Page 103 of Mr. Hook-up

I wanted him to look at Holden and Grayson and the rest of the team and shout from the top of his lungs that I would never do something like this.

But at the same time, I was wrecked that the man I cared about so deeply had been put in this situation where he had to question whether I was innocent.

That the look in his eyes was for me.

Was about me.

Was the middle ground between me and his best friends and the company he’d worked so hard to build. With nothing else I could say, I stood, wobbling as I pushed the chair back and walked around the table. The second I reached the hallway, I rushed to my office and shut myself in, pressing my back against the hard wooden door.

I had ... no one.

I was completely alone, a feeling I hadn’t experienced since Easton had come back into my life. I could no longer fight off the tears.

They came hard.

Fast.

Dripping over my lips and past my chin.

My stomach aching, my entire body shaking.

Why.

How.

I didn’t understand.

I didn’t—

“Drake, can I come in?”

Easton.

His voice was outside my door.

Could I even talk?

Did I want to see him?

“Please, Drake, open your door.”

I twisted the handle, letting him inside, and went over to my desk, grabbing my bag, looking around to see what I wanted to throw inside it.

“We need to talk.”

I heard the sound of my door closing. I heard his statement.

But I didn’t look up.

I didn’t acknowledge his presence.

I hovered my hand in the air, my fingers tapping invisible keys, taking an inventory of the things I’d brought and what I wanted to pack.

The succulent that sat next to my computer. The framed picture of Saara and me that was beside the plant. The sweater on the back of my chair. The coffee mug.

“Drake.” His hands were on my shoulders, almost shaking me, forcing me to look up at him. “I didn’t know when we were in the elevator that any of this was going on. I didn’t know until we got out and they asked me to come into Holden’s office and they showed me the same photographs and email that they just showed you. If I knew, if I had any kind of goddamn inkling, I would have told you.”

I searched his eyes, really taking them in. “You would have warned me that I was going to be called into an executive meeting where I had to face the partners, the in-house counsel, and the other senior-level directors and look like a complete fool when I told them I didn’t send that email? That someone framed me? You would have told me that the people I respect so much in this company think I would actually steal proprietary information? Easton”—I stopped to breathe, something I was positive I still wasn’t doing—“never in my life has my character or integrity ever been called into question. Do you know how hard I have worked for my career?” My voice was rising, and I couldn’t stop it. “Do you know what it’s like to be a twenty-eight-year-old woman who is top in her field, a field that’s lined with mostly men, and then to be accused of this?” My eyes were burning, my throat on fire. “Because from where I’m standing, you don’t. You don’t get it at all.”

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