Page 163 of Sexting the Boss

Hope.

My baby.

I bite my lip so hard it hurts, eyes stinging. The tears come without warning, warm and relentless.

Melanie gently squeezes my shoulder. She doesn’t say anything, just holds me there, quiet. Solid.

I’m scared.

Confused.

But also, weirdly—happy?

God, this is confusing.

* * *

The cab hums around us,New York moving outside the windows like it always does—loud and fast and messy.

Melanie clears her throat. “It’s his, isn’t it?”

I keep my eyes on the window, pretending to be interested in a dog dragging its owner down the sidewalk.

“Damien,” she adds. “Your boss. Or…ex, I guess.”

I don’t answer.

“You don’t have to say anything,” she says gently. “But I think I already know.”

I swallow and finally glance at her. “We’re not…together.”

“So, you’re broken up.”

“Not that we were ever officially anything. It’s complicated.”

She nods like she gets it. “Do you want me to contact him?”

That jolts me. “No,” I say immediately, too fast, too firm. “Absolutely not.”

Melanie blinks. “Okay. I just thought—he has a right to know, doesn’t he?”

I shake my head, the fear suddenly crawling back in. “You don’t understand. Damien is…dangerous. He’s not just some rich CEO. He’s tied up in things that are dark and violent and…it’s not safe.”

“But he wouldn’t hurt you,” she says.

“No. Not directly,” I admit. “But being near him is like being on a battlefield with a blindfold. And I already got caught in the crossfire once.”

And then there’s Nina. He says it’s over. But she’s alwaysthere. Always hovering like a perfume you can’t wash off. And I’m just some…blip in his world.

A temporary distraction. I was never meant to stick.

But I don’t say that part out loud. “I’m just a blip.”

Melanie leans her head back against the seat and looks at me. “And this baby?

I open my mouth. Then close it again.

She waits.

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