Page 16 of Never Say Yes To Your Best Friend (I said Yes)

“Ahhhh!” My frustration boils up and bubbles out of me before I can stop it. At least I prevent myself from exploding out of my chair. Is he for real? I thought there had to be other people, even though I didn’t hear anyone say they were going to apply. People don’t always announce that shit. “You knew that this whole time!”

“Not until I took over the company.”

“I. Am. Not. Helping. You. You’re awful. You’re the actual worst. Seriously. Just disappoint your parents and live with it. The rest of us do. The world will still turn, and you’ll still own a pudding company and be all rich and have your money to keep you warm and content at night. But our lives?” I do the waving hand gesture again, and fuck, why does that make his eyes sparkle even more? “They’re never going to intermingle in any way.”

“So what? Instead of helping me and taking a job you clearly want, as well as negotiating something I’m more than willing to give if it’s in my power, you’d rather just quit and not have a job at all?”

“I would rather quit than work with a nasty man at the helm of the company anyway. You’re going to drive it into the ground. You’re going to destroy something I love. You’re going to take something we all love and make it somethingwretched! Something horribly wretched. Something horribly poopy wretched.”

“Maybe the next flavor of pudding you come up with should be poop since you like it so much. It could even come in a special packing, shaped just like a cartoon bottom.”

So much for not rising to any of this. Because I want to rise. I want to rise so badly. “Everyone already thinks chocolate pudding is poop anyway, so that’s very unoriginal of you. People like good pudding flavors. Not nastiness. You’re already ruining something that was amazing.”

His grin just gets wider, and my heart sinks to the bottom of my stomach. Did I really just throw away everything I’ve worked my ass off for? Yes. Yes, I did. But so what? I can find another job. I’ll work my way back up from the bottom if I have to. At least the money will be honest. I’ll be honest, and I won’t be working for a totally epic jerkhole.

Even if I have to take a pay cut.

Even if I have bills to pay.

Even if this company is kind of like another home, and the people here are like another family to me.

“You can take your fake girlfriend and—”Don’t say shove her. That would just be immaturity on top of immaturity.“And find her somewhere else. I’ll have my notice submitted to HR in an hour, effective immediately.”

There’s not even a flicker of fear on his face that I might make good on what I said about filing a harassment claim. Have I been harassed? Maybe. Did he attempt to blackmail me? Sort of. Will I go straight to his mom and make things a hundred times worse? No. No, I won’t. It wouldn’t be right.

Thiswholethingmight not be right, but I’m not going to make it worse. I’m going to be the bigger person because that’s who I always am. I have a good heart. I care about the world. I love my friends and family, and I do what I can to help out wherever Ican and whenever I can. I know I could cause a lot of trouble for this man, but honestly? I’d rather just suck it up, find another job, and get on with my life. Is it fair? No. Was what he did petty and mean? Yes. Do I have to resort to the same level? No.

No, and I’m not going to.

I’m putting this in the past. All of it.

Tomorrow, I’ll start fresh, and one day, this will be the tipping point that pushed me into the job I was always meant to work at, and I’ll be in a position in my life that I was always meant to be at. Then, I’ll find someone, and they’ll be absolutely perfect, and it will all be because I took the higher road, just darn well carried on, and made a great life for myself.

“Don’t worry,” I say with as much fake cheer and bravado as I can muster at the moment, which isn’t a heck of a lot because my eyes are burning, and my chest feels compressed. This ishard. This hurts, and it absolutely sucks. “No one will put two and two together. When new ownership happens in a company, or whenhostiletakeoversbecome a thing, there’s generally a lot of shakeups, and some people inevitably quit.”

I manage to look confident in my decision until I’m outside, with my back to the coffee shop. I don’t look back because I know if I turn around, Mont will see how rattled I am. He’ll see how much my heart hurts.

Doing the right thing isn’t easy for a reason, but I’m strong. I’ll get through this.

I literally have no other choice.

Chapter six

Mont

I’ve bungled this right up.

I didn’t think Evilla would quit, which probably makes me sound like a terrible asshole.

I wanted the fake girlfriend thing to be an agreement, not blackmail, but it came out sounding and looking an awful lot like it. I wanted to find a solution that works for both of us, but that was after I tore her world down and replaced it with my arsehole-y presence. Plus, I called her companybougie. She was correct. I had no right. I had no right to buy the place, and I had no right to ask her what I asked her. I had no right to ask that she help me out. Half of what I did was because I was desperate, but the other half?

It’s a number I can’t define, but it’s wholly becauseI can’t get this woman out of my head.

I don’t want to be intrigued by her. I don’t want to be awed by her feisty spirit. I don’t want to find myself unexpectedly attracted to her. I don’t want to want her, but my body does.

Hence, it’s the reason why I’m shoving back from the table and quite literally sprinting out of the coffee shop while trying to hide the fact that I have a very visible problem in my pants at the moment.

Half visible, I hope.

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