Ego Maniac(78)

“Every relationship goes through periods where one person needs to lean on the other more. There will come a day when I’ll need to lean on you.”

The relationship counselor in her kicked in, and I realized I needed to be blunt. So rather than ripping off the Band-Aid, I sliced open a new wound.

“I don’t want you to lean on me, Emerie. I need to end things between us.”

She took a step back, so I stepped up to the plate again and slammed home. “My son is my priority, and there isn’t room for anything else in my life.”

Emerie’s voice was a whisper. “I understand.”

“I’m sorry.” Force of habit, I reached out to touch her shoulder, give her comfort, but she backed away like my hand was fire.

Looking down, she said, “I left your messages on the desk, and your first appointment was moved up to seven-thirty.”

There was so much I should have said, but all I did was nod. Which she didn’t even see.

Emerie walked to the door of my office, and all I wanted to do was take back the last five minutes—rewind time and tell her I didn’t just want to be her teammate, I wanted to be her whole fucking team. But instead I stood there and watched her walk away. Because it would only be harder a month from now or a year from now—long-distance relationships don’t fucking work. One of us would be a hell of a lot worse off when time passed and someone cheated.

Emerie disappeared into her office and came back out a moment later wearing her coat with her laptop and purse slung over her shoulder. She gently pulled her office door closed—so gently, I almost didn’t even hear her leaving. Maybe that was the point. But I did, and when I looked up to catch one last glimpse of her, I saw that she was crying. I had to grip the chair in front of me in order to keep myself from going after her.

Then she was gone.

And as I stood in place for the next hour with shit whirling through my mind, all I could think was—who was I trying to protect here?

Her…or me.





Drew

I didn’t think it was possible to get any more miserable than I’d been the last week. Alexa and I had fought for an hour when I picked up Beck, and then she started in right where she’d left off when I brought him back two days later. My son hadn’t felt well all weekend and wanted to know why we couldn’t go home to my place anymore. I didn’t know what to tell him, and the longer I left shit in limbo, the harder it was getting.

To make matters worse, my flight back to New York was delayed for six hours, and the last decent night’s sleep I’d had was the night before the judge handed down his decision. Even the flight attendant asked me if I was feeling okay. The truth of the matter was, I wasn’t feeling okay—I was fucking miserable trying to figure out my move to Atlanta. Although that wasn’t the real reason for my recent hatred of life.

By the time my flight landed at JFK, it was midnight. I was so exhausted from lack of sleep, I thought I might actually pass out tonight, finally get some desperately needed shut-eye. But then I made the mistake of stopping in the office, just to look around.

It was quiet. I didn’t expect Emerie to be here this late. She’d avoided me at all costs before I left for Atlanta anyway—coming to the office only to meet her in-person appointments and leaving immediately after. I presumed she was doing the rest of her working from home. Plus, having access to my schedule, she’d have known I was due back earlier in the evening, so I was certain she’d be staying away.

I dropped my bags at the reception desk and walked through the eerily silent office. Emerie’s door was closed, and I tried my hardest to pass it by, but I just couldn’t do it. Even though I was relatively certain no one was in there, I knocked first, then slowly creaked the door open. It was dark, but the hall light illuminated enough for me to see inside. Although I was sure the darkness had me imagining things. So I flipped the light on. My heart leaped into my throat as I froze and stared.

Empty.

The office was fucking empty.

I blinked a few times, hoping my eyes were playing tricks on me, but nope—she was gone. For good this time.





“I need you to tail someone for me.”

“Good fucking morning to you, too, sunshine.” Roman plopped down into the guest chair on the other side of my desk.

When I’d texted him at six this morning, he was already on his way to my place. Since I hadn’t slept all night and decided to make productive use of my insomnia, I told him to meet me in the office.

“There’s nothing good about it.” I tossed the file in my hand on the desk and rubbed my eyes.

“You look like shit, man.” Roman leaned back in his chair and lifted his boot-covered feet onto my desk, crossing them at the ankles. Normally, I’d knock them off, but I didn’t care enough this morning.

“All the traveling has caught up to me.”

“Yeah, that’s the reason.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing. What do you need?”

“I want you to tail Emerie for me.”

“What the fuck for? Isn’t she across the hall from you half the day?”

“She moved out.”

“When did that happen?”

“Sometime over the last few days, I assume. Got back at midnight, and her office was cleared out.”