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Yes.
I needed to believe it, or everything I’d built would crumble like a house of cards. And I’m not talking about my company. That wouldn’t fall to pieces if I told the truth about my wretched childhood. But the world wouldn’t look at me the same. Worse still, I might not see myself in the same light.
Right now, beating my doubts into submission seemed like the best path forward.
Zack rests his arms on the ropes enclosing the gym’s boxing ring. Damn him, I can’t land a hit when he’s taken himself out of the game. We meet in the gym located in our building’s lower levels and try to beat the shit out of ea
ch other every weekday morning. I’m religious about my workout routine. And Zack Smith, the only other billionaire that I know in his thirties, is an integral part of my workouts.
“You tell me that you’re marrying Kayla and you expect me to keep fighting?” Zack shakes his head. “We’re taking a break and you’re going to explain yourself.”
“I proposed to Kayla Friday night, and now we’re engaged. Nothing to explain. Now raise your gloves. I have to be at the office by nine this morning.”
“You own the company,” Zack reasons. “They’ll wait.”
“I know it has been a while since you’ve been employed, and things are probably different in the hedge fund world, but if the boss blows off the schedule, so do the employees,” I say.
Zack pulls at the Velcro on his gloves. “What happened to the receptionist? The one who made sure we had this ring reserved at five a.m. Monday through Friday?”
“I ended it.” With our sparring session over, I start pulling off my gloves. “Then I saw Kayla Friday, and I realized she’s the one.”
“You don’t deserve her.” Zack tucks his gloves under his arm.
“You’ve met her what? Five times?” I snap. “How the hell would you know?”
“Kayla is smart, funny, gorgeous and passionate.” He ducks between the ropes and jumps to the gym’s basement floor.
I follow close behind him. “How would you know she’s passionate?”
He stops and turns to face me. We have the gym’s lower level to ourselves. All of the other members are climbing or running on machines upstairs.
“She’s passionate about her animals,” Zack says. “I’ve met her a handful of times and I know she is not the type of woman you date for five to six weeks, maybe two months seeing as you went to the trouble of proposing this time, and then ditch. When you walk away, you’ll have lost your fiancée and your best friend.”
“I’m not going to lose her,” I say. “I can’t lose her.”
Zack studies me. And I don’t look away. Finally, he nods as if accepting my words. “Is she at your place now?” he asks. “I’ll come up and say hi.”
“I’m not sure you want to do that. She moved all of her dogs into my apartment.”
He raises an eyebrow. “You agreed to that?”
“Kayla wouldn’t move in without them,” I say with a casual shrug.
“You are in love, aren’t you?” Zack pushes through the double doors marked exit and hits the stairs. I’m by his side, heading for the locker room on the first floor. There’s an elevator by the boxing ring, but unless one of us is too beaten up, we walk when we’re in the gym.
“I let her bring the cats too.” I toss out that detail as we reach the first landing and head for the second set of stairs. I know the thought of felines destroying my penthouse will solidify the reality of the situation in Zack’s mind.
“No shit. The cats?”
“We’re engaged.” If I say those words enough, I might start believing them myself.
“I never thought you’d be the first to get married.” Zack’s silent for a while as we reach the second landing and door to the main level. He turns to me, his back blocking the exit. “Can I ask you something?”
I nod.
“What’s it like to take your best friend to bed?” he asks. “You’ve know her since what? Elementary school?”
It would be a disaster.
