Page 120 of Keep Your Friends Close and Your… Work Enemy Closer?

Max

Not only was I great with all things alliteration, but I'd discovered acrostic poems were also my jam. Because telling Annalise she was amazing, nifty, nice, alluring, luminous, inspiring, sexy, and enchanting had maybe, just maybe, won her back over to my side.

Well, at least she hadn't torn up my notes and sent them back to me, so I'd take that as a big win.

And when I finished her first name, I moved on to her middle name, Eleanor, after her grandmother, and then her last name—twenty-three straight days of adjectives paired with donations I handpicked that I thought might mean something to her.

It took everything in me not to force the issue, but my gut told me not to rush her, that she needed time to process, and if it was meant to be, she'd forgive me. So I went about my business, throwing myself back into work and home life, spending any free time I had with my family, my mind always,fucking always, on her.

What was she doing right at this moment? Where was she? Who was she with?

I stalked her social media, but there was nothing there. She hadn't posted anything in ages, didn't reply to anyone, never interacted that I could see anyway. I happened to walk by ordrive by her building way more than necessary, my driver not saying a word whenever I requested we take that route. But I never saw her.

She wasn't online in any capacity, no photos with her sisters, no charity galas with her parents.

If only she would answer her damn phone. It was like we were living in the dark ages, with me passing notes to her via courier.

I finally resorted to checking on her the one way I absolutely could, and that was through work, asking Veronica for an update on Annalise and the Venus project.

She'd quickly reported back that all was going smoothly, that Annalise had everything well under control and on schedule.

That was fantastic. Fucking fantastic. But I didn't give a shit about her work, to be honest.How was she?

Was she as miserable as I was? Was she dreaming about me every damn night like I did? Was she waking up aching physically and mentally for a phantom, a ghost of a memory of our time together?

It'd been weeks since I'd seen her, talked to her, heard her voice, touched her.

My God, had I ever really touched her? It all seemed like a distant mirage now, like something I'd just made up in my goddamn head. Had there ever really been anus?

Most of all, I just missed her. After working with her so much, forty-plus hours per week, it was the worst let down in the world to go to absolutely nothing.

I was sleepwalking through my days, doing the best I could while preoccupied with everything Annalise, who probably wasn't even giving me a thought, and I fucking hated it with a passion.

But I wasn't ready to give up. So Annalise could hold a grudge. But I could be a stubborn fuck as well. Patience and persistence were my superpowers.

And what we had, the potential of what we could become, was more than worth it. I'd walk through fire for her.

When part two of my redemption tour came to an end with still no word from her, I knew I had to move on to the next thing. Flowers, notes, poems, charitable donations hadn't worked, so this time I had to think outside the box.

What I desperately wanted was to see her face-to-face, apologize, talk it all out, and see if time had softened her stance at all. But she'd never agree to it, so I reached out to Venus La Fleur, of all people, the one person in the world that Annalise really couldn't say no to right now.

And thankfully, she agreed to help me out. I'd have to wait an entire month for her to be back in the States, but it was the only thing I could think of.

In the meantime, I kept up my daily notes, sometimes sending gifts I thought she might like, sometimes doing the donation thing, relieved that I wasn't getting envelopes back with shredded up paper.

Thank fuck for that at least.

Now if I could only speed up time so I could finally see her again.

Thirty-Three

Annalise

"Stop worrying so much. You look gorgeous," Astrid told me.

"Thank you. I just..." I glanced at my hair in the mirror, back to my natural deep brunette color, the locks longer now, but not yet reaching my normal length. "It's weird to go out and intermingle with people again. And I don't know who I am anymore."

"What do you mean? You don't know who you are?"

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