Page 96 of The Suit

That went about as well as I’d expected.

Miraculously, I stopped crying immediately, as if the muscle memory of our hatred was now acting as a defense mechanism against my emotions, shutting down the hurt and turning it into fuel for the next round. The champagne I’d had earlier also must have taken the edge off, because there was no way I wouldn’t be freaking out otherwise.

I pushed away from the wall and finished stripping, then walked slowly to the steam-filled bathroom to step under the water. I had a lot to accomplish over the next week, though now I hadGet Rafe’s Forgivenessto add to my list of ‘to-dos’ for the foreseeable.

Right behind‘Quit Job’and‘Call FBI’.

FML.

Rediscovering your conscience and giving a shit really required a lot of effort.

18

Rafe

“Oh fuuuuuuuck,” groaned a vaguely recognizable, but incredibly rough sounding voice coming somewhere across from where I was currently lying, eyes shut tight and willing the pounding in my head to quiet-the-fuck down.

The next thing I heard was a loud crash, followed by more swearing and a thud, at which point I managed to peel my eyelids open to find Penn sprawled across the floor, his pants halfway down his thighs.

I glanced around. Not only had I not managed to make it home, it appeared I hadn’t even managed to make it to the bedroom I shot-gunned as mine whenever I stayed at Penn’s apartment. It had been a while since we’d been in such a state of drunkenness we hadn’t made it past the couches, even if they were incredibly comfy.

My brain might be slightly fuzzy and firing on empty, but the tightness in my chest served as a sober reminder of why we were in this state in the first place.

Fucking women.

More specifically Nancy and Beulah.

It didn’t explainthiscurrent situation, however.

“Pennington,” I croaked, sitting up to find him still spreadeagled face-down. “Why are you on the floor?”

“I tried to get up but must have undone my pants in the night,” he groaned.

“Are you okay?”

“No.”

My neck decided it was no longer strong enough to hold my head up to watch him struggle to move and flopped back down on the cushion.

“What time is it?”

“I don’t know.” I reached around for my phone, finally locating it in my back pocket. The

screen lit up with dozens of messages.

Holmes:Rafe I’m so sorry, please let me explain.

Penn:This is bullshit. I’m quitting

Holmes:I’m sorry, truly. I want to explain. It’s not what you think.

Murray:Penn, go to bed. Let’s decide in the morning.

Penn:Done it now. I’ve quit. Fuck the lot of them.

Cody:It was just that one email, nothing else was touched. I’ve reset your firewalls

Cody:I think we might have something new, boss. I’ll show you in the morning.

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