Page 118 of Illicit Education

Holding my breath, I set the mug down and turned the magazine toward me, pulling it close.

There, on the cover, of fuckingNewsweek–notPage SixorStaror some other garbage rag–was a picture of New York City’s most beloved publisher.

And me. His fucking intern.

Tied

To

A

Chair.

A strangled sound came out of me and I looked up at Reed. He watched me with a look I didn’t recognize.

Three weeks ago I couldn’t even find a picture of him online, and now he was on the cover ofNewsweek.

Not on purpose.

And not for his many accomplishments.

My chest ached, yet felt hollowed out at the same time.

“We have a problem,” Mina said.

I looked at her, then back up at him, searching his gaze. “What are you…” I shook my head. “Are you mad?” It was a dumb question and I realized that the second it left my mouth.

“Am I mad?” He scoffed. “Oh, I’m fucking furious.” He held my gaze for a long moment, then he said, “But I told you: no regrets.” He sipped his coffee and then I realized what I saw in his eyes.

Amidst the seething anger was something new to me.

Something even newer–and probably more disturbing–to him.

Worry.

He was worried about howIwould react to this. HowIwould feel.

Before him, only two people in the world worried about me like that–

“Oh my God! Greer!” I jumped up from the table and hauled my ass back upstairs.I can’t believe I forgot to even look at my phone!I was so distracted by wearing his clothes and smelling like him that I completely forgot.

God, I sucked as a best friend.

I dug into my bag and found my phone. Before I even pulled it out, it buzzed in my hand.

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” I said, looking down at the screen. Thirty-eight missed calls and over two-hundred unread text messages.

My eyes widened and my stomach sank into the plush carpeting.

“Oh no.”

I didn’t know what to do first; my finger hovered somewhere in between the phone icon and the text messages icon.

Then Greer’s face popped up on the screen.

Make thatthirty-ninecalls.

I took a deep breath and pressed the button to accept the call.

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