Page 81 of Tempting Him

I shrug. “Not many do.”

“Jesus Christ,” he says, running a hand over his bald head. “Your mother and sister are here. They’re in our hotel room. What the hell am I supposed to tell them?”

Jay’s back straightens. “Whatever you want. Look, I’m not ashamed. I don’t know if you think I should be, but I’m not. I like Alek. We’ve had fun together and we haven’t allowed that to interfere with work. You know how he is, so you should know he’s kept everything professional. I’m not glued to him all day. He’s not giving me special treatment. I mainly work with other people, anyway. If you think I should care about the age difference, I don’t. So, I don’t see the problem. It doesn’t affect you or anyone else. You’ve preached to me about growing up and being an adult, and yet, you still act as if I’m a kid. Trust that you’ve raised me to make the best decisions for myself.”

Cal’s quiet for several seconds before shaking his head. “I can’t believe this. I really can’t.”

“I’m sorry, Cal,” I say. “I understand you feel betrayed in some way, but Jay’s right. We’re both adults and capable of making our own decisions. I know our friendship adds another fucked up layer to this, and I tried to cut it off but...well, it didn’t work.”

Jay smirks at me from behind his dad’s back.

“This ends now. Termination date is to-fucking-night. This is wrong on many levels. Jayden, come on.”

“You’re my dad, but you don’t control who I fuck, regardless of whether you know them or not.”

“Watch your mouth,” Cal snaps. “We’re here for the week leading up to graduation. You will spend most of your time with us anyway. When is this internship over?”

“Next week,” I answer.

“I know you’re the head of the company, but I can still report this. You sleeping with an intern is wrong.”

“Dad, stop,” Jay pleads.

“It’s fine,” I say. “He’s right and is entitled to his feelings. Cal, I’ll head back to Chicago early.”

“What?” Jay exclaims. “No. Fuck that.”

“It’s fine.”

“No, it’s not. That wasn’t the plan. What about my graduation? What about…” he trails off as his dad’s expression changes.

“Graduation? You want him at your graduation?”

Jay ignores him. “Alek, please. We had two weeks.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Then stay!” he says, storming toward me, clasping my wrist with his fingers.

I run my thumb over the back of his hand. “It was always leading to this. You’re about to graduate and start your life here. Maybe at MGD. My life is in Chicago.”

He presses his lips together as he stares into my eyes. His dad clears his throat, reminding us of his presence.

“Jayden, let’s go. Alek needs to start packing.” He levels me with a look. “I know you could fire me, but I hope considering the circumstances, you’ll allow me to keep working, but I think we can agree our friendship is effectively over.”

I nod once at him before looking back at Jay. With his father here, it really messes up the moment. I probably shouldn’t kiss him, but I want to. We only got the one in, and regret settles deep in my core. There’s so much I want to say, but Cal’s fuming and staring holes into both of us.

“Bye, Jayden.”

He shakes his head slightly, like he doesn’t want to say bye. “I wouldn’t change a thing,” he says before storming out of the room ahead of his father.

Jayden

33

After I leftAlek’s room, I rushed ahead of my dad, finding my family’s hotel room before he could catch up with me in the elevator. I was only able to find it because my sister texted me. She’s the reason I knew my dad was here before Alek opened the door.

Just as he was about to see who had been knocking, I checked my phone and saw a few messages from Janae. She told me they were in town and staying at a hotel, and mentioned Dad leaving to see a friend who stayed in the same one. I read them all a second too late.

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