Chapter 18 Maddy
Maddy
Iwatch as Adrian sweeps toward my desk, his presence as intimidating as ever. His gaze flicks to me, and for a split second, I catch my breath.
Oh shit.
I think he’s going to say something—call me in, fire me, tell me to pack my desk and never set foot in Modern Edge again. Instead, he just glares. The kind of glare that is so sharp, I actually lean back in my chair, feeling it cut me right to the bone.
But then… he’s gone.
I take a deep breath in and out, but it doesn’t bring much relief. There’s a part of me that wants to run after him and beg for reassurance, but I don’t know why.
So, I compartmentalize. I put my brain in neutral and focus on my inbox, completely ignoring the devastation I feel is impending.
I flip through the sixty-three unread messages, sending spam to the trash and then reading and responding to the others. I chip away at the list with a kind of manic precision, only looking up when Beck comes over, wearing a grin that would have melted me an hour ago.
Now, it feels like it might set this whole place on fire and do way more damage than the burnt popcorn in the microwave.
Beck slows as he passes and gives me a wink. “He threw quite the tantrum, but nothing I can’t handle.”
My jaw drops, my heart in my throat. Oh my god. Does that mean Adrian knows?
Before I can ask, Beck’s phone rings, and he quickly returns to his office. I sit there, staring after him. He didn’t seem bothered at all.
Maybe that means I shouldn’t be either? I shake my head, try to ignore my panic, and go back to my emails.
About the time I finish them and distract myself by updating Adrian’s schedule, Caleb emerges from his office. He’s so much less obvious in his attempts at communication than Beck is.
He just stands there awkwardly, hands in his pockets, watching me for a beat. It’s the same look he had the night he came to my apartment—half concern, half longing. I duck my head, pretending to reformat the agenda, even though my brain is going in ten different directions at once.
“Everything okay?” he breaks the silence, and for a second, I consider telling him what’s going on with Beck and Adrian.
But that’s a totally stupid idea.
So, I answer without looking up. “All good, just you know, slammed.” Literally and figuratively.
He lingers, as if waiting for me to say more, but I don’t. Eventually, he heads to the break room, and as I watch him go, I feel kind of guilty.
I squeeze my eyes shut and pray for the day to end.
And thankfully, it does without anyone else bothering me.
The moment five o’clock arrives, I shut down my computer, clear my desk, and jet out of there before Beck or Caleb come out of their offices. No matter how much I’d like to have Beck finish what he started, that is not the smartest move after everything that’s happened.
I make a beeline for the elevators, but Marissa is already there.
Fuck.
She eyes me. “Long day, Maddy?”
“Yeah,” I say, pressing the call button again, willing the elevator to move faster.
“I can tell. You look like absolute garbage.” She then looks away from me and down at her phone.
Part of me wants to punch her in the face for being such a bitch.
But instead, I just step into the elevator and let out a sigh, because I’m about to go home, drown myself in wine, and forget about the crazy shit happening at this office right now.
As soon as I step inside my apartment, I melt. I drop my bag, change into leggings, and pour a glass of Merlot, feeling the burn in my throat before I even finish the first swallow.
Just breathe, girl. You’re going to survive this. Somehow.
It’s so quiet as I plop down on the couch, I can hear the hum of the refrigerator, the low growl of traffic on the streets below. There are no men here. No stupid Marissa. And no one to bother me.
But still, I’m crawling out of my skin as my mind replays the way Adrian left today.
I want to type out my resignation letter right now, so I never have to see any of them again, but… I can’t. I can’t afford this beautiful apartment without that paycheck. So, I’m stuck drinking my wine and staring at the skyline out the window until it all blurs together.
Fuck me.
Riley comes in a little bit later, arms loaded with groceries. “I come bearing cheese to add to your drowning sorrows,” she says, kicking the door shut with her foot.
I sit up, blinking as my eyes adjust to the sight of her dropping the groceries on the counter.
She makes a face at me, her eyes widening. “Oh my god. You look like death,” she drawls, with the concern of someone who has seen me through hangovers, breakups, and at least two major food poisoning incidents.
I make a face. “Thanks. That’s exactly the look I was going for.”
She pours herself a glass of wine and brings the cheese platter over, setting it on the coffee table. “So, what’s the latest?” She takes a seat on the other end of the couch.
“Do you want the highlights or the full breakdown?” I say, swirling what’s left of my own wine.
“Give me all the sordid details. I need to live vicariously through you.” She kicks her legs up, tucking her feet under my leg. “Seriously, it’s like a soap opera. Only with more hot people and less amnesia. Or secret babies.”
