AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Boyd
Islam my office phone down on its receiver just as Craig walks inside, holding a small cardboard box in his hands. It’s been a week since I tried to torture information out of LeeAnn’s ex, but he ended up dying before I actually got anything out of him.
According to Kal, the expert, I’m too emotional when it comes to my approach, and it makes me sloppy. He also thinks I should invest in therapy or stress balls, and I’m starting to wonder if he isn’t right.
It’s not just the fact that I can’t find LeeAnn, though, that has me wired—it’s the phone calls, the texts, the emails I continue to get from the only girl to ever shatter my heart into a million pieces.
It’s the fact that since I fucked Fiona in that church bathroom at her mother’s funeral, I haven’t been able to think about anything else since. I can’t concentrate on my work, can’t concentrate on Riley, can’t even focus when I’m scouring the Crystal Knuckle, getting my ribs kicked in just to see if anyone’s talking about Romeo Bianchi.
The pity that shone in her eyes was exactly what I’ve been trying to avoid this entire time.
Pity changes the way you see a person. You don’t pity the strong, or the warriors, or the survivors. You pity victims, martyrs, and the weak. Pity isn’t love—it’s an emotional barrier, something you erect that keeps you from having to feel someone else’s pain.
It’s selfish and insulting, and her constant attempts to contact me after I asked her to leave me alone don’t necessarily bode well. I can’t tell if she’s genuinely sorry, or if she’s only trying to absolve herself of guilt.
And I don’t know which I want less.
Not to mention, Kieran hasn’t spoken a single word to me since that afternoon, and though I know he’s busy with work and renovating his cabin, I can’t help the impending sense of doom that his silence casts over me.
“Special delivery from a secret admirer,” Craig says, tossing the box onto my desk and leaning against the leather chair. We’d all been expecting him to take a leave of absence after Mona’s passing, but two days after the funeral he’d been holed up in his office, working on securing new international accounts, throwing himself into the work like he needs the distraction.
Like father, like daughter.
I push the box back, annoyance stretching thin across my skull, a dull ache that Fiona keeps prodding at. “Why are you encouraging her?”
“I’m her father, and you’ve been like a third son to me.” He shrugs, running his tie through his fingers. “Am I crazy to want you kids to work things out and be happy?”
“Nothing to work out,” I say, sitting back in my chair. “Nothing going on between us in the first place.”
He rolls his eyes and scratches at his chin, his five o’clock shadow making him look decades older than he really is. Or perhaps that’s the grief. “Are you forgetting who you’re talking to, boy? I have plenty of footage I can show of you coming and going from my house during the wee hours of the night. If I hadn’t seen you with my own eyes going into Fiona’s room that one night, I’d be questioning your relationship with Kieran, but alas. Here we are.”
Here we are. As if existence is that simple and can be explained away so easily.
Tapping my fingers on the edge of my desk, I sigh as another email comes through, the pop-up window automatically expanding on my screen.
From: [emailprotected]
RE: Forgiveness
I have to assume at this point that you’re just not getting my messages. Maybe they go to spam because I use too many emojis? I don’t know, but I had Dad set me up a company mailbox just in case.
I’m sorry about the otherday. I’m sorry about a lot of things.
I’d like to try and make things up to you.
Sincerely,
The most sorry girl in the world.
PS: Am I still your emergency medical contact? Just wondering, no reason related to the box I had Dad bring.
Snorting, I steal a glance at Craig as he watches me, and raise an eyebrow. “What, did you guys time this?”
He shrugs, pushing to his feet. “Surely, I have no idea what you’re talking about.” As he walks toward the door, he pauses. “Word of advice? If you want to be with her, be with her. Life’s way too damn short to play games. Whatever problems you two have can be sorted out, but every day you spend apart is a day you risk losing her before you get her back. Kieran will get over it.”
As the door closes behind him, I pull my keyboard forward, shoving a handful of sunflower seeds into my mouth as I type out my reply. Glancing at the little plastic window on top of the box she sent, I see the label says ONE DOZEN CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES from the bakery that Juliet’s sister owns downtown, Care’s Crazy Cakes.
Despite myself, a smile spreads over my lips as my fingers move.
