Page 13 of Dear Grumpy Boss

These were the first words he’d spoken to me in three years. I remembered the last ones.“You’re making a mistake.”He’d been right, of course, but I’d never admit that to him.

Putting on my best professional smile, I erased the past from my mind. This man was my boss, Elliot’s friend—nothing more.

“My day has been really great so far. Simon and Rebecca are the best greeting committee ever.” I held up a wilted sweet potato fry. “And these are delicious. I’ll have to try the kombucha tomorrow.”

From behind Weston, Rebecca let out a little snort.

Weston remained unaffected. But that was him, calm and cool.

“We should get back,” I said. “I still have a lot to catch up on.”

Weston’s heavy stare grew pinched. He was so high up, my neck strained to keep looking at him. Lowering my chin, I grabbed my phone off the table. For a moment, no one moved, then I felt a subtle drag of Weston’s knuckles along my shoulder blade. I stiffened at the surprising contact, and his hand fell away in an instant.

“Have a good rest of your day,” he said curtly before turning and walking away.

I plastered on a big smile for Simon and Rebecca. “Are you guys ready to go?”

The two of them were my new favorites since they didn’t ask any further questions about Weston. Maybe it was obvious from our brief interaction we really didn’t have a relationship of any sort.

I really didn’t want to think about him anymore.

This was my new job, my new life.

Weston Aldrich was going to be a very,verydistant part of it.

Chapter Four

Weston

Fivedaysaweek,at six a.m., I met Elliot Levy and Luca Rossi at our private gym.

If I wanted to be accurate, and I did, I should have said I met Elliot at that time. Luca making it anywhere when he should have was a crapshoot. Today, he arrived at six fifteen.

“Hello, gentlemen.” Luca stopped by Elliot, who was doing leg presses, taking a swipe across his brow. “Working up a sweat already. Very nice.”

Elliot grunted. He wasn’t a big talker, especially so this early in the morning. Luca made up for his silence, regaling us with tales of his debaucherous nights out. He hadn’t changed much since Stanford. Older, somewhat wiser, but still no intention of slowing down.

“How’s Elise settling in?” he asked Elliot.

I dropped the dumbbell I’d been using and wiped my face off with my towel, curious about Elliot’s answer. My first glimpse of Elise Levy since her going-away dinner three years ago hadn’t told me much about her state.

“Fine. She likes her new place.” He turned his head, glancing at Luca then me. “Patrick continues to call me. I would block him, except getting to hear his misery gives me a joy I can’t seem to part with.”

I huffed a dry laugh. “He still has no idea where she is?”

“Well…” Elliot’s mouth hitched, “I think he has suspicions she’s back in Colorado, but since I have continued to deny knowledge of Elise’s very existence, let alone her whereabouts, he’s fairly lost.”

I stared at him, blinking, in awe of the depths of his duplicity. “You’re denying her existence?”

Elliot nodded. “How can I know where she is when I don’t have the faintest idea who he’s talking about?”

I would have said I was surprised by Elliot’s cunning—gaslighting a man into believing his girlfriend of four years was a figment of his own imagination—but I had known him most of my life. There was nothing and no one he cared more about than Elise.

Luca chuckled. “Can I just say how proud I am of your sister? Ghosting that dick is honestly the worst revenge. I wish you’d installed cameras so we could have watched his reaction when he came home and all her things were gone—that’s the only thing that would have made this better.”

Elliot didn’t laugh. “She showed me the screenshots. He deserves every ounce of pain he’s feeling.”

Elliot refused to share exactly what Patrick had done to drive Elise away, and that was fine. Though I wasn’t close with her these days, she was my best friend’s sister, so I was naturally protective. And since my investors wouldn’t take kindly to me murdering a man, even if he deserved it, it was better I didn’t know.

---