Brazen Bossman: A Hero Club Novel

by Emma Nichole

  I quickly change clothes, putting on a simple pair of shorts and a tee I had packed in the bottom of my bag. I take a look around, making sure I have everything because I will not be coming back here.

  I try not to look at him because with every move I make toward leaving, the knot in my throat grows bigger and bigger.

  Once I’m ready to go and have requested a Lyft on my phone, I pull a piece of paper off the small stationary set that occupies space on a desk near the window, scribbling a single sentence down for him to find.

  Before I leave the bedroom, I risk a final glance back at him. He hasn’t moved, still deep in the sleep he so desperately needs.

  With my chin held high and my reasons firmly on my shoulders, I tell myself that this is the right thing, the only thing, I can do… and I leave him there… along with the piece of my heart he has stolen.

  Nathanial

  There is a point when you reach the end of a long stretch of sleep that your body begins to scream. It’s been still for too long, too comfortable for too long. Your muscles need to move and your limbs need to bend in a new way.

  With my eyes still closed, I slide my hand over the sheet, looking for my beautiful bedmate, but I only find cold, empty sheets.

  With open eyes, I sit up in bed and look around, quickly deducing I am alone in the room. The sun is peeking through the windows, telling me it’s much later than I usually sleep.

  “Piper?” I call out, but I’m met with silence.

  I move from the bed, going toward the door but what I see, or don’t see rather, stops me in my tracks.

  All of her things are gone: her bag, her shoes, her phone charger in the wall. It’s all gone.

  “Piper?” I call out again, just because there is no way she is anywhere but in this house.

  Again, there is only silence.

  The kitchen. Empty.

  The living room. Empty.

  The study, the gym, the pool, the patio. All empty.

  Panic begins to build in my chest and I march back to the bedroom to get my phone from the bathroom. As I pass the desk, a white piece of paper in the center grabs my attention.

  Snatching it up, I read the perfect, cursive handwriting and my heart falls to my feet.

  Please don’t contact me. This is over.

  - Piper

  “What?” I say out loud.

  Fuck that.

  I crumble the paper in my hand and grab my phone from the bathroom. The screen comes to life and reveals that my email app is already open displaying an email from Gabrielle.

  It takes all of four seconds for me to deduce what has happened here, and what was panic has evolved into frustration, anger, and anxiety.

  I ignore what she asked in her note and call her phone.

  It rings twice then goes to voicemail, so I call it again, and this time it rings once, then goes to voicemail.

  When the beep sounds, I begin to speak.

  “Piper, this is a wild misunderstanding. Please call me back. Don’t do this.”

  I hang up the phone and call again, but this time… I’m sent straight to voicemail.

  Chapter 24

  Piper

  Ida,

  Things went badly and now I feel like I’m walking in a haze.

  He told me he loved me and then he hurt my family.

  I left him. It’s over.

  But I feel this darkness in my heart that is growing darker every day.

  How long does it hurt?

  Piper

  It’s been four days since I left him in the Hamptons.

  I’ve called into work, telling HR I’m sick, but really, I just can’t face him. Hell, I’m not even sure he’s there. I asked Kate not to tell me anything about him.

  I don’t want to know if he asks about me. I don’t want to know what he looks like. Nothing. I need to decide what I am going to do for work, and how I’m going to move forward from here. I have too much to do now, especially with my mom and brothers.

  My mom’s bed has always been the place I want to curl up in when I’m feeling sad, so I had the Lyft bring me to her place straight from East Hampton, and I haven’t been home at all.

  She was notified, of course, that she had lost her building, and we’ve been given sixty days to make arrangements to vacate, at least according to the bank.

  She didn’t know who it was, however, that bought it out from under her, and when I came to her door crying, I let it spill from my lips.

  After begging her not to tell my brothers, because I can only deal with one thing at a time, even though I’d love to watch as they pummel him to the ground, it’s just not productive.

  “Piper?” my mother calls softly from her bedroom doorway. “I made some coffee. Would you like some?”

  “Is there biscotti?” I ask with my face still buried under the covers.

  “Does a one-legged duck swim in a circle?”

  “Well, I’m not sure,” I say, pushing myself to sit up and smile. “But I’m assuming yes.”

  “You’d be right. Now, no more sulking. Come on.” She reaches for my hand and I take it, letting her help me stand.

  When I’m seated at the kitchen table, coffee in front of me, I dip a biscotti into the black caffeinated magic then take a bite.

  “Mmm. I needed this,” I tell her.

  “Good.”

  I watch her for a moment, and somehow she seems so calm. I don’t understand.

  “You’re not as sad as I thought you’d be.”

  “I think I’m at peace with it. Is it crushing me deep inside? Absolutely, but I was close to retiring, so I’m more upset we lost that piece of your father for you and the boys. Not for me.”

  “I feel like a complete idiot, Mom. I’m so sorry I let this happen.”

  “You didn’t let anything happen. How could you have known? He seemed like a wonderful man, and he looked at you like you hung the moon.”

