nevertheless~

part 53

HARDIN'S POV

I am wonderstruck. Truly, that might be the wrong word for what I am at this moment. I was scared that she wouldn't even as me for anything, but seeing Tessa making and trying to make amends with me and I wish I knew how to do this, I knew how to do that, 'Baby, I am sorry, I will never do this again', bullshit that sorry and crappy excuses of boyfriends do, but I don't know that. I have a cranky brother, and he and I do get into a lot of shit together, that we fight, break each other's things, take revenge on each other too, but this is nothing like that.

"Falling, love life? I think it's going great? He's with me on Lunch. Where's Candace?", She says, shooting bullets at Ichor and dear god, If he pushes her more, any inch more, I will take the knife sitting atop the table and not care that it's a butter knife and use it to personally design him an eye, but I bring a pause to all my menacing thoughts. He is my coworker after all and I am no criminal really.

"Theresa, I am warning you. If you think that you can mess with me like this, and pull off this shit with me and think that it will take you anywhere; Let me tell you, It's not gonna work because I will make you regret it", he says, pointing his pointer finger to her. 

Oh he is one, sorry bastard for that. I don't give a fuck how mad, angry, upset, melancholy I am feeling about me and Tessa, nobody takes that as a vantage point to speak to her in this manner. Her and my shit, is our shit to deal with. If I'm pissed at her, I will fix it too, that doesn't mean I won't mingle in the matters, when someone else tries to be an asshole to her.

"Watch your fucking tone, Harrison. I think, among the lot of us, she's the most deserving of respect. And on clock or not, I will not hesitate to smash the daylights out of you if you try to speak to her like that again.", I say, leaning onto the table towards the dead motherfucker, making it clear to him who calls the shots when it comes to her.

"Oh no, baby. Hold on", her left palm, the one close to mine, wraps around my arm as what follows next are words which are probably the scariest words I've heard come out of her mouth and I've heard various of them.

"What're you gonna do?", She asks with a type of snark in her voice.

"Take that promotion, Kick me out of the race? Send me back to France. What do I have to lose here, Ichor? A promotion, I could get any other time too. A job, one that I could find any fucking where, in the whole of United States of Fucking America? What position do I work at Ichor? Senior Management. Do you know how often senior management changes? Or, atleast, do you know how often people like you are changed in the corporate world? Every week, a fresher in some part of the world gets fired. Every week. I've been here, 3 years. Do you think that I wouldn't have thought of multiple on multiple back ups? One is sitting right beside me, Ichor.", she brings her hands into mine and our fingers lock together.

"If you are smart, you know what to do. Which is not try to threaten me again, with false alarms, because, I am not scared of them, but I'm more scared of what I might do to you, which also comes to say, that if you're not smart, you can keep playing your mind tricks at me but don't say I didn't say. You've been warned, but if you don't take cryptics, I meant to say. Lunch break is over, for you", she taps her knuckles on the table, showing him her watch that reads, 2.48 PM, which she isn't wrong, is about 18 minutes later than the lunch break for him was supposed to be. Being the senior management, we are allowed to take multiple breaks in between and we are also allowed to have a longer lunch time sometimes.

"You might want to go.", she says, pushing back from the table and sticking her back to the couch of the booth.

"This isn't over, Theresa", he says and I give him a murderous look as he stands up.