CHAPTER NINE
ariana
“You knowthat if you tell me something, I won’t automatically tell your brother, right?”
Arden hands me the iced coffee she made, falling onto the couch beside me. She pulls the knitted blanket over both of our laps, looking at me with pure sincerity.
I believe her, but that’s the problem. I don’t want her to have to keep secrets from Carter. That isn’t setting them up for success. It makes me a terrible sister and an even worse friend. I have no place in their relationship, and that’s the way it should stay.
“It’s nothing.”
“Stop saying that,” Arden snaps, but it’s gentle. Her dark eyes burn into my face. “If there is one thing I’ve learned from being with your brother, it’s that bottling things up only hurts you, it doesn’t help you.”
“I just know how he gets.”
“Carter?”
I dip my chin, bringing my straw to my mouth. Yeah, Carter. When people hurt me, he wants to hurt people. He’ll obsess over this. Whip out his phone, try to figure out a way to handle thiswith his connections. He would never call Dad because he knows I’d kill him for it, but he’d want to make this right. To fix it. For me.
I’m a grown woman now. I need to fight my own battles. I can’t tell you the amount of trouble he has gotten into in my honour. Half of his assault charges should be mine. Hejustgot his life somewhat on track. He’s been behaving. He found someone he loves and enrolled himself in both therapy and anger management.
Ican’tdo this to him anymore.
Arden stares at me for a couple of seconds and then slowly places her glass on the coffee table. When she straightens, she takes in a big breath and meets my eyes.
“Did someone hurt you, Ari? Because you might not want your brother to get his hands dirty, but I can also kick some ass, and I’m genuinely starting to worry that you’re running from something.”
I snort a laugh. “No. Not physically…just…Roger.”
Arden’s brows skyrocket. “Roger?”
“He’s the firm’s Interior Architect, and I was the Creative Director. Ijusttook over when his brother-in-law left, and he…he made my life a living hell. That’s all.”
It was the job of my dreams. The salary increase was life-changing and I deserved it.
I deserved it.
And it’s gone.
“How?”
I sigh. It’s a long, painful story. I spent years at that firm, working my way up from the depths of hell. I earned degree upon degree to make sure I was overqualified, so nobody could ever look down their nose at me. Roger always did anyway. It didn’t matter if I got my Master’s in Computer Science just to elevate my status and my usefulness—to ensure that we hada software designer and developer in-house, so that I could successfully monitor a team if needed, and make certain that branch of the work was being done properly.
I’ve saved that place from many binds because I could do that work on top of my actual duties, which are nowhere near the same field.
I bled myself dry for that firm, only for Roger to spit on all my successes and destroy all my progress.
“Putting me down. Cutting me off in meetings. Rolling his eyes at my ideas,” I explain, and Arden’s face falls. “He ensured that he put roadblock after roadblock in front of my projects. It was a nightmare. A literal, waking nightmare. But I just kept my head up and my shoulders back and tried to pay my dues.”
“Did he want the position or something?” she asks.
I shake my head, a solemn feeling in my chest. “No, I think he just wanted someone with a penis to have it instead.”
Arden’s eyes harden with realization. She lets out a long, angry breath through her nose and reaches forward, placing her hand on my knee. “What the fuck did he do?”
Because she’s a woman, and she can read between the lines.
My throat bobs, but I refuse to cry over this anymore. I didn’t do anything wrong.Hedid.Theydid.
