Page 72 of Not Safe For Work

“He didn’t. Get in, I mean. Obviously, you know that. I heard Vaughn caught up with him in time to stop him kicking the door, but…”

“Andie. What are they telling people?”

He went tospyon us? What the fuck was he hoping to see? I have a lot of thoughts about this but let the girls talk it out.

“Honestly, it’s not that bad. I mean, everyone knows you two are together so why wouldn’t you betogether, right?”

“Andie,” Liv seethes.

“Okay, okay. This morning, they were telling a few people about it and how theyheardyou and Ian said something like, “All he did was bring her to Mexico. You should hear what she did for a trip to Singapore.”

“I’m gonna fucking kill him.” I mean to say it in my head but when both girls turn to me, I realize I let the words slip. I guess I can’t kill him. But the second I’m done with this job I’ll be clocking him in the face so hard he can never smirk at anyone again.

The shuttle hits a long series of potholes and Andie goes back to her original seat so Liv can get off my lap.

“You okay?” I ask. It’s a stupid question because of course she’s not okay. I run my hands through her hair to try and help her relax.

“I’m fine. He may have everyone else fooled, but I know the truth. That trip to Singapore sucked.” She chuckles to herself. “I didn’t even want to go. It was summer and like a million degrees with a thousand percent humidity. But he begged me to go because the clients were big wine collectors. It was basically a work trip that I had to take PTO for.” She scoffs, and I’m surprised she’s not more anxious over the rumors.

“He took me all over the world,” she muses, and then she turns to me until her face is tucked into the crook of my neck, her nose brushing against my skin. “But this was the best trip I’ve ever been on, Scottie.”

I grin against her. And then I lean down to whisper, “Do you think he just got pissed because he heard how enthusiastic you were?”

She giggles and smacks me lightly against the chest. I can feel my eyes get heavy as the medicine starts to kick in and I wrap my arm around her. She stays tucked into my side for the whole ride.

I might have been passedout the entire flight home, but I know I enjoyed it. Because when I wake up, Liv’s hand is still in mine.

I try to brush off the drowsiness when we land and start by turning on my phone. I have three new messages from Gabby.

Gabby:

What the hell is this?

WTF Gav

How long have you been lying to me?

They’re punctuated by a photo she took of my mail. Apparently, I was denied for that new line of credit I applied for last month.Fuck.

Gabby was never supposed to know about this.

“What’s wrong?” Liv asks.

“Nothing, just trying to wake up.”

We’re both standing in that awkward scrunched position waiting to deplane. She grabs on to my shoulders and tries to shake me, shimmying her hips at the same time.

“Damn, you’re stiff as a board.”

“Yeah.” What’s that saying? Dead as a doornail, stiff as a board? Doesn’t sound right but that’s how I feel right now.

When we got denied any form of financial aid for Stanford, I decided not to tell Gabby. I knew she wouldn’t want to put more pressure on me, and she’d already offered to take out a loan or just go somewhere cheaper, but that’s not what I wanted forher. I was happy to bear the financial burden so she could enjoy school without worrying about money every day.

Gabby’s had a tough life, and she deserves everything. I’m the only parent she’s had since she was ten years old. There was no way in hell I would take Stanford away from her, not after all the work she put in to get there.

But without any aid, and with almost half my salary still going toward undergrad student loans, my debt started to spiral.I thought I had it under control and then our rent went up, and then it went up again.

I feel like I’m going to be sick.

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