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Was that all I had been to her? A means to advance her career?
John came running into my office. “Steven! What the hell! Andrew said Laura quit, and you were having a fit.” He closed the door and sat on the edge of one of the chairs next to my slumped body. “Buddy, what happened? Andrew says you punched Reed. Are you out of your fucking mind? I know you care about this chick, but for Christ’s sake, you can’t assault an employee.”
“ARRGHHH!” I jumped to my feet and grabbed John by his shirt, lifting him off the chair. “GET OUT!”
He didn’t struggle. Instead, he let his body relax and looked at me as if I was a child having a temper tantrum. He lowered his voice and used a soothing tone. “Steven, buddy. Talk to me. What’s going on?”
I let him go. I paced the floor.
“She’s just like all the other women in this city,” I said. “Ruthless. Selfish. Greedy.”
“We work in the trading world. Everyone here is greedy and ruthless. Especially you. That’s what made you two a great couple. You both had a drive unmatched by most, ambition for success and wealth, but deep down you’re both good people, even if you are a grumpy bastard on the outside. Neither of you ever screwed someone over to get what you wanted.”
“She used me. To advance her career.”
“Then why did she quit? That doesn’t help her career.”
“She went back to that Kenny prick.”
“The guy who’s been after her for years, but she’s always rejected? No way. I don’t buy it. You’re not thinking clearly, man. Get your anger under control so you can see through the storm clouds.”
I drew in a deep breath through clenched teeth. It wasn’t working. I didn’t need to calm down to see the truth. “She fucking left me. It doesn’t matter why. She didn’t need me, and she took off. Just like Barb did when she found someone better.”
John returned to the chair and settled in, smoothing out his shirt. “Andrew said something about Reed.”
“Fucking Reed. Andrew shouldn’t have stopped me after one punch. It’s all his fault. He upset her, and she decided to leave this job and me to go back home. To Kenny.”
John barked out a laugh.
Was the jackass laughing at my pain? “Shut the fuck up, John!”
“You’re such an idiot. Since when did Laura let a guy like Reed get to her? She went through hell to get here. A shit like Reed wouldn’t make her change her mind.”
That sounded slightly logical, but there was no other explanation.
John steepled his fingers. “Didn’t you say her career was her dream? People don’t change lifelong dreams over a lunch break.”
I hated to admit it, but maybe he was right. Even if she changed her mind about me, she wouldn’t quit this internship, no matter how awkward things would have been between us after a breakup.
John stood up. “Laura is a fighter. She doesn’t take the easy road. Whatever she’s doing right now is her way of fighting.”
I stopped in my tracks. That made sense. She was like that. But fighting what?
“And I bet you a hundred grand,” John said, “that the thing she’s fighting for right now is you.”
“Don’t be a fucking moron. She already had me.”
“I didn’t say she was fighting tohaveyou. I said she was fightingforyou. I know women, Stevieboy. You’ve got a lioness watching your back. You have to trust me on this. So, what are you going to do about it?”
I honked at the prick who cut me off. I glanced at my phone that was hooked to the dash. No new texts.
What was Laura thinking? Why hadn’t she come to me? Could John be right? Or was I about to make a fool of myself and get rejected again?
Whatever Reed had told her couldn’t have been that bad. Did he have something on me? On her?
Didn’t she trust me to take care of it and protect her? Didn’t she know I would do whatever it took to keep her safe, no matter what?
My GPS had me turning left, then right, then onto an on-ramp.
