Page 86 of Knot your Good Girl

“Should I be worried about what you want to talk about?” I ask, flipping the card through my fingers.

He touches my cheek tenderly. “For us to move forward, we need to get everything out in the open. We need honesty.”

He said ‘us.’

I like the idea that there is an us but as we’re almost at our expiration date and he was adamant in the beginning. His words rang out with crystal clarity.“At the end of the ten days, it is over.”

My heart drops. He was very clear about the rule. I should never have told him I fell for him. Does he want to end us tonight? Did I get too close to him that he is going to let me down gently tonight?

I keep a smile on my face as he walks out of my bedroom.

After a shower, I check my bank balance and my emails for a response from the Omega Council about my overseas travel request. There’s still no reply.

My fingers reach across for the credit card on my bedside table when I see a missed call on my cell.

Penny

Aren’t you at work today?

I smile. I really wish I was. I used up all my annual leave to go back home to California before Mom let me know Christmas was canceled this year.

I’m off until January 2nd. Annual leave.

Can you come in? We’re snowed under because of the game tomorrow night. I’ll get your leave reimbursed.

Overtime rate?

I want to save as much money as I can.

They’ve offered everyone who comes in to help double time.

I grin.

See you in half an hour.

“Just be careful, Holly.” I turn to Penny as the elevator pings, the doors open, and we stare into the empty cabin. “Jed’s been hissing and slamming things all morning,” she says, her eyes lifting with a sigh.

“Why?”

She shrugs. “No idea, but I know he was livid that you never turned up at the Christmas party.”

With a casual shrug of my shoulders, I climb into the car. I no longer care about the wrath that is about to rain down upon me from my boss. If he didn’t accept my illness, that’s fine. Soon, I’ll be leaving this job behind and embarking on a new chapter in my life.

“I spoke to him, told him I was sick,” I say and smile. “He believed me.”

The doors close and the car moves upward before Penny says, “He didn’t. He was texting you at the same time as he was watching a video of you on his phone.” She swallows before she blows out a breath. “I’m sorry, but I recognized the OmegaFans app because my friend is on it.”

I gasp. Suddenly the ride seems too quick, and when the doors open on our floor, I feel ill.

My boss saw me... Like that... Intimately.

How long has he known about me.. seen me like that?

I feel a wave of nausea washing over me. All the intimate photos and videos of me he’s seen.

How long has he known?

“Don’t let him know you’ve told me,” I say. “I need to hand in my notice first, and act like I normally would around him.”

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