Hardpressed

by Meredith Wild

  I sulked back into my chair, overwhelmed. And to think I’d once been worried about office culture. I would be lucky if James didn’t quit before I had a chance to rip Risa a new one for shamelessly pursuing my ex, or whatever Blake officially was right now. In that moment I was incredibly grateful for Sid and Chris’s generally uneventful social lives. I created enough drama for the whole office all by myself.

  I waited until everyone left at five. For the first time in a long time, James didn’t stay late. I knew he was upset when he didn’t bother saying goodbye. I bolted the door and went over to Risa’s desk. I looked through her paperwork carefully. Everything seemed to be in order. Contracts, notes, print collateral.

  I sat in her chair and moved her mouse. Her computer screen lit up and I started looking through her files. I clicked over to her email and scrolled through dozens of messages between her and clients, myself, and others on the team. Everything looked normal. I hoped Blake wasn’t sending me on a wild goose chase to justify their lunch.

  I checked her sent mail and scanned down a few pages. I stopped on an email to Max titled “Files.”

  Max,

  Here are the files you asked for.

  xo,

  Risa

  Attached were a handful of spreadsheets with all our user data, along with confidential documents for the business that I’d shared with her when we met with Alli weeks ago.

  My jaw dropped. I’d brought Risa on and shared every resource with her, taught her everything I knew, and given her the opportunity to be someone important on the ground floor of our company. Sure, we had a few personality conflicts, but this was too much.

  I called Sid immediately. “Hey, can you change Risa’s email password?

  “Sure, what’s going on?”

  “I don’t fully know yet, but it looks like she’s in cahoots with Max, the guy who was supposed to fund us originally.”

  “I don’t get it.”

  “She sent him a database dump of the site and all our advertiser contact info, plus a ton of financials for the company that I’d shared with her when she started.”

  “Whoa. Why?”

  “I don’t know, but I don’t have a good feeling about it.”

  “Have you spoken with her?”

  “Not yet. Send me her new password and I’m going to do some more digging tonight. I want to figure out as much of this as I can before I approach her, but it’s safe to say she won’t be coming in on Monday.”

  “All right. I’ll do it now.”

  I hung up and continued to fume. As pissed as I’d been with her this afternoon, she’d crossed a new line that we couldn’t come back from.

  * * *

  I showered quickly at the apartment and picked out something to wear. I had no idea what we were doing, so I decided on a light sleeveless top and a short floral skirt that Alli had accidentally left during her visit. I didn’t have much choice but to wear my hair down since Blake had branded me with a hickey. I brushed on some light makeup and curled a few chunks of my blond strands into beachy waves and called it good.

  I checked the street below, indulging the remnants of my paranoia that Connor might still be lurking, but I saw no sign of the Lincoln. Maybe that would be the end of that. If so, sneaking time with Blake might be feasible. But Blake probably wouldn’t be interested in a relationship with me under the radar without some sort of explanation. Things between us were changing again and everything felt out of my control.

  I texted Blake that I was at the apartment, and he was downstairs a few minutes later. I opened the door when he knocked, and he scooped me into his arms before I could even say hello. He lifted me off my feet, tilting his head up for a kiss. His smile was contagious. I lowered my head to kiss him sweetly, my hands cradling his face. He held me hostage with his kiss, drawing me into the passionate strokes of his tongue until I was breathless and wanted him all over again.

  He lowered me finally, keeping our bodies close. “Perfect.”

  My face heated at the word. I’d felt anything but perfect for so long. How could he possibly think so?

  “Where are we going?” I asked, eager to shift the focus away from my supposed qualities.

  “You’ll see. We’d better go. It’s a little bit of a drive.”

