Chapter 105

“Nothing gets past him, huh?” I thought, stepping back to ease the awkwardness. “You totally overstepped. Wayne’s technically my superior, and you assigned him tasks?”

“He just arrived. If we don’t give him tasks, do you want him assigning them to us?” Hayden’s retort left me speechless. Even with Wayne’s capabilities, he wouldn't grasp our current adjustments.

“What? Would you prefer working with him?” Hayden suddenly asked.

“Of course not,” I said quickly, glancing at him—just in time to catch a smirk playing on his lips.

Hayden and I continued working, Wayne keeping his distance. Then Demi rushed over, wide-eyed. “Keira, what’s going on? Is Mr. Johnston’s brother here to personally supervise us?”

“Yep, and he’s specifically here to keep an eye on you. You’ll be working with him from now on,” I teased, watching Demi’s eyes widen.

“Don’t do this to me! I don’t want to be partnered with him. You should work with him. Even if you mess up, he wouldn’t dare yell at you,” Demi protested.

“I disagree,” Hayden interjected.

Demi and I turned, but Hayden remained focused on his task, repeating, “I disagree.”

His response surprised us both. Demi shot me a look, and I bit my lip to stifle my laughter.

Demi began to speak, but Hayden interrupted. “Ms. Kay, could you check for deviations in the current output?”

At his request, I climbed onto the scissor lift. As it ascended, I saw Demi pouting. Reaching the top, I moved closer to Hayden. The screen nearly made me choke. It displayed: [I insist on being your partner.]

Was this seriously his work? I turned to him. “Hayden…!”

Hayden met my gaze, his expression clearly saying, ‘Go ahead, try saying yes to Demi.’ I laughed silently, shaking my head. He pressed a button, erasing the text and reverting to the regular test patterns. I watched him skillfully manipulate the control tablet.

“You’re low-key slick, you know that?” I blurted out.

“Slick? What does that even mean?” he asked, genuinely puzzled. His soldier demeanor almost made me question my assessment. But recalling our interactions, I realized he was far sharper than he let on. “Slick means playing dumb while being way smarter than everyone else.”

“Me?” Hayden feigned shock. “Is that really how you see me?”

“Isn’t it?” I retorted.

Hayden didn’t answer immediately, his eyes meeting mine before returning to the tablet. Then, the lift started wobbling.

Startled, I instinctively grabbed him as the lift swayed precariously. I clung to Hayden. “What are you doing? It doesn’t look good if someone sees us like this,” he said.

I squeezed my eyes shut, holding on tighter. “Why is it shaking? Fix it!”

Unbeknownst to me, Hayden was watching someone approach. He wrapped an arm around my waist, leaning close. “Just stay still, and it’ll stop shaking.”

Chapter 106