Page 19 of Lovesick

EMILIA

3 weeks later

He was ignoring me.

After weeks of us fucking in secret, hidden from all the people in the office, he had the audacity to ignore me. It wasn’t fair, and it made me upset. I shouldn’t have cared so much. Should’ve known that this was nothing but a game to him. But my heart ached every time he walked past me. Every time he spoke to me with clipped indifference, like he hadn’t once pulled me apart with his mouth, his fingers, his voice saying my name like it meant something. He didn’tlookat me anymore. Not the way he did when he was inside of me.

And it was killing me.

Because I should’ve known better. I should’ve known someone like him didn’t fall. Didn’t care. Dean was sharp suits and sharper eyes, ambition in human form. Cold, calculating. I’d heard the rumors before I started working for him. About the way he moved through people—throughwomen—like they were stepping stones.

But I hadn’t wanted to believe I was one of them. I’d thought I was different.

Stupid, stupid girl.

An email appeared in my mailbox at 2:46 PM, and my stupid heart skipped a beat, unaware that his name shouldn’t have affected it so much anymore.

From: Dean Rockwell

Subject: no subject

Meeting. My office. Right now.

No subject. No greeting. No explanation.

I stared at the screen for a full minute before I stood up and walked to his office with my heart hammering in my chest. I didn’t want to see him, but I had to. I couldn’t deny him, especially when it was a work-related matter.

I knocked, then opened the door, but he didn’t even look up when I entered. Just sat at his desk, typing, the picture of calm authority. Like I wasn’t standing there, unraveling.

“You wanted to see me?” I said, voice tight.

“Close the door,” he said without looking at me.

I did.

He still didn’t look up. “Sit.”

I stayed standing. “What’s this about?”

Finally, he looked up. Those eyes, the same ones that used to burn through me, were blank now. Businesslike. Maybe even bored.

“I want to go over a few important dates you need to be aware of,” he said. “And we’re also restructuring the client portfolios and I need you to—”

“No,” I interrupted. My blood was pumping so fast, I started to feel dizzy. “Stop.”

He blinked. “Excuse me?”

“What did you say?”

“I said stop,” I repeated. “I need you to look me in the eye and tell me what the hell is going on.”

He sighed and leaned back in his chair. “What are you talking about, Emilia?”

“Don’t do that,” I snapped. “Don’t act like you don’t know. You’ve been ignoring me for weeks. Like we didn’t—likenothinghappened between us.”

He tilted his head to the side, looking as unbothered as ever. “And you think I’m giving you the time to talk about your feelings?”

I flinched. “I just want to know what changed. Why are you treating me like I’m invisible? Like I was just some temporary distraction you could toss aside.”

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