23. Macey/Noah
MACEY/NOAH
Macey
Since I left the apartment so early this morning, I beat the rush and didn’t have to elbow fight with anyone on the street.
In fact, I made it to the office in record timing.
I spent the whole entire walk to work internally reviewing my blog strategy and also the write-up for a local restaurant review I needed to finish for Roamer’s Digest .
Things were busy but good. So good that I was able to easily put the image of Kyle’s face out of my mind. There was no point in letting an encounter with my ex-boyfriend ruin my mood. Not when I finally felt like things were coming together.
The office was quiet when I dropped my bag off at my desk and powered up my computer. It was acting extra slow today. I gave it a loving pat on the side, hoping that would stir it into operating faster.
“Macey?” Victoria called from her office. “Is that you?”
“Yes!” I yelled, a quick glance proving we were the only two here.
“You’re here early,” she said. “Can you come into my office?”
I rebooted my computer, hoping that would fix the issue, and headed into Victoria’s office. In one hand, the latte Britney made me. In the other, my notebook. I felt ready to take on the world.
Victoria gestured for me to take a seat. The sharpness in her gaze made my stomach knot. “Do you know why I called you in here?”
I frowned, a bad sense of foreboding igniting already. It slithered down my spine, cold and unwelcome. I tried to toss it aside, considering I couldn’t place a single reason. “No, I don’t.”
She turned her monitor around, displaying my Instagram profile. Odd, considering she wasn’t the type of boss to mix work with play.
“I did some digging, and there are things I can’t ignore.”
With a click, she opened a new tab that displayed Macey’s Miles , my blog.
Well, fuck. A sharp pulse pounded at the base of my skull. I thought I had more time. The blog hadn’t been live that long. I had intended to work at least a few more months as I expanded it, then find a way to take it full time.
How the hell did she find this? There was no way Victoria had stumbled upon it herself.
Calculator Cal. It had to be Calculator Cal. Had he shown her? The thought made my stomach churn.
Victoria’s gaze stayed level, unreadable. “Did you attend the press sneak peek of Sushi Nirvana?”
“Yes,” I answered, hesitant but truthful. “As Noah’s plus-one.”
“That might be true, but you attended a press event on your own, unaffiliated with Roamer’s Digest , despite the fact that Roamer’s Digest was covering it.”
My pulse roared in my ears. “I’m not following.” That wasn’t entirely true—I was following. I just didn’t like where this was going. For good measure, I added, “I haven’t gotten paid for anything.” That had to count for something, right?
Victoria rubbed her temples. “Payment doesn’t always come in the form of a check. There’s a conflict of interest here. I can’t have a writer on staff creating competing content.”
I thought about how I explained my contract to Daphne and Noah all those months ago. If I’m not writing about it, I usually turn down free gifts because it could turn into a conflict of interest.
I fought for calm, but a tremble zipped through me. There was no real defense for my blog here. I knew the risk when I made it. When Noah encouraged me to start it.
“I’m sorry, but I have no option other than to terminate your employment with Roamer’s Digest .”
My hands went numb. My fingers were so tight around my cup that they trembled. The words split me open, punching my insides until they fell out. Terminate your employment.
What the fuck was happening?
“You’re…firing me?”
“Effective immediately,” said Victoria casually as if she hadn’t turned my world upside down.
“But I’ve given so much to Roamer’s Digest ,” I sputtered. “Thousands of hours. I gave up my nights and weekends to cover events for you. My articles have been doing so well, and you’re going to throw it all away? There must be some way we can meet in the middle.”
“You’re young,” Victoria said simply. “You’ll bounce back from this.”
It didn’t feel like that was true.
When she said, “You can pack your things before the rest of the office comes in,” I thought I was going to cry.
Instead, I swallowed the tears and stood on my own two feet.
Palm pressed to the door of Victoria’s office, I remembered something Noah said. I look at you and see a girl with incredible potential, yet she’s terrified of standing up for herself.
Not any longer.
