Carve My Pumpkin (The Night Realm: Halloween Marked #3)

Chapter 15

FIFTEEN

MATEO

“Ms. Rothchild, can you come in here please?” I called out from my desk.

No answer.

“ Ms. Rothchild ?”

Still no answer.

I growled and rose to my feet. My chair shot out from behind me and banged into the wall. I marched out of my office door toward her desk. Empty. I walked down the hall and glanced over the rail down to the first floor where most of the desks were lined up and other people hustling in different directions yet still no sign of her. With a growl, I walked back to our wing. Kallahan’s office door was shut. Orson’s was wide open but visibly empty. I stopped in front of her desk looking for some kind of indication or clue as to where she’d gone off to but found nothing.

Nothing but her murder board. I clenched my teeth and stared at it, trying and failing to not be impressed. Again. Granted, it hadn’t changed at all since she set it up on Monday. So I wasn’t sure how much work she’d gotten done at all.

Two of the walls were covered with projections of a timeline. One that hinged on her working nonstop, nearly ‘round the clock. She’d cross referenced all the eligible women on the island, which was an automatically updating list, a perfect combination of magic and technology. There was a clock with the amount of time we had left in her trial period. Along with an ever-changing list of the events left for the season, complete with a map of the locations. One the right wall, my work and personal schedules were color coded and labeled with times and locations as well. Red lines projected from one wall to the other like pieces of string connecting it all. They looked like lasers. I ran my finger through one and the projected images faltered.

When she still hadn’t returned I had an inkling of where she might be. I turned and bolted down the hallway toward the stairs. People stopped to look at me but I didn’t pay attention to them. With each step I took, I grew more and more annoyed that she wasn’t at her desk. She was my assistant. This position was highly coveted within this company and she wasn’t here. She’d been working in the small business department for some time, something told me she was in there with Diego.

I wonder if they’re hooking up?

I gasped and stopped short outside the closed doors of their department. Images I didn’t want to see flooded my mind, each of them possibilities of what I could find if I pushed through the closed doors without warning. The intrusive thoughts were aggressive today. I closed my eyes and breathed through my nose to try and clear my head. It’s fine even if they’re in there hooking up right now. She’s not my soulmate. She’s not my girlfriend. I don’t even know Diego. Colette can hook up with whoever she wants – my stomach turned and sent bubbles flying up my throat. I gagged and covered my mouth.

Oh God. Am I jealous? I can’t be jealous. I don’t even know Diego, I have no reason to be jealous of him. Get your shit together, Mateo.

Without another moment of hesitation, I gripped the handle and pushed my way into the room. At first, I saw only golden sunlight streaming in through the big glass windows and raining sunshine onto the plants hanging all over the place. There were hushed voices coming from a room about ten feet away but the door was open so I crept over and peeked around the doorframe.

Rage and relief warred within me, casting giant waves of emotion within my bloodstream. They weren’t hooking up, so that was the relief. But that relief infuriated me because it meant I had been jealous. Which was ridiculous. I couldn’t be jealous over a girl that wasn’t my soulmate. Get a grip, Mateo. Focus.

When I finally got my brain to cooperate, I realized Colette was in some kind of meeting with Diego and two other people. They sat in a small conference room with just the four of them sitting around a computer screen. Diego had his head down watching the words he furiously scribbled in his notebook, which I thought was wildly inefficient with a computer right in front of him. Colette sat between him and the other two people. She was poised and perfect in her emerald-green suit with her blonde hair tied up high on her head and two small strands that fell around her face to frame her delicate yet sharp features. Her pointed ears poked through the strands and I hated the way I wondered if they were as sensitive to the touch as they looked. I wondered if the green of her outfit made her eyes look even more green. I wondered if the pants to her suit were tailored to fit her form or flared out to give her more curves. I saw both images in my mind at once.

STOP THAT, YOU FILTHY RAKE.

I refocused, but this time on the two other people in the room. As soon as I did, I wanted to smack myself. Dawson Whittaker may have been one handsome bastard, as was his cousin Monroe, but the pretty brunette beside him was his soulmate Pickles Carden – a literal siren princess. Pickles reached out to grab something and I spotted their soulmate mark on her arm. So there was no reason for me to be jealous. Nothing weird was happening here.