“Ha! Yeah,” I huff, smiling at how true that is.
I force myself to let it all out. I talk about the mess with me missing Adrian’s late-night upload of files, Marissa out to get me, Caleb wanting to talk, and then, finally, the drama bomb of the day—Adrian’s meltdown, the fight between him and Beck, and the thick, inescapable tension that fills the office.
Riley listens until the end, and then finally sighs. “Okay, I feel like I’m missing a crucial piece.”
I give her a sheepish look. “I think you can put it together.”
She narrows her eyes and then suddenly sits up a little straighter. “You did not.”
I full-blown cringe. “I did.”
“Oh, holy mother of Jesus, Maddy!” Riley nearly spills her wine.
“You cannot sleep with all three of them. I mean, Caleb, we can write that off because all he did was finger you, but you let Adrian in, too? Oh my god. Oh. My. God.” She drains the rest of her wine and then falls back dramatically on the couch.
I sigh, my shoulders falling. “But on the plus side, he told me it was a mistake. Like, literally called it a fuck up. Then stormed out afterward.”
Riley’s mouth falls open, and she shakes her head. “You are literally living every woman’s fantasy. Three hot as fuck men, all losing their minds over you. It’s ludicrous.”
I frown. “It’s not as much fun as it sounds. It’s exhausting, actually. And also, I think Marissa wants to kill me.”
Riley makes a face. “Fuck her. You’re not the problem. Let’s be honest, she probably is just jealous you’re hotter than her or something. She’s the least of your problems. Let’s concentrate on the three guys falling in love with you.”
I cough, nearly spraying my wine. “No one is in love with me. If anything, they’re probably planning how to fire me as we speak. I know there was some big blowout between Adrian and Beck this afternoon.”
She rolls her eyes. “Honey, wake up. You’re the only reason that office is functional right now. I bet that place would self-destruct in a week if you quit. They need you. They know that.”
“Maybe.” I’m pretty sure there’s zero truth in her statement, but I appreciate how she’s got my back.
Riley slices cheese and lays out crackers, clearly in it for the long haul.
“So, what are you going to do?” she asks, slathering brie onto a wheat thin.
I stare glassy-eyed at my phone. “I have no idea. I don’t even know what each of them knows. It’s like a game of emotional Minesweeper. I mean, I can assume based on what Beck said that they know about each other. But what about Caleb?”
She finishes chewing and then nods as she swallows. “Okay, well, you need a strategy. Step one, I think you should put one big fat pause on all of this. Do not bang any more bosses until it’s sorted.”
I nod, reaching for the wine bottle. “Agreed.”
Riley holds up two fingers. “Step two… I think you should figure out what you actually want. Like, do you want to keep this job? Do you want to date one of them? Can you sleep with all of them, and no one cares? Or do you want to say fuck it and move to another country?”
“The last one sounds like the safest,” I joke. “I just want to keep my head down and not get fired. Or publicly humiliated.”
Riley grabs my shoulders and looks me dead in the eye. “You are not going to get fired. Worst case, you leave on your own terms with glowing recommendations and a killer story to tell at parties. You can blackmail the hell out of them—they’ll have to give you what you want.”
I want to believe her, but the image of Adrian’s face, so cold and stern, keeps replaying in my mind.
There’s no way he’d fall for being blackmailed. He’d find a way to blackmail me, probably.
Riley picks up on my energy and pokes my arm. “Hey, is there something else going on? I mean, I know this is a lot, but… It’s not like those guys were not willing participants.”
I clutch my wine and roll the glass between my hands. “I just feel like… a problem. Like I fucked up so badly, there’s no way out. Like whatever happens, I lose.”
She’s quiet, then scoots closer, her voice suddenly soft.
“Maddy, listen to me. The only way you lose is if you let someone else decide what you want. You can’t just let these guys push you around—or worse, make you feel like you don’t deserve to be there.
Again, they have come onto you, not you them. ”
I nod, a little more convinced. “I’ll try.”
She grins and then reaches for more crackers. “And you know what? If you do get fired, we’ll move to Italy and open a cheese shop. We’ll seduce hot soccer players and never come back to America again. Fuck ‘em all.”
“That’s insanely brilliant.” She finally gets a real laugh out of me. “I’m all over that.”
“Good,” Riley giggles, and then passes me a cracker with cheese already stacked on it. “Now, let’s not worry about any more men, or women named Marissa, for the rest of the night.”
I breathe out a sigh. “Deal.”
I’ll just save all my panic attacks for tomorrow.