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Oh, God. How could it be him?
The door opened, but there weren’t any more voices. There was no more shouting. She heard it shut.
“Merry,” Grace whispered. “Are you okay?”
Merry shook her head.
“I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry, sweetie.”
This time she nodded.
“Come on. Sit on the couch.”
She obeyed, forcing her body to move to the couch and pulling herself into it. “I need a drink,” she whispered, thinking she meant water, but when Grace handed her a shot of tequila a minute later, Merry realized that was exactly what she’d wanted. She tossed it back and didn’t even shudder. She wanted even the memory of the taste of him gone from her mouth.
Grace took the shot glass and produced the bottle to pour another. “Listen. That asshole…he doesn’t matter. You hear me? It was just sex.”
Merry shook her head. She wasn’t thinking about that now. Or ever. She tossed back the second shot. “When the board finds out I hired him, it’ll be over.”
“But you didn’t know it was him! He lied to you! They can’t blame you for that.”
“Yes, they can. Because I wasn’t supposed to hire anybody. They wouldn’t approve anything, not even the smallest expense, so I went behind their backs, and I hired him. I was going to have to pay him out of my own pocket until I could get the board to cover it. Now… Oh, God, Grace. They’ll fire me as soon as they find out. What am I going to do?”
“Maybe they won’t find out.”
“He’ll tell them! That was the whole point of helping me. He wasn’t doing it because he liked me. He even volunteered his work for free. He said he wanted to do his part, give back to the community, but what he wanted to do was ruin everything. Grace… What am I going to do?”
“Nothing! He won’t say anything. Cole won’t let him. I won’t let him.”
“Oh, Grace.” The tequila was sinking in now, permeating her blood, working into her cells. Merry leaned into the couch and let her head fall back as numbness washed slowly through her. “It’s two million dollars. He’s not going to back down, not even for Cole. Shane can buy new friends with that kind of money.”
“No, we can… We can…”
Merry was sure she’d never heard Grace so distraught. She reached out and this time, Grace wouldn’t dare stiffen up or ignore the hug. This time she had to wrap her arms around Merry and squeeze tight.
Merry drew a deep breath. And then another. She’d been a fool. She’d been worse than a fool. She should’ve known the moment he’d come on to her that something was off. She wasn’t that kind of girl. The only reason someone would want her that way was—
She gasped and shoved the thought away. She couldn’t face it now. She couldn’t. But thank God for tequila. The room was already spinning. This hurt, but it wouldn’t hurt for very long tonight. She’d be totally numb soon. “Oh, God, Grace.”
“Don’t cry,” Grace whispered. “Please don’t cry.”
But Merry wasn’t crying. She couldn’t summon that kind of energy. Right now, the numbness was sinking in, and she was watching the pain approach from a long way off. The tequila sank deeper, pulling her mind in. “It’s okay,” she told her friend. “Just get me one more shot.”
Grace pulled away and had another shot in Merry’s hand within three seconds. “Drink,” she ordered. Merry did. “You can stay here as long as you want. Don’t worry about the damned job, all right? You don’t need to pay rent. You know that.”
Merry thought about their nearest neighbor and laughed. “I’m not sure this is the right building for me.”
“Oh, fuck him,” Grace growled. “I’ll terrorize him. Hell, I’ll have Rayleen terrorize him. That would put the fear of God in any man. He’ll move out or I’ll make him wish he was dead.”
Merry smiled, her head lolling against the back of the couch. Yep, she was drunk, no question about it. And that last shot hadn’t even hit her yet. “Good,” she murmured. She grabbed the bottle from Grace’s hand and took a swig before Grace snatched it back and set it out of reach. “Is it dark yet? I want to go to bed.”
“It doesn’t matter if it’s dark. You can have my bed tonight, hon. I’ll stay on the couch. You sleep as long as you want.”
“Okay. Thank you. I just want to go to sleep. That’s all.”
She felt funny leaning on tiny Grace as they moved toward the bedroom, but she knew it wasn’t appropriate to laugh. That would worry Grace, and she didn’t want to do that.
The room swam around her as she sat on the bed and let Grace take off her shoes. “This is good,” she said.
