Page 102 of Austen Persuaded

I sat up slowly.

Am I the jerk here?

First I broke his heart, and now I’m taking up space in his company.

Should I quit?

I felt tears forming in my eyes again and wiped them away, frustrated. This was not the time for another emotional breakdown. I needed to think. And figure out what to do.

I mulled that over for a while, but when I was no closer to a decision, I sighed in frustration and picked up my phone.

Where are my roommates anyway?

While firing off a text to them both, I jumped at a sharp, loud sound and glanced out the window. Fireworks.

Crap, it’s the Fourth of July.All my friends would have plans tonight.

I didn’t want to bother them with my morose state of mind and impossible decisions. It could wait until another day. I briefly considered watching a movie and opening a bottle of wine but decided against it. I’d known for a while that I seriously needed to ease up on the drinking.

I could just read in bed until I nodded off. I was exhausted—who knew that creating boundaries like an adult and dealing with emotions could be so draining?

Chapter 24

Fumbling for my keys in my bag, I stopped just outside my apartment door the next morning. It was still well before lunch, but I’d decided to work from home for the rest of today—a benefit I’d rarely taken advantage of since starting at the agency, in part because the job of an assistant was much more tied to being present in the office. As a new agent, I had more freedom, in a sense, though I was still going to be juggling some assistant duties until they’d hired and trained my replacement.

The truth was, I didn’t want to risk seeing Kylan today. I still felt very undecided about my future, and seeing him would only complicate things. And if I happened to see him with Sofia, well—I didn’t know if I could handle that today, on a rainy Monday no less. I was already on my way out when I noticed Sofia was out of the office. Guilt swept through me, as I felt only relief at not having to say goodbye to my friend, who was really an awesome person but hard to see right now, given the situation.

The … situation.

Sighing, I turned the key in the lock and opened—

“Uh.”

“Girl!”

“What, Sof—”

As I stepped into myownapartment and shut the door absently behind me, my coworker tightened the towel—thebath towel—around her bare limbs. “Yeah. Hi.” In both words, she drew out the vowels, her eyes flitting in every direction.

“You’re in—in my apartment, wearing a towel,” I sputtered, my eyes like saucers and my mouth gaping. I vaguely noticed some candles at the dining table and the faint smell of wax in the air. “What is happening? Am I …” I put my fingers on my temples. “Am I finally having an actual meltdown?”

Then a familiar male voice called out, “Sofia, are you having trouble finding the …oh…” Rainn trailed off as he entered the room, clad in a bathrobe, and saw me. He closed his mouth, reopened it, and then closed it again.

No one spoke for a moment. “Rainn?” I squeaked. “What’s going on?”

He flinched. “I was going to tell you, Annie. Sorry, I really was. It’s—this—” He pointed between himself and Sofia. “We’re—”

“This is new,” Sofia cut in, coming to stand by him. “We were going to tell you soon.”

I turned my widened eyes to Rainn. “Isshethe one you were talking about all those months ago?” He winced and nodded, his cheeks turning red. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Aww, I didn’t know you’d been crushing on me that long,” Sofia said, smiling at him and nuzzling his shoulder. “Sorry, is that super weird? I’m really into your roommate, Annie.”

I looked back and forth between them and shook my head slowly. “Honestly, it’s not as weird as you being really into my ex.”

Sofia looked at me blankly for a moment before recognition dawned, and she laughed. “Oh, right. Kylan, yeah, that was never going to work out. He wasn’t really interested—”

“Wait,” I said, not really listening to Sofia’s words. “This means you and Kylan aren’t a thing.”

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