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WINTER
It’s beentwo weeks since someone tried to run me over. Two weeks since I dealt with Martin’s death, well, not really. I’ve been avoiding dealing with my emotions when it comes to him, and let’s not forget about the disastrous scandal I had to deal with concerning my company. Two weeks and I still don’t feel like my foot has been planted on the ground firmly yet.
I haven’t had any other run-ins with my stalker or whoever the hell is playing with my life because I haven’t been alone since then.
It’s like Mason went totally off the rails. He sticks to me like glue and it’s making me lose my mind. I want to murder him. Who knew he would be so bloody crazy?
Someone is always by my side annoying the living fuck out of me, though I am thankful that I’m no longer alone. Who knows where and when someone could come for me again? With the time spent being around everyone, I got to reconnect with the girls more and that was better therapy than anything else.
In the two weeks things have been quiet on the stalker account, but it hasn’t been that way at the office. Things were more hectic as ever as everyone tried to do their best to get the SEC and the FBI off our backs.
Funnily enough, a few days after the story broke, and I was being hounded by the press nonstop, a brown envelope arrived at my apartment. I was hesitant to open it because I had no idea who it came from since there was no return address or a sender’s name. Getting random packages has never been a good thing.
But after staring at it for a good half an hour, I finally decided to just bite the bullet and open it. Curiosity got the better of me. What’s the worst that could happen, except I die or something, right?
Anyway, after opening it, I was surprised to see documents inside plus a flash drive. Wouldn’t you know? It felt like I had a guardian angel. The envelope contained papers that proved we weren’t involved with insider trading and that it was all just a setup.
Whoever found this went through a lot of trouble to help me, but it raises the question of who the hell did? It hasn’t seemed like anyone was really on my side at all. I got a new laptop just to plug in the flash drive. I wasn’t about to plug it into any of mine just in case someone sent me a virus or something.
The video showed men inside one of the New York hotel rooms making plans about how they were going to make it look like they were operating a sex trafficking ring. And when they were caught, they’d give the false story on how they were working for me and apparently, they had fake evidence to prove that as well.
I was sick to my fucking stomach, listening to all the things they were talking about. What really threw me off and had me scared as fuck was that they brought up the name Roman. This can’t be a coincidence, right? I mean, it has to be connected somehow. I just need to find what the connection is before I drive myself crazy.
Things with Mason are still on the rocks, even though he doesn’t think so. I argue with him any chance I get because I’m not about to forgive the dickhead anytime soon, even if he is helping me stay alive at the moment.
He has a long way to go for that, and whenever I ice him out, that’s when he likes to assert his assholeness. I’m just so tired of the constant push-and-pull between us. Trust me, it’s just exhausting, especially with everything else I have going on in my life.
The one good thing that has happened over the past few weeks is I’m growing closer to Adley. It seems that we have more in common than we originally thought. Though we haven’t talked about it, I’ve seen her looking over her shoulders often, but I haven’t said a word. I figure she’ll share if she wants to. Plus, I know she sees me doing the same, since I still can’t get the feeling of being watched to go away.
But tonight, I’m putting all of that behind because I just want to let loose for a few hours. I want to pretend like my life isn’t close to falling apart. I want to act like a careless college student who parties and drinks and has fun with their friends without worrying about what tragedy tomorrow will bring.
Today is Adley’s twentieth birthday, and she said she had a surprise for me. I don’t know why she’s surprising me when it’s her birthday but who knows with that girl. She’s as crazy as they come, and I love her for it. I’m just going with the flow for now. I finish getting dressed and when I check, so are the girls.
“Is everyone ready to go?” I ask, bouncing with anticipation. I’m ready for a night out. It’s been a while to be honest and I’m ready to not care about a thing for the next few hours.
Adley said to meet her at the warehouse where she’s been fighting, having taken up some MMA fighting style thing. I have no idea why she’d want to get her pretty face smashed in on occasion but whatever floats her boat. Though, I’ve got to say, I’ve been to a few of her fights, and she is pretty badass.
The girl can definitely throw a punch and I’m amazed every time I watch her in action. Whenever I’m there, she always tries to introduce me to the guy who runs the place, but somehow, he always ends up disappearing.
“Yes!” the girls all say in response. Without waiting another moment, we’re all out the door. We got a driver for tonight since we’re all planning on drinking, and no one wants to drive drunk.
We get into the elevator and head down to the lobby where the car is already waiting out front for us. It takes about fifteen minutes to get to the warehouse. It isn’t far and I’m surprised I didn’t know about it before Adley showed it to us.
Then again, I wasn’t here for years, and she did mention it was sort of a new place. I’m the first one out of the car when it stops, and I stop her in the parking lot, sitting on the hood of her car.
“Happy birthday, bitch!” I sing as I run up to where she’s sitting and I’m right up in her face, giving her a sloppy kiss to match my crazy right now. She just rolls her eyes at my antics, but I see a smile spreading across her face. All I know is that she’s had a hard life, so she barely smiles. It’s rare when she does.
“Thank you,” she says to me. She looked like she was deep in thought for a moment after she gave me a smile, like she just remembered something. And as I watch her, I see her lock everything away and paste another smile on her face. “Come on, let’s go inside. My fight is going to start soon, and I still have that surprise for you,” she reminds me, while giving me a devious smile.
“What are you planning? I don’t like that look,” I tell her, eyeing her suspiciously.
“All in good time. Plus, I think you’re going to love this,” she exclaims.
“I still don’t know why you insist on doing this to yourself. You’re too pretty to have your face smashed in,” I tell her laughing, and she rolls her eyes again.
She gets off the hood of her car and starts heading for the warehouse. We all follow her inside, heading straight for the bar. Everyone gets a drink and in no time, we’re sipping on them. This place is insane. The vibes are just so energetic. You can’t help but let it change your mood to a good one.
Adley only gets water for now since she has to fight soon, but I’m making sure she gets drunk for her birthday later tonight. She looks around as though she’s looking for someone and my guess is probably the guy who owns the place. I can’t even remember what the hell she told me his name was.
