Page 27 of Mostly My Boss
Like he knew how far deep into my own head I’d gone. I stepped back into the bathroom, pulled off the long-sleeved T-shirt I’d worn last night, and slipped the sweater over my head.
It was super soft. The color was rich and gorgeous. Nothing felt too tight anywhere and when I looked in the mirror, I noticed the color made my eyes appear to be a darker blue. Bolder.
I opened the door to find Ethan standing, waiting on the other side. He smiled and nodded as if assured, somehow, he’d done something right.
He had. It was perfect. Like, the most perfect thing I’d ever owned.
“I…” …had no clue what to say. “Thank you.”
“Yep. Now get your stuff and I’ll walk you back.”
No more drama. No discussion of last night. His failed test, Nicki, the question of my virginity. Why he got trashed. We just walked.
He stopped outside my dorm. “See you at lunch?”
I agreed. And thought I’d been right about last night. About staying with him instead of leaving.
It had brought us closer to together.
I just wasn’t absolutely sure if that was a good thing.
6
Therapy
Julia
“So you didn’t think you were doing anything for him that was beyond friendship?” Carol asked me.
“No. I mean, I knew he was on medication. I knew bad things happened when he drank. I also knew he had a tendency to let his mind drift sometimes. Someone had to have his back, but I wouldn’t say I protected him.”
“What about now?”
“Now?” I asked stupidly.
“Surely a man of Ethan’s means doesn’t need someone protecting him. He could hire any number of people to do anything required. No reason for you to stay if you wanted to leave. Yet you’ve been in his employment this whole time. There must have been a reason you stayed.”
I laughed. Was she kidding? “Uh, hello? Phoenix is one of the largest companies in America. I’m responsible for all of its branches. It’s my job to make sure growth is on target. That Ethan is allowed to spend his time creating without being bogged down by the day-to-day details. Outside of being President of the United States, I can’t imagine a more challenging position. And to have accomplished what we’ve accomplished by the age of thirty, it’s remarkable. There isn’t a person graduating Harvard or Wharton Business School who wouldn’t give an arm to have my job.”
“You’ve stayed all this time for the work, then?”
I glanced at Ethan and he had an expectant look on his face. How was I supposed to answer that? Of course Id stayed for the work. It was an amazing job. It had been eight years of the most intense experiences of my life. We’d traveled. We’d met foreign dignitaries. We’d partied with celebrities and athletes. We’d run massive charitable events that made a difference in people’s lives.
We were an incredible team.
“We had dinner with LeBron James,” I said stupidly as I struggled to think about why I’d really stayed with Ethan for these past eight years.
“Now that he’s done with basketball, I’m helping him produce a movie,” Ethan explained to Carol, as if that were important.
Meanwhile, I thought about what mattered. What really mattered. I considered what had really driven me since leaving school and deciding to work for him. The reason I’d stayed when he could so casually hurt me.
“Ethan needs me,” I admitted. “I stay because Ethan needs me.”
“So youareprotecting him?”
Was I? Was that what we were to each other? It felt demeaning to Ethan to think he needed a guardian, but I couldn’t stop looking at our past and seeing how that had played out over and over through the years.
“I guess.”
