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Once he’s gone, Callie spins to face me. “Let’s get you all dolled up.”
I roll my eyes. “Can’t I just go like this?”
She stares at my baggy white t-shirt and gray sweatpants. “Um, no.”
“I miss him,” I confess, as I let her lead me back to the bedroom.
“Don’t beat yourself up too hard,” Callie says. She crosses to the bed and lies across the comforter while I rummage through my closet, looking for the best outfit to wear for open mic night. This will be the first time Daddy will hear me sing in public since a chorus concert in second grade.
“I still can’t believe I trusted him so freely.”
Callie frowns. “You’re a good person, and he took advantage of that.”
I want to cry, but I refuse to give Tobias anymore of my head space. I rummage through my closet, pulling out a hot little number.
Callie gives her approval to the red dress I hold up. “Yes. Go with that one.” She rolls on her back, staring up at the ceiling. “Good-looking guys like Tobias should come with a warning label.”
I laugh. “Yeah, Don’t trust the sexy.”
Callie laughs with me, and for five seconds, I feel better about everything. My father listened to me about what I want for my future. I never thought I’d see the day when Brock Lancaster would bow down to his own daughter and give her what she actually wants, even though it differs from his own dream.
Sure, I’d love to keep the business in the family, but I can’t ignore my dreams any longer. I won’t ignore what I want any longer.
Although, what I want most in the world, I can’t have.
Tobias.
How could I have been so wrong about a person?
I try to push the negative thoughts away as I slip on the dress and turn toward the mirror. “How do I look?”
Callie sits up. “Wow, you’re going to knock ‘em dead tonight.”
“Do you think everything he said to me was a lie?” I ask Callie for the millionth time.
We’ve dissected my time spent with Tobias and learned two things:
He’s good at the lies. He really made me believe he was really into me. Every touch. Every kiss.
I fell in love with him.
It’s ridiculous to think someone can fall in love so quickly, but I know what’s in my heart. This burning in my soul is unmistakable love.
“I think he cared, Syd. You can’t fake that. No one is that good. I saw the way his eyes lit up the first night you sang for him. There’s no pretending that.”
I want to believe her words, but it’s so hard when the man I love didn’t tell me he accepted a job with the competition. It came out a few days after he left that he leveraged my father’s offer against his offer from Halo. Who does that?
Not someone who cares about you. And it sure seemed like he did.
Tobias needs to discover himself because he’s a darn good actor.
He played the part of the doting boyfriend perfectly.
And I fell right into his trap.
Chapter 10
Tobias
* * *
Everything is smoggier in LA. A thick haze blankets the tall buildings outside my skyrise office at Halo, like a cruel reminder of the fresh air in Texas I left behind. Of my little songbird I left behind. All I can think about is the look on Sydney’s face when I walked out of the office that day. The way the tears brimmed, so ready to fall. Did she cry after I left?
Did I?
I have to admit I may have shed a tear or thirty. Not really. But maybe. Ok, yes, I did.
It’s been a few weeks since the day I left Texas, and my heart still hurts like it was yesterday.
“What do you think?” Mark McManus, head of Halo, slams a hand down on my shoulder with pride. “It’s phenomenal, huh?”
He’s talking about the office, and yes, while it is a gorgeous space with a view people would probably rob their children’s college funds to access, I find no happiness here. But I go through the motions, pretending it’s everything I’ve ever wanted. “Yep.”
Mark chuckles and the sound grates on my nerves. “I’m really glad you finally joined our firm.”
As if I had a choice.
I turn to face him, shrugging his hand off my shoulder. “I bet.”
Just because Mark MacManus forced me to work here doesn’t mean I need to play nice.
“I guess I’ll let you get back to it,” he says, losing his smile as he stares at me.
I nod, no longer having the energy to get out any words for him.
As soon as Mark leaves my office, I slump into my office chair. How could I let this happen? The woman at the club my first night in Harmony. The actions that transpired. All of it. I should have sensed Mark would play dirty.
