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20
DARCY
Friday felt like it came too quickly. I checked the clock at work and saw I’d only had another hour before I was supposed to head out for the weekend. Dominic had given me an entire week to work more on this MLM piece and I still felt like it was coming down to the wire.
I leaned back in my chair, stretched my sore fingers, and dove back in. I was trying to do one last editing pass before I sent it to Dominic for approval.
Elizabeth stopped by my desk with her bag over her shoulder and wiggled her eyebrows.
“Leaving early?” I asked. “Did the dark overlord approve that?”
“The dark overlord values my hilarious sense of humor. He lets me get away with a thing or two here and there.”
I grinned, still scanning my story with the other half of my attention. “Is that right?”
“It is. Now, I know I’m no journalist, but I can’t help but sense some tension between the two of you. Are you going to tell me what happened, or do I need to put on my investigator’s hat?”
I chewed the inside of my cheek. The truth was I hadn’t toldanyoneabout my momentary departure from sanity on Ally Fitzroy’s roof. I’d gotten on my knees and blown Dominic Lockwood. Hell, I’d even found some of his “Gentleman’s Relish” on my dress, as Elizabeth disturbingly liked to call it. I just hoped nobody I’d mingled with at the party had noticed.
But it felt like talking about it would risk breaking the spell. Even Dominic hadn’t tried to approach me since that night. Marcus Fitzroy, on the other hand, kept making lip-zipping gestures and winking at me every time we passed in the office. If not for him, I could almost believe the whole thing had just been some kind of fever dream.
“I’m not sure what you mean,” I said. I felt like the world’s shittiest friend for keeping secrets from her, but I really did plan to fill her in once everything didn’t feel so confusing and delicate. My biggest concern was that it wasn’t only my secret. Dominic stood to lose just as much as I did–if not more–from anyone discovering what we did on that roof.
Elizabeth frowned and crossed her arms. She jabbed a finger at me after a moment of thought. “If I find out you two arefucking, ohh girl.” She pulled her head back, shaking it menacingly. “I will be so mad at you and I might not talk to you for at least a week–afteryou tell me everything, that is.”
I grinned. “If there was anything to tell, you know I would tell it to you when the time was right.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “When the time was right? What does that mean? Does that mean there’s something to tell but you’re not telling it yet?”
Farhad must’ve seen us talking because he appeared at Elizabeth’s side. “Is this person bothering you?” He asked. I was surprised to see his initial annoyance at being assigned to work on politics had faded. Lately, Farhad seemed downright cheerful. I’d even seen him leaving the office with Kirk for drinks after work a few times. The two had become fast friends, and they were always talking excitedly about whatever piece they were writing at the moment.
“Yes,” I said. “I have less than an hour to finish this and somebody is dick digging.”
Farhad sputtered with laughter and Elizabeth grinned.
“Dick digging?” he asked.
“Yes. She is trying to pry into my mind and find out if I’ve had any close encounters of the scrotal kind.And I have not.I’ve been a diligent, focused employee who has been hard at work on her assignments. Nothing else.”
Farhad and Elizabeth shared a look. He nodded. “Yeah, she’s lying.”
I threw up my hands in frustration. “Why won’t anyone just believe me?”
“Because I’m now dick digging, too,” Farhad said. “And I had to move like one grain of dirt to find evidence of a massive dick in your past.”
“Yeah,” Elizabeth said loudly, leaning in and poking my chest. “Who does it belong to, Darcy? Hmm? Does this dick happen to have a fondness for nice suits and sexy little vests, perhaps?”
“Both of you, leave me alone. I seriously have work to do.”
My phone was on my desk and it buzzed. It was a text from Charleston at the worst possible time, and both Farhad and Elizabeth’s eyes went straight to the preview.
Charleston:How did your date with Mr. Big Dick Boss go? Did you get lu…
I slapped my hand over the phone, covering the text even though I knew it was too late.
Elizabeth folded her arms and shook her head at me like a disappointed mother. “Unbelievable. So you tellsomefriends about your sexual conquests, but not all of them? Is that how this works? Do we need to pay a subscription service to be Tier 1 friends, Darcy? Are we not good enough for you?”
I couldn’t help grinning. She was mostly messing with me, but I knew there was a grain of real hurt underneath the jokes.
