Page 18 of The Revenge Agenda

“I don’t know. I don’t understand all these emotions. It’s black-and-white to me, but apparently, you’re having a freak-out over it, and you won’t tell me what to do. Do you want a hug?”

“Not from you.”

“But you do want one?” He hooks a thumb back over his shoulder. “I can get Eloise. She gives the best mom hugs.”

I release a long exhale through my nose and draw up to full height. “This conversation is officially the biggest waste of my time today. And I caught you hiding under a desk.”

“I panicked.”

“I could tell,” I say mockingly. “Tell the others I’ve left.”

But before I’ve taken a step, Rush grabs my arms to stop me from passing him. “Why do you hate me so much? To be clear, that’s not rhetorical. What’s the actual real reason?”

“I already told you.”

“Because I slept with him?” For fuck’s sake, Rush has the audacity to sound hurt. “But I can’t help that,” he whines.

“Some advice for you? Don’t go around sleeping with taken men, and then you won’t find yourself in this mess.”

I shrug out of his hold and walk away until I hear him faintly say, “I didn’t know.”

And there it is. The thing I’ve been refusing to acknowledge this whole time. Maybe Rush was as much of a victim as I was. But if he was, then I can’t hate him. And I really need to hate him.

Because otherwise, I’ll be back to hating myself.

Before I can let myself answer, I keep walking, right out of the bar. I’ll make my excuses to the team tomorrow.

Chapter 6

Rush

I read back over my email for the millionth time, making sure I’ve caught all those ninja typos and unfinished sentences.

Hunter,

Reasons why you shouldn’t quit.

What happened with Ian was not your fault.

You’ve already moved all this way.

My team, quite frankly, cannot go through another manager because of me.

I don’t want you to be out of a job because of me.

Ted will hound me over the weirdness between us and I’m too weak not to tell him. I don’t want to tell him. I need an ally.

A coffee cart comes to the office on Thursdays and I’ll even show you the perfect potted plant to sneak tea into when October rolls around and Autumn embraces her “fall aesthetic” which comes with the most undrinkable collection of what I’m pretty sure is expensive dirt.

I’ll return your coat.

I’ll get your coat dry cleaned before I return it, because I’m about ninety percent sure there’ll be cum on it.

We will never speak of the incident ever again.

I’ll even come into work early for you.

Okay, that last one was probably a lie, but I really will try.

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