Page 57 of The Bargain

Frowning, I plucked my glasses off the makeshift table and slipped them on my face to find that the numbers were worse now that I could see. Who the hell was lighting up my accounts?Allmy accounts.

I tossed aside the covers and sat up. With the first account that I pulled up, my stomach sank to my toes like I was on a roller coaster. There was no need to search. The software pulled up a picture someone had secretly taken of Sebastian and me in the park yesterday as we’d kissed. It had taken three tries to get my brain to register the words, but someone had seen us, snapped a picture, and posted it to support gay love. And it hadbeen shared. There were thousands of shares. It had hopped off one social media platform and bounced across numerous others, where people had shared it more and more.

Eventually, it had reached someone who recognized Sebastian.

And someone had recognized me.

Someone had shared the picture and tagged us both, linking our names with the picture.

Our relationship had been outed.

The bright new day I’d thought I had ahead of me disappeared before I could even get out of bed. The dark storm clouds I’d feared from the first second Sebastian had proposed dating had appeared—and in the very worst way.

I kept scrolling through my notifications, skimming the comments, searching for familiar names. I couldn’t fault the person who’d taken the picture and posted it. Their intention had been sweet and well meaning. It was our fault for not being more cautious. Until now, we’d been careful about how we’d acted while in public in case we ever ran into someone who recognized either of us.

But yesterday, the park had been deserted. There had been a couple of kids playing on the swings with their mother watching them. Had it been her? Or had someone been walking through the park as we talked and caught our kiss?

It didn’t matter. There was no stopping this now.

I closed social media when I couldn’t take it any longer, only to find that I had an equally massive number of text messages and emails waiting for me. Most of them were from people I worked with. The office knew I was dating my boss. I was fucked.

I jumped to my feet and paced as I called Sebastian’s number. Was he up yet? I normally got into the office more than an hour ahead of him. But he still had to get up early. He had a long drive from his home to downtown. He had to be up.

But the call went to voice mail. I hung up and tried again. And then again. And again.

After the fourth attempt, I left a message.

“Hey. It’s me. I’m assuming that I can’t reach you because you’re busy trying to fix this mess. If not, we need to talk about how to handle this picture. They’re going to fire me, Sebastian. I-I-I can’t lose my job. You know how things are. I can’t—” My voice cracked and gave out as panic choked me.

I ended the call and dropped my phone as I ran to the bathroom and threw up in the toilet. Everything was falling apart. My job was the only thing that was keeping Ronnie and my mom taken care of. If I lost my job, my entire world would fall apart.

“No!” I snapped at myself even as I kneeled beside the toilet.

That would not happen. Sebastian had promised that I wouldn’t lose my job. He’d promised to keep me safe and that everything would be okay. We would talk to human resources and any of the other executives we needed to. I’d be moved away from Sebastian, so there would be no more question of inappropriate behavior. Possibly even suffer a pay cut as punishment with an ugly mark on my file at work, but I’d still have my job. Things were going to be okay.

I repeated that sentence as I showered and got dressed. I didn’t bother putting my contacts in. My hands were shaking too badly to manage it. It would have to be a glasses day.

Somehow, I got to the office without getting involved in an accident. I wasn’t sure how that had happened since I couldn’t concentrate on anything in front of me. My stomach was in knots and cold sweat soaked my entire body. My hand reached for my phone every five seconds to check to see if Sebastian had messaged or called me, but there was nothing. Only silence.

Where the fuck was Sebastian? He had to be awake now. There was no way he hadn’t seen the images and gotten textmessages about it. Were his friends horrified that he was dating his assistant? Were they busy trying to talk him out of being with me?

No.

Not Sebastian. He wouldn’t abandon me now.

When I reached the office, it was still early and there were few people around. I managed a tight smile and a nod to the people that I saw, but I couldn’t get out any words yet past the lump in my throat.

A loud sigh of relief escaped me as I sat at my desk. The top floor was silent except for the wind rushing past the building. I closed my eyes and tried to shove aside my growing feeling of panic and despair. Why wasn’t Sebastian calling me? What was I supposed to do? I refused to believe that he was going to leave me to deal with this on my own, but what else was I supposed to think if he wasn’t returning my calls or texts? We needed a plan, but any plan I came up with was pretty much useless without him. He was the one with all the pull and power.

The first half hour ticked by, and I got little accomplished. I had to do things two and three times before I got them right. I was still trying to prepare all the papers for Sebastian’s meetings when Kaylan arrived with an awkward expression.

Yep, he’d seen the picture.

I grabbed my mug as I always did, even though I knew I wouldn’t drink the coffee I made. My stomach was too upset right now. Anything I drank or ate would come right back up.

Kaylan followed me into the break room a second later. There was a humming tension in his frame, as if he were barely holding himself together.

“Sooooo…do anything interesting this weekend?”

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