Last on the List (Wait With Me #5)(106)

“Max?” I repeat, my pulse increasing instantly at the mention of his name. “When?”

“A few days ago. He was here at the office for a meeting.”

“Was he?” I state knowingly, my lips pursing in disappointment. Clearly, Max is still going through with the merger, and that thought sends a shiver of sadness through my body. I know I told him not to make any business decisions for me, but deep down, I wanted him to care about me enough to kill the merger. I know that makes me a hypocrite because he told me he loved me, and I pushed him away…but I guess I’m a fool in the name of love.

If I needed a sign to know that there’s no chance with Max and me, then this is it.

Paisley’s voice interrupts my thoughts. “He cornered me in my cubicle and went off on me about everything that happened.”

“Did something happen with the merger?” I ask, wondering if Max’s actions toward Jenson put the deal in jeopardy.

“No…he went off on me about you.”

Chills climb over my scalp. “What about me?”

“He mentioned your…stroke,” Paisley replies, her voice tremoring on the end as she rushes out, “Cassie, I had no idea you had a fucking stroke. My God, I was sick when Max told me. Jenson told everyone at the office that it was an anxiety attack, and we were the ones who triggered you, and we should leave you the fuck alone.”

My eyes fill with tears. “Are you kidding me?”

“No! He legit threatened our jobs if he found out about any of us contacting you. I felt like a monster over how protective Jenson was being of you. I had no idea he was lying.”

“Paisley, this can’t be real.”

“It is, Cas. Jesus…if I’d known you wanted us to reach out to you, I would have been at that hospital in a heartbeat. I can’t stop picturing them wheeling you out on a stretcher. It had to be completely terrifying for you.”

“It was,” I croak, my voice garbled with emotion as I recall how alone I felt in that ambulance when I regained consciousness. “And I was so hurt when none of you checked in on me.”

“God, Cassie, I am so sorry,” she cries, sniffing loudly into the phone. “The office got even crazier after you were gone because of course Jenson never replaced you. Just made all of us pick up your work…and holy shit did you have a ton of work. No wonder you had a breakdown. Cassie, you were so young, and you were doing the work of five full-time employees. It’s horrifying.”

I rub my lips together, feeling tears fill my eyes. “I kind of realized that a bit too late.”

She sighs heavily. “I should have been a better friend to you. And coworker. I should have protected you. I should have called. I stopped by your apartment a couple of months after you left, but you didn’t answer the door. I don’t blame you.”

“I moved back home to Boulder.”

“Yeah, I gathered that. And none of us could find you on social media.”

“I blocked you all because I thought you were heartless assholes,” I admit honestly.

“To be fair, a lot of us are.” She laughs dryly. “My heart stopped when I saw you at that charity a couple of weeks ago. Cassie, you’d never been more beautiful. Swear to God, you were the most beautiful woman in that room.”

“Thank you?” I say it like a question because it’s a weird thing to say in the middle of this kind of conversation.

“And I hate to admit this, but I was jealous of you for getting out. And when I saw you looking gorgeous at that table, I thought…wow, she’s clearly got her life together. Then your hunk of a man dropped the bomb about your stroke, and I realized what an asshole I was.”

“He’s not my man,” I reply dismissively.

“He was definitely coming at me like he was your man,” Paisley huffs. “He was defending you like a king defends his queen, Cas. I was equal parts terrified and aroused.”

My face twists up in confusion. “What did he want from you exactly?”

“He just wanted to know why none of us reached out after you got sick, gave me your phone number, and said to make it right. It took me a couple of days to build up the nerve…especially after that verbal spanking he gave me, but I was grateful for it. This phone call is long overdue.”

My mind reels with all the information being thrust at me. I want to get to the bottom of Max’s motivation for this, but considering this is the first coworker I’ve spoken to from my old job, I have to ask, “Why are you still there, Paisley?”

She sighs deeply into the phone. “Well…a bunch of us were going to stage a walkout on Jenson right when he merged with Fletcher Industries…a way to really fuck both the corporations over because we’re tired of being underappreciated while these CEOs make all the money. But all that’s changed now.”

“Changed how?”

“Well, now that Jenson’s out, we’re hoping things will improve.”

“Wait, what? Jenson is out?”

“Yeah…your man approached the board this week and said the only way he will go through with the deal is if the merger changes into an acquisition. All-Out Properties is donezo. Everything will be under Fletcher Industries, and Max has full hiring and firing rights. We all have to re-interview for our jobs in the next few weeks.”