Page 16 of The Revenge Agenda

“No one special.” I manage a smile. “As Ted said, I’m Hunter Barrett. I was first in line for a promotion in Portland with WCX that was never coming. So when this position came up, I applied, interviewed, and …” I pick up my beer again and take a sip.

“Didn’t you move here to be with your partner?” Autumn asks.

My molars almost crack, and it takes all my willpower not to throw a glare Rush’s way. “It didn’t work out.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” she says, and it sounds genuine, at least. But then she keeps talking. “Though, you never know. Rush and his boyfriend just broke up, but someone wants someone baaack …” Autumn nudges him in a teasing way, and it takes me an embarrassingly long time to put together what she means.

“No, he doesn’t!” Rush hurries to say.

Autumn snorts. “Please. I saw Ian blowing up your phone today. He wants you bad.”

Ian.

Messaging Rush.

When that fuckface broke all contact between us.

Huh. Well. I guess it goes to show that he didn’t want me that much after all.

Did they even break up? Or was it all a lie they’re telling people so it doesn’t look like Ian has jumped into another relationship again so soon?

So he doesn’t look like an asshole.

A cheater.

Will he propose to Rush too?

Fuck this. I thought I could do it, but I can’t.

I down the rest of my beer and slam it too hard on the table. “I need the bathroom.”

Then, while I’m there, I’ll work out a fucking exit plan from this nightmare. I’m tempted to text Ted with my resignation because I don’t see how I’m supposed to live through this. Switch off. Knowing Rush and Ian are still in contact and I’ve been tossed aside like the trash.

I rub the ache in my sternum with my knuckles as I walk, trying to massage it away. It’s not even him I’m all that upset about. After how he betrayed me, I have no interest in returning to that. It’s the rejection. The being made to feel worthless after investing years into this person who wasn’t who I thought he was.

It just. Isn’t. Fair.

The hall to the bathrooms is narrow and dark, thankfully empty, but as I reach the men’s room door, my name is called.

“H-Hunter?”

I recognize his voice immediately, and I don’t think. Just turn, grab his shirt, and pin him to the wall. Maybe I shouldn’t have drunk that beer so quickly on an empty stomach because the alcohol has gone to my head, and all I can do is glare at Rush through watery eyes.

“What the fuck do you want?”

His hand closes over the one I have bunched in his shirt, and instead of shock, he blinks up at me like he’s concerned about me. “I just wanted to talk.”

“Why the hell would you think I want to talk to you?”

“To clear the air?”

“Clear the air? You slept with my fucking fiancé.”

“And you were nice to me after that.”

“Nice?” I almost laugh.

“Plus, you’re my boss now. We have to get along. Please don’t tell everyone what happened—I don’t want to end up homeless and racing cops across state lines because I had to steal Madden’s car to live in.”

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