I’d watch them ring the bell on the Internet instead.

Chapter 27

Adam

By the time I’d climbed the few floors from Jordan’s room to our suite, I was more pissed off instead of less. My mind raced, wondering what the hell to do with all the information he’d given me. This was a clusterfuck of epic proportions.

I pulled my card out and keyed into the room. Emilia looked up from her textbook, her highlighter poised in her hand, ready to mark up more passages. Her eyes widened when she saw me.

“What?” I asked, pausing in the entryway.

Her brows rose. “What do you mean, what? Your hair is sticking up like you ran your hands through it a few hundred times, and you usually only do that when you’re upset.”

Self-consciously, I smoothed my hand over my hair. Then I took a breath, let it out slowly and tossed my jacket on the couch. She capped her pen and set it down. “You okay? Did you get some bad news about the opening tomorrow?”

I sat against the back of the couch, rubbing my jaw, and gave a sharp shake of my head. I pondered how much of this was confidential, how much I should share with her. I closed my eyes. I wanted to tell her everything, like always, but there were professional lines I couldn’t cross, weren’t there?

“Oh shit, do you have another one of your headaches?” She stood and approached me. I hooked my arm around her waist and pulled her against me, shaking my head again.

“Jordan just quit.”

She drew back to look in my face, likely trying to determine if I was joking or not. “What? Why?”

“I’m not sure how much I can tell you.”

“Company stuff?”

I licked my lips. “It’s company stuff but also personal to him. I—” I cut off, staring at the ground and frowning.

She wrapped her arms around my waist. “What does this mean for tomorrow? Is he not coming to the opening of trade? I can’t believe that. He’s been obsessed with the IPO.”

“I don’t even know. I was so floored, I didn’t ask.”

Emilia frowned, slipped down on the couch behind us and patted the cushion next to her. I got up and went to sink down beside her. “I noticed he was acting strangely today at the reception, so I went to talk to him. I think it had to do with all that happened yesterday at the company party. April is his intern, after all, and I think he’s really upset about what happened to her.”

“Uh, yeah, you’ve pretty much hit the nail on the head. How did you do that?”

She looked away, her eyes narrowing at some random memory. “I asked him about April because I was concerned, and he got all weird and started asking me about The Scarlet Letter.”

“You mean the movie with Demi Moore?”

She laughed. “The novel that the movie is based on, silly.”

“I may have…watched the movie to get out of reading the novel.”

“You and about ninety percent of all high school graduates.” She paused, looking thoughtful. “I don’t get why he was fixating on that, though, or why he thought to ask me about it when I asked him about April.”

Understanding dawned, based on what I knew. I had a feeling it wouldn’t take her long to figure it out. Nevertheless, I kept my mouth shut.

“Does it have to do with April being outed for the video? But they don’t know who the guy—” She stopped and her eyes widened. And there it was… Not surprising, given her brilliance. “Oh em gee. Jordan was the guy, wasn’t he?”

She amazed me every time. All the time. “I don’t know how you figured that out. Not sure I want to know.” I cocked a brow at her.

She gave me a sly look. “I have super powers, but I would gladly give them up if I could have been a fly on the wall when he told you that.”

I grimaced. “Not unless you wanted to see steam coming out my ears.”

“Hmm. I’ve had that same effect on you before. I don’t think I’d like to see it again. Did you two argue?”

I reached out, cupped her cheek with my hand and she smiled, leaning into my touch, turning to kiss my palm. Slowly, I calmed down from the yelling match with Jordan. “Yeah. I was pretty pissed at him.”

“You’re still pretty pissed at him.”

“I feel betrayed.”

She nodded. “He was probably terrified to tell you.”

“Then he should have grown a pair and done it anyway,” I ground out between clenched teeth, feeling the heat under my collar rise again.

“Why’d he tell you now?”