My Boss My Secret Husband (Hazel and Logan) novel Chapter 4

I sat in annoyed, stunned silence. My one memento from my crazy Vegas night. Why didn’t I hide it better from her?

“Hellooooo? Earth to Hazel?” Natalie poked me in the arm.

“It’s…it’s just a toy,” I said, trying to will her to put it back in the glove compartment and drop the whole subject.

Her eyes grew wide, a look of revelation crossing her face. “Oh my god. Did you buy yourself a ring because you didn’t get the one you wanted from your man? Hazel, this is a new low, even for you. This sad desperation is exactly why you are in the position you are in.”

I stared hard at the road ahead of me, silently fuming. She put the ring on her own left hand ring finger and held it out in front of her, admiring it.

“It is beautiful, even though it was a pathetic purchase on your part. I think I’ll keep it, use it for some of the promotional photoshoots I have coming up.”

Called that one. I shook my head. No use trying to plead with her to leave it behind. Satan himself has more empathy than my sister does.

“Oh, I have to tell Rachel about this, she’s going to die,” she pulled out her phone and called her best friend, the same one who got to witness the fatal Vegas proposal. “Rachel, you are not going to believe the pathetic thing Hazel’s done now.”

I tried to tune her out as she mercilessly mocked me for buying a toy ring. I wanted to tell her I didn’t buy it, but not knowing its actual origin story would have made me just sound like I was lying. Hot tears welled in the corner of my eyes.

“Oh my god, now she’s crying!” Natalie laughed as she updated her friend.

I pulled into my parents’ neighborhood and parked at the bottom of our driveway. I wordlessly got out, pulled her luggage from the trunk, and set it on the ground. Natalie had also gotten out of the car, but in her true fashion, just talked on the phone while I did all the work.

“I know,” she said into the phone. “She’s so sad.” She looked right at me.

I looked up at the house. I couldn’t bear the thought of going in. Of dragging the tons of luggage up the driveway and into her room, then sitting down to a dinner where surely more mocking would ensue once my parents heard about the fake ring Natalie had found.

“Well?” Natalie pulled the phone away from her ear long enough to scold me. “Are you going to bring that up or just stand there with that blank dumb stare?”

My mind was made up in that moment. No way I could go into that house right now.

“I have to go back to work. I have some things I need to get done,” I said, leaving her and her luggage where they stood and getting back into the car.

As I drove away, I looked at her in the rearview mirror. I smirked.

Who has the blank dumb stare now?

My first stop at work was the pantry. I needed to grab the magazines everyone had earlier that contained interviews and articles about Logan, but more importantly, I needed chocolate fuel for the night ahead.

I had resolved on my drive in that I would throw myself into my work to stay as far away from my family as possible. Maybe if I nailed these assessments and got the new position, I’d get a bigger paycheck and could finally move out on my own again.

And tonight, that meant planning the perfect date for Logan and his wife.

Several hours later, I awoke with a start.

My face was stuck to the magazine that laid open on my desk. I sat up and groggily ripped the magazine off my cheek. The video player on my computer was still going, playing the very long speech I had found that Logan gave at a seminar the year before. It must have been what knocked me out.