His Secret Addiction

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Damien's POV

Security caught Sophie before she reached the server room.

Chen arrested her at seven. By eight, the story was everywhere. By nine, Sterling called me.

"You were right about Sophie," he said. No apology in his voice. Just acknowledgement. "The board is meeting tomorrow to discuss reinstating you."

"I don't want to be reinstated."

Silence on the other end. "What?"

"You heard me. I'm done, Richard. Find someone else to run the company." I hung up before he could respond.

Alex looked up from his laptop. "You just turned down your company."

"I turned down Sterling's company. There's a difference." I sat next to him on the couch. "He'll fight me for months. Undermine every decision. Make my life miserable because I proved him wrong about Sophie. I don't have the energy for that anymore."

"What do you have energy for?"

"This." I gestured between us. "Figuring out what comes next without a board breathing down my neck."

He closed his laptop. "Are you sure? Because Victoria called me three times today trying to convince me to come back."

"I'm sure." I was. For the first time in weeks, I was completely certain about something. "Let Sterling have it. Let him deal with the investigation fallout and the press and the restructuring. I'm done carrying my grandmother's legacy on my back."

"She'd probably understand."

"She'd tell me I was being stubborn and impractical. Then she'd support me anyway." I pulled Alex closer. "What about you? Any job offers yet?"

"Four. Two from competitors. One from a startup. One from a firm in Chicago that wants to build an entire marketing division around me."

"Chicago's far."

"It is." He settled against me. "I'm not taking it."

"Why not?"

"Because you're here. And I'm staying." He looked up at me. "Unless you're planning to move to Chicago."

"I'm not planning anything. That's the point."

We sat there for a while. The apartment was quiet. Outside, the city moved on without us. No board meetings tomorrow. No depositions. No crisis management. Just time.

"We should go somewhere," Alex said.

"Where?"

"I don't know. Somewhere that isn't New York. Somewhere without business news or federal investigations or people who want things from us."

"When?"

"Tomorrow. Tonight. Whenever." He sat up. "I have three weeks of unused vacation time and nowhere to be. You just quit your company. We could just leave."

I considered it. No plan. No itinerary. Just going somewhere else and figuring it out.

"Okay," I said.

"Okay?"

"Let's go."

*********************

We left Saturday morning. Alex suggested we drive north and see where we ended up. I rented a car and we threw bags in the trunk without overthinking what to pack.

We made it to Connecticut before we stopped for coffe. Found a small town neither of us had heard of and checked into a bed and breakfast that had one room available.

The room was small and outdated and perfect. No television. No work emails. Just a bed and a window that looked out at mountains.

"This is weird," Alex said, unpacking his bag.

"Bad weird?"

"Different weird. Good weird, maybe." He sat on the bed. "I don't remember the last time I went somewhere without a reason."

"Business trip that ended early doesn't count."

"Exactly." He lay back. "What do people do when they have nowhere to be?"

"I have no idea."

We figured it out slowly.

We wallked through town. Had dinner at a place that served exactly three things and did them well. Came back to the room and read the books we'd bought at the farmer's market weeks ago. I fell asleep early because there was nothing keeping us awake.

Sunday we drove further north. Found a hiking trail that wasn't too ambitious. Alex complained about the incline. I complained about my shoes not being appropriate. We made it to the top anyway and sat on a rock looking at trees.

"I should hate this," Alex said. "I'm not an outdoors person."

"You're doing it anyway."

"Because you're here." He leaned against my shoulder. "That's new for me. Doing something just because someone else is there."

"Same."

We stayed until the sun started setting. Drove back to find a different town with a different bed and breakfast. Had dinner at a diner where the waitress called us honey and brought extra fries without asking.

"I could get used to this," Alex said.

"Diners?"

"Not having a plan. Just existing." He looked at me across the table. "Is this what normal people do?"

"I think so. We should ask someone normal."

He smiled. First real smile I'd seen in days that wasn't hiding exhaustion or stress.

************************

Monday we stopped checking our phones.

They still rang occasionally. Victoria. Marcus. Chen with updates. We ignored all of it. Left the phones in the car and spent the day walking around a college town that had bookstores and coffee shops and nothing that required decisions.

Alex bought three books he'd probably never read. I bought coffee that was overpriced and underwhelming. We sat in a park and watched college students stress about midterms and felt very old and very removed from that life.

"Do you miss it?" Alex asked. "Being that young and thinking everything mattered that much."

"No. That version of me was miserable and didn't know it yet."

"Same." He set his coffee down. "I spent my twenties trying to become someone impressive. Forgot to figure out if I actually liked who I was becoming."

"Do you like who you are now?"

"Getting there." He looked at me. "You help."

"You help too."

We sat until it got dark. Found a hotel this time instead of a bed and breakfast. Ordered room service and ate it in bed while watching a movie neither of us paid attention to.

"We have to go back eventually," Alex said during a scene we'd both missed.

"I know."

"Face Chen's investigation. Figure out what we're doing for work. Deal with Victoria trying to get you back to Ross Industries."

"Probably."

"But not yet."

"Not yet."

He turned off the television. We lay there in the dark, his hand in mine, and I thought about board meetings and federal investigations and everything waiting for us back in New York.

****************

And for now, that was enough.

We drove back Wednesday.

Stopped at the apartment long enough to shower and change. Chen had left two messages. Victoria had left six. Sterling had left one that I deleted without listening to.

Alex made coffee while I went through emails. Hundreds of them. Most could wait. Some couldn't.

"Chen wants to meet tomorrow," I said. "Final deposition about Sophie."

"I saw. She wants me there too."

"After that?"

"After that I have a meeting with the startup. They flew someone in from San Francisco." He poured coffee. "You?"

"Lawyer. About severance from Ross Industries. Then Marcus wants lunch to discuss what's next."

We stood in the kitchen drinking coffee and looking at calendars that were suddenly full again. Back to real life. Back to investigations and job searches and whatever came next.

"That was good though," Alex said. "The trip."

"It was."

"We should do it again sometime. When things calm down."

"They won't calm down. There's always something." I set my coffee down. "But we can go anyway."

"Deal."

He kissed me. Quick and casual and comfortable. Then went to get ready for a call with one of his recruiters.

I stood in the kitchen and thought about everything that had changed in six months.