Too Late to Win Me Back Chapter 2

At first, Ethan was happy with the arrangement. But it wasn't long before he started worrying.

"You're my girlfriend. If you break the rules, am I supposed to look the other way or write you up? If I let it slide, I'm not doing my job. But if I report you and you end up getting docked pay or chewed out, I'd feel awful. I don't want work getting between us."

I thought he was overthinking it and told him I'd make sure I followed the rules so he'd never have to make that choice. But Ethan still wasn't convinced.

In the end, we made one rule between us. Work was work, and our relationship was separate. No matter what happened, we wouldn't let the two interfere with each other.

For a while, we stuck to it. Then one day over dinner, Ethan handed me Michelle's résumé.

He raised an eyebrow. "Your department still has one opening left for a new grad this year, right? Well, I happen to have the perfect candidate for you. No need to thank me. I'm just saving you the trouble of finding someone."

Puzzled, I looked over Michelle's academic record. She had failed five of her seven courses. I turned her down on the spot.

But Ethan kept pushing. "She just doesn't do well in school. That doesn't mean she isn't smart. Just take her on and give her a chance."

I told him it would be irresponsible to take on someone who clearly wasn't qualified.

His face fell. "But she's helped me so many times. Remember when you worked late and left me waiting in the rain for hours? She was the one who brought me an umbrella. You're my girlfriend. Shouldn't you be grateful to her for looking out for me?"

I could tell Ethan was already getting upset, but after a moment's hesitation, I still stood my ground.

"I'll take her out to dinner sometime and thank her for helping you, but I'm not going to bend the rules for her. Work is work, and our relationship is separate. Weren't we the ones who agreed not to mix the two?"

Ethan immediately lost his temper. He slammed his fork onto the table and shot to his feet.

"Rules aren't everything, Sara. Why do you have to be so rigid? Taking on one person who doesn't quite meet the requirements isn't going to bring the whole company down.

"Why can't you just give her a chance? I'm asking you one last time. Are you going to take her on or not?"

My heart hammered when I saw the fury on his face, and my whole body tensed. But I still couldn't bring myself to give in.

"We can't take her on—"

I barely got the words out before Ethan grabbed the tablecloth and yanked it off the table.

Plates and bowls went flying, sending food and soup everywhere before crashing to the floor. A shard of porcelain sliced across my cheek, and something warm trickled down my face.

Ethan acted as if he hadn't even noticed. He turned and stormed off.

That was the first time I had ever seen him lose his temper like that.

I barely remembered cleaning up the mess afterward. I was so shaken that I started second-guessing myself, wondering if maybe I had been the one in the wrong.

Just as I was about to call Ethan and try to smooth things over, he came home as if nothing had happened.

The moment he saw me, he softened his voice. "I'm sorry, Sara. I've been under a lot of pressure at work lately, and you were being so unreasonable earlier that I lost my temper. I didn't scare you, did I?"

His apology finally put me at ease. I thought he had let the whole thing go.

But not long afterward, Michelle joined my department. She dressed modestly and had a sweet, innocent face that made her look completely harmless.

Even so, something about her rubbed me the wrong way from the moment I saw her.

I asked one of my coworkers in the lab who had hired her.

She gave me a confused look. "Wasn't it you? I saw your boyfriend, Ethan, take her résumé to HR himself. He said he was submitting it on your behalf and told them she was an outstanding candidate they absolutely had to hire."