Page 40 of Falling For Her Boss

“Of course not. I just-”

“Yeah, I heard you the first time. You want to be alone. Got it,” Joshua snaps. He leaves the groceries on the counter, glancing back at me with a cold expression as he heads to the door.

“I won’t come around again.”

I stumble toward him, but he’s already leaving, closing the door with a slam behind him. I break down once again, falling to my knees by the door. In one morning, I have managed to let all of my relationships fall apart. Now, I’m left with no one, but myself. And right now, loneliness has never felt so strong.

CHAPTER 21

Logan

Soaking wet in the middle of the street, I watch as Isabella runs away. I know I won’t catch her when she doesn’t want to be caught. I can’t believe the girl of my dreams is literally running away from me, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.

This is such a mess. Will she tell Joshua about what she thought she saw? Will she come back to work? Will rumors start to spread through the office if she does? Those things shouldn’t matter to me, but they do. If I’m going to lose Isabella, I want to cling to what little I have left. My friendship with Joshua is one saving grace, and my job is another. But even if Isabella stays quiet and puts the whole thing to bed, I still won’t feel close to okay. I want her back. I want to tell her that everything she saw was wrong. It wasn’t my fault, for once. For once, I was trying to do the right thing.

I have to head back to the hotel and clear my head. I start walking back in the right direction, but Maeve intercepts me on her way out of the coffee shop. She’s practically running to keep up with me.

“So I’m guessing that’s your lucky lady?” Maeve says smugly, feeling pretty damn satisfied with the trouble she has caused, clearly. I take a deep breath, trying to stop myself from saying something I might regret. I’ve already caused enough issues without making it any worse.

“Go home, Maeve. I don’t want to speak to you.”

“Someone’s grouchy,” she says, raising an eyebrow at me. “What’s the big deal, anyway? A date means nothing. It’s not like you’re married.”

I turn to her in anger. “Well maybe if you stopped and listened, you’d realize that I actually really like this girl. I have for a long time. You’ve just ruined everything between us. So thanks a lot.”

“Oh cry me a river,” she snaps back. She’s drawing attention from people around us, but Maeve probably doesn’t care. She never does. “You didn’t care when you broke my heart, right? So excuse me if I don’t care about your hurt feelings.”

I laugh without humor. “And you claim to care about me. You’re messed up, Maeve. I tried to be patient with you, but I really can’t stomach your bullshit anymore. I’m walking away.”

As I storm off down the street, onlookers are watching me, eagle eyed and amused by some petty drama. I even catch one person trying to film the incident, and I walk faster, knowing that if I’m recognized, it could cause a scandal for my business. Maeve is shouting at me from down the street, hurling insults left, right and center. I couldn’t be more relieved when I reach the hotel and head inside, out of the way of further drama.

Back in the room, I allow myself to be overwhelmed by it all. I put my head in my hands, shaking my head at myself. How could I be so stupid? I should have known that Maeve would do something like this. I just hadn’t expected a witness, least of all Isabella. She’s completely misread the scenario, but she won’t want to listen to my excuses. She’s just going to assume the worst of me, like everyone does.

It’s always the same. My reputation precedes me. It’s the reason Joshua never trusted me with his sister in the first place. But what he doesn’t understand is that people change. Back when I was sleeping around, I only did it to try and fill the empty hole left in my heart from my parents death. I just wanted to feel something other than the overwhelming misery. That was something I never admitted to anyone, but Isabella…she was different. It felt…in the short time we spent together…like she really cared about me. And now I’ve lost her as well just because Maeve doesn’t want to let me go.

I wish I could just rewind to this morning and stay in bed like I wanted and had planned. I wish I could go back to yesterday and tell Maeve to fuck off, the way she deserved. I don’t care if I hurt her anymore…she intentionally sabotaged the first real thing I’ve had in a long time, and the first real thing ever with a woman, the woman of my dreams no less. If that’s not cruelty, I don’t know what is.

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