Chapter 115

I didn’t want to wait to apologize to Dylan so while everyone else was eating, I stepped to the side to shoot off a quick text.

Dylan. I’m sorry. I’d like to talk if you would be willing.

Knowing how I had hurt him earlier, I didn’t expect a reply, much less an agreeable one. So when my phone started buzzing with a phone call, I nearly jumped out of my skin.

Maria quickly ushered me into her room to talk. She recognized this time, I guessed, that I needed more actual privacy than the bathroom could provide. Though I still had no doubt that those girls were all listening by the door.

Accepting the call, I brought the phone to my ear.

“Dylan?”

“Are you with him now?” Dylan asked. His words were slightly slurred, like he’d been drinking. “Is he there with you?”

“No,” I said. “I’m at Maria’s.”

He laughed a little, bitterly. This was a darker side of him. His usual upbeat banter was entirely gone.

This was all my fault. I’d hurt him, and now he was drinking. I had to fix this.

“Dylan, I’m sorry –”

“You were the one to invite me on the date, Hazel.”

“I know –”

“Yet you went with him.”

Softer, I replied, “I know. I’m sorry.”

“Tell me why.”

I didn’t have a good reason. Dylan was a wonderful guy: smart, funny, successful, handsome as sin. But… Logan was the one my heart ached for.

Swallowing down my pride, I told him, “You deserve better than second-best.”

A long moment of quiet sat between us. Then he sighed loud and low.

“I’m really sorry,” I said again, seeing an opening here. My heart ached with how much I hurt him.

“I get it, Hazel. Just…” His tone had shifted now, away from snappy and defensive to something more defeated. “Give me some space and time, alright? I’ll come around eventually, but give me a minute to lick my wounds.”

“Okay.” That felt like the least I could do.

Although, then another thought hit me. Did this required space mean that I would have to find another lawyer? I had no idea how far along Dylan was in my divorce proceedings.

“Dylan?”

“Yeah?” The telltale clink of ice against a glass told me he had gone back to drinking. Maybe this wasn’t the best time to ask my question, but I wanted to be certain before he disappeared from my life for a while.

“About my divorce…” I started.

My phone made a noise. I pulled it away from my face enough to look at the screen, which showed the call had ended.

Dylan had hung up on me.

“Right…” I said to myself. I knew it wasn’t a good time and I barreled on anyway. He was drinking too. Well, I supposed it wasn’t urgent to know about the divorce right now. It could wait a few days.

I tucked my phone into my pocket and opened the door. Megan, Maria, and their two roommates were parked on the other side of it, their ears pressed to where the door had been. Now suddenly without it, they immediately stood and tried to look innocent.

Rolling my eyes, I told them, “You are all the worst.”

They just laughed.

Maria waved me toward the kitchen island. “Come eat before your food gets cold.”

Dylan shifts his gin around in the glass, ice cubes clinking on the sides. He still held his phone in his other hand, the screen now showing his contact list. Hazel’s name was right there, front and center.

He thought of deleting her, but he held himself back. If he wasn’t helping her professionally, he would have. As it was, and as unethical as it was, he was working for her.

Although she didn’t seem to care about ethics. Or, at least, Logan didn’t. Or he wouldn’t be pulling his secretary into a relationship.

Dylan opened a text to Logan. They hadn’t really spoken in a while. They used to be such good friends. The last text was when Dylan had called Logan an idiot. He wished he could take that back now. Maybe it had been that text that had finally woken Logan up to the gem right in front of him.

Either way, Dylan needed to tell Logan that he would not be representing him in the harassment case when all the shit hits the fan with HR.

Halfway through the message, he stopped himself, realizing he was writing the message more out of concern for Logan than for any professional reason. This relationship with Hazel could ruin Logan’s entire career.

“Not my problem,” Dylan grumbled and deleted the message.

He clicked off his phone screen and then tossed the phone onto the armchair a few feet away. Now he’d have to stand to make any more ill-planned texts or calls. The ones he’d already made were bad enough, he shouldn’t be making any more.

He lifted his drink to his lips and continued to drink, enjoying the burn of the liquor the whole way down his throat.

Early the next morning, I walked into the office with a spring in my step. We were barely off the elevator when Maria grabbed my hand and pulled me aside.

“You have to be more… normal, okay?” she said. “You are going to give yourself away and end up in HR’s office.”

The dreaded HR office. They were supposed to be an advocate for the everyday employees, but we all knew they held the needs of the corporation above everyone and everything else.

This was no idle threat from Maria, but an actual, honest-to-goodness warning.

“Don’t dawdle on company time, ladies,” said a voice, suddenly behind us. We both jumped. Looking behind us, we saw Dawn, an HR associate. God, it was like Maria had summoned her.

The clock on the wall said 7:54. We had six minutes yet before we were on the clock. That didn’t seem to matter to Dawn who stared at us with a sharp glare. It did not match the friendly smile on her lips.

Arguing with a member of HR was akin to career suicide, so Maria and I simply apologized, said quick goodbyes, and went our separate ways.

I tried to hide it, as Maria suggested, but I was still very eager to see Logan again. Would things be different now that we were more honest with our attraction to each other? Obviously things would be low-key at work, but –

Footsteps sounded behind me. I quickly glanced. Dawn was following me. She gave me that same glare-smile when she spotted me looking.

“I have a meeting first thing with Logan this morning,” Dawn said. “Some of us prefer to be early, rather than to show up at the last possible moment.”

“Right,” I said through clenched teeth.

At the end of the hallway, I quickly placed my things on my desk and then moved to intercept Dawn before she could walk in on Logan.

“Allow me to announce you,” I said. That was my job as an assistant.

Dawn crossed her arms, but she did stop.

Satisfied she wouldn’t follow me, I opened the door to the office and slipped inside.

Logan looked over from his computer screen. When he saw me, his entire disposition brightened.

“Hazel.”

My heart began to race, and I took two steps toward him before I realized I’d moved. I was drawn to him, like a moth to a flame. God, I wanted to kiss him so badly I could taste it.

But, like a steel door slamming down on those thoughts, I remembered Dawn standing just on the other side of the door.

“You have a meeting with HR?” I said.

Logan’s brightness dimmed a little. “At 8:30… upstairs.”

I frowned. Then what was Dawn doing here now?

“Perhaps Dawn got the time wrong. I will speak with her,” I said.

He nodded.

Turning, I opened the door to the office, ready to speak with Dawn. But she wasn’t outside the door anymore. I stepped out into the corridor.

There was no sign of her at all.