Maybe she just needs time. She’ll come around—at least that’s what Adrian keeps telling me.
Adrian wraps his arms around my waist and nuzzles his face into my neck.
“It’ll work out,” he whispers.
I touch my nose to his and smile sadly. “I hope so.”
“Don’t worry. She loves you. She’ll understand.”
26
Adrian
I spend all weekend with Stella. I turn my phone off and focus on her, because I can tell that she needs me. That in itself is a revelation for me. Over the past month, focusing on something other than politics, something other than myself, has been more rewarding than the past decade of political ambition.
In the mornings, her eyes are bloodshot and her face is lined, as if she hasn’t slept at all. She still laughs and smiles, but her smiles fade more quickly than usual.
It feels good to be there for her. I’m not used to this—I’m not used to caring. I don’t remember the last time that I actually cared how someone else felt.
I know that makes me an asshole, but it’s true. When I see Stella in pain, it makes my chest ache. It’s an unfamiliar feeling, but it’s more visceral than anything I’ve felt in a long time. Holding her in my arms feels good. Making her smile feels good. Being there for her makes me feel like I have a purpose.
For the past few years, I’ve been so focused on my political career that I’ve set all my personal relationships aside. I’m starting to realize what I’ve been missing.
When I leave on Monday morning, I wrap her in one last hug.
“Have a good day at work.”
“First day at the new place,” she says with a sigh. “Hopefully it was the right decision.”
“If it isn’t, I’m sure Theresa will take you back.”
“I’ll see you tonight.” She kisses me once more, and then we drive off in different directions. I head back to my place. Now that I’m jobless, my days are a lot less busy than they used to be. My father wants me to meet with him this afternoon to discuss a career opportunity with the family business, but the morning is my own.
I’m still thinking of Stella when I get home. This morning, her smile was a bit easier, and she actually slept through the night. I toss my keys on the console table and glance around my house.
Objectively, it’s nicer than Stella’s. It’s bigger, on a nicer plot of land, and perfectly styled and furnished. I still prefer being at her house, though. Her place is creaky with a small kitchen, but it is so completely her. It feels like a real home.
I’ve only taken three steps into the house when there’s a knock on the door. Barry is glancing through the window beside the front door, and I nod at him.
He grunts when I open the door, slipping past me to let me close it.
“Your phone was off,” he says. “You weren’t here this weekend.”
“Were you trying to get a hold of me?”
He grunts again. His eyebrows draw together and his thick moustache trembles. I know that look. He’s got bad news for me. I gesture toward the living room. We sit down across from each other and he takes a deep breath.
“It’s Cheryl,” he finally says.
I frown. “What do you mean?”
“She’s talking to the press.”
“About what?” My mouth goes dry. “What are you talking about?”
Barry shakes his head. “I thought you trusted her.”
“I did! I do!” I shake my head, staring at the big man across from me. He huffs.
“She’s giving an exclusive interview to talk about the deal with Hansen Constructions.”
“What?!”
Barry grunts. He stands up and starts pacing the living room. I watch him, mouth agape.
“Barry, explain yourself. Fucking Cheryl! I’ll kill her! What is she saying?”
“I don’t know yet.” He stuffs his hands in his pockets and glances out the big bay windows. He shakes his head. “My contacts at the Post told me it was happening tonight.”
“She’s talking to the Denver Post?! Not even a tabloid—a real newspaper?”
I drop my head in my hands and massage my temples. I groan, rocking back and forth on the couch. I shake my head.
“That’s impossible. She wouldn’t.”
“She is.”
“She wouldn’t.”
Barry just stares at me, his eyes dark and unreadable. I shake my head.
“Cheryl has been by my side for years. She wouldn’t do that to me. I’ve already resigned! They dropped the case a month ago! It’s over.”
Barry sighs. “The media are dogs.”
“I need to talk to her.”
I grab my phone and turn it on. It starts buzzing with missed calls—most of them from Barry. Once it stops updating, I find Cheryl’s number. She doesn’t answer the first time I call, but I keep trying until she picks up.
“What the fuck, Cheryl?”
“Adrian.”
She says nothing else. My whole body is shaking. Barry is staring at me, his face unreadable. He leans toward me to listen.
“Cheryl, why the fuck are you talking to the Post? What is your angle here?”
“My angle, Adrian, is that after all the years we’ve been together, after everything I’ve done for you, you haven’t so much as spoken to me since you announced your resignation. It’s been a month, Adrian, and you haven’t called once. I’ve given up my life to be by your side. I’ve turned down career opportunities.” She takes a deep, trembling breath. “I… I love you. Everything I’ve done has been for you. And how do you repay me? By shacking up with some lawyer with big tits who hates your guts?”
I’m speechless. I glance at Barry, frowning.
“Cheryl… I… what?”
She sniffs and then chuckles bitterly. “I thought we had something, Adrian.”
“We did! We do! Cheryl, you’re the most loyal person I’ve ever met. We’re a team! I couldn’t have done any of this without you.”
“No, you couldn’t have. But never once in our decade together have I heard you say that. Never once have you acknowledged what’s between us. And now, when it’s all over and we can finally be together, you throw me out with the trash and move onto a shiny new toy.”
