One More Day by Auryn Hadley Read Free Book Online Page B

bathroom, and with each step, her guts began to heave.
    Spotting a trash can just inside Ryan's office, she shoved her face inside and puked like a national champion.  Over and over she heaved, nearly crying with the pain of her body's revolt.
    She felt a hand on her shoulder, another at the base of her neck grabbing her hair, then heard Ryan's voice.  "Mack?"  She just shook her head and retched again.  "Fuck, grab her a cloth and a glass of water or something," he said.  She could only assume he was talking to Colby.
    She puked yet again.
    "Mack, you gonna be ok?"
    She nodded, her eyes closed, on her knees praying to a plastic trashcan in the hall of her work place.  Her oh so sexy superman of a boss was holding her hair back.  With a deep sigh, she wiped the heel of her hand across her mouth and tried to sit up, wishing she was anywhere else.
    "Hey, baby," Colby said, squatting beside her.  "You fucking pregnant or something?"
    "What?" Ryan asked.
    "She went to the doc this morning, man.  Now she's puking like a train."
    "I'm not pregnant," Mack said, grabbing the damp cloth.  "Gotta get fucking laid before that happens, and I'm on a dry spell."
    Colby chuckled at that.  "Well, sounds like you're feeling at least a bit better."
    She shifted, intending to sit on the floor, but the guys were having none of that.  With Ryan on one side and Colby on the other, the helped her stagger to her feet and guided her over to the plush leather chair behind Ryan's desk.  She didn't even complain as she sank into it.  Holding the cool cloth to her face, she could hear the sound of plastic, and knew that one of them was taking out the trash she'd just filled with her breakfast.
    "Leave the can," Ryan said.
    "Yeah, man."
    Mack wanted to crawl in a hole somewhere and pretend like this had never happened.  "I'm sorry," she tried.  "The smell of the coffee just hit me wrong or something.  God, how embarrassing."
    "Not a big deal," Ryan assured her.  "Happens all the time with piercings.  I'll get Colby to run you home."
    "I'm fine," she insisted.  There's no way she was leaving sick on her first week of work.  Not at a job she liked!  "I probably just ate something bad."
    His finger slowly traced the inside of her arm, careful not to press on the dark bruise there, and he glanced up at her.  "Right."
    "They missed," she said.  "It was just a bad stick at the doctor this morning."
    Carefully, he grabbed her other arm and pulled it away from her body, exposing the red spot and remnants of adhesive from the catheter.  "Right.  And that's where they put the snoopy band-aid?"
    Biting her lips together, she fought to keep the sudden urge to cry at bay.  Instead, she tried to nod, but her eyes were fighting back.  With each bounce of her head, they warned her that she should stop, or they would take control, leaving her not only a pukey mess before the Super Hot Guy that she liked working for, but a blubbering pukey mess.
    "I can't lose this job," she whispered.
    "Not gonna happen," Ryan promised.  "What the fuck are you doing Mack?"
    "I'm making it through one more day," she said softly.  "I'm fine, Ryan.  I got this."
    "Bull shit," Colby said from the doorway.  "Man, I wasn't running late, she was passed out when I went to pick her up.  Didn't answer her phone, took fucking ten minutes of banging on the door before she woke up."
    "Yeah," Ryan said.  "It's good.  Look, what ever it is, Mack, you're not losing your job, ok?"
    She nodded, not trusting herself enough to speak.
    "Baby," Colby said, taking a step into the room.
    That's when the door chimed, letting them know a client had arrived.  Both men sighed, but when Mack tried to stand, Ryan grabbed her shoulder and pushed her back down.
    "I got it," Colby said, waking to the front.
    When he was out of earshot, Ryan pulled a chair over beside her.  "This have anything to do with last week?"
    "I'm fine," she said again.
    "Right, and your dad's still on the road,