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“My name is Grayson Reilly. I run a company called Reilly Global Securities. I have a job offer for you.”
Alex felt her eyebrows going up. “A job offer?”
“I’ve seen you on TV, how you protected Elizabeth. It’s not right how she dropped you as soon as you became too much of a scandal. Not only on a personal level, but a professional level as well.”
To be honest, Alex hadn’t even thought of this from that standpoint. Her career was the last thing she was worried about right now.
“I guess.”
“I know you have a long road to recovery, but when you are better, I would like you on my staff. You have already proven your bravery and competence. If you are agreeable, I will start paying you your full salary at the end of this month and keep doing so until you are recovered enough to come to work.
“You can start off in administration duty while your injuries are still healing, then move onto active guard duty once you are cleared by your doctors.”
It was a wonderful offer, but Alex couldn’t take it without being honest.
“You should know that I have PTSD from my time in the Marines. I’ve been fired from several companies before because of it. I’m in therapy and I’m improving, but it can still get in the way of my work.”
“I understand PTSD. A number of my employees have struggled with it. Don’t you worry about that—we can work around it. I can work with your therapist to assign you jobs that shouldn’t be triggering for you, as well as clients who are understanding of this kind of issue.”
It seemed too good to be true. Was this a scam? A prank?
“Thank you, Grayson,” Alex said carefully. “It is a very generous offer. I’m afraid I’m not in the best state to make decisions at the moment, however. I’m still on a lot of heavy painkillers and they are affecting my judgment. May I have some time to decide?”
“Of course, Alex. Take all the time you need. The offer will remain open until you decide to take it or decline it. I really want you on my staff, and I’m willing to wait for you. Oh, and please do call me Gray.”
“I will get back to you as soon as I can, Gray.”
“Get well soon, Alex.”
As soon as they hung up, Alex googled Reilly Global Security. From what she could find, they seemed legit. They had successfully protected a number of high-profile clients and had excellent reviews. Gray was married to an ex-client, which gave Alex pause for a moment, but then she remembered that she herself had fallen in love with a client and had little room to judge professionalism in this arena.
Alex could totally see herself working for Gray. She couldn’t have Elizabeth, but maybe she could get at least this much out of it.
She had originally hoped that working for Elizabeth would jumpstart her career. She would throw it all away if it just meant she could have Elizabeth back, but Elizabeth didn’t want her, and it was time Alex started thinking of herself.
She had given up hope of finding someone willing to hire her. Starting up her own security firm would be a lot of unnecessary work if she could just join someone like Gray, who seemed to run the kind of business that Alex would aspire to create anyway.
She’d have to do some more research once the pain meds wore off a little more, as well as get James’ opinion, but she was hopeful that this opportunity could help pull her life together after the disaster of being hurt as badly as she was.
Of course, internally everything still felt like a complete trainwreck, but that was to be expected. Alex would probably never truly recover from the wound Elizabeth had dealt her.
It was funny. She made her living guarding other people, and yet she had failed to guard herself.
In the future, Alex would do better. She wasn’t going to put herself on the line ever again. Sure, being alone forever would suck. She’d be lonely, and she’d miss the family she never had, but it would be better than this. It would be better than feeling like her heart had been ripped into irreparable shreds.
If this was what having a soulmate was like, Alex didn’t want it. She was better off alone.
11
Elizabeth
Elizabeth existed. She tried to recapture her passion. She knew that she cared about her work and the LGBT+ community. She knew that helping the vulnerable people who couldn’t help themselves fulfilled her.
Then why did she feel so empty? Surely, the hole that Alex had left in her heart should start to heal? And yet, two months down the line, she was as heartbroken as she had been on that first day. She still cried herself to sleep. She still turned automatically to look for Alex whenever she had something she just had to share. She still kept thinking she heard Alex’s voice, or saw her out of the corner of her eye.
Elizabeth wondered if she needed therapy but decided that her career couldn’t handle that. Her career was all that she had left, and she wasn’t going to jeopardize it further.
Elizabeth glanced at Gary, her new bodyguard, aggravated as he stared placidly back at her. She wasn’t happy with his services.
