Her coworker moved from where she’d stood just outside the door, sauntering up to Samiah’s desk. “I just wanted to know how you were doing. Sounds as if you had yourself an…um…interesting weekend.”

Samiah fought the urge to roll her eyes.

There was one in every company. For Samiah, Keighleigh Miller was the one. The one who clawed at her nerves on a daily basis, the way Denise’s pesky cat Boomer used to claw at Samiah’s bedroom door whenever her sister wasn’t home. The one who constantly kissed up to management. The one who, on more than one occasion, had tried to take credit for Samiah’s work.

She was willing to play along with the rah-rah, we’re all in this together, there’s no “I” in “team” bullshit Trendsetters pushed onto their employees, but only to a certain point. If the side-eye she’d caught several members of their team throwing Keighleigh’s way at last week’s meeting was any indication, Samiah wasn’t the only one who’d grown tired of her coworker’s shenanigans.

“Yes, it was an eventful weekend,” Samiah said, dropping her smile. She was tired and overwrought and unwilling to engage in any further pretense. She sat back in her chair and asked again, “Can I help you with something?”

“No.” The purple tips of Keighleigh’s white-blond hair swished along her leather jacket’s upturned collar. “Like I said, just checking on you.”

Keighleigh tried way too hard to be the rebel who thumbed her nose at society’s rules, but Samiah knew better. She’d happened upon her Facebook page while killing time one lazy Friday evening and encountered several pictures her coworker had been tagged in from high school. Keighleigh had been your average, run-of-the-mill cheerleader type. This edgy persona was all an act. Samiah wouldn’t be surprised if her nose ring was a fake.

Stop it.

She despised cattiness among women in the workplace. Things were rough enough for their gender, especially in the male-dominated tech world.

But Keighleigh Miller had started this shit. From the moment she’d joined the Implementation team, she’d shown her willingness to double-cross whomever she deemed a threat or impediment to her rise to the top. Another of their coworkers, Amy Dodd, had learned that the hard way after Keighleigh innocently let it slip that Amy had confided in her that she was struggling with a project she’d been assigned. Their supervisor, Justin Vail, had placed Keighleigh on the project and she’d taken over—after Amy had already completed most of it.

Samiah refused to fall victim to Keighleigh’s backstabbing.

“Thanks for checking on me, but honestly, I’m fine,” Samiah continued. “Now, I really need to get back to work.”

“Oh!” Keighleigh’s green eyes—probably contacts—lit up. “Are you working on the proposal for Swiss Burger?”

“I am,” Samiah answered, her Spidey senses on red alert.