Page 111 of A Ticking Time Boss

I stare at him. “This isn’t something you can fix with money. Especially not your money,” I say. If there’s one person who shouldn’t pay for Will C. Jenner’s mistakes, it’s his son.

But Carter steps back like I’ve insulted him. “Audrey,” he says, voice hoarse. “I can’t have my father’s dealings ruin this. Ruin us.”

I close my eyes. I don’t want that either, but right now, the only thing I can think is that he wasn’t going to tell me. He was planning on going his whole life knowing, and not telling me.

“I want you to leave,” I whisper. “Please, Carter. I need to be alone.”

He doesn’t say another word. He just closes the door softly on the way out, footsteps disappearing down the steps beyond, and I sink slowly to the floor.

TWENTY-FOUR

It’s been a week.

One long week since I learned the truth, since Carter walked out of my apartment. Since I asked him to leave me alone. A week since the funny, annoying, sweet, soft texts stopped.

He’d known. It’s difficult to wrap my head around. He’d known and not told me, even after we’d had the discussion about honesty. The betrayal stings like salt in a wound.

Booker’s voice booms through the newsroom. “Decker, Johnson, Peters and Kim. I want your stories on my desk by the end of the day. Feel free to use the juniors if needed!”

“Yes, boss!” someone calls back.

Declan snickers beside me. “Use the juniors,” he repeats.

Grunt work is exactly what it sounds like, but I don’t mind it. Working with the seasoned journalists is sometimes a pain in the ass. Decker is especially finicky, and Peters doesn’t tolerate criticism from a junior colleague, but I’m learning a lot.

I’m still loving my job… even if I’ve hated coming here every single day this week. The knowledge that Carter is only a few floors above me feels like torture. A part of me wishes I’d never found out. Which means his plan of never telling me wasn’t the worst one, and I hate that part of me, too.

I hate that I don’t know my own mind where I’ve always been able to trust it before. And I also hate that he knew and didn’t tell me. It makes me feel sidestepped. Neglected. Patronized.

But most of all, I miss him so much it hurts.

The only thing that helps is focusing on work, even when my focus drifts in and out of view. The paper I’m researching for now is about the rise of remote work. Interesting enough, even if my mind is filled with Carter.

Kim stops by Declan’s desk. I catch snippets of their hushed conversation, until I’m fully eavesdropping.

“…going on for over half a year.”

“Not that long?”

“Started at the Christmas party, apparently.”

“That’s insane. I understand why he did it, but why would she risk her position?”

Declan’s voice is filled with glee at the gossip. “Nate’s hot. She probably gambled no one would find out.”

“HR is involved, last I heard,” Kim says. “Nate could lose his job.”

“So much for sleeping with a superior. Didn’t land him the promotion, did it?”

Kim and Declan both chuckle. They fall quiet as Booker breezes past and quickly disperse. It’s not the first I’ve heard of this particular piece of company gossip, and I’m sure it won’t be the last.

But it’s the first time it sends a shiver of fear down my spine.

Didn’t land him the promotion, did it?

That’s what Declan would say about me and Carter, if he knew. What everyone would say. I put my head in my hands, and for the first time since I started at the Globe, I feel like crying.

I love him, I think. And it hurts so much.

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