Page 96 of Accidentally Amy

Especially when he hadn’t taken a break to have lunch at Caniglia’s or at least text me when he surely knew I was trudging toward an Italian feast.

I scarfed a piece of leftover pizza before going for a run withJosh, who was always willing to accompany me if it was getting too dark. Normally we both wore headphones and tuned each other out, but that night, I found myself totally unloading on him. I told him everything, mostly because I knew he liked Blake, so it felt safe to share with him.

But then he said, “Shit, Physical Challenge isn’t looking too good all of a sudden.”

“What?” I almost tripped and landed on my face when he very matter-of-factly said those words.

“Think about it,” he said, looking down at his Apple Watch. “Either Blake lied to you about the org chart to get in your pants over the weekend,” he started, making me roll my eyes at his disgustingness, “or he found out about the changes at work today and is freaking out and hoping you’ll let him go back to only being coworkers.”

“Those aren’t the only options,” I said defensively, because I’d been forcing myself not to think that very thing. “He could be so busy that he hasn’t had a chance to discuss this with me.”

“That doesn’t change what I said,” Josh replied in that know-it-all tone that made me want to slug him. An hour later, after I’d showered and had checked my phone fifteen times, his words kept replaying in my head.

And as much as I wanted to deny them, I couldn’t. Because regardless of what happened with the org chart, Blake was now my boss again, so it was incredibly possible that he would be ending our entanglement.

I finally gave in and texted a trivial, low-key message:The Darkling vomited on Josh’s couch and now he’s holding mypillows and blankets hostage until I pay to have it professionally cleaned.

It was true—that dick—and it was something that would amuse Blake.

But an hour later, still no message.

And that kind of pissed me off. I understood a stressful day, and I also understood that his obsession with ethics might prevent him from continuing our relationship, but he didn’t need to ghost me. I would’ve assumed our weekend had elevated us to a place where ghosting was no longer a possibility. He was obviously home from work by now and capable of using his huge fingers to smash out a polite response.

Asshole.

After putting in a few hours on the benefits paperwork, I plugged in my phone and went to bed. As I laid my head on a throw pillow from the sofa and covered myself with just the sheet (freaking Josh), I decided that if Blake texted me overnight, I didn’t even want to know. I put that thing on vibrate and turned off the lights.

Despite myself, I really wished I could vent about him to my best friend, Blake.

Blake

“What the fuck are you looking at?” I glared at the cats, who were huddled together on the couch and staring at me as if disappointed by my actions. I was sitting at my desk, sipping straight Scotch—as I had been since I’d arrived home—while trying to figure out how the hell I was going to proceed.

I couldn’t tell her. Icouldn’t.It went against my business principles, and surely Iz would understand that. She would, right? Izzy would totally understand.

I’d ignored her texts all night, though, because acting normal was impossible on the eve of her termination. I couldn’t in good conscience do the whole banter thing, laughing with her while knowing what was waiting for her the following morning.

So radio silence was my only option.

It was almost midnight, and I was still clueless as to what to do. Because if I continued to avoid her until after she was terminated, it’s not like she wouldn’t know that I’d known. Shewouldknow, and odds were high that she was going to be pissed that I hadn’t warned her or at the very least responded to her messages.

So what was my plan? Wait until I knew she’d left the building with her COBRA paperwork, then text,You up?

All I knew for certain was that I missed her. It’d only been twenty-four hours, yet I was dying to see her face and smell her hair and listen to her ridiculously amazing takes on the world.

Fuck it. Izzy was more important than ethics, God help me.

I picked up my phone and sent her a text:I really need to talk to you before work tomorrow. It’s important.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Izzy

The buzz of my phone woke me up, even though I’d been in the lightest of sleeps since turning in. I looked over at it in the darkness, and it was him.

I sat up and swiped through the lock screen.

Blake:I really need to talk to you before work tomorrow. It’s important.

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