“I agree,” Linden says quickly. I can feel his eyes on my body, and I resent it.
The wounds have broken open again. I can feel the pain stab and choke me as badly as on that first day. I want to run away. I lean close to my father. “Dad, I don’t feel too well,” I whisper. “I need a few minutes of fresh air.”
“Okay, but make sure to be back in ten minutes.”
His ten-minute rule annoys me. Even when I was a little girl, anything and everything needed to be done within this interval.
“If you will excuse me now,” I say to Pierce Cunningham, before leaving the room in a hurry. “Oh God, oh God, oh God,” I whimper, stumbling into my dad’s office and out onto his balcony. I lean against the warm brick wall and close my eyes. “Why, God? Why do you have to punish me like that? Why can’t I get a break?”
I sink down to the balcony floor and stretch out my legs. I feel like a rag doll left out in the rain. How could I forget that Linden wanted to give this promotion job to my dad? I knew they were coming to Austin, but I was sure that wasn’t supposed to happen for two weeks—and I also didn’t expect him to stand by his words. When he made the suggestion, I was flattered by his trust in my abilities, but now the prospect of becoming the project manager of their campaign seems like torture. I’d have to deal with him, his friends, and worst of all, Pierce Cunningham.
“Thalia?” I hear the all-too-familiar voice. “Your father told me I’d find you here … I … ”
“What, Linden?” I snap. “What else do you want?”
“I wanted to see if you’re okay.”
“I’m not,” I say hollowly. “Happy now? Please go.”
Instead, he sits down next to me. “To this day, I don’t understand what happened. Why aren’t you speaking to me anymore?”
I take a deep breath. “And you didn’t bother asking your manager, or Trish?”
“What do they have to do with anything?” he asks.
“Have you already forgotten what Delsin told you when he had you by the collar?” I answer without looking at him. “Let me refresh you. Your manager came barging into your bedroom, broke up with me for you, and handed me an envelope of money to leave and not talk to the press. I was not to mention our affair to anyone, because you were still engaged to Trish. Once he said that, it made sense that you still had that photo in your living room.”
Linden places his hand on my leg, but I pull away. “Don’t touch me.”
“I did not know any of that,” Linden says. “As for the photograph … I just didn’t think about it. It had been sitting on that side table forever. But I can promise you that I’ll fire Pierce for what he did. And I am not engaged to Trish anymore, nor am I still with her. We’ve only met once in the last few weeks, and that was to return our stuff to each other. That was all.”
“And you expect me to believe you?” I shake my head. “It’s too late for that, Linden. I don’t want anything to do with you. I don’t want to work on this project either, but I can do it for my dad’s sake.” I rise and dust myself off. “So, Mr. Priest, I’m ready to speak with you on a professional basis, but that’s about it. I don’t want to talk about anything private. I really don’t want to talk to you at all, to be honest, but if I have to for a few weeks, so be it. Don’t make it harder than it already is.” With that, I leave the balcony and return to the conference room.
“Here I am,” I say as I sit down next to my father again.
Linden enters the room shortly afterwards, sits down, and stares at me. The other band members take over the meeting, setting forth their thoughts and ideas. I take notes, while my dad steers the conversation.
It seems to take forever, but the meeting finally comes to a close ten minutes after I was supposed to finish my workday. As we all say our mostly frosty goodbyes, my phone rings. It’s Nate.
“Hello, handsome,” I greet him, purposely using the endearment so Linden can hear it. It may be immature to want to make him jealous, but I don’t care, and he deserves it.
“Hey,” Nate says. “I’m sitting in your car, right in front of your dad’s building. Are you coming out? Oh … and is your mom always this … monopolizing? She made me eat three slices of cake, and I had to tell her everything I’ve ever done in my life. Sort of.” He sounds overwhelmed.
I burst into laughter. “Yes, she is. I’ll be right down, and you can tell me everything in the car.” I look at my dad. “Dad, I gotta go. Someone came to pick me up. I’ll see you tonight, okay?”
“Of course, love.” He smiles.
“Goodbye, gentlemen.” I nod at the rest before leaving the room, giving them no chance to say anything else. I grab my bag from under my desk and then rush out to the 38th floor elevators. I can’t wait for one of them to take me down to the ground and out of this damn building.
“It was good to see you again,” Gavin says, materializing next to me. “And it’s even better to see you acting so professional. You weren’t crying or trying to slap some sense into one of us.”
I smile up at him. “Well, time flies. How are you?”
“I’m fine, and it looks as if you’re okay, too.”
“I can’t complain. Things are going great. No complications.”
The doors open, and we get in. Unfortunately, the rest of the band joins us before the doors close again.
“And what are you doing tonight, Thally?” Gavin asks conversationally.
“A friend is picking me up and then … I don’t know. Do you have any plans?”
“Yeah, we’re headed into the dungeon to record new vocal tracks.” He smirks.
I laugh softly. “Life’s a bitch, huh?”
“Don’t get me wrong, I like singing, but I’d rather be lying by the pool reading a book right now,” he admits with a grin.
“Well, you chose that job for yourselves, even if it doesn’t allow you to be yourselves,” I say. “Must be weird, but I guess that’s what you get when you hire a small-minded manager. I’d rather hear you play real rock ’n’ roll, but I’ve heard that the target audience for that isn’t large enough,” I say teasingly, hoping to anger Pierce Cunningham with my remarks. He sends me a scathing glance.
