Chapter Twenty-Two

Rose stood on the museum steps, alone.

She stood there until Owen’s footsteps were an echo, then a memory, then completely gone.

She stood there until she was chilly, then cold, then shivering in the night.

She stood there until she was sure her eyes were dry and the tears wouldn’t fall—at least not right now.

And then, when she finally felt like she could move her limbs and use her voice without shaking, she walked inside. What choice did she have?

All she wanted was to take off after Owen, begging him to stop and wait for her. Who cared about CUBE or anything the Harrises said? Who cared about a promotion or even her job? She’d be happy to quit on the spot. It’d be a chance to tell every last employee exactly what she thought of their crappy designs and their inhumane ads and their soulless offices and their tedious meetings that made her want to gouge out her eyes. She’d never have to make nice with Jason again.

But just because she wanted to do something didn’t mean she actually would. She wanted to buy five hundred dollar shoes and last-minute plane tickets to Bermuda. But she didn’t. For obvious reasons. It was called being an adult and dealing with consequences.

It was also called not telling off her boss to his face, because hi, she lived in the real world where people needed to keep their jobs—which also meant keeping their thoughts to themselves. She was sure plenty of people wanted to flip out on their colleagues and tell the truth. The key word there was “wanted” to. Not “actually did.”

Of course, Owen was right and Jason was an ass who’d never officially apologized to her for what he did. But hadn’t anyone ever told that goddamn hothead that there was such a thing as biting his tongue? She’d never pick a fight like he had. Let alone at someone else’s work event. And make it so painfully personal.

It was clear Owen had wanted her to take a stand in front of Jason. Even if she wouldn’t do that, he’d wanted her to at least leave with him. Show she supported him and stood by his side.

She wanted to. God, how she wanted to. This would all be so much easier if she didn’t want to—if she thought he was dead wrong and could wash her hands of him without regret.

But that wasn’t the problem.

The problem was that none of this was as simple as Owen was making it. Nothing in life was that simple. The world wasn’t black and white or good versus evil. Some things were a giant, gray soup. Some things just really, really sucked.

Owen acted like the only people who ever made compromises were morally bankrupt. But sometimes, people made compromises because they had to. Full stop.

This was the compromise she had to make. She was living the only option she had. Biting her tongue wasn’t always a bad thing. Especially when she just wanted to move on.

She went first to the bathroom to check her makeup and fix her hair. She ran the tap water as cold as it would go and cupped her hand under the stream to drink, working to clear her head. The last thing she wanted was to walk back into that gallery. But she had to.

She couldn’t be the assistant who ran off at the company gala and never returned. The one who was cheated on and made a huge public fuss about how she couldn’t let it go. Who brought the guy from the Crush List and then went off sobbing when—surprise, surprise—everything went wrong.

No. She needed to glide back into the party, take a fresh glass of champagne, and pretend to sip it as she made pleasant, polite small-talk with everyone she could.

She was advertising material. She was promotion material. She could handle whatever came her way.

She didn’t know what she’d say to Jason, but she was pretty sure it wouldn’t matter. What mattered was that she not look defeated. That she showed she was still on Team CUBE. Her drama wasn’t going to affect them again.

Go get ‘em, she mouthed to the woman facing her in the bathroom mirror. Fresh lipstick. A practiced smile. She could do it.

The bathroom door opened, and a woman walked in.

“Oh, there you are, Rose. I’ve been looking all over for you! Someone said you’d left—is everything all right?”

And it was on.

The woman who’d come in was one rung up from her on the company ladder. They’d started at around the same time, but she’d been promoted first. Something about how she exhibited “that drive.” CUBE was always looking for drive. Now they were looking for it from Rose.

“I’m great!” she said brightly, turning away from the mirror. From the face that had been looking back at her.

She tried not to think of it as turning away from herself.