Page 86 of Threaded Lies

Not Leo.

And sure as shit not me.

Just, fuck you.

TWENTY-NINE

Holden

“This is what you have me doing with my time now?” Audrey asks. “I assure you it’s more valuable than buying a skateboard.”

“Have you always voiced your opinions this loudly?” I ask and lean back in my chair to stare at her over my steepled fingers.

“No, but it seems you need more directing now than you ever did.”

“Directing?”

“Yes.” The faintest of smiles turns up the corners of her lips. “Keeping you in your lane.”

“Bullshit.”

“Do you love her?”

I cough over my next breath. “What the fuck, Audrey?”

“It’s a valid question, is it not?”

“No.”

“No, it’s not valid, or no, you’re not in love with her.” She lifts her eyebrows.

“Do you have a point to this?”

“It’s my job to make you aware of anything I see hindering you completing this project. And I see you paying a teenager for his work for I don’t know what. Then you ask me to buy him a skateboard and question how much all new baseball gear is. I also see you dodging out of meetings to take calls from a certain female employee. And you sure as shit aren’t hiding the way you look at her and the silly smile you get when you hang up with her.”

“Your point?”

“You’re too close, too invested.”

“Maybe I’m keeping her close to the vest so that I know what’s going on in the Rothschild world.”

“And maybe you’re letting the lines blur between sex, loyalty, and love.”

“If I wanted a lecture, I’d call my mom.”

“But you’re not and that’s telling in and of itself. Even more telling is how defensive you’re being right now, not because I’m calling you on the carpet with this but because you know I’m right and don’t want to admit it.”

I grit my teeth and stew at her words and withering stare. “I know what I’m doing.”

“You mean the fucking Rowan at the same time she’s engaged to Chad part, or were we talking about something else?”

The fact that her saying that—“fucking Rowan”—has me rolling my shoulders should tell me all I need to know.

She’s right.

I’m too fucking close.

It’s not like that’s a news flash or anything, so why can’t I step the fuck back?