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As she turned to walk away, without thought I reached out and grabbed her by the forearm. “Red, wait.”
She appeared confused by my sudden action. I was confused by it myself, but I didn’t let go. My fingers stayed glued to her arm as my lips parted.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Please don’t.”
“Please don’t what?”
“Marry him.”
Her eyes grew dull as the words hit her ears. She stumbled back and pulled her arm away from me, staring as if I’d slapped her right across the face. I didn’t want to make her feel that way. I didn’t want her to look at me as if I were a complete stranger, but she did Because I was a stranger.
That hurt more than I could’ve expected it to.
“Aaliyah, come on, we’re leaving,” Jason called out with a tone I didn’t like. Shit. I hated all of his tones, but I loathed how he used them to order her around.
She kept her stare on me, appearing hurt by my insane, but warranted, request. Her eyes stayed with me as she spoke to him. “I’m coming.”
And with that, she left.
11
Connor
It had beentwo weeks since I told Aaliyah to not marry my business partner, and I still stood by my request. The day before Jason’s wedding, I learned that he was even more of a trash human than I could’ve imagined. I wasn’t able to stop him from drinking because he showed up to my house already drunk and high. He came five hours later than he was supposed to and crashed in my guest room.
Then came the morning, when I realized how much I truly hated him.
Jason Rollsfield was, without a doubt, a piece of shit. That was nothing new to me. Still, when I woke on his wedding day, I was somewhat shocked at the level of shittiness he’d proven himself to be.
I woke up early in the morning to the sound of something shattering. I sat up straight in my bed, shaken up a bit from the sudden crash, when I heard two voices. That was almost more alarming than the sound of the crash.
“Shh! Don’t wake him,” Jason said, causing me to wonder exactly who he was speaking to in my house. What kind of person invited others into a home that wasn’t theirs? Jason, of course. I couldn’t wait until this man moved out to California to run the branch there. Sure, I had my fears of him screwing up, but I wanted him as far away from me as possible.
My curiosity pulled me out of bed, and I walked into the living room space, where I found three things that stressed me out. First, my top-of-the-line bottle of whiskey that’d cost me hundreds, the one I was saving for when I closed the deal on my passion project, sat on the kitchen countertop, opened and almost empty. Second, an expensive lamp a client had gifted me for our closing deal on their property was on the floor shattered into a million pieces. Lastly, Rose.
Yep, that was right. My new intern, who was pretty much a day over nineteen, was standing next to the broken lamp in my living room. When she looked up and noticed me noticing her, she froze like a deer in headlights. Her eyes bugged out and her skin paled. I wasn’t sure which looked more damaged—her or the lamp. Her brown hair was tangled and wild. She was wearing Jason’s blazer from the night before, and if she was wearing shorts of any kind, they were too short to notice. All I saw was bare legs—bare legs I had no want or need to witness because she was my fucking intern.
Why the hell was my intern in my penthouse with no pants on?
Rose went ahead and did what she had always done so well: she began to ramble.
“Oh my goodness! Mr. Roe, I’m so, so sorry! You can totally take the price of the lamp out of my next paycheck. And, uh, oh gosh, if you’d like, I can pick up the pieces if you tell me where you keep your trash bags in your house. And oh my gosh, what a be-beautiful home you have, and, and—”
“Rose.”
She swallowed hard and stood still. “Yes, Mr. Roe?”
“Leave my house.”
She blinked a few times. “Of course, Mr. Roe.” She began walking toward the front door, and I called out toward her.
“Before you exit, please get dressed in whatever it is you wore over here. I don’t need people seeing you leave half-naked.”
“Right. Of course. Sorry, Mr. Roe. I’ll be gone in no time.”
I couldn’t believe she’d even spent a moment in my home. What had she been thinking? No—what had Jason been thinking?
