At lunch, riding down with a group from Marketing, the doors began to close when a hand shot out, forcing them open. Ethan stepped in, pulling Chloe behind him.<\/p>\n
He rattled off an address\u2014a client\u2019s office across town\u2014and hung up.<\/p>\n
The last thing I saw before the doors sealed was Chloe wrapping herself around Ethan\u2019s arm, that smug smirk on her face. And Ethan\u2026 his hand was half-outstretched, as if he\u2019d thought about catching me, then thought better of it.<\/p>\n
Ethan\u2019s eyes scanned the crowded car and landed on me, tucked in the back corner. \u201cLauren,\u201d he said, voice cold and authoritative. \u201cGet off. You\u2019re holding everyone up.\u201d<\/p>\n
The scar on my leg throbbed faintly. I\u2019d thought he hated sweetness. Turns out, he just hated it from me.<\/p>\n
She stepped off. The warning beep continued.<\/p>\n
Every eye turned to me. I held his gaze, saying nothing.<\/p>\n
\u201cLauren,\u201d Ethan repeated, a hard edge in his tone. \u201cNow.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou changed your number without telling me? My writing callus is acting up. The finger protector you made is dirty. Bring me a new one. Now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chloe blushed, taking tiny, delicate bites of the pastry he held to her lips.<\/p>\n
I picked at a salad at my desk. My new phone rang. It was my coworker\u2019s number, but Ethan\u2019s voice came through.<\/p>\n
He said it like a threat, one that had always worked before. The threat of replacement.<\/p>\n
The elevator emitted an unhappy *beep-beep-beep*. Overweight.<\/p>\n
But not anymore.<\/p>\n
An intern near the front shifted nervously. \u201cI can go, it\u2019s okay\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
On my way back from HR after submitting the Seattle paperwork, I saw them. In the glass-walled office cafe, Chloe was perched on a stool, chin in her hands, watching Ethan fiddle with the expensive espresso machine. He made two lattes, setting them on the counter.<\/p>\n
Ethan\u2019s shoulders tensed. He turned, scowling at me, then deliberately positioned his body as a shield between Chloe and me. \u201cFinish your latte and that croissant,\u201d he told her, voice soft. \u201cI\u2019ll smooth things over with your manager if you\u2019re late.\u201d<\/p>\n
He grinned, ruffling her hair, and took a sip.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow many times do I have to tell you? Black. No sugar. Are you stupid? Get out!\u201d<\/p>\n
I knew what this was. He was punishing me for my earlier defiance, for my new, unsettling calm. He wanted a scene. He wanted the old, reactive Lauren. Sighing internally, I figured I\u2019d spare the others the drama and stepped forward.<\/p>\n
I tried to slip away, but Chloe\u2019s voice, sugar-sweet and sharp, cut through the air. \u201cEthan! Lauren\u2019s been standing there watching us forever. Make her a coffee too, or she\u2019ll blame me for hogging you again.\u201d<\/p>\n
My hand went automatically to my desk drawer, where I kept a spare. I\u2019d started making the leather finger protectors for him after he broke his pinky saving me from a falling shelf at a bookstore on our third date. He\u2019d seemed to love the first one. That was the day he\u2019d given me a delicate silver bracelet. *\u201dFor my practical girl who takes such good care of me,\u201d* he\u2019d said.<\/p>\n
Only when she was settled did he deign to address me. \u201cWhat was with the attitude this morning? With the lunch?\u201d he demanded, walking over. \u201cIf you don\u2019t want to do it, Lauren, there are plenty of women who would be happy to.\u201d<\/p>\n
I remembered making him coffee once. I\u2019d been distracted, giving him my mug, the one loaded with vanilla creamer. He\u2019d been working on a merger. He took a sip, grimaced, and hurled the ceramic mug at the wall beside my head. Shards sliced my calf.<\/p>\n
The lobby was packed with people on lunch break. Heat flooded my cheeks as whispers and stares followed me. I kept my head down, blinking back furious, humiliated tears, and hurried away.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen I suggest you find one of them,\u201d I said, my voice even.<\/p>\n
Chloe picked up a sugar cube, her fingers brushing his as she dropped it into his cup. \u201cJust how you like it,\u201d she sang.<\/p>\n
His face went slack with shock. He started to say something, but I was already walking toward the elevators.<\/p>\n
My heart didn\u2019t break. It simply emptied. A bitter taste coated my tongue.<\/p>\n
But as I moved, a hand\u2014Chloe\u2019s\u2014shot out and shoved me, hard, out of the elevator just as the doors began to close. I stumbled, falling to my knees on the cold marble of the lobby.<\/p>\n
Before work, I bought a new phone\u2014a different model, a different color. I added my colleagues back, one by one.<\/p>\n
Fate Rolls Dark by Mark Twain 4 \u00a0Chapter 4 At lunch, riding down with a group from Marketing, the doors […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gave-up-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21973\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}