  After navigating through some weekend traffic, we found the coast and drove north. Gradually the city landscape changed as we passed into the smaller suburban towns. Unlike the palette of cedar-shingled mansions on the Cape, the seaside homes north of the city were more historic and quaint. The farther we went, the more impressive they were. We pulled off the main road onto Marblehead Neck, an exclusive neighborhood reaching out into the sea. Each house was majestic in its own way, grand both in size and architecture. We pulled into a large circular driveway leading up to a sprawling brick home overlooking the ocean and the Boston skyline. A few other cars were parked in the driveway to the side of the house.

  We sat in the car a moment. Blake held my hand tightly in his.

  “Are you going to tell me where we are?”

  “This is my parents’ house.”

  My eyebrows shot up. “Oh.”

  “They’ve been wanting to meet you. I figured this was as good a time as ever.”

  I checked myself in the mirror. This was all so sudden.

  He smirked. “You look perfect, baby. Don’t worry. They’re going to love you.”

  He opened my door and we walked up the brick pathway to the main entrance. Blake’s mother answered the door a moment later.

  “Erica!” She smiled and pulled me over the threshold into a warm hug.

  “Erica, this is my mother, Catherine.”

  Catherine was a petite woman with short blond hair, tanned by the sun. She had cool blue eyes that reminded me of my own. She stepped back, smiling.

  “Sweetheart, we have been dying to meet you! Blake has been keeping you all to himself.” She slapped him playfully on the arm before grabbing my hand. “Come on in. I want you to meet Greg.”

  She led us into a large kitchen where Blake’s father was pulling trays out of the oven. He was wearing an apron over blue jeans and a T-shirt. Now I knew where Blake got his fashion sense.

  “Greg, come say hello to Erica.”

  Blake’s father pulled off his oven mitts and the apron and joined us at the edge of the room. Tall, with graying dark brown hair, he was handsome and had a kind smile, his eyes glittering when they met mine. I saw so much of Blake in him.

  “Wow. Good work, son.” He laughed heartily and surprised me next with a big hug. “Wonderful to meet you finally. Blake speaks very highly of you.”

  I fell speechless at the compliment. In fact, I hadn’t been able to speak since I’d stepped into the Landon home. All of this was complete and utter overload.

  “I hope you like chicken parm,” Greg said, easily filling the silence.

  “I love it.” I smiled warmly.

  “Oh that’s right. Blake tells us you’re a phenomenal cook. Damn, I hope this measures up.”

  Blake laughed as he took two beers out of the fridge. “All right, guys. Tone it down. Seriously. Want to get some fresh air? Otherwise these two will literally suffocate you with questions and compliments.”

  “That doesn’t sound so bad,” I joked. Blake’s parents seemed amazingly sweet. I was definitely feeling overwhelmed, though.

  “Go on you two. Everyone’s out on the deck,” Catherine said, motioning us out of the kitchen.

  Blake caught my hand in his, and we passed through a large living room and onto a deck that spanned the length of the house, overlooking the ocean.

  Heath and Alli turned toward us from their position at the railing.

  “You!” Alli crossed her arms defensively and gave me a terse look.

  Oh shit. She’d been right about hunting me down.

  “Hey,” I said timidly.

  She pushed off the railing and came closer, pointing at me with her manicured finger. “Don’t hey me
, Erica. You are in huge freaking trouble. Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been about you? Who doesn’t call their best friend back for weeks at a time? I mean seriously—”

  “Calm down, babe. She just got here.” Heath rested his arm over her shoulder and gave her a little squeeze.

  I recoiled a bit, leaning back into Blake’s body, hoping he could somehow save me from the wrath of Alli. She was completely overreacting, not to mention killing the moment.

  “Is there anything else you need to get off your chest? Now’s the time,” I said, only half-joking.

  She twisted her lips into a half smile. “I love that skirt on you. I want it back.”

  I laughed, and before I could say anything, she crossed over and pulled me into a hug. I hugged her back, realizing how much I’d missed her.

  “Don’t you ever do that to me again.”

  “Sorry.” My voice muffled quietly into her shoulder. I’d been keeping the truth from so many people for so long, sometimes I didn’t even know who I was anymore.