“I’ll go,” I said, meeting Victoria’s eyes.
“But wherever I go next, I won’t allow myself to be treated like a second thought again.
You may have been forced to give me opportunities, but you also took many away.
You never posted my photos. You edited my articles so much they barely had my voice anymore. Why, Victoria?”
I didn’t need her to reply. “Is it because you knew that if you allowed my creativity to shine, that something like this would have happened? Because maybe that’s true.
I considered myself lucky to be working here, under you, and look where it got me.
Maybe if I had listened to myself, I would have outshone you a long time ago. ”
I still could.
If I wasn’t so present in the moment, I might have brushed off the look on Victoria’s face. Where I expected anger, I only saw pride.
I swung open the door to her office, letting myself out for the last time. I threw my things into a box and waltzed out of the office with my head held high.
It didn’t matter if you felt like throwing up the whole time, if you’d ever stood up for yourself in the workplace, you were a badass.
Noah
I had been enjoying a quiet morning off, just me and my LEGOs, when a pounding sound started from outside.
When I opened the door, Macey stood there, shoulders tight, arms crossed like she was holding herself together. Her eyes, usually full of fire and mischief, were shadowed with something heavier.
Something was wrong.
I stepped aside without a word, and she walked in. She didn’t pace, didn’t fidget. Just stood in the middle of my living room like she wasn’t sure what to do next.
I shut the door, watching her. “Scribbles?”
She exhaled, slow and shaky. That was all it took for me to cross the space between us. I didn’t touch her, but I was close enough that she could if she wanted.
“What happened?” I asked.
She hesitated, then lifted her chin like she was trying to will herself into holding it together. “I just got fired.”
I ricocheted a step backward. “What?”
That didn’t make any sense. Macey was the best employee there. While I didn’t think Victoria was supporting her growth, she had also confirmed she wasn’t anonymously trashing Macey online.
“Yeah,” she sniffed. The crack in her voice nearly undid me. “I thought I had more time.”
Before I could think, I pulled her into my chest, stroking a hand up and down her back. She was tense, every muscle drawn tight. “What do you mean?”
“Victoria pulled me into her office and told me she found my blog.” Macey let out a bitter laugh that rumbled against my shirt. “Calculator Cal must have shown it to her. I mean, it’s my fault for thinking I could juggle both, but it still sucks.”
Shit.
The words slammed into me like a brick to the chest. Yesterday, I showed Victoria Macey’s Instagram, which I had forgotten was connected to her blog. This was my fault.
I thought I was helping, standing up for Macey, putting an end to the rumors. But all I did was put a spotlight on her—on her blog. On the very thing she wasn’t ready to share.
My stomach twisted. Macey thought Calculator Cal had ratted her out. She had no idea I’d set this in motion.
I swallowed hard, guilt clawing up my throat .
I rested my chin against her hair. “It’s not your fault. You have every right to be upset.”
She exhaled, her breath shaky against my chest. She felt so small like this, so exhausted. “I don’t know what I did to Calculator Cal to make him show my blog to Victoria.”
I had to tell her the truth.
There was no way around it. Not if I wanted to be the kind of person she could trust. Not if I wanted to move forward with her without this gnawing at me, eating me alive.
I had fucked up. Now I had to own it.
“Macey,” I said quietly.
She pulled back just enough to look at me, her brows drawn tight.
“I don’t think it was Calculator Cal who told Victoria about your blog.”
Her expression flickered with confusion before hardening. “Who was it, then?”
I swallowed. “Me.”
Macey’s eyes widened, and she stepped out of my arms like I’d burned her. “What?”
I forced myself to keep going. “I’ve had this theory for a while that Victoria was behind one of the accounts bullying you online. Yesterday, I went to her office to confront her about it. I wanted to put an end to the mean comments.”
Macey’s whole body went rigid. Then?—
“You what ?” she exploded. “You went to my boss’s office and accused her of cyberbullying me? Do you know how bad that makes me look?”