  “Until he decided to strip away the one thing that meant the world to my family.” I stare down at my hands hugging the mug. “He was and is full of shit.”

  “Are you going to go back to work?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t know if I can while he’s there. It would be too hard, I think, and once he decides his final plans for Lennox, I’ll be out of a job anyway.” I try to shrug nonchalantly, but it’s impossible to hide the sting in my tone.

  “But you love it there.”

  “I do. I wanted to grow there and retire there. It was my dream, but sometimes dreams are bullshit.”

  “I didn’t raise you to be so pessimistic, Piper.” She gives her head a shake before adding some sugar to her coffee.

  “I’m not being a pessimist. I’m being truthful. I wanted something out of my time at Lennox and it’s just not going to happen, because of a man who I thought cared for me. He doesn’t. That’s obvious.” I chomp into the crunchy biscotti again. “I don’t want to talk about him anymore. We have more pressing matters at hand.”

  My cell phone buzzes in my pocket and I pull it out, trying to fight the unwelcome surge of sadness that it’s not a message from Nathanial, even though I’d rather not hear from him, but a reply from Ida.

  Piper,

  I don’t normally do this, but I think we’ve reached a point where you are in need of some face-to-face guidance. This calls for it.

  Meet me for a glass of wine or ten at Mister Paradise in East Village tomorrow?

  Happy Hour?

  Ida

  I can safely say I wasn’t expecting that at all, but going out for drinks doesn’t sound half bad. Alcohol tends to be a decent, albeit, temporary salve on stinging wounds. I type out a reply.

  Ida,

  Actually, that sounds great.

  But make it something stronger. We’ll need it.

  I’ll meet you there at 6.

  Piper

  I slide my cell back into my hoodie pocket.

  “Everything all right?” Mom asks, nodding toward my hoodie.

>   “Yes. Just a friend wanting to meet for drinks tomorrow. I said I would.”

  “Good. You need to move forward, because no matter what it feels like right now… this too shall pass, sweetie.”

  I’d give anything for a fourth of my mother’s ability to stay even and calm during an emotional hurricane.

  Nathanial

  Even though I know better, when I step out of my office at the end of the day, I hope to see her sitting there at her desk. She’d usually have her hair twisted up, using a pen to secure it in place, if she hadn’t already had it up to begin with. She’d be concentrating on her computer screen so intently there would be a small crease between her eyes.

  But she’s not here. Her desk sits empty for the fourth day in a row.

  I’ve been by her apartment more than once and either she is ignoring me, or she simply isn’t there. As each day passes, I stay sad, but anger starts to make a home right alongside it.

  She should have come to me. She needs to give me a chance to explain, but she’d rather assume the worst of me. I am a bad guy to her, without the chance to set the record straight.

  Nothing is more infuriating than that.

  I pass by Kate’s desk every morning and every afternoon. Her willingness to at least tell me Piper is alive and safe is what is keeping me upright every day.

  “Kate?”

  “Yes, sir?” she answers, but doesn’t look up at me.

  “I need you to tell me where she is,” I inform her, causing her fingers to still on the keyboard.

  “She asked me not to, and with all due respect, I’m her best friend, not yours. She is where my loyalties lie.”

  “Kate,” I lean against the tall reception counter. “I don’t have to defend myself to you, her, or anyone else. I know what I did and why I did it. If everyone wants to view me as the bad guy, that’s fine. I’ve been the bad guy before, but I care about her. I would never do anything to hurt her. Ever. Especially not for fucking business.”

  She stares at me for a moment, and I can see she is trying to think of something to say. “Then you need to explain yourself to her, because from where I’m sitting, this looks really bad, Mr. Lennox.”

  “Call me, Nathanial, and you don’t think I’ve tried? I call her every day. I go by her apartment every day. If she’s going to pull this shit without facing me and letting me explain the situation then… I don’t know what else to say.”

  “Nathanial,” she says in confirmation. “I just…”

  “I just need trust, from someone, somewhere, that I never wanted to hurt her. She makes me feel… different. I can’t explain it any other way than that,” I tell her, and she gives me the kindest smile.

  “I believe you, but Piper is the most stubborn woman on the planet. When she makes a decision, she stands by it, so I really hope you’re prepared to live with the outcome of all of this.”

  “I just need your help, Kate. I need you to trust I wouldn’t hurt her.”

  ***

  I’m not even sure how long I sit outside of my parents’ building.

  Ten minutes, an hour, three hours? Who knows at this point, because all I can think about is what Piper has made me feel deep in my gut.

  Any time I think about my father, or think about how I feel, I see her face and I’m reminded of how lucky I am to still have a father in my life, even if he hasn’t been the best.

  It’s one of the many epiphanies I had while sitting on the beach at the Hamptons house before she joined me.

  He isn’t going to be here forever. One day, I will have to bury him, and the last thing I want is for either of us to have any regrets at the end, and I know this will mean everything to my mother. She needs as much happy as she can get right now.

  I pull my cell phone out of my pocket, swipe the screen to turn it on, and my thumb hovers over the messaging app.

