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“Call me when you’re out, so I can take your ass home.” She pointed at me. “Don’tget any ideas. The answer is still no, jerkface.” Then, she slammed the door shut.
I didn’t know why I was smiling. Maybe it was the way her ears were smoking or that hot-as-sin look on her face. I could sizzle some bacon on that fire, damn.
I chuckled under my breath. “Oh, Sydney.”
And she was still coming to get me.
I’d pissed her off, and yet there was still hope she’d help me.
That was what I was telling myself at least.
CHAPTER16
SYDNEY
“Yes?”I snapped into the phone as I slipped into my car.
“Whoa,” Serena said. “Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. What’s wrong?”
“Austin—that’s what. I’m so glad that Brandy and Alec are no longer together, so I don’t have to deal with Austin Callaway anymore.”
Well, not after this afternoon anyway. Once he was out of surgery and safely tucked away in his bed at home, I was done.
DONE.
I couldn’t believe that bastard had dangled such a priceless carrot in front of my face, just to attach strings like a complete asshole. I mean, to offer to save our business! He didn’t know he was possibly saving it, but what he was offering could save us nonetheless. And yet, he’d just had to be a demanding butthole about it.
I hated him.
Hated. Him.
He could take his deal and his huge commission and his strings and shove them up his—
“Where are you right now?” she asked.
“At the hospital,” I grumped. Some of my steam was wearing off, and I just felt like an overcooked vegetable.
“Why?”
“Don’t ask. I did Austin yet another favor. I dropped him off at the hospital for his shoulder surgery.”
She was silent on the phone before she uttered, “Mmm.”
Okay, maybe my steam wasn’t totally gone. “What’smmmsupposed to mean? And where are you? Aren’t you in the office? Why does it sound like you’re at a bar?”
She laughed. “Because I am.”
I turned on the engine, waiting for my car to warm up in this frigid cold. What I needed was an automatic starter, but I was too damn cheap to fork over the money. In my next life, I’d have an automatic starter and butt warmers to boot.
“I’m playing hooky today. Brooke and Ryanne are at the office.”
I blinked out the windshield, completely baffled. “You what?”
I couldn’t remember a time when Serena had ever played hooky, not as an adult or as a kid. She’d always claimed the title of perfect attendance in high school. Never missed a day, even when she was sick.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” She sighed sadly. “I just don’t want to tell the family, but it has to be done today. I’m going to try to sell the company in its entirety—the Loverly brand and our portfolio. There is a potential buyer I want to talk to, but I need to tell the others first.” She paused, and I wondered if she was swallowing back tears because what came next was said through a thick throat. “And now, you know why I don’t want to come in.”
