the strap on my shoulder. She looks up at me with an annoyed expression.

“What—”

Her question turns into a startled gasp when I bend down and haul her over my other shoulder.

Chapter twenty-nine

Cozy Intervention

Marigold Belmore

I hit Jameson’s back with my fists.

“Put me down!” I whisper-yell, not wanting to draw more attention to myself.

My face is flaming at the thought that everyone in the newsroom is watching me. I refuse to lift my head to check.

“I warned you and you didn’t listen,” Jameson replies. His amused tone makes me hit him harder. Which is pointless, because the man is a wall of muscle.

He walks through the newsroom door and into the hall. I hear a laugh and my face burns hotter.

“This is embarrassing and ridiculous. Put. Me. Down,” I grind out through clenched teeth.

He pauses. “If I do, are you going to walk with me back to your dorm?”

“Yes.” I agree to get him to let me down. I can work from my desk in my room if I need to. Whatever it takes to stop this nonsense.

He sets me on my feet, and my vision swims. I grab his forearms and wait for it to feel like I’m on the ground and not the deck of a swaying ship.

“When the world stops spinning, I’m going to kill you.”