Page 51 of Broken Boss

We’re at a stoplight, and I stare ahead at the line of crawling traffic, trying to make sense of it.

Trying to make myself see sense.

What would Grant say?

It feels like my heart is being yanked in two different directions. She’s so secretive, and I don’t understand why. After everything I’ve shared with her, after everything we’ve done, after the way I very clearly feel about her…she still doesn’t trust me.

“Okay.”

And when she looks at me in surprise and relief, I know that I’m in too deep.

I’d do anything for this woman.

No questions asked.

Chapter 17

Autumn

“And you’re not worried that anyone is going to get suspicious?” Orla asks flatly. “You and the boss, both off for a day…you really don’t think anyone will notice that coincidence?”

Her voice is like acid.

“I don’t know what to tell you, Orla. I need to go see him. I can’t miss a week, he’ll get suspicious, and?—”

“And you’re telling me Chris Sharpe isn’t suspicious about your request to drive you out to a correctional facility two hours away?”

No, I want to tell her. That’s not completely true, though. It would be insane if he wasn’t suspicious. I’m sure he is. He’s just respecting my wishes.

Doing what I asked, which is not asking questions.

But if I tell her that, she’ll start second-guessing how exactly this all fits into the plan.

“I’m just saying. It’s crazy. You’re bringing the man who put your brother in prison to the prison while you visit him. That’s a little twisted, Autumn.”

I swallow hard, throwing down my hairbrush and glaring into the mirror. I don’t know who I’m more upset with, myself or Orla.

“Listen, if this is because you don’t want to come over and let Frank out, I can find?—”

She cuts me off. “No. It’s fine. I have no problem doing that, I just think you should…step outside the box and look at the decisions you’re making. That’s all.”

I exhale, trying to let my frustration go with the breath. Things feel tense between Orla and me and it’s hard. She’s my best friend. She’s been with me since day one, fully supportive of this insane idea that no one else, including my brother, knows about.

And it feels like I’m losing that support.

Can’t blame her, though. It does look crazy. I’m living with the man I plan on destroying. The man who put my brother in prison twelve years ago. And now, I’m bringing him right to my brother’s proverbial front door.

“It’ll be fine,” I say, although I don’t know if I’m reassuring myself or Orla.

The front door opens and I hurriedly drop what I was doing. “Hey, I have to go. He’s back.”

A few moments later, Frank bounds into the room looking happy and exhausted. Chris insisted on taking him for a jog around the neighborhood, and I am fully not prepared to see my boss leaning in the doorway in sweats and a T-shirt.

God, he looks good.

Want pulses through me and I tamp it down, turning back to my purse and making sure everything is inside. Which is almost nothing, except for my ID and some money. Can’t bring much in with you past the guards.

“Ready?”

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