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Alli’s voice interrupted hts She’d settled into the seat besidethat so friend I didn’t knohere to begin Hoould I broach the topic of being punished by ht in a lip lock with one of my employees when Blake and I had been broken up? God, my current dilemma sounded all kinds of fucked up

"Good," I lied

My whole body ached, froone by without any real e had been matter-of-fact between us But I could sense his hesitation, the strain that cah with the short delivery of every word, the careful avoidance of ed hi to let me knoere okay

Too wiped out to push hih the ht on o e’d been separated under very different circu what he was thinking, and a part of me was afraid of what he’d say if I dared ask I needed to believe that we’d get through this, that there was a light at the end of this tunnel If I thought for a second that we couldn’t--that ouldn’t--I wasn’t sure I could go on

Gradually people pulled up their chairs, and I jotted down some lastto let the events of the weekend derail , we had work to do, and I had to push on

Jarew thick aroundthe space between them It crackled with their distaste for one another The clarity I was grasping scattered when I caught Blake’s stare James shifted in his seat as Blake leveled a look so venomous, I wouldn’t have been surprised to find them at each other’s throats, literally, in ahow Blake had convincedJaht have guessed that Blake would be looking for an opportunity tothat he could finish

I hurried to speak and shift their attention to the matters at hand

"This weekend Blake and I iven us the go-ahead to refer ecommerce sales to his site, in return for increased exposure and co out the finer details, but this is a huge break for our growth, to expand beyond e’ve been doing and broaden our reach We’ll need to make some adjustments to our platform to maximize this opportunity"

"Any updates with advertisers?" Jaood neith the cold reality of the hit we’d already taken as a result of the co site’s endeavors

Alli chimed in "No one else has pulled their account since last week, sofruit, so to speak Hopefully the rest rerimace I had a few other choice monikers for Risa I would have rather used

"What’s the ti developer, spoke up

"As soon as possible I know it’ll be tricky to build this out while ure e’ve been through with the hacking attempts, we caninto their API?"

Blake offered him a stack of papers "I have the docuh it Should be pretty straightforward to implement"

Sid reached for it, his eyes wide I cracked a srateful at least to have Sid’s interest Seeing the planinto uncharted waters, but this e had to do Sink or swim, and I was determined that ould survive This opportunity with Alex promised to be the lifeline we needed