Page 121 of Out of Bounds

I offered him my hand. "Mr. Miller, it’s so good to—"

"Pleasure’s all mine." He pulled my hand forward, and before I knew what was happening, he crushed me into a hug.

Oh.

A hug.

I froze and made eye contact with the photographers who stared in puzzled silence. Truth be told, I was never a hugger. My personal space was the best space. But don’t people in the same types of jobs hug? Zariah hugged her other resident assistants at her celebration dinner and she’d only known them through orientation meetings.

I awkwardly patted his back. "You’ve got no idea how much I’ve wanted to meet you."

"Little old me?" His hand trailed down my back before he finally pulled away. "Look at you. You’re in college, right? What did they vote you for in high school? Class jailbait?"

You could’ve heard a cricket from the parking lot.

"I’m kidding everyone." Henry threw up his hands in mock surrender. "That was ajoke. Do you know what a joke is?" He smiled and I tried to return it but I wasn’t sure whatever crawled on my face was a smile. "You’re the little voice actor that sent the telegram, right?"

"Animator," I corrected him.

I took a hesitant seat after he sat down. He’d thrown me off but I could still salvage the dinner.

"Mr. Miller, I love what you’ve done with the recentBird Pantsseason." I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. "It honestly made me rethink what I could—"

He laughed when the waiter tried to pour water. "This is on Marrs, isn’t it? Let’s bring some champagne!"

We were spiraling away from where I wanted to go. "I’m fine with water."

"Look at her, so professional. We’re about to make all your voice-acting dreams come true. I swear, your voice is like a purr."

"I said animator."

“You don’t have to get your panties in a bunch. That’s for your boyfriend to try. He’s the one that arranged this, isn’t he?"

The hopeful look in his eyes made my throat dry. He was fishing for answers. Trying to figure out if Ryan was actually my boyfriend. And that was the worst part. Henry Miller knew I was uncomfortable. We both knew it, we both recognized it, and he languished in it.

Ryan wasn’t my real boyfriend. But I knew he wouldn’t have tolerated this.

And I won’t either.

"Excuse me." I grabbed my purse.

"Hey, wait a minute—"

"Goodnight," I snapped.

“Let’s not be hasty.”

“Class jailbait?” I demanded. “That’s what you have to say to me?”

“I’ve been here for two minutes, sweetheart—”

“You know the horror movie shorts you made in college?” I demanded, glaring at him. “I watched all of them because I wanted to support and it was the mostgoddamnpainful fifteen minutes of my life.”

Henry reached out for my wrist, and for one terrifying moment, I couldn’t pull away. "You are making a huge fucking mistake."

"Let go of me," I hissed.

"You don’t know what you’re doing."

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