CHAPTER 8

~~ALINA JOHNSON~~

The more I got closer, the more I felt the coldness radiating off of him

I almost contemplated returning back to my table but he looked up right at that moment, catching sight of me briefly before focusing back on the whiskey in front of him.

"Ethan?" I said softly

“How can I help you, Alina?” I pretended not to notice the cold edge to his voice.. “Are you having problem settling into your new position?”

"I'm not here for the office," I said, sliding into the seat opposite him. "I'm here because you look like you’re trying to disappear, and I owe it to you to make sure you don’t."

Finally, he raised his head, locking his eyes on mine. They were bloodshot and piercingly cold, stripped of every ounce of the warmth I’d seen in the boardroom "You don't owe me anything. I did a favor for your father. That’s where it ends."

"Is that why you’re sitting in a dive bar at midnight? Because it 'ends' there?" I tried to crack a smile to ease the tension but it came off lame.

“I don’t owe you any information as to why I am here, Alina.” He snapped

I ignored his words and leaned forward. “I haven’t had the time to properly thank you for helping me out earlier”

“You don’t need to. Frank already did”

My brows snapped together in a slight furrow. His responses were so curt they were practically slaps. I felt a flush of embarrassment creep up my neck. I should have listened to Maya.

I should have stayed in my seat and celebrated my own victory instead of trying to cheer a man who appeared as though my presence was a disturbance to his quiet.

The silence stretched between us, awkward and suffocating.

Ethan didn't seem to care. He took the whiskey in one last, aggressive gulp and set the glass back on the table with a heavy clack, motioning the bartender to bring another.

My intuition was screaming at me to leave. My pride told me to walk away before he said something even crueler.

But I stayed, curiosity taking the best of me.

My mind was spinning, drifting back to the conversation I’d had with my father before I came out tonight.

My father had mentioned the charge that had put Ethan behind bars for four years.

Sex offender.

It didn’t make any sense then neither did it now..

“You know… My father told me why you were in there,” I said, the words slipping out before I could censor them. The spur of the moment took hold of me, certainly fueled by a mix of the beer I consumed earlier ând stubborn confusion. “He told me about the charge. The sex offense.”

Ethan’s hand, which had been reaching for his fresh glass, stopped dead in mid-air. I could see his jaw muscles tighten.

“I’m just trying to understand,” I whispered..

His hands clenched into fists until his knuckles turned white.

"You’re overstepping, Alina," his words came out as a low, vibrating growl that made the hair on my arms stand up.

"I just... I don't believe it," I pushed, my heart hammering against my ribs. "I saw how you..”

"I said, stop." He finally looked up, and the raw, jagged fury in his eyes made me flinch hard. "You think because I gave you a title and a corner office, you have a right to dig into the rot of my life? You think you know me?"

"No, I don't know you, but my father—"

"Your father knows the man I was while in prison," Ethan snapped, leaning across the table until we were inches apart. The scent of the whiskey in his breath filled my senses. "Outside those walls, I am exactly what the records say I am. A convict.. A man who lost everything because he trusted. Don't mistake my pity for your situation as an invitation into my head."

His words stung harder than I expected.

I felt a hot prickle of tears in my eyes. I knew what it felt like. He was wounded and I had just dragged a jagged blade across the scar.

"I didn't mean to invade," I whispered, my voice trembling. "I just wanted to see the man beneath all of the mask. That’s all”

"There is no mask, Alina. This is all there is."

He didn't wait for another word. He reached into his back pocket, pulled out a hundred-dollar bill, and slammed it onto the table with enough force to make the whiskey splash over the rim of his glass

"Stay away from me," he warned flatly. "In the office, you report to me. Out here? You don't exist."

He strode to the door without a backward glance.

Maya watched across the room with wide eyes. He shoved his way through the crowd, his shoulders tense, disappearing into the exit

I felt like a fool for thinking I could help him cheer up for a little bit or help him come out of what seemed to be bothering him.

Maya slid into the seat beside me a moment later, her hand resting on my shoulder. "Alina? What happened? He looked like he wanted to burn the building down."

"I went too far," I choked out, watching the door where he’d vanished.

Maya sighed, rubbing my shoulders slowly.

“Don’t get too involved with him. People like him don’t want to be associated with. Maybe you should just take the win and stay in the office. You're the VP now. You don't need to be his therapist."

I swallowed hard. “Maybe…”

She dragged me back to our table where I still had my unfinished beer sitting. “Finish up so we can head home”

I downed the rest of my beer in two gulps and we headed back home.

All the while, I could not shake off the image of him in my head.