All Chapters of Mr Hook Up: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

His thumbs strummed my cheeks. “Holden once said to me that the reason the app was created was for us to find each other—you and me, Drake. That’s fate. That’s what I believe. And I also believe nothing is going to take that away from me. I won’t let it.” He stayed in that position until he tilted his head back, looking at the ceiling before making eye contact again. “I know you didn’t do this.”As his hands dropped to my shoulders, I wiped the droplets that were on the verge of falling into my mouth. “I understand how hard this is for you, but you have to understand how hard it is for me, Easton. Someone is making me look extremely guilty. Someone has either shared your designs or stolen them, and they’re trying to blame it on me. I wouldn’t still be here, I wouldn’t care, I wouldn’t have tears streaming down my face if I was that person.”“That’s what I told the guys when we were in Holden’s office.”“Did they believe you?”My gut clenched as I waited for his response.As I tried to

When I connected my stare with Holden’s, I said, “My heart was fucking breaking for her when you told me the news in your office today. It shattered again in the conference room. And when I went to her office right before she left, I told her, as long as it was okay, I was going to talk to you guys and tell you everything.”“To plead her case,” Holden said.“Listen, I know it’s not going to change anything. But Drake is more than just our director. She’s a woman who I believe would do anything for our company. I can speak about her character. I can speak about her morals and ethics because she’s the woman I love.”“Goddamn it,” Grayson groaned. “This is a lot.”“A lot because Holden warned us not to date anyone at the company. And a lot because Love and Drake are the same woman. And a lot because Drake is getting wrongly accused—”“We have no choice, Easton,” Holden began. “These are the steps we have to take to protect Hooked. You know that. Hell, I’m positive even Drake knows that.”

“More like a few weeks. It’s going to suck. And while I’m up at the crack of dawn every morning, pacing my apartment, watching the sun rise, all I’m going to think about is how I should be at work. How I should be getting prepped to motivate my team so we can accomplish the day’s tasks that will get us one step closer to the rollout.”“And that’s going to happen. I bet my life on it.” When I tried to interrupt, she continued, “You won’t even have to explain to your team what went down since the guys were nice enough to tell everyone you had to go on medical leave.” I attempted again and she lifted her hand, stopping me to say, “And while I know medical leave isn’t something to lie about, the last thing any of us wants is to have rumors and gossip floating around the office when not a single word of it would be true.”I leaned forward, freeing my hands of the glass, holding my palms over my head. “This is too much.”“Drake—”“I can’t.” I got up and walked to the kitchen. There wasn’t a

“Grayson, you’re fucking pathetic, you know that? You were always jealous that Easton came up with the idea first. Always pissed off that Holden got the better-looking women because he’s the nice guy that you’re not.”I was on the verge of verbally destroying him when Grayson moved his coffee aside and set his arms on the table. “What scares you the most, Brennon? The fact that we have proof that the Dating Place designs are yours? That even though you met the end of your noncompete, we can and will file suit? Or that your design will never be as successful as ours because, in this day and age, people want anonymity? They want to avoid getting into bed with motherfuckers like you, and the Dating Place can never offer that.”“You’re going to sue me?” His laugh turned even louder. “I dare you to try.”“Try?” I laughed back. “That’s what you think we’re going to do? We’ve hired Declan Shaw, the top litigator in the state of California, and the second we leave this café, we’re flying to L

“Drake . . .” I shook my head as I gazed at the woman I loved. “You have to know that if I was in your shoes, as a partner, I would have been treated the same way. Our in-house counsel has standard operating procedures. All she was doing—all we were doing—was following them to protect Hooked. This wasn’t personal, trust me when I say that.”“I know,” she replied.“We didn’t want to do this, Drake,” Holden added. “We didn’t want to have that meeting. We didn’t want to even consider that you had something to do with the Dating Place or that you were acting as a mole or that you had sent that email. But for the sake of Hooked, we had to do our due diligence. Although none of us were able to voice this, we didn’t think for a second that you were involved in any way.”“Shit no,” Grayson said. “If you wanted access to our system, you would have hacked in—we all know that. You wouldn’t have wasted your time and taken a job here.”Holden chuckled. “What he said, but that still doesn’t change