AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Elle cut right to the chase. “Why the fuck did you report Arianna and me to HR? What’s your problem, huh?”
Riley was far enough at the end of the bar that nobody was distracted by the altercation. To hell with jet lag. She hadn’t slept on the flight like she usually did. How could she? Everything was despair the longer she was left to worry about Arianna’s state of mind. But Elle was so powered on adrenaline that she was liable to explode at anyone who looked at her wrong.
Let alone her number-one suspect!
“What are you on about?” Riley erected a wall between them using nothing but her hand. “What’s this about Aria?”
She had to be kidding. “You haven’t heard? Arianna’s on unpaid leave because someone found out about us!”
That was loud enough to garner some attention. Which was exactly what Elle needed as someone who knew better than to cause a scene in a country that did not take kindly to those things. The last thing I need is to end up barred from Singapore because I have beef with another American. Or did she?
“You’re kidding.” Riley shook her head and lowered her hand. She was so insufferably casual that Elle lost most of the fight within her. There it is. The fatigue of a day’s worth of travel catching up to her. “Surprised you guys made it this long. How long were you two playing hanky-panky across the ocean? Six months?”
“Five.”
Riley counted on her fingers. “That tracks.” She flagged down the bartender and bought Elle a drink. “How’s Aria taking it? I haven’t seen her since our flight from LA on Thursday. Friday. Whatever day it was. Can’t keep up with going into the future so often…”
Elle slammed her ass onto the stool next to Riley’s. “No idea. She won’t return my calls.”
“Oof.”
A bottle of local beer landed before Elle. She normally wasn’t a beer woman but for this occasion? She’d drink anything. “It wasn’t you?”
“Fuck no!” Riley was so offended that one would have thought Elle had called her ugly. “I stay out of that business as long as you’re not being a creep! And you ain’t no creep.” She sipped her mixed drink. “Honestly, you’d be more interesting if you were slightly creepy.”
“You’re one of the only people who knows about our relationship. You and her sister.”
Riley was red to hear that. “I doubt her sister said anything.”
“Then someone must have seen us. Where, though? We’re so damn careful!”
“Well, she did fly to Seattle to see you. Bet you let your guard down there.”
“That’s a very quick report. Someone would have had it out for me. It must have happened either here or in LA.”
Riley shoved both shoulders into the air. “That’s rough as fuck. But you’ve gotta believe me, it wasn’t me, nor do I know who did it or why.”
While some part of Elle was grateful that she didn’t have to think less of Riley, she didn’t feel better. Wherever Arianna was in this city, she was probably at her wit’s end thinking about her future. Either she wasn’t responding because she was angry at Elle, or because she was so caught up in the fallout that now haunted her career.
“I didn’t tell her yet, you know.” Elle slammed her bottle onto the bartop. She didn’t even taste the beer with so much messing with her mind. It just went straight down her throat and hopefully worked its magic at bringing her down from her anxious high. “That I’m a director. Of Royal Asia, I mean.”
Riley slowly shook her head. “I fucking told you.”
“I know. I was going to tell her when she was in Seattle. But I… got distracted.”
“By the fact you had a girl like that in your home for a whole week?”
“We confessed that we’re in love with each other. I completely forgot everything else.”
“Oof. Damn.”
“Yes. Damn.”
“You’re in love with her? She’s in love with you?”
“Yes!”
“Okay, okay. Making sure I understood that correctly because all I have to say is what the fuck are you doing here harassing me when you should be finding your woman? To, like, console her or something?”
