Chapter 38
You’re a Liar, Nerd Girl
Max
Friday morning feels like punishment.
I practically had to drag myself into the office, coffee in hand, eyes burning from a week of trash sleep. Canada broke my rhythm. Or maybe Eli did. Either way, I’m running on fumes and stubbornness.
Normally, I would’ve ended up at Nyles’s place for our usual routine.
But the nothing serious he mentioned before I left for Canada is absolutely serious now.
He made it official on social media—he has a girlfriend now.
And the way she was wrapped around him in those photos confirmed it wasn’t casual.
It was real. Real enough for me to never want to disrupt.
So I stayed away and watched old Martin episodes last night until my eyes were forced to close.
The conference room is already full when I walk in. Legal. Internal security. Two federal investigators. Screens lit up with timelines, data flow maps, red flags highlighted in aggressive colors. The environment flows with seriousness, and it doesn’t care how tired I am.
I take my seat. Spine straight. Game face on.
They start with the overview. Reese didn’t just poke around—he mapped. He tested access points. Tried to duplicate fragments of proprietary code. Algorithms. Financial forecasting models. He masked his tracks well enough that it would’ve gone unnoticed for weeks.
If not for me.
The lead investigator gestures to the screen. “Your anomaly detection caught the irregular traffic almost immediately. The honeytrap was…impressive.”
I nod once.
They explain how, once flagged, they fed him controlled busy work—sandbox environments, dummy files—while tracing every move he made. Watching. Logging. Letting him think he was clever.
The damage is minimal. No data loss. Everything ultimately contained.
And yet I’m still wound so tight.
Since I got back, something hasn't settled within me—it's as if I left more than just a place behind. I’m more acutely alert now, waiting for the next blow. I can't tell if this is the fallout from the breach, or simply the absence of the one place I truly felt at peace.
Then the door opens.
Reese is escorted in, still wearing that harmless look he perfected. He stops short when he sees me and very serious men in suits.
Good.
I stand before anyone can tell me not to.
“Sit,” I say sharply, pointing to the chair.
He hesitates.
I don’t blink.
He sits.
“We trusted you. I trusted you,” I say, my voice steady and loud enough for the room. “You exploited that. You tried to steal work that represents years of my life and the livelihoods of everyone in this company.”
He opens his mouth.
“No,” I cut in. “You don’t get to explain. You don’t get to spin this, shit face.”
“Good one!” Timantha chants.
I turn to her and wink. “I thought so too.”
Then I turn back to Reese. “You thought you were smarter than me. You weren’t. You thought I wouldn’t notice. I did. And you thought—”
I lean forward, hands flat on the table, voice sharp enough to cut.
“—you could flirt with me, distract me, get in my head, and walk away with work you didn’t earn. That I’d be too nice to blow your life up over it. Well, let me make something very clear, you ignorant ass hat—”
The lead investigator clears his throat. “Uh. Miss. We’ll take it from here.”
I hear them begin to Mirandize him as they escort him out. He doesn’t look back.
I sit down slowly, the adrenaline finally burning off and leaving exhaustion in its wake.
Timantha’s voice cuts through first, then Anastasia’s, then others around the table—praise, relief, a few quiet cheers that feel almost surreal.
Someone slides a fresh cup of coffee toward me without a word.
Someone else thanks me. Another mutters that this could’ve been catastrophic.
And as the meeting adjourns and everyone begins to filter out of the room, one thought cuts through everything else—I haven’t rested all week.
I want to go back to Eli.
I pick up my phone to look back at the last message he sent me and smile.
Bear: I know we had our rules, but you know we broke those a thousand times over. You can admit you fell in love, Mama. I won’t hold it against you.
I didn’t respond to it. We were going back and forth about who was more stubborn and who was more sprung between the two of us.
Him.
But I left a heart on his text to let him know he wasn’t wrong.
We’ve texted back and forth all week—careful, casual messages that danced around the truth. Neither of us was willing to admit out loud that our time had already reached its expiration date. It was as if by ignoring the end, we could somehow soften the blow of its sudden finality.
Even pretend it isn’t over at all.
Everything wrapped up so fast I never even got to wear the dress. The gold one. I’d picked it out specifically because I imagined the way he’d look at me in it. Now it’s just a shimmering ghost of a moment we never got to have.
