Page 147 of A Deal with the Bossy Devil

“Makes you think, eh?”

Horror. Adrien was horrified.

“Sanchez.” His voice split right down the middle. I had to give it to him, the guy was a great actor.

“It was my fault,” I admitted. Dad was dead because of me. Alba would never admit it out loud, but I knew deep down she blamed me for it too. I knew she’d never forgiven me for it; probably never would. “He took that second job to help pay for the tuition I now owed the school. He was exhausted. Hit a tree. They think he fell asleep for a second behind the wheel, and that was all it took.”

Silence.

I peeled my back from the wall, took a wobbly step forward. “You must be so happy with yourself, huh? Managed to get me right where it hurt.”

His eyes were hard and glassy, his blinks incomplete. “You know that’s not true. I had no idea. Josh—” He cut himself off, swallowing hard. “I swear I didn't know.”

I didn’t give a fuck.

“We’re even,” I whispered, my throat thickening all over again. “You did it, you got me back. I can’t think of anything else you could do at this point to make me feel any more stupid than I already do. Not to mention humiliated, pathetic, naïve…dirty.”

His mouth stuttered, but nothing came out.

“We’re even, so please just… leave me the fuck alone now.”

I didn’t allow myself to dissect his reaction before I brushed past him, quietly gathered my things, and left him standing there, staring down at the carpet.

34

The airport had descendedinto chaos.

The storm had more-or-less shut down all air travel to and from Southern Ontario, New York, and all surrounding areas, which meant that the airlines were slammed and scrambling, trying to accommodate their panicking passengers, all of whom had A Very Important Reason for needing to be on the very first available flight out east. And since I didn’t already have a ticket booked, I was their lowest priority.

But Finn, the extremely impatient customer service agent who’d looked like he’d already had enough of my bullshit before I’d even opened my mouth, was going to “see what he could do. Next, please!”

To top off my already crappy day, ticket prices had skyrocketed due to demand, and since I didn’t have a job anymore, splurging on a hotel room in addition to what would likely end up being a two-thousand-dollar flight was now out of the question.

I really should have gone home when I’d still had the chance. What the hell had possessed me to stay? How had I anticipated this whole thing would end if not in utter disaster?

I tried not to think too hard about it though—tried my best not to feel.

The absolute last fucking thing I needed was to have a breakdown in the middle of the airport, so I nabbed the first seat that opened up in the public zone and concentrated on suppressing the hell out of my emotions.

The text came twenty minutes later.

Unknown Number

I’m sorry.

I blocked the number and slipped my phone back into my jacket pocket. It went off again almost immediately.

From: Adhir King

Miss Sanchez,

I hope this email finds you well. It has been brought to our attention by our CEO, Adrien Cloutier, that you may be experiencing travel disruptions brought on by extreme weather conditions impacting your destination and are likely stuck at the airport.

We understand how frustrating this must be and would like to offer you the use of our Presidential Suite for as many nights as you need.

A car is on its way to pick you up from the airport, and all other necessary arrangements have already been made to ensure—

I stopped reading, turned off all notifications from the sender, and got up to treat myself to a small white hot chocolate from Timmies.

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