Page 121 of Illicit Education

I’d thrown away the internship of my dreams by falling for the boss.

I could kiss my publishing career goodbye.

The photos would eventually become yesterday’s news. People would forget about me.

But the ripple effect had begun, and that couldn’t be changed.

I didn’t sit through four years at Vassar and six weeks at Columbia to bewitha publisher. I’d done all that tobecomeone. And now I would just be the intern who fucked her boss. Who would even hire me?

I glanced down at the little blue dot in the map on my phone and hurried through the foyer, opening the door before Greer could have a chance to knock or ring the bell. I needed a few moments with her without everyone else.

When she saw me, her face crumpled and she moved on me so quickly she nearly knocked me down. She wrapped her arms around me and the tears returned, streaming down my cheeks onto her shoulders.

“Oh, Ry,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry.”

I shook my head, then pulled back. Greer wiped my cheeks, then sighed. “It’s my fault.”

“What?” I laughed through a sob. “What are you talking about? Of course it’s not–”

“If I hadn’t taken you to White Rabbit and forced you to get a job, then dragged you downstairs because I wanted to see Lacey…”

My shoulders slumped and I cupped her face. “Greer, stop it.”

She cupped my face too and looked at me pointedly. “Listen to me. I’m sorry. It’s my fault. I should have never forced you out of your comfort zone.”

Cabot cleared his throat behind me and I closed my eyes, his presence washing over me, a reminder that at the end of all of this, he and I were in it together. I opened my eyes and Greer’s flicked back and forth between mine.

Smiling through the tears, I whispered, “This was inevitable, G.Hewas inevitable.” I shrugged. “It's not your fault.”

I dropped my hands and motioned toward Cabot. “Greer, meet Cabot Reed.” I looked at him and pointed to Greer. “My best friend, Greer Clements.”

He offered her a tight-lipped smile and she walked past him with a huff.

Right now, he didn’t have much more in him than that tight-lipped smile, and she, well, Greer would need time to warm up to the man who’d, in her eyes, tied me up on stage and made it possible for this to happen to me.

And, depending on what Lacey had told her about him… well, who knew what she thought of Cabot Reed.

“Girl, what,” Greer called over her shoulder as she strode through the sitting room. “Who lives here? It'shideous.”

I looked up at Reed and offered him a watery smile, shrugging because Greer was right.

He pulled me to him and wrapped his arms around my waist. “Poor Grams.”

My shoulder shook on a laugh and I pressed my nose into his neck, breathing deeply.

“We’re going to get through this,” he said, running his hand down my back.

“I know.”

He pulled my head back and held my face. “Do you trust me?”

Swallowing hard, I nodded.

Three hours later, I poked at the spaghetti carbonara in front of me, still unable to eat. Takeout containers littered the table and part of the counter top, but no one seemed to be eating.

Greer sat beside me, actively listening but remaining rather quiet–a rarity for her.

When he wasn’t pacing the kitchen like a caged lion, Cabot sat on the other side of me, keeping his hand on my leg beneath the table.

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