  All I want to do is text Piper and tell her I’m sorry she had to find out about… everything… the way that she did. It was never supposed to be that way, but what the hell else did I expect to happen? Did I honestly think I could make a move like that and no one would figure it out?

  I was naïve, but she painted me a villain without any preamble. That fact is enough for me to lock my phone again and shove it back into my pocket.

  I stare up at the building once more, before I summon the courage and swallow my pride enough to open my door and head inside.

  ***

  “Nathanial!” My mom exclaims when she pulls the door open. “What are you doing here? I wasn’t expecting you at all.”

  Of course, she wasn’t. I haven’t stepped foot in their home in nearly two years. She would have expected to see the Times Square Naked Cowboy riding a dragon on the Staten Island Ferry before she’d expect to see me at their door.

  “I was in the neighborhood. I thought I’d stop by and see how you are doing.” The first part is an obvious lie. I don’t have to be on this side of the city often, so she knows I likely went out of my way to come here.

  “I’m good today, sweetie.” She steps aside. “Please come in. Don’t stand out there like a stranger.”

  I step through the threshold and into their living area.

  “How’s Dad today?” I turn to ask her as she closing the door.

  “Today is a very good day. He is in his study. I think that makes him feel, well, more normal, I suppose.” She slides her hands down the pair of beige slacks she’s wearing with a simple white blouse. “Are you thirsty? Hungry?”

  I shake my head. “No, I’m all right. You don’t have to serve me, Mom. You know that.”

  “It’s what mothers do, dear.” She pats my cheek. “How is Piper? She wasn’t too freaked out by what happened the other day right?”

  That question is like a bullet.

  “Piper and I aren’t seeing each other anymore.”

  My mother’s face falls. “Oh, I’m sorry. I hope it wasn’t because of…”

  “No.” I hold up my hand. “Not at all.”

  “I had a good feeling about her. Even through the stress of it all, I could see how she made you more comfortable. You need that in your life.”

  “She was special, that’s for sure,” I sigh heavily. “I’m going to go see Dad. Do you think that would be okay today? I don’t want to trigger him or set off something you’ll have to deal with later.”

  She adjusts the bracelets on her wrist. A habit I’ve noticed about her all my life. “I think that would be just fine. Go on. He’ll be happy to see you.”

  I leave my mom to her reading, and I head down the long hallway to my father’s office that is positioned at the very end.

  The door is slightly ajar, but I’m not sure if he heard me with Mom or not. I pause a foot away and contemplate turning around and bolting for the door, but that will only perpetuate the vicious cycle we seem to be stuck in.

  I knock twice on the door and wait for him to respond, which he does promptly, telling me to come in.

  I push the door open. “Dad?”

  He’s seated behind his large, oversized oak desk, reading a book that is flat on the surface with his glasses perched on the end of his nose.

  He has aged so much in such a short amount of time. That alone shocks me because I feel like I’m seeing it for the very first time; how the weight off all of this with his health is rocking him on all levels.

  He looks up at me and removes his reading glasses. “Nathanial. What are you doing here?”

  I push the door closed a bit, but I don’t let it latch completely. I don’t want him, or myself really, to feel trapped in case this goes sideways.

  “I wanted to come by and see Mom to make sure she was doing all right, and I also wanted to come talk to you, actually.”

  I watch as he processes this information. He scrubs a hand over his jaw, just as I do.

  “All right. Sit down.” He nods toward the chair across from him.

  “I don’t want this to feel like a business meeting, Dad. We’ve had
enough of that in our lives, haven’t we?”

  I wait for his reaction to that, because historically, and especially since his memory has been on the decline, he hasn’t taken kindly to anyone asking to change something he says.

  But instead of the anger, confusion, and fright I am expecting, he rises from his seat. “You’re right. Let’s go sit by the window.”

  He has a small seating area next to what used to be a fireplace, but it has since been bricked in and is used for aesthetics only. I take a seat in the leather chair on the left, my father on the right.

  I tap my thumb on the armrest, unsettled nerves coursing in my body.

  “So, how are you feeling, Dad?”

  “You didn’t come all this way to ask me how I’m feeling, Nathanial. We may not see eye to eye, but you’re still my son, and I do know a thing or two about you.”

  I lean forward, resting my elbows on my knees with my face in my hands, for just a moment, before sitting back again.

  “I came here to say that… I’m sorry for how things have been between us the last few years, and honestly… my entire life, really.”

  He has his legs crossed with his ankle at his knee, watching me intently as I make my way through a speech I am absolutely improvising as I go.

  “I was never the perfect son, but to be fair, all I wanted was for you to show me some kind of love. It was hard when everything else came before I did. You were a workaholic, much like I am now, and I’m starting to understand some things I didn’t before.” I swallow the lump forming in my throat. “You did your best. I know that now, but I didn’t do mine. I reacted badly when certain things happened, and I think we both let it spiral out of control.”

  “We did,” he says plainly.

  “And with everything happening with you now, and the spats we’ve had, it’s making me realize how short life is. I want to make sure we both live our happiest existences with no regrets.”