“I think the only person it looks bad on is me,” I said, trying to keep my voice level.
“Well, you’re not the one who lost their job today.”
I took a step toward her, but she jerked back. “Macey, I didn’t mean?— ”
“Why didn’t you tell me about your theory?” she cut in. Her voice was rising, thick with disbelief and something else—hurt.
“I…tried. Once or twice,” I admitted. “The timing was never right.”
Her mouth fell open, and she let out a bitter laugh, one that sent ice-cold dread through my chest. She whispered under her breath, “Kyle was right.”
I stiffened. “Kyle?” My voice came out sharp, my own frustration snapping. “Your ex-boyfriend?”
“Oh, don’t try to turn this around on me,” she shot back. “Kyle implied that you might be keeping secrets. I stood up for you. Defended you. And now I feel like an idiot because guess what? You were lying to me this whole time.”
Kyle? What the hell did Kyle know about anything? A jealous ex grasping at straws, trying to wedge himself between us. Just another influencer trying to climb to the top. And now Macey was quoting him like he was some kind of prophet?
I clenched my jaw, forcing down the sharp words fighting to escape. This wasn’t about him. This was about me screwing up.
I exhaled slowly. “I’m sorry, Macey.” And I was. More than she probably realized. “I shouldn’t have kept this from you.”
Her arms stayed folded tight across her chest; her stance guarded.
“But look on the bright side,” I tried. “Getting fired isn’t the worst thing. Now you can focus all your energy on your blog.”
Macey inhaled sharply, her nostrils flaring, and when she spoke, her voice was pure venom.
“Are you serious right now?”
I sighed. “I just want what’s best for you.”
She threw her hands up, pacing a tight circle. “Sure, as long as it’s also what you want, too. God, you’re being so controlling right now. ”
“Controlling?” I flinched like she’d slapped me. “I’m not trying to control you.”
“You’re acting like a controlling boyfriend. You don’t need to protect me or fight my battles for me. I’m more than capable of doing that on my own.”
My heart pounded, her frustration spilling into the room and leaving no space for anything else. “I know you can. I was just trying to help. We’re close enough for that.”
She stopped pacing long enough to fix me with a look that cut straight through me. “Your help got me fired, Noah.” Her voice trembled—not with sadness, but with pure, white-hot anger. “And you’re not even my boyfriend.”
The words hit harder than they should have. I clenched my jaw, forcing myself to stay still, not to reach for her, even though some instinct deep in my bones demanded to.
Macey’s breath came quick and uneven, but she wasn’t finished. “The only reason we’ve been faking a relationship is because you suggested it would benefit our careers.”
“I think we’re at the point where we can both acknowledge we had more reasons for agreeing to fake date than that.”
Her gaze locked onto mine like a shot fired point-blank. “Like what?” she bit out, her voice low and sharp. “Or is that another secret you’re going to keep from me?”
I ran a hand over my face, dragging in a breath that did nothing to clear the knot in my chest. “I’m sorry for not telling you about Victoria.”
I should have stopped there. But, like an idiot, I kept talking.
“But I was afraid you’d get scared.”
Macey’s head jerked back like I’d physically pushed her.
Shit, shit, shit.
“Scared?” She said it full of spite, hardening the consonants. “Why did you think that?”
“Because change scares you. You hate confrontation. I don’t think you would have ever confronted Victoria if she hadn’t initiated it.”
In a moment, the crackling anger fled the room, leaving behind tense silence. Macey breathed hard and sniffed once, like she’d just run up and down the unsafe apartment stairs five times.
“Maybe not,” she said, quiet and steady, “but that wasn’t your decision to make.”
“Macey—”
“We’re close enough to May 15.” Her tone was detached now. Final. “Let’s end this fake relationship now.”
No.
No, no, no.
Words clogged my throat, burning, but my mind was blank. Totally useless, giving me nothing to fix this.
Macey opened the door, pausing just long enough to throw me one last look. “I’ll let you have the honor of publicly announcing our breakup.”