He was hardly speaking to us unless Huey was here. He was pining, and it was truly a pathetic look on a man who was twenty-five and had once gotten more pussy than the other two of us combined.

I’d have told him that, if I wasn’t pining for her to come back too. But I’d never say so. I was used to rejection; this shut-down feeling was almost my default now. Instead, I threw myself into work. Twelve, sometimes fourteen-hour days, so I didn’t have to return home and hear the deathly silence that had fallen over the place. I didn’t realize how much noise one woman and a baby made until it was gone.

The silence created an echo chamber for the thoughts in my head and the pain in my chest. The one that screamed we hadn’t been worth it. Worth the fight. Worth standing together against everyone else.

Someone knocked on my door, and I swallowed the internal groan as Elise stepped through. I didn’t have the mental fortitude to deal with this shit right now.

“I’m just heading home, Mr. Mayson.”

“See you tomorrow,” I grunted out, willing her to turn and leave.

“If I may say so, sir…” She purred the word sir, like it would do anything for me. It didn’t. “You seem really tense.”

I just stared at her, willing her to leave. But apparently, she took my silence as encouragement. She put her hands on her blouse and started unbuttoning down along the front.

I flicked the switch on my computer that set the security cameras to record. Everyone signed a contract when they first started to say that they gave permission to be recorded by security cameras. Kept things honest and safe, and protected me for situations like this. I wasn’t a fool.

“You need to go home, Miss Quigmire.”

Her fingers didn’t stop unbuttoning though, and she was wearing some kind of lingerie beneath. She’d definitely planned this. “I think we could both relieve some stress, some of this tension between us,” she cooed, slipping her blouse off. She was definitely attractive—I wasn’t blind—but she was an employee, and I had no interest in any woman right now. Well, any woman except the one who’d been very clear she didn’t want me.

“You need to leave, or I’ll be forced to fire you. Fraternization is frowned upon.” I leaned back in my chair, staring at the ceiling.

“Consider this my two weeks’ notice then,” she said saucily, clearly thinking I was just playing hard to get.

Fuck.

I stood up. “Resignation accepted—don’t worry about the two weeks’ notice. Clear out your desk as you leave.”

“What?” she gasped.

I picked up my phone and called the security extension. “Jeff, can you come up to the fourth floor and escort out a former employee? Thanks.”