Page 13 of Under Their Protection

“Knowing my parents, they will push for me to apologize to Harper and admit that it was my fault that they ended up sleeping together.”

“And if you don’t?” Max asks.

“No idea. Never went against them before. I usually just do whatever they want so they’ll shut up,” I say. “That’s the only reason I was marrying Isaac at all. Dad didn’t give me a choice. Harper is their little trust fund baby so it’s not like they’ll cut me out of anything.”

“You need to get away from them,” Max says.

“That’s what Mia says but I don’t know how to do that when they just overwhelm me until I give in and go back to them. It’s easier now I suppose, since they won’t know where I am staying specifically,” I say.

“I know you want to save up money and get your own place again so you can feel independent, but I do think you should stay with Rowan until you can get your family out of your life,” Max says.

“It’s fine. I don’t want to be in the way. I’ll just try to make sure they don’t find out where I move,” I say.

“You won’t be in the way,” Rowan says softly.

“Surely there is some kind of policy at work against this,” I say to him.

“There isn’t. I checked. The only rule is about when actively in the office. I am technically your boss, but only in the sense of reporting numbers. You make and follow your own leads. Promotions and demotions are handled by the owner, so there are no moral issues. All of that is if you read into it too much,” Rowan explains.

“Is he saying that everyone at your work is going to assume you two are dating or at least fucking?” Max asks.

“They already think that,” I laugh. “That’s been a rumor since I started traveling with him.”

“Marvin is the only one who’s ever been weird about it,” Rowan says.

“Is that the weirdo who comes to the club occasionally?” Max asks me.

“Yeah, he was there once. Mia cornered and threatened him. We’ve not seen him since,” I laugh.

“And you two have never hooked up?” Max raises an eyebrow at me.

“No. Although, Isaac thinks we do,” I say.

“Until now, we’ve never even shared a room on any of the trips,” Rowan says.

“Until you let Mia book the rooms,” I glare at him.

“To be fair, that was your responsibility,” Rowan laughs.

“What did Mia do?” Max asks.

“She booked a single King bed instead of separate rooms. She could have chosen a double Queen room but she decided to be mean to me instead,” I explain.

“How is that mean?” Max asks. “It’s one trip.”

“Because now we have to share a bed for two nights,” I say flatly. Shouldn’t that be obvious?

“Yes, but how is that mean?” he asks again but this time I don’t say anything. I don’t know what to say that isn’t ‘because I’ll want him to touch me.’

“I asked her that earlier before she fell asleep and she said because it’ll fuck with her head,” Rowan says with a smirk.

“Ahhhh. I get it,” Max grins.

“Shut up, Max,” I say with a sigh.

“Our little Nika is afraid she’ll get turned on by her boss and then have to sleep beside him all night,” Max says as he leans into me slightly.

“No,” I say too fast.

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