A Heart So Cold: the Atlanta Siege, #3 by Raine Thomas

Author:Raine Thomas
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Raine Thomas
Published: 2022-10-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

“Good morning, Mr. Carpenter.”

Bo jumped at the sound of Vivian’s voice in the quiet of the PR hub. Coffee sloshed over the lip of the cup he had just filled in the team’s breakroom. He cursed as the hot liquid splashed onto his hand and the sleeve of his shirt.

Vivian didn’t feel bad about that even a little.

“Jesus, you scared the crap out of me,” he said with an uneven laugh. “What are you doing standing there in a dark office?”

She reached beside her and flipped on the light. “I just arrived,” she lied. In truth, she’d been lying in wait. “Since you typically get here earlier than everyone else, I wanted to catch you to discuss the mascot you ordered.”

His expression went blank. “Mascot?”

“Yes. You know, the one that made an appearance last night before security had to be called.”

He lifted the cup to his lips, but it didn’t quite mask his smile. “Oh, that mascot. Last I heard, you were the one working with sales and marketing on the mascot design.”

And that’s just what had been communicated to the rest of management and the team’s owners, who had blown up Vivian’s phone most of the evening trying to get to the bottom of the PR catastrophe. It had been just as mortifying to admit she had no idea how the mascot had been ordered and set up to perform as it would have been to admit she’d done it herself. She was sure that had been Bo’s goal.

“It was rather clever of you,” she said conversationally as she leaned on her doorjamb. “Oh, you’ll find that Ms. Gaines’ computer password has been updated and she’ll have more care with it from now on.”

“Good for her,” he replied. “Though, if you ask me, it sounds like that’s too little too late.”

“Certainly too late to keep you from designing a…well, no one has quite figured out what it was, actually.”

Bo chuckled. “Seemed pretty obvious it was a flame to me. I suppose it did sort of resemble a dildo, though.”

Vivian wanted to snap at him about inappropriate office talk, but that’s exactly what he wanted. “A flame?”

“Seemed like it to me. Perfect for The Siege since the team is named in part on the burning of Atlanta, right?” The gleam in his eyes turned malevolent. “Besides, this city is filled with flamers. I’m sure they loved it.”

She stilled. “Flamers?”

“Yeah. You know…gays.”

“Mr. Carpenter, your juvenile insubordination towards me is one thing, but I will absolutely not tolerate any type of offensive slurs in this office. Consider this a verbal warning that will go into your personnel file.”

“Jesus, unclench, would you? It was a joke.”

“Which, precisely, was the joke? Forging my name on the order form for that atrocity of a mascot or your equally atrocious slur against gay people?”

“Doesn’t really matter,” he said dismissively after swallowing more coffee. “You can’t prove either and I’m denying both. We’ll see who in management supports your claims. In fact, I’m meeting a couple of them for drinks after work.

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