RISK(71)

"I'm not going to stop you."

"I don't know what happened between the two of you, but I do know that Miss Madden wants a chance to fix it."

"Some things can't be fixed."

"What happened, sir? I realize that this steps outside the boundary of boss and assistant but I have a strong shoulder. I've counseled four daughters through the ups and downs of relationships."

I'm tempted to tell her. I've been avoiding everyone but May for four days. I dodged Crew's questions by telling him that I'm focused on the spring product line. I cut a phone call with my mom short when I told her that May needed me to read a story to her even though my daughter was fast asleep. I can't talk about it because it pisses me off. I gave her a part of me and she f*cking threw it back in my face.

"I don't want to discuss it. Miss Madden made a choice. This is the result."

She takes a measured step closer to my desk. "You also made a choice when you started a relationship with her. Ending it with silence is brutal. Mr. Miller is doing that to me now."

"Miller is ghosting you?"

"Like Casper, sir."

"Get him in here so I can fire his ass."

"I just told you he's not accepting my calls or text messages, Mr. Black. How can I get him to come to see you?"

"Good point. I'm ignoring her because I don't know what to say to her, Eda." I don't. I don't want what I have with Ellie it to be over. I also don't want to give my heart to a woman who is spreading her love around.

"Anything you say is better than not saying a word." She shoves the pencil back behind her ear. "Trust me on that."

She may be right but I know there's nothing I could say or Ellie could do to change what I saw on Sunday afternoon.





Chapter 49


Ellie




"Four f*cking days." I throw my phone on my bed. "What a complete ass. He's an ass, isn't he?"

"An *." Adley twirls her finger in the air. "You forgot the hole at the end of ass. He's an *."

He's not; not really. He's hurt. He saw something on Sunday and jumped to a conclusion that resulted in him diving inside a cocoon to protect his heart. Logically, I know that. Emotionally, I'm pissed as hell at him for ignoring me all week.

"His assistant told me he was busy and I could see him not ten feet away in his office counting the tiles on the ceiling."

"I wouldn't do it, Bean." She plops herself on her back on my bed, narrowly missing my phone. "I would tell the jerk to go to hell, and I'd move on."

I wish it were that easy. He told me he loved me and I felt the same thing. I didn't say it and I doubt it would matter at this point whether I did or not.

He saw me in a candy store holding hands with Wolf when I told him I was spending the day at home. I passed on time with him and May. He has to be thinking about all of that.

There's no way he could have known that I ran into Wolf when I went to the store to buy May a candy necklace. They were my favorite treat when I was a kid and I wanted to surprise her by taking one to their apartment. I had no idea Wolf's sister owns the store and he'd be there helping her out.

"You should have just told him on the spot why you were with Wolf." She bobs her foot up and down. "I don't understand why you didn't."

"May was standing right there." I sit on the edge of the bed. "I couldn't talk about it in front of her. It's a heavy topic. She's just a little girl."

"I forgot about the daughter." She scrunches her nose. "You were right to hold back, Bean. He was wrong to assume that you're boning Wolf."

"We were holding hands." I hold up both my hands in mock defense. "I know you're going to say that it's not an excuse for the way he's treating me. I agree completely but he thinks it means more than it does."

"It means that a kind man was consoling you. That's all it means." She cuts her hand through the air like a knife. "Nolan walked into that store at the exact second Wolf was comforting you. If his ego got knocked out of whack because of that, it's his problem."

"I thought about explaining things in a text or an email but I want to tell Nolan in person. I'm not wrong for doing that, am I?"

"It's not the kind of thing you just throw in a text, Bean." She half-shrugs. "You're not wrong for wanting to do it in person. I'm with you on that."

"What would you do if you were me?" I lay on my back next to her. "Seriously, Ad. Don't say what you think I want to hear. Tell me what you would do if you loved a man and he was ignoring you."

"You love him?" She rolls on her stomach. "Did you say you love him, Ellie?"

"Yes." I turn to look at her face. "He loves me too. He said it."

"Well, shit." She stiffens. "This changes everything."

"How does it change everything?"

"You fight for love." She smashes her fist into the blanket. "You defend it at all costs."

I look up at the ceiling. "How do you fight for something you're not even sure the other person understands?"

"You lost me."