What’s that supposed to mean? You CANNOT be jealous about her.

You can’t.

No, but I CAN be possessive.

In the back of my mind I knew I was arguing with myself but that didn’t seem to stop me from doing it. I knocked on the doorframe to alert them of my presence but I didn’t wait for an answer before I walked into their small conference room. Dawson and Diego cursed under their breath. Pickles narrowed her eyes on me like she knew something I didn’t, which made me nervous. Colette glanced over her shoulder and when those gorgeous green eyes found me standing there she just sighed.

“Ms. Rothchild, a moment?”

“Fine.” She pushed to her feet and looked to Dawson and Pickles. “If you two will excuse me for a second, Diego can take it from here.”

I turned away from her and marched down the hall with her in my wake. When I reached her old desk I turned to glare at her. She stood there with the sun streaming in through the window and catching in her hair like beams of gold.

She crossed her arms over her chest and stared up at me. “How may I assist you, Mr. Vauntero?”

“Oh, now you want to assist me?” I snapped, even though I knew damn well she’d been assisting me since she took the position. “Did I or did I not hire you to do a job?”

“Excuse me?” Her eyebrows rose yet her voice did not.

“You are my assistant you work for me .” Whoa, pump the possessive brakes, Mateo. Back off. Back off.

“I am painfully aware of that.”

“And yet you seem to have found time for yourself. How very professional of you.”

“Professional of me ?” She pressed her hand to her chest. “I am actually helping the people of this island. Not being selfish and wasting the time and resources of someone who actually cares.”

My brows furrowed. “And what is that supposed to mean?”

“I am highly qualified and highly skilled.” She balled her hands into fists at her sides.

“Could’ve fooled me,” The words were out before I could stop them. The lie tasted bitter on my lips even as I said it.

Her eyebrows shot up and her cheeks turned red with anger. “I am overqualified for this job. The actual job I wanted and you have me playing match maker because you can’t seem to get your shit together.”

Rage rushed through my body. “Match. Maker.”

“Yes. Match maker. I’m more than qualified to do the real job I was promoted for, the one you seem to have forgotten about in your selfishness. The world is not about you.”

“You’re my assistant, I am your world.” Great Mateo, just great. Now I really sound like an asshole.

She rolled her eyes. “How’s that ego feel on you? Bit gross?”

“How’s not having a job feel to you? Bit gross?” I really couldn’t stop myself from getting so wound up. This woman unraveled me. She broke the foundation of who I was. These horrible words just kept pouring out of my mouth before I could stop myself.

Her upper lip curled up a little. “Stop threatening me and just do it.”

“Don’t push me.”

“I’m pretty sure we had a lesson in boundaries and right now you’re crossing one of mine. I am doing important work for an entire siren community. Work that makes me feel important and fulfilled, like I’m actually helping people like I thought I would do in your department. I’m not just searching for your perfect love match. Which, by the way, you have seen more women than possible and guess what? I did that. Not you, not anyone else. My ideas might not have produced her . . . yet . . . but I’m making a hell of a lot more headway than you were on your own.”

I growled low in my throat. She was right, I knew she was. “Just be where you’re supposed to be from now on.”I spun on my heels and bolted for the door back into the main part of the office.

I turned for the door when she called out behind me. “I’m always right where I need to be.”

I stiffened for a moment and curled my hands into fists. But I didn’t turn back, I couldn’t. I forced myself to march away from her. She was turning me into a crazy person. There was something about Colette that just drove me completely nuts. How am I supposed to work like this with her distracting me? How am I supposed to focus on finding my soulmate when all I can do is think about her?

What am I going to do with her once I find my soulmate? There’s no way I could look my soulmate in the eye and say I’d never thought about Colette in a romantic, intimate, or physical manner. I didn’t see a scenario that wound up with Colette as my assistant. There was no way. I needed out, I needed to be free of this woman who unraveled me entirely. It wasn’t even fair to Colette to let her stay the two week period before firing her when I knew days ago She wasn’t the right one for me.

I couldn’t take it anymore. I didn’t want to. I had to set us both free.

I marched down the hall to Lexington’s office. I got to his door and shoved it wide open. The door smacked into the wall but Lexington barely looked up from the tablet in his hands.

