“Honestly, if anyone should be questioning the other’s morals, it’sme.”
I may as well have sprouted another head with the way that Jeremiah looked at me.
“And your money doesn’t matter to me.You’rethe one who cares about status.You’rethe one who insisted on buying me new, fancy clothes because you couldn’t have anyone reflectpoorly onyou.You hide behind your flashy cars and your designer watches, up in your penthouse tower, but let me tell you something…none of it hides the fact that you can’t be open and honest without a fucking bottle of wine in you.”
My words dug into him like shrapnel from a grenade that had just gone off, his face wincing with each continued blow. It felt too good to feel bad for him. He wanted me to speak up. To take up space. Well, here I was. The invention of his own making.
“I should have known you’d do this.Ruinthis.” I pointed between us. “You’d rather destroy everyone around you because it means you’re in control.”
The thought saddened me, a hairline fracture to my heart. I couldn’t see anything but a ruined man before me. One that I had been so close to falling for. Maybe I had.
I didn’t dwell on it as I lifted my chin slightly. I turned and placed the pregnancy test back in my purse before turning for the door. Before I opened it, I said heatedly over my shoulder, “And before you ask, I’m keeping this baby and I really don’t care what you have to say about it.”
I yanked the door open and stepped through it before slamming it loudly behind me. Everyone in the office looked up suddenly, surprise on their faces. I tried to ignore their curious eyes and hushed whispers. I quickly sat down at my desk, refusing to let anyone see me cry. What would they think?
A rush of emotions crashed into me now that I was out of that room with the man I thought I was coming to know. Sadness for what could have been. Anger for what he made it into. Fear for what was to come.
I was furious with him that he would even jump to such a horrendous conclusion about me. As if I were the type of person who would ever try to trap someone with a baby to get money. It would be almost laughable if it didn’t hurt so badly. I thought he knew me, but I was clearly mistaken. How could his opinion of me be so low?
I thought we had turned some sort of page in Dallas, like we were starting a new chapter. What that chapter entailed, I wasn’t sure, but I was excited for it because I thought he would be in it. Now, I realized hewasin it. Briefly, before he became the villain that shattered me into a million little pieces.
How embarrassing was I to think he would ever be with someone like me? I shook my head, internally berating myself for my foolishness. I couldn’t stand to be here a minute longer, knowing he was just on the other side of that door. I stood up suddenly, grabbing my purse from my desk, before storming toward the elevators.
“Sadie?” asked Tanya warily as she eyed me from her desk. “Is everything okay?”
“No, it’s really not.” I pressed the button for the elevator, looking behind me to make sure he wasn’t following me.
“Where are you going?”
“Home,” I said definitely.
“But, what about Mr. Mason?” she asked, throwing a cautious look toward his door.
“What about him?” I rolled my eyes, tapping my foot impatiently.
I didn’t want to be here anymore. Didn’t want to talk about him. Didn’t want to care about any of this. None of it mattered anymore.
“You could lose your job.” Her eyebrows lifted with worry.
As the elevator doors opened, I stepped inside. “Then so be it.”
I pressed the button for the lobby and the doors closed, sealing me inside a small box of solitude where I finally let my tears fall. It was like every quickened heartbeat I had when Jeremiah was around. Every look cast my way. Every touch. Every kiss poured out of me in quiet sobs.
When the doors opened to the lobby, I swiped my tears away and walked swiftly for the door. I didn’t look back. I didn’t care if it would be my last time in this building. I just needed to get home and seal myself inside. I needed to process everything. I needed to talk to someone who actually cared about me. I just hopedGabriella would pick up. Damn her for being in Boston when I needed her most.
And damn me for being the world’s biggest idiot.
Chapter 28
Jeremiah
The elevator doors opened to the long, carpeted hallway and I debated stepping out. It had taken me hours of convincing myself to show up here, and now that I was this close, I started to think better of it. The gold doors, impatient of waiting for my decision, began to slide closed, but I slipped my hand between them, forcing them to open back up. I took a deep breath and stepped out onto the burgundy carpet that led to Sadie’s door.
I realized I had never been here before. Aside from that steamy moment in this very elevator, I had never made it past the gold doors to her apartment just a few doors down. Though, I had thought about it many times, usually late at night when my hand just wasn’t cutting it.
I stepped up to her door, but didn’t knock right away. Instead, I paced outside, trying to figure out what to say. Something I should have thought about at the office in the hours after shehad left with a slam of the door. After she had left me reeling with the news of the baby. After she had left me to lick the wounds she inflicted with her pointed words. I had never seen her so angry, or heard such words tumble off her tongue in a spew of rage. It had cut more than I would like to admit to hear those things, but it didn’t mean I didn’t deserve them.
I sat with her words for a while, stewing in her verbal attack.
