Talk With Him
I tapped my feet against the floor, arms crossed, trying hard not to let the rage bubbling inside me explode all over Rowan’s stupidly perfect office.
He stood at the far end, back turned to me as he finished a call, his voice calm and composed—classic Rowan, unshakable even when the world was on fire. The skyline behind him stretched in perfect reflections across the glass windows, but all I could see was red.
He ended the call with a clipped “Handle it,” then turned, adjusting his cuffs like he hadn’t just walked into the eye of a storm.
“Hey,” he said, his voice softening when he saw my face. He crossed the room, leaned in, and kissed my cheek gently. “What’s up?”
That did it.
I stepped back, jaw tight. “What’s up?” I echoed, glaring. “Callum. Callum is what’s up.”
Rowan blinked. “What about him?”
“You didn’t hear?” I snapped. “Your right-hand man knocked up my best friend and then emotionally destroyed her into getting an abortion she didn’t want to have alone.”
His face shifted instantly. Surprise. Then confusion. Then something that looked dangerously close to guilt.
“I—What?”
“Oh, don’t what me. She told him she was pregnant, and do you know what he said? ‘You should’ve told me before it got complicated.’” I threw my hands in the air. “Like she was telling him she broke a nail, not that she was carrying his actual child!”
Rowan’s mouth parted slightly, but he didn’t speak.
“ I know I should have told you yesterday but I had to comfort Jo and the kids until you left this morning.I know it’s none of my business,” I said, pacing now, my steps sharp and angry across the marble floor, “but Jo is not okay. And I’m not going to sit here and pretend this is just some inconvenience. She didn’t even tell him she was going through with it. She just did it. Alone. And now she’s grieving something he won’t even acknowledge existed.”
Rowan rubbed a hand across his mouth, visibly processing. “I didn’t know about any of this–”
“Of course you didn’t,” I cut in. “Because Jo didn’t tell anyone. Because she’s Jo. Because she hides pain with jokes and sarcasm and oversized boots. But I know. And I can’t ignore this.”
He nodded slowly. “Alright. You want me to talk to him?”
“No,” I snapped. “I want to talk to him. I want him to see what his silence did. I want him to know that not every woman just ‘deals’ with this kind of pain quietly. I want him to feel it.”
Rowan came closer, reached for my hand. “Remi… I understand you’re angry. You have every right to be. But you need to breathe. Think this through.”
“I am thinking.”
“You’re shaking,” he said softly, looking down at my hands. “You don’t just want justice. You want to protect her. But Jo already made her choice. We don’t get to rewrite that part.”
I blinked, biting down on the inside of my cheek.
“I know,” I whispered. “But she shouldn’t have had to make that choice without support. Not when the father was someone we trusted. Someone you trust.”
He was quiet for a beat, then nodded once, firm. “Alright. I’ll call him in.”
I looked up.
Rowan walked to his desk, picked up the phone, and dialed. His voice dropped low and sharp as he spoke.
“Tell Callum to come to my office. Now.”
I clenched my fist together as I looked at the door.
When Callum walked in five minutes later, he looked like he’d been caught in the middle of something important—but the second he saw me standing beside Rowan’s desk, arms crossed and fire in my eyes, he stopped cold.
“Ma’am,” he said carefully, eyes flicking between us.
“Don’t ‘ma’am’ me,” I snapped.
Rowan moved to the side, giving me the floor.
Callum straightened his posture, already bracing.
“You knew she was pregnant,” I said.
He blinked. “I… yes.”
“And you said,”—I raised my voice slightly, “‘You should’ve told me before it got complicated.’ which pushed her to get an abortion.”
His eyes widened. “An…ab…what?!”
I scoffed. “What? Cat got your tongue?”
“No…I..” His face flushed. “I did. I did say that. And I swear to you—I didn’t mean it like that. I didn't mean to push her that path at all.”
I stared him down. “Then what did you mean, exactly?”
He rubbed the back of his neck, looking everywhere but at me. “I panicked. I said the worst possible thing at the worst possible time. I didn’t know she’d go through with it, Remi. I didn’t know she was going to—God—I would’ve shown up. I would’ve tried. I just…”
“You just what?” I asked coldly. “Froze? Ignored her? Made her feel like she had no one?”
He went quiet.
“I thought I had time to… figure out what I wanted to say,” he said finally. “I was stupid. I admit it. I let fear make the decision instead of actually facing what I felt.”
There it was.
Truth.
He looked at Rowan, then back at me. “I need a day. Maybe two. I just… I can’t think straight right now.”
Rowan nodded once. “Take it.”
Callum’s gaze settled on me again. “Tell her I’m sorry. Tell her I… I never wanted to hurt her.”
Then he left, the door clicking shut behind him.
I sighed, tension finally bleeding out of my shoulders as I turned back to Rowan.
He raised an eyebrow. “I hope you’re not trying to matchmake them.”
“What?” I scoffed. “No. That man is as dense as you are. He is confused. I mean look at how he treated her. No way would I want him close to her.”
Rowan’s brow lifted higher. “Oh really?”
“Yes. Really,” I said with a smirk, walking toward the couch.
“Dense?” he echoed, following me. “You’re calling me dense?”
“If the shoe fits,” I teased, flopping down on the cushions.
He moved in slowly, predator-like, until I was half-reclining, his body looming above mine.
His face was close—too close.
“Careful,” he murmured, eyes fixed on my mouth. “I might decide to prove otherwise.”
And then he pushed me gently aga
inst the sofa, his breath warm against my lips.
“I dare you,” I whispered.
“Oh darling…you shouldn't have dared me.”
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