“I don’t assume that’s a problem, is it Ms. Bryce?” His tone is chilly and expectant, an obvious warning to gleefully accept and get my ass to work. “There are plenty of people vying for a position in this company, need I remind you?”
Is he seriously threatening my job right now?
My jaw snaps closed audibly, and anger rises up in my gut, hot and sharp. I open my mouth, planning to tell him exactly where he can stick it, but reality catches up to me.
“Of course, Mr. Jameson,” I say. “Sorry, my service got a bit weak for a moment. My car is still in the shop, so I don’t have a way to get to the office.”
One final Hail Mary—no pun intended—one last chance to quell the panic bubbling in my gut. I can’t just leave like this. Not now. I want to live the fantasy of being with Everett for just a little longer, even if I know I can’t keep up with it forever.
“So get an Uber,” he says with an annoyed sigh. “Put it on the company card, I don’t care. Just get here before 1:00, or you can kiss your job goodbye.”
Terror spikes through me like a lance at hearing him say it so plainly, and I damn near collapse onto the foot of my bed, holding my phone with shaking hands.
“I’ll be there,” I promise.
“Good,” he says. “I’ll send over the files, you can look them over on the drive.”
He doesn’t even give me time to agree before he hangs up, the dial tone sounding like a death toll in my ear. I sit, frozen, for a long moment. My heart is hammering in my chest, my lungs tight. It’s already almost nine, and I have no idea how long it’lltake to get an Uber out here. I need to get my ass in gear, but I feel like my whole world is collapsing around me.
Am I just supposed to walk away and ignore the wreckage I’ll leave behind me?
I pull up the Uber app in a daze, plugging in the address to the office and selecting the company card for payment. I pay no attention at all to the price of the trip. It’s not my problem, and if I can make my boss regret his insistence on me being there today, it might make me feel a little better.
My eyes go wide in shock when a driver picks up the request almost immediately. Who the hell is driving for Uber out here?
And why are they only fifteen minutes away?
“Fuck!”
I scramble off the bed, grabbing at everything I can reach. It all gets stuffed haphazardly into my suitcase, shoes and suit jackets and my alarm clock all tangling together into a mess.
I have fifteen minutes to completely erase the remnants of my life here.
How did I start thinking of my life being here in just a few short weeks?
I rifle through the closet, yanking my clothes off hangers and tossing them over my shoulder. There isn’t time to fold anything, so I’ll just have to stuff it all into a ball in my suitcase and hope nothing gets torn.
I’m trying to fit another pair of shoes into my bag when a knock sounds on my door.
I look over my shoulder in sheer horror, but the door swings open before I can do anything. Everett’s face falls from the smile that was on it to a look of confusion as he takes in the sight of me, kneeling on the floor in front of my half-packed suitcase.
He rakes his gaze over the empty closet and the barren nightstand, and I see betrayal and hurt flicker in his eyes for a half-second before a cold mask slips over his face.
“Going somewhere?” he asks.
There’s no emotion in his voice, and that makes it so much worse. My legs won’t cooperate, so I just stay where I am, looking up at him apologetically.
There’s nothing I can say to make this better, but he at least deserves the truth.
“My boss called,” I say, my voice weak.
Everett hums, the noise uncaring and distant. A muscle ticks in his jaw, but he doesn’t say anything.
“There’s a contract he wants me on,” I say. “It’s a big one, and they picked me specifically. He said they won’t work with anyone but me, and they’re coming into the office at 1:00 today.”
“We have the meeting at 1:00,” he reminds me. “You set it up. You promised you’d be there with us.”
His voice shakes a little on that last sentence, and he tears his eyes away from me, fixing them firmly on the wall like it hurts to look at me. My chest aches so badly that it hurts to breathe, but I don’t know what to say. There’s nothingtosay.
