Page 96 of Is It Casual Now?

“I need to talk to you,” Jamie said, her voice only wobbling a little. She was actually impressed at how she managed to keep that under control.

“A phone call would suffice.”

“You know, I did think about that.” Jamie pressed one finger to her lips and then shook her head. “But it wasn’t going to suffice.”

Siena narrowed her eyes at Jamie, as if debating what to dowith her next. Jamie held her breath. She was only a few steps away from getting to the main event, and now it was Siena who was blocking her path, the one person that she really needed to talk to.

“This better be good.” Siena pointed at Jamie and then focused on the woman still sitting at her desk. “Push back my two o’clock.”

“Yes, Ms. Frazee.”

Siena squared her shoulders and turned around, not giving Jamie any indication as to whether or not she should follow. Jamie balked and watched as the woman went to work. “Uh… what was your name again? I’m so bad with names.”

“Paula.”

“Oh! Cool. Thanks for uh… getting me in.” Jamie flashed her a smile and tried to make herself seem softer, but it definitely didn’t work. She’d get better at that with time, wouldn’t she?

Skipping a step, she raced after Siena and headed straight for her office.

As soon as she stepped inside, Jamie shut the door. The last thing she needed was for Paula to overhear this conversation. When she looked up, Siena was seated on the edge of her desk, arms crossed, and a very pissed off look on her face.

“You really do have some nerve showing up here.”

“I know.” Jamie put her hands up. “But I couldn’t guarantee that you’d take my call, and I wanted to explain this to you in person.”

“Then explain.”

“I didn’t leak the fake-engagement stuff.”

Siena raised an eyebrow at her, but didn’t say anything beyond that. Was she listening? Was she accepting that this might be a possibility? Hell if Jamie knew, but she did have to push forward and finish out her explanation.

“I was at home with the worst migraine on the face of theplanet when it went live. Jessie will tell you that. I didn’t even know about it for a while until you left me that… oh so lovely message on my phone.” Jamie rolled her eyes and then caught herself. “Sorry. I just… I was puking my guts out from the pain, and I promise you, Siena, I didn’t post it.”

Siena still didn’t speak or move. The hard look gracing her face was so difficult for Jamie to distinguish and understand. Normally Siena would be screaming at her by now, right? That’s how their normal conversations went.

Nervously, Jamie tugged down the edge of her dress again and continued her explanation. “I had a young colleague at the paper, Scott, and he sort of befriended me in the last few months. Well, I befriended him because I realized I didn’t have any friends and you kind of pointed out that I was a bitch, so I was trying to not be that and change who I was.”

Siena waved her hands before stopping them. “What are you going on about?”

“Nothing. That’s not relevant. Anyway, Scott drove me home that day because I couldn’t drive. It was that bad.” Jamie bit the inside of her cheek. “Scott is the one who leaked it.”

“You left sensitive information out where anyone could access it?” Siena put her hands on her hips and stood up. She stretched her back and closed her eyes, raising her face to the ceiling. “Are you really stupid enough to do that?”

“Well, no one paid attention to me until…” Jamie stopped. “Until I started being nicer to them and then they did.” Fuck, this really was her fault, wasn’t it? She’d worked hard to be nicer and more likable and that had led her to right where she was now. Betrayed and betraying. “I know it’s a fuckup,” Jamie said. “I shouldn’t have done it, but I did, and in my migraine state, I didn’t even think about it until I found the packet under my couch cushion.”

Siena frowned, shaking her head in confusion.

Jamie shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. Yes, this is on me,but no, I didn’t intentionally leak the information.” She held her hands in front of her, wringing them together as she waited for whatever judgement Siena was going to rain down on her.

Because surely there had to be some.

Jamie had fucked with people’s lives for years, but she’d never faced the repercussions of that quite like she did now. And now it hurt. God, it ripped her to bits to see Siena standing there looking like the world was on her shoulders, the weight of fixing everything, the pain of knowing that Jamie had been the one to cause all of that. It hurt her too.

“I’m so sorry,” Jamie murmured, her voice gentle into the office as she continued to watch every inch of Siena’s body for a sign that she was doing something right. “I’m so sorry that I hurt you.”

Siena sighed and then pinched the bridge of her nose.

The silence was damn unnerving.

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