“Cheryl…”
“She’s not going to stay with you. She doesn’t love you the way that I do. She’ll never love you the way that I do. I know what her sister did. I know what you did. I know everything, and I’m going to tell everyone. You’ll see, that lawyer doesn’t care about you. I’m going to the Post tonight and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
The line goes dead before I can answer. I stare at my phone in shock, and then swing my eyes up to Barry.
“What…?” I frown and shake my head. “I don’t… how…”
Barry takes a deep breath and sits down. He stares at the carpet and shakes his head. “I knew she was in love with you, but I never knew it got this bad.”
“In love with me?! You knew? What do you mean?”
Barry looks at me like I’m as dense as a block of wood. “Adrian. Wake up. A woman isn’t going to do everything that Cheryl did for you just because you’re paying her.”
“It was her job to do those things.”
Barry chuckles and shakes his head. “You’re an idiot, you know that? You’ve got book smarts, and you’re good at talking to people and making them feel good, but you’re a fucking idiot, Adrian.”
“I’m realizing that,” I say, running my fingers through my hair. I look at my phone again and slump down on the sofa. I shake my head. “What the fuck am I going to do?”
“You have to stop her. If she goes to the press with everything she knows, this could get ugly.”
“They closed the case.”
“Corruption charges can get picked up by the feds.”
My eyes widen. I shake my head. “No. No! No. What do you mean? This is supposed to be over.”
Barry shrugs. “I don’t know wh
at the consequences will be. All I’m saying is that it’s in your best interest to make sure she doesn’t talk to the Post this afternoon.”
27
Stella
My first day at the new job is great. I already know it’s the right decision. Not only am I working with Nicole again, but Martin has lots of exciting cases lined up. I thought this was going to be a lateral career move, but it’s definitely a step forward.
By lunchtime, I’m settled in and already happy. For the first time since Ashley caught me with Adrian, I’m starting to feel like things aren’t spiraling out of control. Nicole pops her head through the door of my office.
“How was your weekend?”
“It started out terrible but ended up okay.”
She frowns, tilting her head to the side. I take a deep breath and tell her about Adrian and Ashley. Her eyebrows tell a story of her reaction. They arch, frown, come together and then apart again. She doesn’t say a word, and when I finish telling her, she takes a deep breath.
“Wow. That’s… that’s a lot to take in.”
“I know.”
“Adrian Maguire? Really?”
I laugh and shake my head. “I wasn’t expecting it to happen either.”
She grins at me and nods toward the exit. “Want to grab a bite to eat? I need some time to process this new information.”
My stomach grumbles on cue, and I grin. “Yes, please.”
We walk out of the office together and head down the street toward a good sandwich shop two blocks away. Nicole peppers me with questions about Adrian, about the past month, about how the heck we kept it a secret for so long.
“I don’t know,” I finally say with a sigh. “I’m sick of keeping it quiet, though. I actually… I really like him, Nic.”
“Uh-oh,” she says, glancing at me sideways. “That’s bad news.”
I grin. “I know. It’s a mess.”
Before we get to the sandwich shop, we pass by the offices of the Denver Post. A woman pushes the door open and goes inside.
I frown. “I think I know her.”
“Who?”
“That woman.” I watch her stop at the reception desk inside. She glances out the window and I see her face. It hits me like a freight train—I do know her. I’ve seen her more than once. I duck behind a car so she won’t see me staring.
Nicole frowns, laughing at me. “What are you doing?”
I poke my head above the car and duck down again. “That’s Adrian’s assistant.”
“The woman at the Denver Post?”
“Yes,” I hiss. I glance above the car again and see a man coming out to meet her. They shake hands and he gestures into the belly of the building. I watch them disappear, frowning.
“I have a bad feeling about this.” I scramble to get my phone out and dial Adrian’s number.
“Hey, beautiful—”
“Your assistant is at the Denver Post.”
“Right now?!”
“I just saw her walk in. What is she doing there? You told me you weren’t doing any interviews.”
He swears. “I’m not. I’ll call you back in a bit.” The phone clicks and I stare at it in shock. Nicole is looking at me, her eyebrows arched in question.
I shake my head. “I don’t know. He seemed upset and then he said he’d call me back.”
She glances at the building and takes a deep breath. “What do you think is going on?”
“I thought this was over,” I say. My chest squeezes. My lungs feel constricted, as if I’ll never be able to take a full breath again. I try to swallow past a lump in my throat and look through the Post’s doors. There’s no sign of movement.
I glance at Nicole. “If his assistant is talking to the press…” I shake my head. “I don’t know.”
“Maybe it’s innocuous,” Nicole says, putting her hand on my arm. “Maybe it’s nothing.”
I shake my head. “I saw her at the office the first time Adrian had a meeting with Theresa. Then, I saw her again at Adrian’s speech last month, when he resigned. She looked right at me and she was just… hateful.” I keep my eyes on the building and take a deep breath. “I have a bad feeling about this.”
