Colin

 

The audience rose to their feet as I ended my final speech for the conference. It had been a wonderful time, and I couldn’t wait to take my seat next to Abby. There were two other people after me that had to wrap up their segments for the conference, and I was anxious to hear what they had to say. I made my way off stage and took off my microphone, then headed to the area where I knew Abby was going to be seated.

But my phone vibrating in my pocket caught my attention.

I pulled it out and saw I had what seemed like hundreds of notifications. Emails, phone calls, text messages and voicemails. Hadley was blowing up my phone and Rohan was trying to get in touch with me. All of these people knew I had been on stage, which meant that whatever the hell had happened was serious.

I opened up the string of text messages from Ted, however, and I saw why everyone was abuzz.

Fraternizing on the lower end of the totem pole? Really, Colin?

I ignored the rest of Ted’s messages and looked at the picture he had sent me. It was an image of Abby and I, clear as day and as crisp as my starched white shirts. It was of the two of us at the bar together last night, and my hand was clearly on her thigh. Abby was leaning into me to ask me something as her lips brushed dangerously against my ear, and the smile on my face told everyone everything they needed to know.

And I’d thrown Abby to the press sharks before this conference had started.

I checked the rest of my notifications and they were all about the same thing. Hadley was wondering how in the world she was going to spin me screwing around with one of her P.R. employees, Rohan was trying to figure out how to pull Abby out of the conference and get her home safely, and Ted was continuing to berate me for my poor choice of a ‘fuck buddy’.

I gritted my teeth at that term and shot him a quick text message.

Tell everyone to stand by. Right now, I have to go find Abby.

Right now, the only person that mattered to me was Abby. If I had hundreds of notifications on this, then it meant an outside source took this picture. Everyone on my end seemed shocked about the allegations of a secret office romance, which told me that the press had probably bombarded Abby with a ton of questions she hadn’t been ready for. Questions I should’ve fielded right alongside her instead of being of sound checking a damn microphone for some stupid speech.

I found Abby in the media room with most of the press, her form cornered in the room as they continued to throw questions her way.

I pushed my way through, gently shoving people off to the side. Abby was standing there with her back straight, trying to field this the best way she could. By all accounts and by any pictures that surfaced of this moment, she looked strong. Her shoulders were rolled back and her posture was open. She stood tall and her face was stoic. Her eyes were shining and her presence was fierce. She was commanding the room the best way she could now that all eyes were on her.

But I could see the panic growing behind her dark brown eyes. I knew Abby, and I could tell that her stomach was rolling with anxiety.

Her eyes flickered back towards me as I pushed through the crowd, and the wave of people parting gave her just enough room to slip by.

I tried grabbing out for her arm, but she slipped from my grasp and strode from the room.

“Mr. Murphy, do you have any comment about your relationship with Miss Thompson?”

“Mr. Murphy, how did the two of you meet?”

“Mr. Murphy, is the distraction of this romance why your company has fallen behind on the European marketplace project?”

I didn’t care about any of their questions, though I should. I needed to listen to their questions and keep an ear out for their whispers. The reputation of my company and the pristine slope I was sledding down as I barreled towards the culmination of this project depended on it. But I was too worried about Abby to focus. I knew she was frazzled and I knew she had to endure more scrutiny than I did. For me to have a relationship go public was nothing. It was a businessman in a businessman’s world leading his life and doing what he wanted.

But for Abby, it was something entirely different.

For Abby, it meant the difference between being a professional businesswoman and someone who slept her way to the top.

This was why I hadn’t called her after Christmas, and I cursed myself for allowing my guard to drop. For allowing myself this time of pleasure instead of continuing to protect her.

My eye caught the tail end of Abby’s red coat moving into the women’s bathroom. I followed after her and ripped the door open, then locked it behind me before I turned around. Abby was standing at the sink, splashing water in her face and wiping makeup from her features.

She turned her face towards me, her eyes red with embarrassment as tears poured down her cheeks.

“What the fuck is happening?” she asked. “Who took that picture?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I honestly don’t.”

“They’re painting me as a hookup, Colin,” she said. “They’ve already run a story insinuating that I got a job at your company because I was sleeping with you.”

“You know that’s not true,” I said.

“It doesn’t matter what’s true, Colin! And clearly, your actions are those of a rich man in a rich man’s world. You’ve locked us both in a fucking bathroom, Colin. Do you know how much worse that’s going to look for me!?”

She was right, so I reached behind me to quickly unlock the door.

“Just come with me. I’ll get you out the back and into your hotel room. Rohan’s going to help me conceal you so no one bothers you,” I said.

“Holy hell, I’m going to lose my job,” she said, breathlessly.

“No one is going to fire you over this.”

“Hadley’s going to hate me,” she said, groaning.

“Hadley’s confused, yes. She’s wondering how the hell we’re going to spin this, but she’s not firing you. Not on my watch.”

“That’s the problem, Colin. You can’t just step in and fix this for me. Now that they know we’ve been together—on a date or whatever—all of it will look like favoritism. Anything you do for me from this point on will be tainted by whispers of whether or not I sucked your dick to get here!”

“Abby, look at me,” I said.

Her entire body was shaking as she lifted her eyes to meet mine once again.

“Right now, the weather’s getting bad. The ice is raining down and the snow is gathering. It’s dark, and it’s dank, and you’re not in control of the vehicle.”

“You’re not really using this analogy after you crashed the damn rental car, are you?” she asked.

“I’m going to ask you to do the one thing you needed to do during that moment. Because I might not understand harsh weather, but I understand this. This is my world, and this is my terrain, and they are dancing on my homeland. I didn’t understand severe weather the way you did, and I didn’t trust you. And I crashed us because I didn’t listen. Now, you are in a position where the territory and the weather is foreign to you, but I’m not.”

Abby grabbed a paper towel and began to wipe her face dry before she sighed and turned back towards me.

“Now, I’m asking you to trust me,” I said. “Do what I couldn’t do. What I was too prideful to do. Trust me, Abby. Don’t crash this car when you know I fix this.”

I held out my hand for her and she looked at it hesitantly. My heart was thundering in my chest and I could feel my phone vibrating in my pocket. I knew people were wondering where I was. Wondering if I had found Abby, waiting for their next commands. I knew things were crumbling around us, but my focus was solely on Abby.

All I needed her to do was take my hand.

“What if you can’t fix it?” she asked desperately. “What if this is it?”

“If this is it—even though I can assure you it’s not—we go down together.”

“You can’t do that, Colin. You’ve got too much riding on your reputation,” she said.

“Just—trust—me.”

Her eyes flickered down towards my hand before she slowly reached for me. I wrapped my hand around hers and pulled her into me, feeling her fall into my chest as I wrapped my arms around her. She sobbed into my suit, her tears soaking my shirt while her entire body shivered in my grasp.

I placed kiss after kiss on top of her head as I tried to choke back my own tears.

“On my count,” I said, whispering.

I felt her nod into my chest before she sniffled.

“One—two—three—”

Then, whipping the door open, Abby and I stepped out into the entourage of people I’d told to gather outside the bathroom door.