Lucas shot out of his seat and whirled on her before realizing she wasn’t just another pesky co-worker come to interrupt our bug hunting.
Nope. She was the CEO’s wife, the newly minted Mrs. Drake herself.
And Lucas wouldn’t be able to scare her away as he’d done all the others.
“Mia… hi,” he said and then immediately turned toward me with an alarmed look on his face.
Mia’s eyes dropped to the half-eaten sheet of wedding cake, the Lego bride and groom now positioned like they were having missionary sex by some cheeky, immature idiot. Then her wide brown eyes flicked back to me. “Wow, so it’s true? I thought it was a joke.”
It was… kinda. But it wasn’t a joke I could let my boss’s wife in on. Even if she was my closest friend in the world.
But yeah, how could I tell her that when her husband had generously offered me a job, I’d faked my credentials to be able to work in the US illegally?
Guilt stabbed at me for not the first time when I contemplated the risk for the company with my sketchy escapades. There was no way to explain all the complex whys and hows of it to Mia—not now. It’d been easier to work here illegally than to apply for a work visa, given my special circumstances. The possibility of alerting the wrong people of my whereabouts was a constant source of anxiety for me.
If the lawyers on that letter in Lucas’s car were who I thought they were, it was very possible that jig was up, anyway. So much for hiding out south of the border. I swallowed a lump, shoving that worry aside as I looked up at Mia and steeled myself.
Criminy. This thing was like the proverbial snowball rolling downhill out of control. It grew bigger than a skyscraper, threatening to take out an entire village upon meeting its demise at the bottom of the mountain.
I briefly contemplated telling Mia the truth because I knew I could trust her. But asking her to keep such a huge secret from her brand-new husband, my boss, wasn’t fair. I couldn’t ask that of her.
So it was time to lie my ass off, yet again.
I popped out of my seat, flicking my hair behind me. “Hey babe! What’s up? Are your med school classes over for the day?”
As I hadn’t seen her in a while, I gave her a quick hug. She didn’t hug back. Instead, she stared at me like I was a crazy person.
“Wanna sit with me for a minute in the Pit?” I asked.
She made a face. “Has it been thoroughly sanitized recently?”
I led her to the far end of our workspace. The Pit was an arrangement of mismatched couches, overstuffed chairs, two semi-folded futon mattresses, a couple leaky beanbags patched with duct tape and a currently occupied dog bed. We typically used that area to crash for a few hours during long workweeks. It was a necessary refuge for occasional catnaps to help us through the long nights, often stretching well past sunrise.
Mia’s aversion to it was borne from the usual décor. Crumbs, odd bits of litter, spilled snacks, empty pizza boxes and other detritus. With all these twenty-something, barely civilized and predominately male occupants, the trash accumulated at an exponential rate. Fortunately, it had all been cleaned up since we’d met our big deadline.
I sat beside Mia on the leather couch. Max, Lucas’s dog, looked up from the dog bed but only beat his large fluffy tail on the ground, begging for a free pet. He frequently hung out with us in the office. Employees in our department loved having him around. As a group, we lavished him with pets, playtime and several walks a day. It was to our benefit, too, with much-needed opportunities for occasional fresh air and exercise. Or even just a chance to rest our eyes from the long hours of staring at monitors. We liked to refer to him as QA’s emotional support animal and he was happy to oblige. We were the only department at Draco allowed our own regular mascot.
All the humans within earshot were working hard at their workstation—or appearing to work hard, at least—with headphones on. Mia turned to me the second my butt landed on the cushion. “What the hell is this all about? I thought you and Lucas—” she paused to look around and make sure said person was nowhere he could hear