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“Because you’re my business, Lukas.” Noelle glared at me. “I put time into you. I’ve always been there for you. In case you forgot, when you left for college, I was the one who had to listen to Tess’s crazy ass crying all the time, talking about all the shit your parents were putting them through. When you were here starting the company, I was in Philly helping your sister drive Wyatt to school if she was too fucking sad to get out of bed,” she hissed mockingly. “I am the closest thing to a girlfriend that you have ever had, that you’ll ever have and I’ll always know you better than any slut you’re fucking, including the neighbor, so don’t try to push me out of your life because I deserve to be here. I earned my spot here.”
My jaw was tight as I stared at Noelle. Zero to sixty. It was her specialty. Ignoring her fiery stare, I got up and returned to my desk, noting that it was too early to call even Emmett for a drink.
“You’ve known me most of my life, Noelle. That’s true,” I said once I resumed my seat. “And I’m grateful you were often there for Tess but make no mistake, there’s no debt here. From what I understood, you were kind to my sister because you were her friend – not because you looked forward to me owing you for the rest of my life. I might’ve felt like I did at one point but I don’t anymore.”
“And why the hell not?”
“Because it’s bullshit,” I fired back. “First off, you begged to help with Tess’s depression. When I moved them to Philly, you begged me to move you there, too, so I could pay you to help around the house,” I said heatedly. “All that aside, only a horrible person would take advantage of someone they were there for during a hard time. Are you telling me you’re that person?”
“I’m telling you you’re a fucking prick,” Noelle snapped, getting up and storming out. I watched her then grab her purse and jacket from reception and march right into the elevators, either taking a break or flat-out leaving for the day. It wasn’t something any other employee dared to do but I’d set a bad precedent for Noelle from the start.
She was a special case because like Cam, she’d been a part of my life when it was nothing – when I was a college kid struggling with classes, custody and a plan for what the future would be.
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I tried to remember what Lia had told me barely a few hours ago. Something about bad people doing good things. But I was too fired up to put my thoughts together so breathing deep, I tried to at least remind myself that this had started out a good day. It had actually been my best morning in a long time and I’d be foolish to pretend it didn’t have to do with my neighbor.
“Idiot,” I cursed myself as I stared at the ceiling.
Four fucking days.
After last night, I knew it’d be hard. Thanks to this morning, it was about to be torture.
13
LIA
I probably looked like a mess but rule one of lockdown mode was never look in the mirror. It was always too startling.
“Goddammit,” Sara mumbled to herself, still typing away at her office. “Fuck this stupid printer. If this printer had a life, I would end it.”
I laughed. She was still at work and we weren’t really having an active conversation – I just had her on speaker for company. It’d been too long since I’d had contact with another human being. At this point, I’d gone almost seventy-two hours without leaving my apartment. The last time I’d done that was a year ago, when I got my first big order: four hundred hand-painted truffles, each pair individually wrapped to serve as souvenirs for a June Magazine Christmas party. June was the publication Sara wrote for and she’d busted her ass to get me the job over the big company they usually
hired. It was a huge opportunity and since it was a last-minute gig, I wound up working nonstop for three days and eating nothing but boiled eggs and trail mix for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It was exhausting, kind of gross and probably not great for my health so I swore to never do it again.
Yet here I was, doing exactly that to get this business plan written.
“Why the fuck do I need yellow ink to print a black and white document?” Sara whispered furiously as I cleared off my kitchen counter, laying out my chocolate, cream, colored cocoa butter and molds. “And why do they turn the heat up so high in this damned office?”
“I don’t know. Take your pants off?”
“I don’t work from home, Lia, so I can’t show up to work every morning without my pants on. Not everyone’s as lucky as you.”
True. I was literally too busy to put pants on the past three days. All I wore was a T-shirt and pajama shorts while buckling down and making that business plan my bitch. The first day of lockdown mode had gone toward writing up an overview of my company. Yesterday had gone toward mapping out industry, customer and competitor analysis. Today, I’d written up my entire marketing plan and having just completed that, I was rewarding myself by relaxing with some cooking before bed.
“Lia. Tell me what you’re making so I don’t rage-quit my job right now,” Sara said, tossing something across her desk. It sounded like her mouse.
“I’ve got lavender truffles on deck.”
“I want that. In my face. What do you use? Real lavender?”
“Mm-hm. The flower heads are steeping in the cream right now, so they’ll be infused in the ganache.”
“Ugh, you little slut. That sounds so good,” Sara muttered, back to typing furiously. “I need like, four pounds of chocolate to calm me down right now. I’m so cranky.”
“Go find your fuck buddy,” I grinned. “That usually helps you get rid of the crankiness.”
“Yeah, I would’ve done that already but it’s eight o’clock and he went home two hours ago, like a normal person,” Sara said, drumming her fingers against her desk with that restless energy of hers. “Hey, maybe I should invite the overnight custodian to be my other fuck buddy. That way I could have a day shift one and a night shift one.”
I snorted. “Yeah? Is he hot?”