I told myself I could handle a week. That I could take what we had, enjoy it, and walk away intact. But the moment I stepped into his truck—into his space, into that intoxicating, inconvenient way he held me—I knew he was different. Now, I miss him so much my heart actually aches.
I hate to admit it, but missing him feels less like longing and more like displacement.
I’m circling a thought I’ve been dodging like a spoiler I’m not ready to read: Do I really believe I could give all this up?
My career, my responsibilities, my obligations.
Could I leave it all behind for a life I never even knew I wanted? For a man?
Eli walked out of the woods and into my reality, becoming everything fantasies are made of. He became...everything. A book boyfriend with a pulse. With weight. With hands that know exactly how to hold on tight, and how to let go when they have to.
“You fell in love with him, didn’t you?”
Timantha’s voice knocks the wind out of me.
“I didn’t realize anyone was still in here,” I say, sidestepping the question. Because the answer is a terrifying, resounding yes.
“I saw you sitting alone,” she says gently, stepping further into the room. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
She sits beside me. I squeeze her hand. “I’m fine, Boss Lady.”
“You’re a liar, Nerd Girl.”
“Middle finger,” I say, forcing a grin.
“Does he know?” she asks, already knowing the answer to her questions.
“He does but,” I pause. “I broke the rules.”
“I don’t understand,” she says.
“I told you. Our agreement was for a week and he made me promise not to fall in love.”
“Which me and Eslin both told you would blow up in your face.”
“Nobody asked you to bring up old shit, Tim!”
“Sorry! Just saying.”
I take a sip of my nearly cold coffee. “But, he told me exactly who he was. I just…lied to myself and said I could handle it.”
My voice cracks before I can stop it.
“Because I did fall for him, Tim,” I blurt. “I fell in love with that man and I want to have his beautiful, Black, ashy babies, okay?”
She doesn’t laugh or tease me with I told you so’s.
She just pulls me into a hug and whispers, “Okay.”
And maybe I did bring something back from Canada with me—emotions? Because suddenly I’m crying. Which is wild because I distinctly remember telling my stupid ass heart that I don’t do that.
The knock comes while Timantha still has me in an embrace.
Lexy peeks into the conference room first, eyes wide in a way that says she’s trying very hard to remain professional while failing spectacularly. “Uh…Max? There’s someone here to see you.”
“Umm…Okay. Who is it?”
She smiles. No—this woman full-on beams. Then she shrugs. “I’m not sure, but he—”
Before she can finish, Eli steps into view behind her.
For a second, the room tilts. The only word that ever floats to the surface of my mind when I see him is majestic. He looks like he belongs exactly where he stands, no matter the setting.
Lexy gives him a polite little curtsy that makes both Timantha and me snort, then excuses herself with a grin she doesn't even bother to hide.
Then Timantha stands up and leaves behind Lexy. “I’ll just be…” She doesn’t finish whatever she was trying to say.
But it doesn’t stop her from doing the cabbage patch and humping the air before disappearing around the corner.
I shake my head and laugh, dropping my face into my hands for a second, trying to collect myself. When I look up again, Eli is still standing there.
Watching me.
It’s not a dream.
He looks like he’s missed me.
He cups my cheeks between those massive palms and pulls me into a deep, desperate kiss before pulling back just enough to whisper against my lips, “I’ve missed you.”
I can’t help the smile that breaks across my face, even as my brain tries to catch up. “I’ve…but…Eli.” My mind is a whirlwind, a chaotic mess of relief and confusion. “Eli, what are you doing here?”
He doesn't answer with words at first, just leans in to steal another kiss. "Between Drake and Lara telling me I’d be an idiot to let you slip away, and Elliott and my mother giving me a crash course on how to be the perfect book boyfriend—"
"I'm sorry," I interject, my brows knitting together. "Your brother? The one having a baby with Lucifer's sister?"
My Bear’s grin widens, reaching his eyes. "The very one. I'll explain that particular development later, if you don't mind?"
"I’ll insist on it," I say with a firm nod. "But please, continue."
He lets out a low, melodic laugh. "Thank you."
Movement in the hallway catches my eye, and I see Lexy reappear holding an arrangement that looks like a bouquet, only much larger and heavier.
I gasp, my hands flying to my mouth. "Eli! A book bouquet!"
"Drake designed the structure with recyclable materials, of course," he says, watching me examine the contents.
"Naturally." I reach out, my fingers grazing the spines of the novels tucked between the flowers.