“Yeah, you said that.” Nicole grunts. “Come on. People are staring. Let’s grab those sandwiches.”
“Not hungry.”
“I know, Stella, but we’ll be able to see the building from the windows.” She rolls her eyes, pointing to the nearby sandwich shop. “We can watch what’s going on.”
I turn toward her with my eyebrows raised. “Oh. Right.”
She grins. “Come on, Sherlock.”
As soon as we get inside the sandwich place, I take a seat near the window. “Just order me whatever you’re having,” I say without looking at her.
“Fine.”
I’m not sure how long it takes for her to order the sandwiches, get them, and come sit down, but I haven’t taken my eyes off the building. My heartbeat is racing and I’m taking long, slow breaths to try to calm myself down.
“Relax, Stella,” Nicole says as she hands me a sandwich wrapped in crinkly paper. “It’ll work itself out.”
“You don’t know that.”
“It always works out.”
“Not when your boyfriend could potentially go to prison for committing a very serious crime!”
She raises her eyebrows and gives me a pointed look. “First of all: trust me. It’ll all work out.”
I bite my lip, thinking of what her and Martin went through when they first met. I laugh despite myself and shake my head. “Stupid comment. Sorry.”
“It’s fine. Second of all: boyfriend?”
“Whatever, toy boy. Concubine. Main squeeze.”
“No, I believe you used the ‘b’ word, Ms. King.” She takes a bite of her sandwich and grins. “My, my, my, this day has been interesting.”
“This isn’t funny!” I say, fighting the smile off my face.
“It’s a little funny.”
“It’s not.”
“Stella, listen to me: everything will work out.”
“Shit, look!” A car stops in front of the Post and Adrian gets out. “That’s not his car,” I frown. Another man gets out as well. He’s tough-looking with a thick moustache. He glances up and down the street.
“Aren’t you glad we came in here now? I wouldn’t want to be talking to that burly dude.”
“Shh,” I say, even though there’s no chance of them hearing us. We watch the two men go inside as my heart thumps. Within a few minutes, they’re coming back out again with the assistant. The moustache man gets into the driver’s seat, but Adrian’s assistant flicks her arm to push Adrian off. She points her finger at him. It looks like she’s yelling. People walking by are turning around to stare.
“I wish I could hear what they’re saying,” I whisper.
Nicole grunts in response. She’s not laughing anymore; her eyes are glued on the scene in front of us as well. Adrian takes a step toward his assistant and puts his hand on her cheek. She closes her eyes, leaning into his touch.
They take a step toward each other and he wraps his arms around her in a hug. My heart thumps. I see Nicole glancing at me out of the corner of my eye. Their hug lasts an eternity. My heart stops beating, and my stomach falls to the ground. I could throw up.
Adrian holds her face in his hands again and she nods, and then they get in the car and drive off. I stare at Nicole, wide-eyed.
She says nothing. Our sandwiches sit between us, uneaten.
I clear my throat. “I’ll ask him about it tonight. I don’t want to jump to conclusions. I’m an adult, in an adult relationship.”
“Of course.”
“They’ve known each other for years, of course they’re close.” I pick a piece of tomato off the sandwich for no reason.
“Definitely.”
“It’s a tense time. It’s only been a month since that all went down. There’s no reason to think anything is going on between them.”
“Let’s go back to the office. Don’t panic. You’ll talk to him tonight, he’ll explain everything, it’ll be fine. Just remember—if Adrian hurts you, I’ll cut his balls off.”
I laugh despite myself, nodding. “Thanks.”
28
Adrian
Barry speeds toward my place. I glance at Cheryl, who won’t let go of my hand. I try to pull away, but she holds on tighter.
It feels wrong to even touch her. We’ve had a professional relationship for so long, and I think I’ve only hugged her three or four times in nearly a decade.
It’s not just that, though. Touching another woman feels like I’m disrespecting Stella. I try to pull away again, and finally she lets me. She turns toward me with her eyes wide, tears brimming in them.
We don’t speak until we get to my house. Barry follows us inside, standing in the corner while Cheryl and I sit on the sofa. She glances at Barry.
“Can you tell him to leave?”
“What did you tell the newspaper, Cheryl?”
“Nothing,” she shrugs. “Not much.”
“Which one is it—nothing, or not much?” Barry grunts. She throws him a death glare.
“It’s nothing,” she spits. She sighs, turning toward me. “They’d only offered me coffee by the time you showed up. When I saw you came all the way there to be with me…” She sighs, scooting toward me.
I glance at Barry and his frown deepens.
I need to be careful. I don’t want to give Cheryl the wrong idea, but if I push her away, she could go back to the Post. It would drag my name through the mud and although the state’s case against me is closed, it could bring the feds to my door.
The last thing I want is more chaos in my life—in Stella’s life. I want stability, and happiness, and a normal relationship. I want to work for my parents’ business until I figure out what I want to do. I want to repair my relationship with Liam and try to build a bridge with Ashley.
What I absolutely, one hundred percent do not want is another media circus with my former assistant at the center of it. I take a deep breath and turn to Cheryl.
Love/Hate: The Complete Enemies to Lovers Series Page 47
