Page 78 of Promise Me Forever

“Oh. Right.”

That shutdown hurt, I was forced to admit. I’m aware that I’m not part of his family and that most of them have no clue I even exist or what role I play in Drake’s life, but he talks about them all the time. His stories have made me feel like I know them, and I care about them because he cares about them. Being closed out that way that felt like a slap in the face.

“What favor did you want?” he asked.

“Oh, I was wondering if you could speak to Linda for me. She’s on my back about not having the proper forms for the time I took when my mom was in the hospital.”

He rubbed the bridge of his nose with his fingers and looked pained. “Of course. I should have done that already. Anything else?”

“N-no. Shall I, uh, leave you to it?”

He nodded. “If you don’t mind.”

That little exchange played out over the course of maybe five minutes, but it remained lodged in my mind hours later when his father and brother arrived at the office. I’ve never officially met either Dalton or Mason James before, but I recognized them from the photos Drake had shown me. It was all I could do not to jump up and hug them, which would have been weird. Definitely not normal secretary behavior.

“Hi, would it be possible to see Drake, or is he in there brokering a deal to buy Saturn?” Mason said.

I smiled and kept the joke going. “He already has Saturn. He’s working on Mars right now.”

Mason laughed, and I was charmed. It didn’t hurt that he was almost as easy on the eyes as his big brother. Dalton was sterner, but Emily was right—the man’s a silver fox.

“Just let me check if he’s finished with his last call,” I said. “I’m sure he’ll have time for you two.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” his dad huffed.

An excited smile on my face, I entered Drake’s office and got close enough to his desk that nobody else could hear me. “Your dad and Mason are here to see you. It’s so nice to meet them at last. I feel like I know them already because of how much you talk about them.” He shot me a furious look, and I stopped babbling, unable to tell whether he was angry with me or his family.

“You’re not exactly meeting them, are you, Amelia? You’re just doing your job and showing them in.”

I was so shocked at his tone, even more so by his words, that I didn’t respond. Hindsight is, of course, twenty-twenty, and I’ve since come up with a million zingers I could have thrown back at him. But in that moment, I was hurt and off-balance.

I showed Mason and Dalton through, offered them pastries and coffee, and ended up standing there awkwardly when they both declined.

“Thank you, Miss Ryder,” Drake said in a mechanical tone. “We won’t be needing you again.”

Mason flashed me a sympathetic look, and I stumbled out, trying to keep as much dignity as possible. I fled to the ladies’ room and had a strong word with myself. What had I expected? That I’d sit down with them and chat? That I’d ask Dalton how things were going with his new cook, Luz, or check in on Mason’s crazy love life? Of course not.

So what if Drake spends most of his free time with a body part inside me. Apparently, I’m not good enough to meet hisfamily. Apparently, my role is to be his secretary and his fuck buddy and nothing more.

That was over an hour ago, and the final nail in the coffin of my day was bumping into Jacob in the hallway. He looked embarrassed when he saw me, and we were forced to have a painfully awkward exchange about the weather. I still feel terrible about the way I treated him, and right then, I was starting to question whether I’d even made the correct choice. I bet Jacob would have introduced me to his family. He wouldn’t be ashamed of me.

The rational side of my brain shouted at me, telling me that I was being silly. Drake and I had agreed together that we would keep this thing secret. He offered to go public if that’s what I wanted. But it still hurt. Maybe if it weren’t so all-or-nothing—if we were able to be public with our friends and families but keep things a secret at work.

Regardless of whether my feelings were appropriate, enough was enough, and it was time to go home. Drake clearly didn’t want me around, Linda was still chasing me for a performance meeting, and the bigger-than-Texas blister on the back of my foot was ready to burst.

I knocked on the door and peeked my head in, and all three of them turned around to look.

“Uh, Mr. James, did you need anything else?”

“Does it look like we do? If I wanted something, Amelia, I would have asked.”

I glared at him. If he was going to treat me like crap, he could at least not “Amelia” me while he did it.

Back at my desk, I sent him a quick email—formal in tone—informing him that I was leaving half an hour early and would make it up on Monday. And now here I am. In the goddamn rain.

I head off toward the subway and nearly burst into tears when I see a sign that says this stop is still closed. To calmmyself down, I picture treating myself to a steaming hot bubble bath when I get home, but my fantasy is interrupted by Drake shouting my name.

Refusing to give him a second of my time, I start walking without a thought for where I’m going. Arrogant ass crack.

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