Page 10 of Mr. Almost

When Max tells everyone they are free to go, I move to intercept Olivia to talk to her, only she bolts out of the room like her ass is on fire.

“Why did she look familiar?” Eli asks.

“Who?” I ask, playing dumb.

“The girl who was sitting on the left side of the table, second from the back,” Eli says.

“Olivia Knight? She’s from the temp agency.” Iris frowns. “Do you two know her?”

I clear my throat. “I do. She’s an old friend.”

Lover, really, but they don’t need to know that.

Iris scoffs and crosses her arms over her chest. “You must have parted on bad terms then.”

I frown. “Why do you say that?”

“Because no woman runs away from a friend if everything is okay between them,” she tells me bluntly.

Max groans as he runs his hands through his hair. “Fix it. Whatever you did, fix it. She’s only been here a week, but she’s fantastic. Hell, we were just talking about buying out her contract with the agency if all goes well over the next few weeks.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll fix it,” I tell them.

Max points at me. “You better.”

I nod as I run my hand over my mouth.

I will. I’ll fix whatever this is between Olivia and me.

Only, I don’t know what it is I need to fix.

Chapter

Three

OLIVIA

My heart beats rapidlyin my chest, and my breaths are shallow. As I rush out of the room, my vision is taken over by black spots. When I step into the elevator, I press a shaky hand to my chest and try to slow my breathing.

This can’t be happening.

I need to quit right now,I think, as the panic completely sets in.

Arianna’s little face flashes through my mind, and I know that quitting isn’t an option. If I walk out of here, I won’t have a way to put food on the table and pay our bills. No, I can’t do that to my baby. She deserves the world, and I’ll do anything for her.

I have to stay.

I have to stay.

Taking a deep breath, I try to pull myself together and come up with a plan.

All I have to do is avoid him, which shouldn’t be hard. He’s avoided us since I was pregnant. No, he doesn’t deserve a moment of our time or to know anything about my baby girl.

With a shaky hand, I pull out my phone from my pocket. I’m not supposed to keep it on me, but they can kiss my ass. If something were to happen to Ari, I don’t want the day care to have to hunt me down when they could simply call me. My daughter is my main priority, and nothing will ever change that.

Unlocking the screen, I pull up my texts and open Chloe’s chat.

Me

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