“Oh, holy mother of Jesus, Maddy!” Riley nearly spills her wine. “You cannot sleep with allthreeof them. I mean, Caleb, we can write that off because all he did was finger you, but you let Adrian in, too? Oh my god. Oh. My. God.” She drains the rest of her wine and then falls back dramatically on the couch.
I sigh, my shoulders falling. “But on the plus side, he told me it was a mistake. Like, literally called it a fuck up. Then stormed out afterward.”
Riley’s mouth falls open, and she shakes her head. “You are literally living every woman’s fantasy. Three hot as fuck men, all losing their minds over you. It’s ludicrous.”
I frown. “It’s not as much fun as it sounds. It’s exhausting, actually. And also, I think Marissa wants to kill me.”
Riley makes a face. “Fuck her. You’re not the problem. Let’s be honest, she probably is just jealous you’re hotter than her or something. She’s the least of your problems. Let’s concentrate on the three guys falling in love with you.”
I cough, nearly spraying my wine. “No oneis in love with me. If anything, they’re probably planning how to fire me as we speak. I know there was some big blowout between Adrian and Beck this afternoon.”
She rolls her eyes. “Honey, wake up. You’re the only reason that office is functional right now. I bet that place would self-destruct in a week if you quit. They need you. They know that.”
“Maybe.” I’m pretty sure there’s zero truth in her statement, but I appreciate how she’s got my back.
Riley slices cheese and lays out crackers, clearly in it for the long haul.
“So, what are you going to do?” she asks, slathering brie onto a wheat thin.
I stare glassy-eyed at my phone. “I have no idea. I don’t even know what each of them knows. It’s like a game of emotional Minesweeper. I mean, I canassumebased on what Beck said that they know about each other. But what about Caleb?”
She finishes chewing and then nods as she swallows. “Okay, well, you need a strategy. Step one, I think you should put one big fat pause on all of this. Donotbang any more bosses until it’s sorted.”
I nod, reaching for the wine bottle. “Agreed.”
Riley holds up two fingers. “Step two… I think you should figure out what you actually want. Like, do you want to keep this job? Do you want to dateoneof them? Can you sleep with all of them, and no one cares? Or do you want to say fuck it and move to another country?”
“The last one sounds like the safest,” I joke. “I just want to keep my head down and not get fired. Or publicly humiliated.”
Riley grabs my shoulders and looks me dead in the eye. “You arenotgoing to get fired. Worst case, you leave on your own terms with glowing recommendations and a killer story to tell at parties. You can blackmail the hell out of them—they’llhaveto give you what you want.”
I want to believe her, but the image of Adrian’s face, so cold and stern, keeps replaying in my mind.
There’s no way he’d fall for being blackmailed. He’d find a way to blackmail me, probably.
Riley picks up on my energy and pokes my arm. “Hey, is there something else going on? I mean, I know this is a lot, but… It’s not like those guys were notwillingparticipants.”
I clutch my wine and roll the glass between my hands. “I just feel like… aproblem. Like I fucked up so badly, there’s no way out. Like whatever happens, I lose.”
She’s quiet, then scoots closer, her voice suddenly soft. “Maddy, listen to me. The only way you lose is if you let someoneelse decide what you want. You can’t just let these guys push you around—or worse, make you feel like you don’t deserve to be there. Again,theyhave come onto you, not you them.”
I nod, a little more convinced. “I’ll try.”
She grins and then reaches for more crackers. “And you know what? If you do get fired, we’ll move to Italy and open a cheese shop. We’ll seduce hot soccer players and never come back to America again. Fuck ‘em all.”
“That’s insanely brilliant.” She finally gets a real laugh out of me. “I’m all over that.”
“Good,” Riley giggles, and then passes me a cracker with cheese already stacked on it. “Now, let’s not worry about any more men, or women named Marissa, for the rest of the night.”
I breathe out a sigh. “Deal.”
I’ll just save all my panic attacks for tomorrow.
Chapter 19
Beck
What the fuck is he doing right now?
