Page 55 of Stuck with my Boss Daddies

That was the thing about Sadie. She had this quiet pull, this effortless way of grabbing my attention without even trying.

“So,” I continued, resting my elbows on the counter, “what’s got you so lost in thought?”

“Nothing,” she said too quickly, going back to wiping down an already spotless surface.

“Sadie.” I drew out her name, watching as she exhaled sharply through her nose.

“It’s just… life stuff,” she admitted. “Nothing interesting.”

I tapped my fingers against the counter. “Try me.”

She hesitated, her grip tightening on the rag. “I’ve just been… thinking about what comes next.”

I raised a brow. “Next?”

She glanced around, like she was making sure no one else was listening. “Like… am I going to stay here, I suppose.”

Woah.

She’d told Kai in her interview that she was sticking around Medford. That was why we’d wanted to hire her.

But I wasn’t dumbstruck because of The Foundry.

I was dumbstruck because for the first time, she was actually saying it out loud—she wasn’t sure if Medford was home.

And for some reason, that hit harder than I expected.

“You’re thinking about leaving?” The question came out more serious than I meant for it to.

Sadie frowned, shaking her head. “I don’t know. I mean, I’ve been having fun, but… I didn’t exactly come back to Medford because Iwantedto.”

Something about the way she said it made my stomach twist.

“Then why did you?” I asked.

She let out a dry laugh, tossing the rag onto the counter. “Because my life in the city went to shit.”

I stayed quiet, waiting.

I’d learned by now that Sadie only ever spoke about herself in pieces, like she was testing the weight of each word before deciding if she wanted to give it away.

She toyed with the edge of a napkin, her eyes averted. “I was doing okay for a while. I had a job I thought I was good at. I had my own place. I thought I had a future. I was proving myself…”

Her lips parted like she was going to say something more, but instead, she let out a sharp breath and shook her head.

“And then I didn’t.”

I leaned in slightly. “What happened?”

She hesitated, then finally met my gaze. “I got involved with my boss.”

The words were flat, but beneath them, I caught something else.

Bitterness. Regret.

I stayed quiet, letting her talk.

“It wasn’t supposed to be a thing. Just fun, you know?” She laughed, but there was no humor in it. “But I was stupid. I trusted him. And he—” She stopped abruptly, pressing her lips together before forcing a shrug. “It ended badly.Reallybadly. He made sure I couldn’t stay there.”

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