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CHAPTER EIGHT“I swear you just walked by me,” Love said as I held the phone to my ear.I chuckled as I rushed to keep up with Grayson, who had now gained a lead since I’d stopped to answer my phone. “What makes you think that?”“I’m sitting outside a coffee shop in the Back Bay, sipping an espresso, and this guy passes my table. He has a heavy amount of scruff on his cheeks, strong jawline, sharp nose. Just like you. We catch eyes at the very beginning, you know, when he approaches the start of the sitting area. It can’t be more than ten or twelve paces long, and the whole time he gives me this soft grin. The kind that spreads across your face when you know something about someone, but you don’t want to let on. Do you know what I’m talking about?”“Yes.”“He continued to look at me that way during those ten paces, holding my gaze until he was gone.”A weird, unexplained, unfamiliar pang hit my chest.A feeling that came out of nowhere.I’d never been jealous of another man . . . unti
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Not just the obvious need of wanting to be with her again, but a recap of the conversations we’d had lately. The one about the coffee shop and her lack of chasing me, something that still stung. Along with the talk we’d had about whether I was married to Boston and the answer I’d given so quickly.The answer that had been nagging me since I’d said it.I couldn’t help but consider what would happen if I did move out of this city.If I should be more open to the idea, even if it wasn’t possible. But something about Love made me consider possibilities I never had before.I pulled my fingers away and clasped them in my lap. “I’ve got a lot on my mind.”“Good things, obviously. Feel like sharing?”Grayson came in, eating a sandwich, half the meat falling out the back of the bread while he took a bite. “What are we talking about?”“Why Easton has been smiling for the last twelve minutes,” Holden said to him.“That’s some impressive shit right there,” Grayson said. “But that’s not the first
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CHAPTER TENI reached for my phone as it rang on the coffee table, the screen showing that the call was coming through Hooked, Love as the caller. I held the phone to my ear and said, “I was just thinking about you.”“Oh yeah?”“I just got back from California, and I have a free night, so yeah, I was going to text you and see if you’re available—”“I’m actually calling for a different reason.”Her tone was one I didn’t recognize. There was a hint of sadness to it—and something else. Whatever that something was, it caused me to get up from the couch and go into my bedroom and shut the door, giving myself some privacy from the guys. “What’s wrong, Love?”“I don’t know how to say this . . . but . . . we’ve run out of time.”I paused two feet in front of my bed, my chest suddenly throbbing. “What do you mean?”“I’m not going to be around much—if at all. I’ve decided to quit the app.”Her words didn’t come across as a warning. They were more like a promise.A finale.And with that came thi
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“We’ll talk soon.”“Bye.”I tucked my phone into my pocket and returned to the living room, where I took a seat on the couch. Since this had become my office, my laptop was already in front of me, and I logged on to the database, searching for Love’s profile. She had signed up exactly thirty days ago. At midnight last night, the system would have sent her an email, asking if she wanted to move from a thirty-day trial membership to a subscription. If she made the switch, she would have to provide her name, address, and payment information—things we only collected from paying users. If she ignored the email and didn’t sign up for the subscription or if she canceled her trial, her status in the database would turn from active to idle.I was just clicking on her username when the change happened.Idle.The cancellation request appeared on her account then, her username locked until she returned—if ever—to Hooked.She’d warned me that she was going to quit. I wasn’t surprised, but I was so
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CHAPTER THIRTEENMe: I know it’s been a while since we’ve talked, but in a couple of hours, it’s going to be the new year and the thought of you popped into my head. It’s been a hell of a year for me, and you were a huge part of that. Wherever you are, I hope you’re safe, and I hope you’re having fun.Undelivered.I stared at the text, unsure why the message was coming back as undelivered. We had the same kind of phone. My blue box of text appeared on the right side, and her white box of text appeared on the left, everything looking completely normal.Until the exclamation point showed up in bright red.She had no reason to block me, so that couldn’t be it. But if she had, I was positive the message would still look as though it had gone through—at least on my end.I knew she hadn’t reactivated her account on Hooked. I had this strange habit of checking every few weeks, even though I’d set up an alert to be notified. I just feared that the alert, for some reason, wouldn’t go through a
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Grayson crossed his arms over his chest. “I hope you gave Rachel shit for not renewing her Hooked membership.”“Thanks to Hooked, she found someone, so there’s no need to renew it,” I told him.“Hell yeah,” Holden said. The forever romantic was even more of a relationship softie now that he was a single dad to Belle. He held up his hand to high-five me. “Another relationship in the books due to our genius invention.”Since launching, many things about the app had changed, and that included the addition of two other divisions. When users created a profile, the first question they were asked was whether they wanted to only hook up, whether they were looking for a long-term commitment that could result in marriage, or whether they were single parents searching for a partner with children, like Holden.“I don’t know why you’re celebrating,” Grayson said to him. The dude was still hotheaded as ever and completely allergic to monogamy. “The only reason she settled was because she was tired
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I was, too, based on Drake’s experience, but I wasn’t going to let on. I wanted Holden to take his own advice and weigh the candidates equally.“I think I’m Team Julia,” I told him. “Her credentials are pretty serious, and Godiva, I believe, is international. I think she could offer a lot to us.”“I agree,” Holden said as he took Drake’s résumé from me. “But an MIT graduate? Who works for Faceframe, the biggest social media site in the world, having a massive international interface? Does it get any better than that?”“Point for Drake,” Grayson said.I didn’t need a fucking scorekeeper—I needed someone on equal ground. “Julia has a hell of an education. Excellent job history. Longevity at each company with plenty of management experience. She could probably do this international rollout with her eyes closed.”“Point for Julia,” Grayson said.“We’ve lost some amazing employees to Faceframe,” Holden continued, reminding us of David and Brennon, our original coders. David we still employ
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“I hate the cold too. I don’t know how I’m not living in Florida right now.”“That makes two of us, darling.” She winked. “Anyway, I joined the company when it was only five months old, and I’ve been here ever since. I keep saying I’m going to retire, I’m just too old to be doing this, but the boys won’t let me.”I could see why. She was lovely, and motherly in every way.My hand clutched the strap of my bag, the leather turning slick from my sweaty palm. “I don’t blame them one bit.”“Thank you.” The elevator buzzed upon our arrival. “Please come with me.”She took me through several open workspaces, where there were standing desks and beanbag lounges and employees’ dogs snoozing on fluffy beds—very reminiscent of my current office. The difference was the large panes of glass that showed the city’s stunning skyline.When we finally settled in the conference room, she asked, “Can I get you anything to drink? Water? Flavored seltzer? A latte, perhaps?”“No, thank you, I’m fine.”She sw
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