Page 86 of Grumpy Boss in Love

I laughed. “I only accepted her call to get an explanation.”

Henry glanced at me and grimaced. “What was her excuse?”

“Something about needing money fast because of a sick relative. I feel for her, and I somewhat understand her desperation at that moment, but…” I sighed heavily. “I’d never sell out a friend for a few thousand dollars, no matter what. There’s always a choice.”

“Not everyone has your heart, Ruby,” he returned. “Are you going to forgive her?”

I hunched my shoulders as hurt surged through me again. I really considered Megan my best friend. “I can, but I sure as hell can’t ever trust her again. I was so naive, putting my trust in her. In Elliot…” I added forlornly. “Do you think it’s a good idea for me to go back to Chicago? Maybe I can give up my apartment, pack up, and come home.”

After taking a few bites of ice cream, he turned to me. “Can you achieve your dream in Oakland?”

My eyebrows elevated. “A marketing firm in that tiny town? I doubt it.”

“Are you really going to let a bunch of nosey fuckers who don’t know anything about you run you out of a city where you’ve started to build something?”

I gawked at him, shocked by his fierceness. So this was where Cass and I got our defiant attitudes from.

I snorted. “Hell no.”

Elliot and I may be no more, but I had a feeling he’d honor our deal. The one about paying six months’ rent for an office space. I wasn’t so sure he’d still want me to do marketing for his hotel. I couldn’t give up on my dream because I got dumped.

“Atta girl.”

“Right on, Dad. You’re so freaking cool.”

He smirked and we high-fived. My mood had improved significantly and then my phone rang. When I pulled it from my purse, I plummeted right back into despair. Staring at the screen, I murmured, “It’s him.” Again. He’d been calling for days.

Henry’s eyebrows furrowed. “Aren’t you going to answer?”

“I can’t yet.”

“You’ll have to talk to him, eventually.”

“Meh…” I shrugged and wrinkled my nose. “Or I could dodge him for all of eternity.”

Henry’s hearty chuckle made me smile. “You don’t strike me as a coward.”

I rolled my eyes. Yeah, I knew I had to talk to Elliot, if only to give him a piece of my mind. But it didn’t have to be today.

33

ELLIOT

“I’m worried about her.”

As my agitation grew, my pacing became more frantic. I’d wear a hole in my office carpet for sure.

A sigh fluttered from across the room. I glanced at Jane who was seated on the leather sofa. The leg crossed over the other bobbed up and down as she watched me with a frown. “I’m sure Ruby is fine, Elliot.”

I stopped my anxious walking to shake my head. “She stopped calling two weeks ago, and I’ve been trying to call her all of this week with no answer.”

My guilt was almost unbearable. Last night, I drank myself into such a stupor at Ben’s that I had to crash in a recliner in his man cave. I never drank to that point. I was fucking stressed.

Jane tapped her fingers on the sofa’s arm. “She’s probably somewhere hiding from the vultures. They can get nasty when they want a picture or story.” She looked skyward. “I can’t believe paparazzi are still a thing. Twenty-eight years ago, one of them almost killed me. I was driving so fast to get away from him that I almost ran off the road.”

I gaze at my stepmother with a wry smile. “You mean during the first Westwood scandal that I caused?”

Her eye roll rivaled Ruby’s. “The oneyour fathercaused, and we’re over that.”

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