  “Apology accepted.” She stepped back. “Now, do you want to explain to me what the hell is going on?”

  I glanced up at Blake and back to her. “Let’s talk later, okay? I’m sure their parents aren’t interested in hearing about my drama.”

  “I wouldn’t go that far,” Heath chimed in, his eyes wide. “Fair warning. You’ll be lucky if we can get through dinner without getting the third degree on why you and Blake aren’t together anymore.”

  My eyes widened anxiously. This was looking more and more like an intervention that might end in tears and rehab for me too. No one could fully appreciate how fragile I’d been these past few weeks. I’d been worn down to the point where I seriously wondered if I was taking years off my life with the stress.

  Blake kissed me on the cheek and whispered in my ear. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep them occupied. Just relax and have fun.”

  Catherine joined us, with Fiona in tow. Fiona looked perfect in a teal striped top and short white shorts.

  “Erica, I’m so glad you could come,” she squealed, giving me a tight hug.

  My throat tightened with emotion. Too much hugging. I couldn’t handle all these people being so happy to have me close. Before I could overthink it, Catherine announced that dinner was ready. We all settled at the table outside on the other side of the deck. I sat between Alli and Blake, which was a relief.

  “Erica, tell us about your family,” Catherine began as we started digging into the meal.

  “Mom,” Blake snapped.

  “What?” She shook her head, wide-eyed, and looked back to me.

  “It’s okay. Um, my mother passed away from cancer when I was thirteen. My stepfather remarried while I was away at boarding school, so I don’t really have a lot of close family now.”

  “Oh, sweetheart, I’m so sorry.”

  I shrugged, not wanting to seem emotional or upset about it. Plus, I’d barely scratched the surface. “Thank you. It’s fine, though. I get to make my family wherever I go now.”

  Alli grinned and leaned into me a little.

  Greg finished a bite of salad. “Tell us about your business. Blake tells us that you’re part of a rare species of women in technology.”

  I glanced over to Blake whose lips twisted into an annoyed grimace. Greg opened his mouth, but before he could speak, Heath cleared his throat.

  “Sorry to interrupt you there, Dad, but we have an announcement.”

  The blood drained from Catherine’s face. Alli rushed to speak.

  “I’ve decided to move back to Boston.”

  “Oh, wow.” Catherine laughed, putting her hand over her heart like she’d been moments from a heart attack.

  My own heart experienced a burst of happiness at the news. I shifted in my seat to face her.

  “Oh my God, are you serious?”

  She nodded. “It’s official. Heath and I talked about it this week. I’ll be on the job hunt and moving as soon as I can.”

  “That’s so wonderful,” Catherine said with a warm smile. Greg peppered Heath with suggestions about apartments in the city and I nudged Alli.

  “I’m interviewing for marketing directors. You wouldn’t happen to be interested?”

  She frowned and sat back. “Are you serious?”

  “Actually, yeah. Things didn’t work out with Risa. I’ll fill you in on the details later, but suffice to say, we’re severing ties completely and irrevocably.”

  “Wow. In that case, yes.”

  “Really? Are you sure that’s what you’d want to do?”

  “Are you kidding me? I’ve spent the past two months pulling twelve-hour days for prima donna designers. Coming back to Clozpin would be like being on a tropical vacation by comparison.”

  “I thought you wanted a career in fashion though?”

  She gave me a half-hearted smile. “I thought I did too. I guess sometimes you don’t realize what you have ’til it’s gone. I definitely got some perspective and learned a ton, but this move feels right in every way. Heath’s going to be happier here, his family’s here to support him, and you’re here. I couldn’t think of any better reasons to make the change.”

  “You won’t hear any arguments from me. Obviously I’ve been dying to have you back since you left. And frankly, with what’s going down with Risa now, I feel like I’ll never be able to trust anyone in that position again who isn’t you.”

