Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 67991 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67991 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
I stare hard at Brienne, as I want to be sure she understands that it was only a hookup, as seedy as that might make me seem.
“Go on,” she says, her words clipped.
“Tansy didn’t want it to be over though. She kept showing up at places I frequented and made innuendos that she wanted to see me again. Then she just started asking me to go out again. At first, I was trying to be polite and didn’t quite know how to say no to her without hurting her feelings. But she never got the hint, and then one night, when I was at the grocery store, she showed up.”
“Was this a grocery store she usually goes to?” Callum asks.
“If you’re wanting to know if this was coincidence, I can’t say for sure, but it didn’t seem like one to me. At any rate, I panicked when I saw her walking my way, and well… I grabbed the woman standing next to me, which happened to be Tempe, and kissed her.”
Once again, Brienne’s jaw drops but she doesn’t say anything.
“I won’t go into the details but suffice it to say, I pretended that Tempe was my girlfriend and she went along with the ruse. Tansy didn’t believe it, so I convinced Tempe to keep up the fake girlfriend bit and she came to the next few team events with me so that Tansy would hopefully leave me alone.”
“Except she didn’t?” Brienne guesses.
I shake my head. “She said she never believed we were the real deal, and the ironic thing is, we became the real deal, but Tansy still didn’t let up.”
Brienne’s voice is cold. “And it never occurred to you to come to me about this? Or at the very least, go to human resources?”
“No,” I say truthfully. “She’s your cousin. She kept threatening to go to you, which implied to me that there was a loyalty there that the truth wouldn’t breach. So I kept quiet, hoping she’d let it go. But she didn’t. The last exchange was at the party at your house, and she threatened again to go to you. I’d finally had enough and told her to leave Tempe and me alone and to mind her own damn business.”
Brienne stands abruptly from her chair, walks over to the window and crosses her arms over her chest. She’s silent as she ruminates but then looks over her shoulder at me. “And that was your last interaction with her? A week ago?”
“Yes,” I reply and say no more. The story is out there.
Brienne turns back our way but doesn’t approach. She looks at Tempe. “And you can attest to all of this?”
“Yes, ma’am,” she says, and Brienne impatiently waves that off.
“Call me Brienne.” She moves back toward us, then bends over and places her palms on the table. Her eyes snap back and forth between me and Tempe. “These are very serious allegations.” I swallow hard, a lump forming in my stomach. “But I don’t think you’d make up something like this.”
I hold my breath, but Tempe doesn’t. She lets out a relieved sigh.
“You believe Tansy really fabricated these drug allegations because you ended whatever arrangement she thought you had?” Brienne asks, piecing together the motives behind the scandal.
“Yes,” I confirm. “I mean… I can’t say one hundred percent for sure, but no one else would do this to me. I hate to say it because she’s your cousin, and I’m sorry if this offends, but I’ve only seen her be vindictive, and I can only assume she did this to retaliate. To be clear, I’ve never taken any performance-enhancing drugs. The evidence against me, whatever it is, has been falsified.”
Brienne taps her fingers on the table, her expression thoughtful, then looks directly at me. “If what you’re saying is true, we need to act swiftly to clear your name and handle the person responsible.”
“I’d appreciate that,” I say, although I’m not quite sure what that means.
Callum nods, his mouth set in a grim line. “We’ll need to investigate, get our legal team involved, and verify everything you’ve told us. We’ll also need to manage the PR aspect carefully.”
“No.” Brienne straightens and walks to her desk. “I’m going to call Tansy to come in and meet me right now. This gets settled today.”
Oh shit. Now that I didn’t expect.
Brienne grabs her phone but looks back at me. “Are you okay with that?”
“Do you want me here when you speak to her?” I ask, not really wanting in the fray but absolutely willing to call out Tansy face-to-face.
“No,” Brienne says quietly. “This will be handled privately between me and her, but I want you to know a few things. It’s true that she’s my cousin, which is not something I publicized, and that’s because I had nothing to do with her being hired. I don’t play favorites and no one works for this team who isn’t qualified. She was hired by our chief marketing officer and I had no input. I have no supervisory authority over her and trusted that she would do a good job. By all accounts, she has, but I won’t tolerate this type of behavior by her or anyone. You should have trusted me on that, but I also understand you’re new to the team and don’t know me that well. I hope you’ve learned something from this.”