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twenty-six

Why was the noise so damn loud?

Jamie kept furtively looking around the office like she would somehow find the answer. But it wasn’t just the voices that were bothering her. It was the slamming of drawers, the ringing of phones, the slide of Scott’s chair wheels against the plastic floor mat.

Her head was going to explode.

“Kettlehouse!”

Jamie jerked with a start as her name rang through the room, piercing her ears. Pulling herself to stand, she snagged her phone, saw a message from Siena on it, and shoved it into her pocket. She wasn’t sure what to respond to any of the messages that Siena had sent so far. And each time another one popped up on her notifications, Jamie’s stomach sank even more.

She dragged her feet toward the boss’s office, shooting Scott a sympathetic expression as she walked by his desk. She had no idea what she’d fucked up now, but she was damn sure that the boss’s tone meant business.

“Shut the door,” he said as she stepped inside.

“Sure.” Jamie cringed as she pushed the door closed behind her. She didn’t sit down. She stayed upright, feet shoulder-width apart, and waited for whatever reaming she was going to get next.

“Where’s the article with the interview about Bunny and Piper?”

Jamie’s stomach sank. She’d never thought that Siena would actually make that happen, so she’d avoided it and hadn’t gone. Meaning, she now had no article for her boss, and this was going to be her undoing.

But…

She had her notes from the fake engagement, and that would probably satisfy him enough in terms of the pop culture drama that she always told him she had, although he never believed her. Jamie licked her lips, and the muscles in her shoulders tensed sharply. “I’m working on writing it up now.”

Why the hell had she said that?

Money. Right. She needed to pay rent this month, and it was already going to be close whether or not she’d manage to do that. If she could even afford the gas to get to and from the office that week. Fuck, why was she in her early thirties and still unable to be an adult?

“You are?” His voice cut through Jamie’s inner monologue of fears.

“Uh…yeah, I am. I’ll have it ready to you by the end of the week.” Now she was just digging herself an even bigger hole. Jamie needed to get her shit together. She needed to stop lying, and she needed to figure out what it was that she wanted in life. Because this job definitely wasn’t it.

“Good.” He leaned back in his seat, his mustache moving slightly when he wiggled his lips and looked her over again. “Your last article about Siena Frazee was well-received. I’m sure you can deliver again.”

“Right.” Jamie bit her lip this time. “Uh… I’m going to go work on that right now.”

He nodded at her and focused back on whatever was on his computer. Jamie slipped out of the room, shutting the door behind her as the panic set into the top of her chest. What the hell was she doing?

Jamie typed at her computer, staring at the screen as the pounding headache continued to get stronger and stronger. It was so bad that the nausea forced her to run to the bathroom and lean over the toilet bowl. Standing upright, Jamie pressed her forearm into the wall of the stall and took slow breaths.

This didn’t mean anything.

Sex with Siena had never meant anything.

At least it wasn’t supposed to.

It was only ever casual between them—they were only ever there for the fun and the damn good sex. Their lives had gotten tangled up outside of that because of Jessie and Harley and all the random in-betweens that seemed to pull them together because fuck the six degrees of separation. Jamie hated it. This wasn’t what she wanted for her life. She’d never wanted anything like this.

Jessie was the one who was always trying to fall in love and find a partner. Jamie wasn’t. She was so focused on her career and her job that nothing else mattered. She wanted to dig deep into the drama of the world around her and forget that the world despised her.

“Jamie, you okay?” Scott’s voice rang through the bathroom.

Jamie groaned and closed her eyes. The last thing she needed was that poor kid coming to check on her. She steadied herself, put her hand on the stall, and opened the door. Scott stood at the main bathroom door, his head peeking around the corner. He looked so worried.

“I’m fine,” she answered. “At least for right now. Will you tell boss man I’m going home sick? It’s just a bad migraine.”

“Yeah, sure. You need me to drive you?”