Page 32 of Reunion With Benefits

That’s exactly what she intended to do, with or without their permission. She’d laid this out for Human Resources at the office right after it happened. They’d called Derrick in and then she’d shut down. She knew she needed to own that piece, but back then the idea of going up against a wall of Jamesons had panicked her. She needed to hold on to her job, at least until she’d found something else.

It took her months to realize Derrick wasn’t his father. Derrick would have believed her, but by then the damage had been done and Spencer was gone. She’d lost all she could tolerate losing and Eldrick was no longer around to cause trouble, so she let the complaint drop. But now he was back, and that meant he was fair game. She refused to let anyone else suffer because of him.

Which mentally brought her to the hardest part of her story. The part she once tried to tell Spence but he was too busy storming off to listen. “You kissed me. Grabbed me in my office and told me that Spence was wrong for me.”

Carter moved then. He turned to face his father. “You did what?”

She couldn’t stop now. The words spilled out of her. “He bragged about how Spence would never believe me. How he’d see us together and immediately blame me and bolt.”

“Oh, man. That’s messed up.”

She was pretty sure that comment came from Jackson. She didn’t look around to see, but Carter and Spence seemed frozen. Neither of them moved. The only sign of life she could pick up in Spence was the way his hands balled into fists at his sides.

“Okay, look.” Eldrick held up his hand as he stepped into the center of the group. “You’re exaggerating this a bit, don’t you think?”

She refused to stop now or let this slide. This time he needed to face the consequences, even if they only amounted to her yelling at him. “You thought it was funny to see Spence back down.”

When Eldrick took another step, Spence grabbed his arm and pulled him back. “Funny? How could you possibly think that?”

“I was saving you, as usual.”

Spence made a choking sound. “You can’t be serious.”

“She worked for you. It was too risky for you to make a move. I was proving a point. It all worked out.” Eldrick had the nerve to shake his head.

Between what he said and the patronizing tone in which he said it, Abby wanted to punch him. Worse, open that door and yell her accusations into the hall so that everyone in that big house, on that massive property, knew the kind of man Eldrick really was.

Eldrick stared down at Spence’s hand on his arm. “It was a matter of containing the potential damage. We both know you weren’t in it for the long term, so why endanger our position? Dating was too risky. The potential liability outweighed whatever feelings you thought you had.”

Before Abby could say anything else, Beth turned to her husband. “Eldrick?”

Abby couldn’t read the other woman. She stood tall and her voice never wavered. Abby knew almost nothing about her. No one at work talked about her. Jackson had said something about her being different from the other wives. Not as young. Not demanding or the type to run through money, except for her request that they move away and enjoy life on the beach.

One look from his wife and Eldrick’s stern I’m-in-charge-here glare faltered. His tone morphed into a lighter, more cajoling sound. “Beth, it’s not—”

“We were engaged when this happened. You hadn’t announced it to your family, but you had asked. I wore the ring.”

Eldrick shot a look in Abby’s direction. She sensed a hint of desperation. He no longer stood there as if he could kick them all out at any minute, even though he likely could.

Good, let him squirm.

He shrugged. “Help me out here.”

“You’ve got to be kidding.” Abby crossed her arms in front of her to telegraph the very simple message that the man was on his own.

“She could have sued you.” Beth took a step closer to Abby. “It sounds like she should have. And hurting your own son? Your behavior was appalling.”

The move was so sudden that Abby lost her balance. She leaned against Beth for a second before straightening up again.

“I figured he was protected. It’s his company, after all,” Abby explained.

An odd sound escaped Spence. “Abby, you can’t believe that his behavior would have been okay with us. With me.”

She almost said words that would cut him down. The sentence was right there. You were too busy running away to care. The only thing that stopped her was Spence’s pained expression. “He was in charge, Spence. He’d been in charge, had that big corner office that Derrick now uses. I didn’t know how many other women—”

“None.” Eldrick practically yelled the response.

Carter snorted. “That’s doubtful.”

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