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“It’s all settled, Pierce. There is nothing more to discuss. And frankly, Arie is a lot better off without you. You’ve been a drain on her for as long as I can remember. She deserves someone who won’t string her along.” He’s not even making eye contact with me now. He’s looking at something on his computer and scanning sheets of paper on his desk. I’m getting increasingly pissed.
“String her along? Do you have any idea how long I waited…”
My father shakes his head, his disappointment palpable. “I’m not talking about just fucking, Pierce. I’m talking about being a man, about stepping up and taking responsibility for your actions like an adult. You’ve never done that for her. You’ve never done that for anyone in your life. And it’s time for you to do it. You wouldn’t be of any use to me here acting the way you do now. And you damn well won’t be of any use to Arie.”
I start to protest, but I can tell by look in his eye that the conversation is over. It was over the minute he made up his mind about me joining the Navy. I stand up from the chair across from my father and leave his office with my shoulders practically drooping down my knees. When I get out of the building and onto Fifth Avenue, I grab my cell from my back pocket and dial Arie. She answers, her voice hesitant.
“Hi, Pierce.”
I take a deep breath. “Arie, can you meet me at the coffee shop next to my dad’s building? We need to talk.”
* * *
When Arie walks into the coffee shop, she is wearing what looks like four layers of clothing, including a giant baggy sweater, even though it’s May and hot as a whore’s ass outside. When she sits down across from me, she crosses her arms over her chest and doesn’t make eye contact. I feel like an asshole, though I’m not a hundred percent sure why.
“What’s wrong? Are you sick?”
She looks at me like I’m a massive idiot, then hugs herself tighter. “Half of the NYPD saw me naked, Pierce. At any given moment, I could run into a cop who has seen my tits. So, you’ll excuse me if I don’t feel or look my best right now.”
“I don’t… I mean, I guess I’m sorry but you can’t really blame me for that.”
Her face turns bright red and I see a kind of anger in her eyes that I’ve never seen before. “What do you mean I ‘can’t blame you?’ Who the hell else should I blame, Pierce? You had every opportunity to warn me what was about to happen and instead you just let me be humiliated. There were reporters at my house, Pierce!”
My stomach drops. “Reporters? Did you tell them anything?”
When she slaps me across the face, I’m more shocked by it than anything. Suddenly, every eye in the coffee shop is on us, and I try to smile at them. “It’s fine. We’re fine. Mind your business.”
But Arie is seething. “Are you kidding me right now? All you’re worried about is whether I outed you to reporters as the naked guy that was dragged out of The Carlyle? How can you be so selfish?”
“Practice,” I answer absently. “Look, I have to tell you something.”
She doesn’t seem to be listening to me, so at the same time, we blurt out what we came here to say.
“Dad is making me join the Navy.”
“I can’t see you anymore, Pierce,” she says, before I can say anything else.
“What?” we sputter over top of each other.
“You’re breaking up with me?” I ask, suddenly incredulous, even though I was here to do the sam.
“You’re joining the Navy? What? Did your Dad offer to pay you?”
“Well, that was uncalled for. No. I don’t exactly have a choice. If I don’t enlist, that senator and his douchebag son are going to sue my father, and by extension, the company. It’ll ruin his IPO. You know he’s not going to let that happen, so as soon as this fucking concussion heals, I’m gone. But back up for a second here. You’re dumping me? You’re dumping me?”
Arie pulls her sweater tighter around her and shakes her head with a sad smile. “You make it sound like I’m breaking up with the perfect Prince Charming. I just can’t do this anymore, Pierce. You made your priorities more than clear that night in the hotel, and they don’t involve me, or my feelings. Or my safety. So yes, I’m dumping you. Prince Pierce Cochran, he who deigned to date the garbage man’s daughter all these years. The scholarship student. I know you probably think you were doing me a favor, but…”
Tears start to form in the corners of her eyes, and my stomach hurts in a way
I’m not used to. Is this guilt? Is this what guilt feels like?
“Hey… It’s not like that. It was never like that. I… I love you, Arie.”
She shakes her head again. “I don’t think you know what love is, Pierce. But maybe you’ll learn. One day.”
With that, she gets up from the table and walks out of the coffee shop, without so much as a backward glance. And I’m left sitting alone, consumed by an emptiness I didn’t even know I was capable of feeling.
I let her walk away, and I have a sinking suspicion I will regret it for the rest of my life.
