Page 25 of Release Me

“Yeah.” I guess I’m going to Alaska. Like, next weekend. “What the fuck, man.” How is this my life now?

“It’ll be worth it, I promise.” Connor pats his stomach. “Now I need food before I pass out.”

12.Ryan

Heels click past, drawing my attention upward in time to seeherpass by.

Eliza, her name tag reads. She has the longest legs I’ve ever seen on a human and she started working at the front desk six weeks ago. That’s all I know about her.

But there’s no way she didn’t know about me.

My insides clench with anger and hurt as I watch her blond hair sway with her steps. She’s tall and willowy, with tan skin and big, bright white teeth. Pretty, in a sorority sister sort of way. And she’s heading toward accounting as if I’m notright here.

“Hey.” Jean slides into my cube, strategically blocking my view of David’s desk hidden behind a tall gray divider. “How’s it going?” She’s always been soft-spoken but now she sounds like she’s consoling a grieving widow.

When I started working at Wolf, I didn’t think much of my counterpart. All she talked about was her sewing club, knitting scarves, and her four cats. Fast-forward two years, I consider her a friend. She’s certainly one of the few people around here who I truly trust. Her only flaw? Her colossal crush onConnor.

“I’ve been better.” I sink back into my chair. “So, I guesseveryoneknows?” Because I’ve felt the prying glances all morning.

The sympathetic smile I get in return is answer enough.

Bitterness and hurt flares. “He’s such a jerk.” How do you do this to someone?

“Bigjerk,” Jean agrees, her arched eyebrows disappearing behind a heavy, dark bang.

“Do you know when they started talking?” Because Eliza and I haven’t crossed paths once. She’s not part of our circle.

Jean hesitates. “I heard something this morning.” If there’s been any talk, Jean would have caught it. She’s quiet, unobtrusive. She’s a human fly. Even if people notice she’s there, they assume she’s not listening.

“Like?” I push.

With a covert scan over her shoulder for eavesdroppers, she leans in and whispers, “Remember that Thursday night when a bunch of people went out to the pub after work and ended up at that club?”

“Yes,” I say warily. I have economics on Thursdays so I missed out, not that I would have followed the crowd to their debauchery. “Everyone came in late and reeking of alcohol.” Except for David. He called in sick. Claimed he ate bad sushi.

“Rumor has it David and Eliza left in a cab together. They were pretty close.”

“Define ‘pretty close.’” Did my coworkers watch him cheat and saynothingto me?

She winces. “It didn’t sound like they were only sharing a ride.”

Her words are a punch to my stomach. But this is all beginning to click. Aside from a text to tell me he was lying low on account of his food poisoning, I didn’t hear from David all weekend, and when I offered to go over to take care of him, he was quick to hide behind explosive diarrhea.

Was it all a lie?

And come to think of it, he’s been acting strangely since. Distant. That’s what inspired me to declare my feelings.

Jean stares at me like a scientist with a bug under her microscope on which she’s conducting an experiment.

How will this organism react to the truth?

“Whatever.” My eyes sting with threatened tears. Does it matterwhenthey hooked up? I told David I loved him and a week later, he dumped me. We’re over and he’s already moved on, with no qualms about flaunting it in front of my injured heart. “I wish it wasn’t with another staffer. I wish I didn’t have to see it at work.”

Jean’s lips purse. “Well … what about Ronan?”

I frown. “What do you mean? What about him?”

“I don’t know. You sat with the crew guys at lunch, and you, like,neversit with your brother?—”

---