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I gave Julie the rest of the day off to recover. It didn’t surprise me when she took the following day off, too. I got through it with Luka’s help, but we were all concerned when she didn’t show up the day after, either. Julie valued her job and as much as that man hurt her, it concerned me that she was struggling so much that she was avoiding being here.
“We have to do something.”
I sighed. Luka and Bennett had stormed my office after lunch, demanding we take action. If I thought there was anything that we could do, I might’ve agreed with them. As it was, she needed time to process and work through this on her own. It would be selfish of us to force her to recover on our timeline.
“There’s nothing we can do. She’s heartbroken and probably embarrassed. If she needs a few days off to come to terms with it, then so be it.”
“What if she doesn’t come back?” Bennett murmured.
My heart stuttered, and unease settled under my skin. I admitted, mostly to myself, that I was quickly becoming reliant on Julie. Losing her would throw me into a spiral, and I seriously doubted there was someone out there who was better for the job. I didn’t want to be selfish, though.
“If that’s what she wants, then we have to respect her wishes.”
“Bullshit!” Luka snapped. His mood had only worsened the longer she was gone. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that he had feelings for her. They both did. So her being upset affected them probably more than normal. People had approached me more than once asking what was wrong with Luka, since he was usually always smiling. He couldn’t pull off even a fake smile at this point, and I couldn’t really blame him.
“We should go check on her.”
I shook my head. “That wouldn’t be appropriate. She’s an employee, and she followed procedure to take a personal day. We can’t–”
Bennet made a face. “She’s not just an employee. She’s our friend, and she’s hurt. We should go check on her.”
Luka bobbed his head in agreement. “He’s right. She’s not answering my phone calls. That’s a serious red flag. What if she’s injured? I’ve heard, like, six times over from the entire company the things that bastard said about her. What if she’s hurting herself?”
That made me hesitate, and I had to fight myself not to pick up the phone and call her. No doubt, she’d answer if it was me. I was her boss and upset or not, she’d pick up the phone. I didn’t want to do that, though. It might make her think she needed to come back before she was ready.
“Luka–”
“No, Grayson! If it was Bennett or me, you know you’d be going over there with a bottle of whiskey so that we could get through it together. Julie’s great. Why can’t we do the same thing for her?”
Drawing in a deep breath, I let it out slowly, summoning as much patience as I could muster. “Because you’re not just interested in friendship with her. You’re reacting this way because you want more and it’s unfair to put that kind of attention on her while she’s dealing with a heartache. You need to leave her be.”
Bennett frowned at the floor and Luka shot me a dirty look, but neither of them argued with me because they knew I was right.
Luka dropped into his seat, glaring at the wall. They were both quiet for a little while, but I didn’t even hope that I’d be able to get any work done. They weren’t the only ones who were distracted by Julie’s absence.
I gave up after a while, deciding that I’d get more work done at home when these two weren’t sitting around in my office moping. While I packed up my paperwork for the evening, they both spoke low to each other, occasionally shaking their heads. Probably trying to come up with a plan to lure Julie back to work. With a heavy sigh, I grabbed their arms and forced them to get moving.
“You are not calling that woman and guilt tripping her to come back. You’re going to give her the time she deserves to get over her heartache. If she’s your friend, you’ll do that much for her. Understand?”
They both nodded, which, in hindsight, was a little too easy. I thought maybe after arguing for most of the afternoon, I’d finally gotten them to understand. I should’ve known better.
Chapter Twelve
LUKA
Bennett had taken to shadowing me ever since Julie got hurt. He didn’t trust me not to go after the asshole who hurt her myself. I wanted to. Breaking up with her was one thing, even if it was the stupidest decision on the planet, in my opinion. Doing it publicly and humiliating her in the process was messed up, and he deserved some payback. But Grayson warned me to stay away from him and then Bennett started following me around so I couldn’t get near the guy without an audience. It pissed me off and with Julie still refusing to come back into work, I felt like I was close to losing it.
I didn’t pine like this. It wasn’t who I was. I was a playboy. It was well known throughout the entire building. I didn’t want to saddle myself with a relationship when there was so much in the world to experience. But ever since Julie showed up, I hadn’t been able to focus on anything but her. I used any excuse I could get to visit her at her desk and looked forward to the days her douchebag boyfriend wasn’t available for lunch, so I could join her.
She never believed me when I said she was perfect, but I wasn’t lying. She was good down to her core, kind beyond imagination, and so sweet she could tame even the grouchiest clients. She worked diligently, and I could see the effect it had on Grayson. He actually had color in his face and smiled more often now that he had some real help. Even Bennett was smiling more often. It was all thanks to her. So the idea of sitting by and waiting around while we knew she was in pain was unbearable.
Bennett gave me a significant look, and I nodded once. We had a plan and Grayson wasn’t going to like it, but he had to be there, too. As much as he liked to push the employee thing, he cared about her too and she needed us right now.
“Bennett, my car’s been giving me trouble. Can I hitch a ride?”
He nodded. “I drove Grayson this morning. I don’t mind the extra trip.”
