18. Byron Graham
18
BYRON GRAHAM
This had to be one of the first times I’d woken with a smile on my lips. I stretched and my foot hit the railing of the futon, but I didn’t care. The only thing that could have made this morning better would have been waking with Sebastian beside me, one hand resting on my stomach or hip, his eyes closed and his lips parted as he slept. I would have lain there, watching him peacefully sleep, admiring how handsome he was even with his hair messy and his cheeks flushed.
One of these days. It was going to happen. I’d be able to sleep over at Sebastian’s house and wake up to his warm body next to mine. So far, we hadn’t been able to make it happen because of work or our own busy schedules on the weekend, but there was still plenty of time.
It didn’t matter, though. Not after this past weekend. Sebastian had seen the very worst of my life, learned some of the darkest secrets I tried to keep hidden from everyone, and he was still there. He hadn’t run away, hadn’t declared that I was more trouble than I was worth. The sexy billionaire had rolled up his sleeves and proved that he was willing to stick beside me.
More than that, he’d listened to me. He’d let me talk. All the words and emotions had poured out, and he’d stuck by me, soaking up all that pain so that I’d been left with relief. The boulder resting on my chest was lifted away, and I could catch my breath. For the first time in too many years, I truly felt safe. The ground was no longer slipping away under my feet.
And it was all because of him.
I didn’t need to go on the other four dates to know that I wanted to be with him. Sebastian Courtland was everything I’d dreamed of finding in a boyfriend, and I wasn’t about to let him go. Today, I was going to schedule a meeting with Declan Foster and formally request to be made his assistant. I could get Kaylan trained up in a couple of weeks, and then I’d be around for questions until I could find a new, more permanent position outside of Courtland Enterprises. It was time to end this silly bargain and claim Sebastian as my own.
A high-pitched alarm screamed through my tiny apartment, and I winced. I usually woke before my alarm, but I’d forgotten to turn it off. My brain was too full of Sebastian. I rolled over and fumbled with my phone, getting the app silenced. My vision was bleary and unfocused, but it looked like I had a ton of social media notifications waiting for me, which was strange. I had very few friends and followers on social media. I maintained the accounts for work purposes.
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? All my 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 had been 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 text messages 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?”
Oh, my fucking God. Really? There was nothing nonchalant in his voice. Nothing.
I sighed and rubbed my face. It was so tempting to just say no and move on to his weekend, but I was pretty sure if I shut him down right now, he would die from disappointment. That wasn’t fair to him. Kaylan had been a good work friend, and I might have even helped Sebastian meddle in his love life. It was only right that I gave him a sliver of mine.
“You can ask. I know you saw it,” I said.
Kaylan slammed his mug on the counter and stepped even closer. “Holy shit! Are you dating the boss? Was that your first date? A chance encounter? Was that your first kiss? Tell me that wasn’t your first kiss blasted all across the Internet!”
This was why I liked Kaylan. He was great at taking me out of my head. His emotions poured from him, allowing you to get lost in them for a bit.
“Yes, I’m dating the boss. No, it wasn’t our first date or a chance encounter. And no, thank God, it wasn’t our first kiss.”
While those stolen kisses on the park table had been sweet and perfect in every way, I wouldn’t have wanted my first kiss with Sebastian to be fodder for the world to both love and hate.
“That’s amazing! I bet you are the perfect person for him,” Kaylan stated. His wide smile made it easier to breathe. But that smile was wilting way too fast. “But…isn’t it against the company’s policy…”
“Yes,” I broke in when it seemed like he couldn’t finish. “This wasn’t supposed to happen. I don’t mean the dating. This was supposed to be a trial run to see if we wanted to date and be in a relationship. The plan was to have me move to another department and then we could date out in the open. I wouldn’t be his direct subordinate. But the picture…”
“Shit,” Kaylan hissed. “Do you need me to do anything? Talk to HR or maybe the chairman? That’s who Sebastian reports to, right? I can tell them that everyone acted completely professionally in the office. Sebastian wasn’t inappropriate toward you, right?” Kaylan’s eyes darted to the open doorway and back to me, his expression growing sterner. “He wasn’t, right?”
“No, no. He was never inappropriate, never tried to make me feel like my job was on the line if I didn’t do something,” I said.
Okay, so Sebastian was flirty from time to time and maybe he touched my leg more than once, when we were alone in his office and I was standing close, but I would never complain about any of that.
“Byron! Are you here? Byron!” Sebastian’s frantic voice rang out across the floor.
My heart leaped into my throat as I ran out of the break room to find Sebastian standing by my desk. He didn’t look much better than me with his crooked tie and scowl. Relief washed over his face the moment he saw me. He grabbed my arm and pulled me in for a bone-crushing hug.
“God! I’m so sorry I didn’t call you this morning. I’ve been dealing with phone calls and chaos since I woke up. Are you all right?” Sebastian squeezed me and then pushed me away to examine me from head to toe. “You’re wearing your glasses? What’s wrong? Is it your eyes?”
“I’m okay. Just scared. My eyes are fine. My hands were shaking too badly this morning to put my contacts in without poking myself. It was easier to wear my glasses.”
Sebastian grunted before pulling me in for a second hug. He brushed a kiss to my temple and stiffened. I glanced up to find him staring behind me. I twisted around to find Kaylan watching us with his eyes wide and mouth hanging open.
“It’s okay. Kaylan saw the picture.”
“Sorry, sir,” Kaylan said, taking a step forward. “Whatever you and Byron need, I’m there for you. I’m glad you’re dating. You need someone like Byron in your life.”
I choked on a laugh and Sebastian’s arms tightened as if he were silently agreeing.
“Thanks, Kaylan. I need you to man the phones and act as a barrier. Take messages and tell people I’ll be getting to their requests in the next twenty-four hours. I don’t have time for gawkers and busybodies.”
“Got it!” Kaylan gave us a thumbs-up and hurried off to his desk.
When we were alone, Sebastian turned his attention to me and took a step away. “Everything is going to be fine. My father is coming in for a meeting. I’m sure I’ll get reamed over this, but I’ll talk him down. He’ll see reason. I will take care of everything. You’ll be fine. I’ll protect you.”
I could only nod. The growing tightness of my throat made it impossible to get any words out. I believed him. There might be some ugliness, and I was sure we’d both suffer some punishment, but he’d get this straightened out. I’d still have a job, though probably a different one and a new official boyfriend.
Sebastian stole a quick kiss and smiled, but even I could see it was tight and forced. “Try to get some more work done. I need to return phone calls and put out some fires.”
I watched him disappear into his office, shutting the doors behind him. Everything was going to be okay.
As I returned to my desk, my phone was already ringing.
“Good morning, Byron. This is Janice with HR. Could you come to my office for a meeting?”