AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He held me even tighter, eventually moving his hands to my cheeks. “I would have prepared you. I would have put my own character and integrity on the line for you. Because even though Hooked is my dream and my dream child, you mean everything to me.” He moved his face closer, locking our stares. “Do you understand the emotional stakes that are involved here? If Hooked fails, Drake, that’s not personal.That’s years of hard work and financial risk and determination down the goddamn drain. But losing a company that was designed by the three of us, that gave us all a chance to work together, that brought me Love, and then brought you back to me after I thought I had lost you forever—that’s personal.” His thumbs strummed my cheeks. “Holden once said to me that the reason the app was created was for us to find each other—you and me, Drake. That’s fate. That’s what I believe. And I also believe nothing is going to take that away from me. I won’t let it.” He stayed in that position until he tilted his head back, looking at the ceiling before making eye contact again. “I know you didn’t do this.”
As his hands dropped to my shoulders, I wiped the droplets that were on the verge of falling into my mouth. “I understand how hard this is for you, but you have to understand how hard it is for me, Easton. Someone is making me look extremely guilty. Someone has either shared your designs or stolen them, and they’re trying to blame it on me. I wouldn’t still be here, I wouldn’t care, I wouldn’t have tears streaming down my face if I was that person.”
“That’s what I told the guys when we were in Holden’s office.”
“Did they believe you?”
My gut clenched as I waited for his response.
As I tried to envision what that conversation had looked like.
“I don’t know, Drake. It was a hard thing to discuss. I couldn’t exactly push your innocence onto two guys who don’t know we’re together. They would wonder why I was able to speak so confidently about your character and how I know so much—and I couldn’t go there, at least not until you gave me the okay to have that talk with them.”
“Fuck.” I swallowed, trying to move the knot from my throat, but it wouldn’t budge. “This is such a mess.”
He gripped the sides of my face, holding me steady. “I know we agreed to keep things a secret between us, but I think it’s time to tell them.” He held me even tighter. “I want to go into Holden’s office rightnow and defend your innocence and explain to them all about Love—about us. But I need you to tell me it’s all right to do that.”
“Us,” I whispered. “Will there even be an us after this?” My lips quivered as I continued, “Easton, you and Saara are all I have. Besides the pseudo-family sitting around the table in the conference room. It devastates me that any of you would think I would do something like this. I wouldn’t risk those relationships. I wouldn’t risk my career. I wouldn’t risk us.”
He pulled me into his arms, pressing his body to mine before I could finish. “I believe you. I trust you. I don’t think you would ever do something like this to me or our company.”
My body sagged against him, and he took even more of my weight, breathing into my neck, cupping the back of my head until I had the energy to pull away.
“Are you sure?” I paused, staring into his eyes. “Easton, you’re positive you have no doubt at all?”
His teeth found his lip, biting down for just a second before he said, “I’m going to be honest. There was a brief period when I questioned it. You’ve just been in contact with so many Faceframe colleagues lately, text messages and conversations, and I didn’t know what any of them were about. And then there was that run-in with your colleague in Germany, and he mentioned the project you were working on—”
“A new messaging system for the Faceframe app. That was what we were designing when I gave my notice. A whole new interface for private communication. He wouldn’t say that because of his NDA, but that’s what we were talking about.” I reached for my cell, which was on my desk. “Here. Look.” I placed the phone in his hand and brought up the recent messages with my old team members. “These are the conversations I have with them.” I watched him read each one, and then I opened another text box to show him a different exchange. They were all work-related inquiries, questions I offered to answer, issues I washelping to solve because I knew the adjustment would be challenging for them.
“Drake—”
“There are more, hold on.”
He placed his hand on mine, lowering the phone. “You don’t have to show me more. I believe you.” He stared at me silently. “I’m going to go into Holden’s office and talk to him and Grayson. Is there anything you don’t want me to say?”
“I don’t know.” I shook my head, the movement causing more tears to fall. “No.”
“Baby ...”
His voice was so gentle, it sent me even further into an emotional spiral.
“I have to get out of here, Easton. I have to go home.”
“I’m coming to your apartment tonight. After work. And we’ll talk.” His face moved closer to mine. “Or we don’t have to talk at all. I just want to be with you.”
Before I could respond, before I could even do anything, he was placing the softest kiss on my lips.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Easton
When I told Holden and Grayson I needed to talk to them and asked them to follow me to my office, I didn’t have a plan. I took the seat behind my desk as they sat in front of me, and I stewed over the meeting that had just taken place in the conference room. I fucking ached for Drake and the emotion she’d expressed in her office. I tried to formulate how to best lead this conversation, given all the topics I needed to discuss with them.
Nothing I could say would change Drake’s suspension.
I knew that.
Whether she was innocent or not, until the investigation was closed, she couldn’t return to Hooked. Before the meeting with her, the three of us had agreed to hire a forensic data analyst, who would comb through both of Drake’s workstations and determine if any data from her computers had been transferred.
