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“I don’t even know what we were. But I do know it’s over now.”
“I see. And how do you feel about that?”
“How does it look?” I snapped. “Great!”
He grinned. “Yeah. I could talk to him for you, if you want.”
“No. I don’t. I’m going to keep my head down and try to do my work. If Dominic has a shred of integrity, he’ll make sure I don’t lose my job just because his dad wants to play games. And if I lose my job, I’ll move on and never look back.” The words made tears well in my eyes, but I took a deep breath and calmed myself down quickly. He wasn’t worth tears. Those were just for the time I’d wasted atThe Squawkerthinking it could be an outlet for all the dreams I had. Instead, it looked like all it would ever be was wasted time.
“Maybe there was some kind of misunderstanding,” Marcus suggested. “Dominic has a temper. When he gets stressed, he says shit he doesn’t mean.”
“Oh, he meant it,” I said.
Marcus pulled a sour face. “Well, I should go check on him, then. He’s probably drowning in self-pity up there. Anything I can get for you?”
“A flight back home right now?”
He chuckled. “You’re on Gregor Lockwood’s dime out here. That means you have three more days to live it up in Cali. Go eat at some expensive places, hit the clubs, get drunk, and then expense it all out to Gregor. He’ll cover it. There’s no reason to go back home yet.” He got up and gave my shoulder a sympathetic squeeze. “And I’m sorry about him. I liked the idea of you two together. I was rooting for it.”
“Thanks,” I said.
Once Marcus was gone, I sipped my coffee. It had already gone cold. I set it on the table beside me and curled up with my arms around my knees, staring back out the window at palm trees blowing in the rain and lit by occasional bursts of light.
Maybe he was right. Maybe I should focus on making the best of my last three days. After that, I would take my pitch and see if I could inject any fresh ideas into it. Then I’d reach out to Jasmine and see if she was still holding that job for me atThe Union Coast.
I was going to be completely fine without Dominic Lockwood in my life. And for the next three days, I was going to party his ass out of my system.
33
DOMINIC
My head hurt and there was a bad taste in the back of my throat. I thought about calling the front desk for some medicine, but I went back to the wet bar instead. I’d spent a few hours drinking away my frustration last night until I eventually passed out sitting up in an oversized armchair. I still had on my dress shirt and tie and my hair was a mess.
I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and glanced at the clock. It was noon already. Marcus had come knocking in the middle of the night but I told him to fuck off. To my surprise, he’d listened.
I knew the employees would still be here in California for another three days, but I was already considering flying back early.
I looked at the wet bar again longingly. One of the best cures for a hangover was more alcohol. But I also needed to deal with my dad today, and I needed to be in my right mind to do that.No.No more being weak. I’d given myself one night to run from what I created for myself, and that was all I’d get.
Going forward, I needed to face reality sober. I chased Darcy out of my life so I could focus on work again. So I was going to focus on work.
I lifted up the phone and called for medicine to be brought up from the front desk. I pulled out my laptop and rubbed my eyes again, trying not to focus on the headache thumping between my eyes. With Darcy out of my corner, I knew it would be easier to get my dad off my back. He’d be happy to believe I was going to run the business into the ground without his help. Once he was certain he’d properly thrown his weight and ego around, he’d retreat back into his other businesses and leave me to what he thought would be my ruin.
But I wanted to prove him wrong.
I took the medicine and dulled my headache. I sat at my laptop and reviewed the latest layouts for next week’s issue. I reviewed everything Tristan had sent me on expansion ideas and sent back a few additional ideas. I shot off an email to Marcus asking him to connect with a friend of mine from Columbia who went into publishing. I figured maybe she could help us pursue Tristan’s idea about turning the magazine into a sort of weekly e-book.
No matter how hard I worked, Darcy popped into my thoughts every few minutes. The immediate reaction in my brain was always regret. I felt the loss of her like a fucking nail straight through my heart. It physically hurt, but I was sure it would gradually dull like everything else. But I’d send an email, then remember the way she had looked so heartbroken when I told her about Percy. I’d finish a call and then see her face and the appreciation written all over it when I stood up for her at dinner with her dad. I’d get up to make myself a coffee and remember the way her moans had sounded and how her breath had been hot against my ear.
It was nearing midnight when I finally came up for air. I’d worked all day from my room and blew off both Marcus and Tristan several times when they tried to come by. I didn’t want to be consoled. I just wanted to bury myself in work until I forgot about everything else. To my surprise, my dad hadn’t so much as checked in.
I hadn’t eaten all day and considered calling for room service. But I wanted fresh air. I headed down to the lobby and heard the laughter and talking before I rounded the corner. I saw a large group ofSquawkeremployees just coming in from what looked like a night out. They were all dressed for clubs or bars and everyone looked at least a little drunk.
I saw Darcy with an arm around Elizabeth and Farhad coming in. All three were smiling and laughing about something. Polly was walking backwards telling some kind of story and everyone else was cheerfully saying their goodbyes and heading toward the elevators.
Seeing her happy stung. Sure, I wanted things to end. At least, I thought I did. But I stupidly expected her to be moping in her room. Instead, it looked like she was celebrating her new-found freedom from me. It pissed me off, so I walked straight up to her without thinking and took her arm.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