“Something bothering you, Mateo?” His voice was so calm it was almost bored.

I slammed the door shut behind me and began to pace back and forth in his office. “I can’t work like this.”

“Didn’t realize you were.” Lexington leaned back in his hair and steepled his fingers.

I froze and turned to look at him.“Didn’t realize I was what?”

“Working.” His gaze didn’t waver from me.

I waved his words away. He knew on any given day I was doing a lot for this company and for the supernaturals of the world. “I’ve been distracted.”

He arched his eyebrows but said nothing.

I groaned and narrowed my eyes at him. “Haven’t we all been distracted by our soulmates at one point or another?”

It was only a year ago that Lexington lost his mind over Carter, his soulmate. Right around the same time Nash found Torren and when I got knocked out. Everything had fallen into place for him and for my twin. It was simple, they met their soulmates, knew who they were, worked it out, and got their happily-ever-after. Was it too much to want the same thing? Maybe. Did I care at this point? After an entire year, no.

When he still said nothing I pointed in Colette’s direction, or the general direction I thought she might be in. “I can’t work with her anymore.”

He just stared at me with a blank, unreadable face.

“I’m going to fire her.” I put my hands on my hips. “Right now.”

Lexington sighed and picked up his tablet again. “On what grounds, Mateo?”

I might be falling madly in love with her and I can’t do that to my soulmate. I’m too attracted to her to be a good boss to her. My infatuation is inappropriate for the workplace. It’s not fair to her. “She’s failing to complete the task given to her.”

He swiped his finger over the screen. “We’ve been over this, Mateo. You can’t fire her for not finding your soulmate. That’s not in the job description.”

“Fine.” I pushed my hands through my hair. “It’s a clash of personalities.”

I lied. Lex knew I lied. He stared at me with an unreadable expression.

In a different time or setting I could’ve appreciated how innovative and thoughtful she was. But in this setting she was nothing but torture. There was no moving forward with this, no going around it. And it wasn’t fair to her, I knew that yet there was nothing I could do about it. I couldn’t control who my heart called dibs on. We’d come to a sort of truce at the library two nights ago and since then we hadn’t really argued or said nasty shit to each other. It was tense and torturous, but professional. And then I found her working with Diego and the jealousy ate me alive. That wouldn’t work either. Prescott Tech was a help thy neighbor kind of company, and for good reason.

“We just don’t work well together.” This two-week trial period had to end. I had to breathe normally again. “There’s zero chance I can travel with her. So, let’s please just admit defeat and relocate her. I’m sure you have somewhere you can put her that suits her impressive skillset and dedication. I don’t wish to waste more of her time when I know I’m letting her go.”

Lexington nodded slowly. “If that’s the case.”

I needed it to be the case. “It is.”

“Kallahan expressed interest in her work style,” Lex said in a tight voice. “He’s interested in taking her on as his assistant.”

What the hell? My own little brother swooping in? What is that? Who does he think he is? Why would he tell Lex that when I’ve never expressed my emotional turmoil over this woman? My stomach turned and flipped like it was in the middle of a Cat Five hurricane. “No. Not Kallahan.”

He arched one eyebrow in surprise.

“Maybe Orson and Liza can work with her.”

He pursed his lips and nodded. “Perhaps.”

“I have no doubts you’ll find a good spot for her. Perhaps even back to your small business department as she’s been helping Diego all week?—”

“I’ll handle it, Mateo.” He shook his head. “But not today. You must give her the weekend to process and recover. You will tell her to report to my office Monday morning.”

“Thank you, Lex.” I just needed her away from me, I didn’t care what he did with her after that. I turned from Lexington and headed for the door. “I’ll leave you to your work then.”

“I can’t imagine it’s easy to get along with you when you’ve been behaving as you have while setting unrealistic goals for her,” Lex called out as I reached for the door. He cleared his throat. “A goal you’ve failed to succeed with in almost a year.”

I glanced at him over my shoulder.“I know?—"

“She deserves the job.” His words were a punch to the gut.

I groaned. “What does that mean?”

Lexington looked up at me with that hard, shrewd gaze of his. “I didn’t stutter, Mateo.”