Page 10 of Suddenly Pregnant

Besides, she’d already packed and left Hope Springs and then New York. She wasn’t going to do the same with Sydney unless she wanted to add professional quitter to her resume.

“I’m so glad,” Hannah said. “I’m sure it was different for Mr. Harvey as well, to come back after his, hmmm, hiatus.”

Billie detected a hint of gossip in the making in her voice. Coming from a small town in Texas, she was very familiar with the niceties to exchange before digging into people’s life. Her aunt Peggy, Poppy’s mother, was a great example. Always talked her ass off and threw a “bless her heart at the end,” as a general disclaimer to excuse her from her throwing shade left and right. “Why did he have a hiatus?” she asked, cutting to the chase.

She knew that soon the driver would arrive, the one who would take her to the duplex.

Jack had insisted on staying late, and she wondered if he’d done so to spend the least amount of time around her outside of work. Or maybe he just wanted to be very prepared for the important meeting to take place in a few days. Either way, she was fine with it.

Well, not fine fine. But she was good at pretending.

Hannah lifted an eyebrow, and glanced around the large space, empty besides for the security guard playing with his phone by the double doors. “You really don’t know?”

“What? No,” she said.

“You’re kidding, right?” she chuckled. “You never searched him online?” she asked, then drummed her long colorful nails on the smooth surface.

Billie rolled her eyes. Was Hannah one of those people who really made you work for the gossip? “I knew I’d work for the company, but not for him specifically,” she said, opting not to give many details just in case. “Then I got here during the weekend, and I was jet lagged for two days. Whenever I had energy to go online, I’d talk to family. So no, I didn’t research him.”

Hannah’s brown eyes lit with mischief. “I like you, Billie. They don’t make them like you anymore.”

Billie glanced at the entrance, to make sure the car service hadn’t arrived. “Thank you? Whatever you have to tell me, go for it. Coz I gotta go soon, and now I’m intrigued.”

“Well, your boss was in a toxic relationship with a very known actress. Cressida Taylor.”

“Oh.” Her heart skipped a beat. She’d never heard that name before. Then again, she mostly watched scary movies. How long ago did this happen?

“Yes, dear…” Hannah flashed her a self-congratulatory smile, like she was having an orgasmic experience by telling her all this tea. “Cressida went to rehab. She has some drinking problems, poor girl. But his former assistant Ashton, got a hold of Jack’s phone and leaked a bunch of texts. Ugly stuff. Also, dick pics.”

A chill whispered over her skin. Dick pics? She’d had sex with him, and although she felt his massive cock, she didn’t see it. And people online had access to it? That’s not the most important detail, Billie, she reminded herself.

A toxic relationship.

A sketchy former assistant.

Wow.

“You weren’t lying. You are surprised,” Hannah said, then reached across the counter and patted her hand.

“Yeah. I didn’t know any of it,” she said in a low voice, more to herself than to Hannah.

“Well, if he tries anything, you’re prepared. Not that I think he would. He’s always been very respectful and professional. There has never been any type of rumors like that at work. Still, he broke Cressida’s heart… poor thing relapsed and had to go get treatment.”

“I…”

“Miss Jones,” the security guard called, pointing at the entrance. “Your car has arrived.”

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” she said to Hannah, and turned around, beelining to the sedan parked at the curvy entrance. The guard murmured something, and so did the driver. A random greeting. She simply smiled and nodded.

She slid into the backseat, her pulse going crazy like she was in an empty field running from a serial killer. The words from Jack from the previous night reverberated through her.

Despite what you heard about me.

She hadn’t made much about them then, what with trying to process losing her virginity and gaining a headache by discussing it so coldly right after. But now… it all made sense.

He probably didn’t want another scandal.

Though he’d been in a toxic relationship. What the hell did that mean? Was he the bad guy? She fished her phone out of her purse and swiped the screen, then clicked on her search engine and wrote his name.

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