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I don’t know what to do…
“I’m so stupid,” is all I can say.
“You let him into your cave of wonders, didn’t you?” he asks, not understanding the gravity of my crying. He just thinks another stupid boy broke my heart.
He’s not wrong, though it’s more than that.
“It’s not such a mystery, though,” Daphne says.
He tsks. “Really? Not the time.”
“I just mean it’s not a mystery to Jake. They’ve slept together before.”
“Oh. I thought—”
“Guys?” I say and attempt to wipe my face. “I’m still here.”
“Sorry,” they say in tandem.
“Where are you headed?” Stephen asks. “Home? You shouldn’t go to work like that.”
“I’ll be okay,” I say again. “I can’t be late.” Again. And I need to figure out how to stop this story from happening.
The thought of that makes my face pinch in anguish, and tears start falling again. Poor Meaghan. This was her chance at justice, and I screwed it all away. Literally.
They don’t fight me on it. “After work, we’ll come by your house and see you.”
“Not my house,” I say, almost too defensively. It’s not safe there. “Let’s do D’s.”
“Okay, honey. You sure you’re okay to drive?”
“I am.”
“See you after work, then. Love you.”
My voice breaks. “Love you too.”
We sit there a minute. He’s worried and wants to make sure I’m really okay.
I sigh a shaky sigh. Stop crying. Get ahold of yourself. I wipe the snot from my nose. “I’m so stupid,” I repeat. Stephen was right from the start. I was blinded to who Jake really was. To his intentions. It’s why I didn’t press him for answers and for the truth when I normally would have. It’s why I was more distracted than driven to find anything and everything I could. I can’t snoop and dig and other reporter-ey things when he has me naked in the bed. I was lazy. I took it easy on him.
And he knew it. He knew it.
And now he knows exactly what’s in the story and who my source is. Because I handed it all over like an idiot.
He interrupts my brooding. “Honey, you’re one of the smartest people I know. Go easy on yourself, okay?”
“Okay.”
“See you tonight.”
As he hangs up the phone, I hear him say through his teeth, “I’m gonna strangle that racecar-driving asshole with his own magnificent unicorn dick.”
I rollinto work with five minutes to spare. Just barely enough time to clean myself up, slide on some shades, and get to my desk.
Claudia isn’t here yet, so I have time to think of a plan, but I’m unsure if there’s one I can come up with that also doesn’t involve her firing me. Claudia gave me this article as a last chance to prove my worth. She could have entrusted it to anyone, and she gave it to me. And I told her she could count on me to do it.
The elevator across from my desk dings, and Claudia breezes onto our floor, her face buried in her phone. Probably to check and see if I’ve updated her with the information I promised but never delivered.
