Page 27 of Her Bad Boy

"I don't usually say this to friends, but I'm glad to see that you finally cried some. Feeling a bit better?"

"Yes, thanks, but would you be a doll and do me one more thing, pretty please?"

"Of course!"

"You know what my boss looks like? Perry?"

"Yes."

"Would you go out there and ask him to come in, please?"

A truly evil grin spread over Laura's face. "Very little else today would give me more satisfaction. He's gonna flip."

"I knew you'd be only too happy to do that for me."

Allie stood there, glad the tears were finally under control and her tummy had calmed down, continuing to primp a bit and debating about whether or not to brush her teeth again, listening to Laura do as she'd asked.

"She wants to see you."

Allie could see Perry's look of abject horror in her mind. "I can't go in there! I'm a man!"

Laura would not be deterred for such a paltry reason. "Go on in—it's just a bathroom, for fuck's sake! Grow a pair and get in there." She paused then, rethinking what she'd asked him to do as contraindicated. "Okay, just get in there."

"Well, what does she want?"

He was just stalling, and everyone knew it.

"I imagine she'll tell you when you get in there, hopefully, sometime before the turn of the next millennium!"

Perry burst in, and Allie knew that Laura had probably pretty much thrown him in, like a Christian to the lions. Although she certainly wasn't feeling very lionish.

Until that moment, she hadn't been exactly sure what she was going to say to him, but she took a deep breath and said the first thing that came out of her mouth, "I quit."

Then she grabbed her purse, brushed by Perry, who was standing there stunned, and headed out of the bathroom with Laura trailing after her.

"Hey, you going home sick?" she asked. "Anything I can do for you or get for you?"

"Actually, no, I'm going home unemployed. I quit. And—I will owe you a big, decadent dinner out 'cause you're being such an angel—a million thanks, really—but could you run back into the courtroom and grab my briefcase for me? I'm going to head home."

Laura was just as struck as Perry still was in the bathroom. "You're—you're going home what? What did you say?"

But Allie just kept on walking, ignoring the chaos that broke out behind her, and again, not seeing the man who came to stand on the fringes of the crowd that had formed around Laura, and then Perry, when he finally appeared, although he wasn't paying attention to any of them. His eyes were glued to the rapidly disappearing figure of the woman he loved.

Chapter 9

She had never felt such a weight being lifted off of her as she did that day. She was still in mourning for what she'd lost in regards to Lucas, and she had half expected that she'd feel that much worse for what she'd done so impulsively in the bathroom, but that anvil of guilt never materialized over her head.

Laura called and asked if she should drop the briefcase by, but Allie told her to keep it.

"Are you feeling better, still, and do you want some company?" her friend asked.

"Yes and no, if you don't mind. Not just now."

She could feel the hesitance in Laura's response. "Okay, well, you know you can call me anytime at all, right? And that I love you?"

Allie smiled. "I do—and I love you, too. Thank you for everything you did for me today. I don't know how I'll ever repay you."

"Oh, please! How many times have you been my designated driver and poured me home, holding my head while I was sick and putting me to bed? I still owe you a million times over. Text me or call me tomorrow, please, or I'll worry."

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