  “Don’t worry. We’ll figure it out. We built this business. No one’s better suited to grow it.”

  “Cheers to that.”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  I breathed a sigh of relief as we left the bustling dinner with Blake’s family and escaped to the beach below. I left my sandals on the steps, and Blake and I walked barefoot along the shore as the sun began to set.

  “Sorry. They’re completely crazy,” he mumbled.

  “It’s okay. They’re really sweet actually.” A quiet happiness bubbled inside me at the unexpected turn this evening had taken. “This may sound strange, but why didn’t you introduce me to your parents before? You know, when things weren’t so messed up between us.”

  “Like Heath said, they’re nosy and overwhelming. On one hand, I didn’t really want to share my time with you, and on the other hand, I knew that once I let them loose on you, it was all over.”

  My heart sank a little. “All over?”

  “Now that they’ve met you, they’re going to be hounding me nonstop about you. Don’t think for one second this is going to be your last Landon family dinner.”

  I laughed. “Listen to you, Mr. Angst. You make them sound so burdensome. You’re incredibly lucky.”

  Our eyes met and he took my hand as we walked. “I don’t mean it like that. They’ve always been great. I guess I was too caught up in being with you to realize that you’d probably enjoy this a lot more than I typically do.”

  “I don’t have much to compare it to, but I’d give anything to have a family like yours, you know? Don’t ever take them for granted, Blake. Everything can change in an instant.”

  “Yeah, you’re right.”

  Ahead of us, at the edge of the enormous property, stood a gazebo. We walked up some old wooden steps from the beach. Inside, the structure was ornately built and offered an impressive view of the skyline. Daylight was fading now, and the ocean air cooled around us. I sat close to Blake, and he wrapped an arm around me as we settled back to take in the scenery. I rested my head on his shoulder as he traced circles down my arm.

  “You were right about Risa,” I said after a while.

  “Yeah. Did you find what you were looking for?”

  “I think so. My question is, how did you?”

  He stayed silent.

  “Blake.”

  He sucked in a slow breath that whistled through his teeth. “You’re not going to like it.”

  “So what? Tell me.”

  He pushed the errant strands of hair away from his face only to have them fall back. “I
hacked your email account.”

  I stilled. “What?”

  “I was worried about you.”

  “That’s a major invasion of privacy, Blake! Why—”

  “Trust me, I wasn’t the only one worried about you. Marie even reached out to me at one point to grill me about what I did to upset you so much.”

  My jaw dropped. Marie. Damn it all.

  “I just wanted to take a spin through your mail to see if there was anything I should be concerned about. While I was in there, I checked out Risa’s and Sid’s, purely out of curiosity since you’d decided to shut me out of the business for the time being.”

  “And you saw her messages to Max?”

  “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  “I don’t understand why that specific information would be helpful to him though.”

  “The investment company you told me about…the one who’s sending Trevor fat checks? It took me a while to get past all the layers of corporate privacy, but I finally tracked down the people behind it.”

  “And?”

  “Seems like our friend Max is using the company as a front to fund Trevor’s efforts. He’s basically been paying Trevor to run this group and be a full time pain in my ass.”

  “But the attacks stopped.”

  “I’m not totally sure why, but my guess is that once he had an in with Risa, compromising the site was possibly doing more harm than good. Wasted effort maybe.”

  “Why would he need our data though?”

  “I have no idea. Have you spoken to her yet?”

  “No, not yet. I’m not sure if she’ll tell me when she finds out she’s getting fired though.” I thought for a moment, trying to piece everything together. “Did she reach out to you for the meeting today?”

  “No, I contacted her.”

  “Oh.”

  “I wanted to feel her out. With very little effort, I’d convinced her to leave your company and come work for me, and we’d made plans for a more intimate dinner this weekend. She was willing to jump ship, screw your ex, and finagle herself into my business before we’d even gotten the bill.”