Desire Me If You Can Chapter 27

In the end, Dane is the final winner.

Just as everyone was thinking the same thing, someone suddenly remembered a fact they had forgotten.

“Wait a second, then who won this match?”

The atmosphere changed instantly. This couldn’t just be brushed aside.

“Obviously it’s Dane, Miller cheated.”

“Cheated? How?”

“I don’t know, but Dane would never lose to that guy, so he must have done something cowardly.”

“That’s true, Miller would do that. He’s a psychopath, and he’s an Alpha-Prime.”

The guys who had been exchanging opinions arbitrarily turned their focus to Dane.

“Right? What kind of trick did he pull?”

“There’s no way that guy could beat you! He must have used some cowardly tactic, for sure!”

“Tell us everything, Dane. We trust you.”

“Yeah, there’s no way you lost to Miller. The opponent is Dane Striker!”

Everyone united and spoke with the same voice. Dane turned his gaze away with a displeased expression. Grayson Miller was still in the same spot, as if watching to see what he was talking about.

Haa, Dane let out a sigh and spoke without hesitation.

“I lost.”

“See, wait, what?”

“What? What did you just say? You lost?”

Ezra, who had been nodding expectantly, widened his eyes in shock. Diandre also panicked and repeated the same words several times. Dane rubbed the back of his head and said in a tired voice.

“You all saw it, I came in late. That guy won, it’s exactly as you saw. Nothing is going to change that.”

“B-but, but, that guy cheated, didn’t he?”

Another guy asked urgently. Next to him, as he stammered over and over out of pure anxiety, the others chimed in.

“That’s right, if he had played fair, you would never have lost. You’re the ace of our station!”

“Tell us the truth, Dane Striker. Were you threatened? Is that it?”

“Dane wouldn’t give in to threats—well, maybe if money were involved, but!”

“Wait, did you take money? How much? Hey, I’ll give it to you! So just spill the beans!”

“I’ll chip in too, it’s a matter of our pride, we can’t let this slide!”

“Me too, me too!”

Everyone was fired up, eyes gleaming with fervor, waiting for Dane to speak. They looked ready to empty their pockets and hand over every cent they had the moment he gave the word. It would have come to about $423.82 at most.

Of course, Dane couldn’t give them the answer they wanted.

“I’ll say it again, I appreciate your intentions, but this is reality. I lost, and Grayson Miller won.”

Everyone who had pinned their last hopes on him went silent with blank expressions. The grand plan to knock that insufferable guy down a peg had just crumbled. Dane repeated the same thing again.

“I was late. That guy came in first. So Grayson Miller is the winner.”

Dane pointed to himself with his finger, then shifted it toward Miller. As the group’s gazes followed his finger, Grayson, who was there, gave a big smile and waved. As if saying, I won. Of course, not a single person among the guys gathered there smiled back at him.

The female employees who had been watching until then finally spoke up, one by one.

“That’s a shame, Dane. But since you lost, you must have made some kind of mistake, right?”

“Well, it’s a relief that you aren’t badly hurt. In the end, things like this are also a matter of luck.”

As a few words of comfort followed for Dane, Valentina suddenly shouted.

“Grayson said he’s buying drinks, who’s coming?”

It was almost time to get off work. The response to the all-too-perfect suggestion was split exactly in half. The women cheered and waved their arms, while the men glared at him with their faces twisted in rage.

“I can’t lose.”

Wilkins gritted his teeth and called the male employees together.

“I’m paying for this round. Let’s drink until we all throw up, got it?”

“Yeah!”

The men shouted back, unwilling to be outdone. When Dane raised his hand as if he had something to say, Wilkins immediately put on a stern face.

“No, you can’t skip out today, no matter what cat-related excuses you make. I know full well that even if you go home, you’ll just be drinking beer by yourself.”

“It’s not an excuse, my cat is actually waiting…”

“Cut it out. I know full well that he eats just fine even without you.”

“That’s right, and you even got paid leave, for two whole days. Skipping out is out of the question.”

Ezra added from the side. Dane scowled in frustration, but he had no choice but to lower his hand. And as soon as they got off work, they headed to the bar as one. Because his colleagues formed a scrum around him to block his escape, Dane couldn’t even think of running and was helplessly dragged to the bar. However, before that, Wilkins had to endure an immense lecture from the chief.

Bang! The sound of a fist slamming onto the desk made Wilkins’ large frame flinch. The chief was breathing heavily, glaring at him with terrifying eyes.

“Just why do you do things I didn’t order, huh? Do you have nothing better to do? Are you bored? If you’re bored, you should have gone to the school in front and volunteered!”

“I’m sorry, Chief.”

Wilkins apologized, bowing his head in a voice that was uncharacteristically dejected for his size. But it wasn’t as if he had nothing to say for himself.

“But Chief, it was a desperate measure for me. Since that guy arrived, the team atmosphere has been a mess. I thought we needed to knock him down a peg at least once.”

“So, did you succeed? I’m asking if you knocked him down!”

At the booming roar, Wilkins replied with a shrinking, “No.” The chief seemed frustrated; he grabbed the knot of his tie, shook it down, and pounded his chest.

“Did I or did I not tell you not to touch that guy? Why do you stir up trouble and make my head ache! Do you think I was just saying it when I told you not to touch him? Huh?”

“…But we can’t just leave it like this. You must have seen it too, Chief. Ever since that guy arrived, the team members have been running wild.”

“This is truly a headache. It’s one year, one year! You can’t even hold out for that long and you cause this mess? You, and your team members too! Do you have no fear?”

“Of course, Miller is frightening, but…”

“It being Miller is the second problem! The problem is Grayson! That very guy!”

The chief shouted as if he were going crazy with frustration. Wilkins just blinked in confusion and watched the chief. Isn’t he just a messy, pleasure-seeking drifter? They say Alpha-Primes are psychopaths, but he hadn’t particularly seen that side of him. To his team leader, who was clearly confused, the chief continued in a slightly softened voice, still gasping for breath.

“Do you know what he did when he had his interview?”

“…No, I don’t.”

“Of course not, since I didn’t tell you.”

At the chief’s confident words, Wilkins was left dumbfounded. Seeing his subordinate with a blank expression, the chief continued in his raspy voice.

“The questions I asked Miller were very ordinary ones. Things like why he wanted to become a firefighter, what he wanted to do if he became one, and whether he had experienced other jobs before.”

As the chief said, those were the basic questions asked in an interview. To Wilkins, who was waiting in confusion, the chief said:

“But do you know how Miller answered?”

“No, I don’t, because you haven’t told me yet.”

Wilkins quickly added, recalling his earlier experience. The chief glared at him once—perhaps he didn’t like that answer—and continued.

“His answer was perfect. It was truly flawless, not a single thing to pick at.”

“…And?”

To Wilkins, who still didn’t understand, the chief suddenly placed both hands on the desk and leaned his upper body forward to meet his eyes.

“That’s exactly the problem. He said it perfectly, word-for-word, like the video.”

“The video? …Ah!”

When Wilkins finally remembered and let out an exclamation, the chief nodded and straightened his posture again.

“Yes, that video we made. The training material, the one we put up on the website.”