AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You think you can come in here say you’re sorry for ruining my life and just walk away?”
I didn’t understand the question. “I can’t stay after what I’ve done.”
“You can’t leave the company until I say so.”
“What?”
“I don’t know what to think, other than I’m angry and you’re stupid. I need time to process this. You stay at the company, and every time you pass someone in the hallway, think about what you’ve done to them, what you’ve cost them.”
I backed away from the table.
“Take the badge with you,” he ordered.
I picked it up and slunk to the door. “I didn’t mean for this to happen. I’m sorry.”
He shook his head, but didn’t say anything.
I opened the door and closed it behind me as I walked away from the one good thing that had happened to me in years. Outside I was alone and cold. My legs were wobbly as I made my way to my car.
I hadn’t known what to expect, and my stomach was about to turn itself inside out as I climbed into the driver’s seat.
If this had been a movie, he would have come running out the door to tell me it would be all right. A quick glance at his door confirmed this was no movie, and a happily ever after wasn’t in the cards for me.
I’d made a terrible mistake, and with that came consequences. Being told I still had to work among the people I’d wronged was a penance I hadn’t seen coming. But then maybe Ramona had been right all along. My path here had been wrongheaded from the beginning, and I deserved whatever I got at this point.
My phone chirped. As I pulled it from my purse, I expected the text to be from Ramona, but it wasn’t.
EB: We need to talk
Another problem I didn’t need.
Chapter 35
Dennis
I hadn’t slept hardlyat all last night, unable to get my mind around how Jennifer could have betrayed us all like that.
Tuesday at work was a blur. I couldn’t concentrate, and by the end of the day I was glad to leave for my brother Zack’s barbecue to meet his fiancée.
I arrived fashionably late.
Zack put a beer in my hand and introduced me to his lovely Brittney. She had been around when we were kids, and now that she’d come back to town, it hadn’t taken long for things to heat up between the two.
I didn’t expect to see either Kelly or Vincent, as they were both back east, Mom was still in Paris, but Dad and Serena were here, and Josh had made it too.
He’d been released from the hospital four days after the accident. Luckily, the brain swelling they’d worried about hadn’t occurred, and he’d passed all his concussion protocols. His bruises had healed, and you couldn’t even tell now that he’d been in that horrific accident.
Serena walked my way. “Where’s your girl?”
“What girl?” I wasn’t sure it would work with her, but I needed to keep the denial going. It was better than admitting I’d been taken in by a person trying to destroy me.
She cocked her head. “I know that look. You’re trying to hide something, but it won’t work.”
“Yeah. You got me. I’m planning on penis-reduction surgery later in the week, but you have to keep that to yourself.”
She laughed. “And disappoint half the women in LA?”
“It’s so I won’t hurt them.”