“You look great, Thalia,” Alexis interrupts me.
“I’m feeling very good, too, thank you.” I’m such a liar. I’m not feeling good at all, especially not right now. Not after I’ve been forced to spend hours in the same room as Linden. True to his word, he’s no longer blond, but has short-cropped hair in his natural color. He also has a lot of stubble on his face. Do I like the new look? In the meeting room, it was easy not to look too closely, but now, in the elevator, that’s harder. I can’t help but notice all the little changes.
Thankfully, we took the express elevator, which is why the doors are already opening again. I say goodbye and hasten to get away from them, to get outside. Nate is sitting behind the wheel of my Mercedes. He has the top down, because the Texas heat is scorching.
“Beauty,” he greets me as I approach the car.
“Handsome,” I return the compliment with a giggle, before getting in quickly. I lean over and kiss him on the cheek. “Please, let’s go quickly. Linden and his band will be coming out any second.” I buckle up as Nate starts the car, and then I put on my sunglasses.
“You have a new boyfriend?” Linden’s voice comes from behind me. But Nate drives off, so I don’t have to answer the question. It’s none of his business anyway.
“What was that all about?” Nate asks.
“That was Linden Priest with his band,” I say evasively.
“Why was he there?”
“Because he hired my dad’s company to run their new advertising campaign. I mean, they all want that, it seems. I’m supposed to be the project manager, can you believe that? When Linden and I were still together, he said he wanted to sweeten my work experience by giving our company the job. I never expected him to go through with it now. And I also tried to refuse, but that stupid manager told us we’d
only get their business if I was in charge of the project. I really don’t understand these people.” I take a deep breath. “Please tell me about my mom and her cake, because I need to hear something funny right now.”
Nate nods and gives me a grin, raising his eyebrows so his piercing sticks out. “Cami called your mom and told her we’d swing by so I could come get your car to pick you up after work and everything … Cami dropped me off at the door, because she needed to get some stuff for the horses or whatever, I don’t know. Anyway, I rang the doorbell and when your mom answered, she stared at me for what felt like an entire minute at least. She probably didn’t expect to find a black guy on her doorstep. But then she was exceedingly nice, asked me to come inside, offered me cake and coffee. And then she started interrogating me.”
I smirk. “And then?”
“‘So, Nathaniel, what are you doing in Miami? And, Nathaniel, what is your relationship with my daughter?’”
“And what did you say to that?”
“Mrs. Leroux, your daughter and I are fuck buddies, which is why she can’t focus on getting good grades,” he answers in a deadpan voice.
“Excuse me?” I choke, not sure whether he’s kidding or not.
Nate breaks into raucous laughter. “I’m just bullshitting you! I told her we’re roommates. That I moved into Hailey’s room four months ago, and that while we get along famously, there’s nothing else going on between us.”
I exhale with relief. “Man, don’t you ever scare me like that again.” I can’t help but giggle at the thought of my mother’s shocked face.
“Well, the more I told her, the more cake she heaped on my plate. I ate until the frosting started putting me in a sugar coma. I asked for a glass of water, gulped it down, and told her I needed to be on my way. I figured you would be getting out at three.”
I nod slowly. “She keeps hounding me with her cupcakes and cakes, so I know what you’re talking about. At least she bakes it all herself. She learned it from my grandpa, who was a famous confectioner.”
“The cake was awesome, don’t get me wrong, but I’m not used to eating more than one slice of such a rich dessert. I get sick. I think your mom felt guilty by the time she was done with me.” He grins.
I giggle. “Yep, that’s my mom.”
“But now tell me the whole Linden Priest story,” Nate prods. “Did you even get to talk to him alone?”
“Very briefly. I needed some air after I realized they were our next ‘client.’ I went out on the balcony in my dad’s office, and boom, there he was again.” I tell him what Linden said to me, and what I said to him.
“I think it’s saying something that he wants to fire his manager for the role he played in all of this.”
“If he really wants to do that. But I still can’t believe Linden didn’t know anything about Pierce’s plan,” I counter, feeling once again overwhelmed by the entire messy situation. “When he came to bed the night before it all, he was like a different person. He didn’t want to talk, asked if we could sleep immediately, and so on.”
“Thally, look. You love him, and he hurt you, or rather, his manager did the hurting. He told you he was speaking in Linden’s name, but how can you be sure he wasn’t the one who was lying? Maybe Linden really didn’t know what was going on behind his back.”
“I can’t imagine that’s true. Why would his manager do something like that?”
“You’re living in Miami and he’s in New York. There was all that gossip about you and Linden, and he was probably trying to save the image of the band. He went too far, of course, but I guess that, to him, it all made perfect sense.”
I lean back in my seat and close my eyes. “And what am I supposed to do now? I’m so confused.”
“You’re going to see Linden a few more times in the near future, right? For the campaign?”
“I … yes, I guess so.”
“You could talk about all of this again,” Nate suggests. “Ask him for his version, and listen to what he has to say.”
“I can’t even look at him without feeling awful,” I admit in a desperate voice.
“Why are you feeling awful? He should be the one feeling bad, for allowing this vulture to take advantage of you!”
“Well, it hurt. The day before, he told me he loved me, and only a few hours later, I end up being nothing but a summer fling, an affair that he needed to get rid of. It doesn’t … ”
“Add up?” Nathaniel finishes for me.
I sigh heavily. “What is love to you? What does it mean to you?”
“To me? If I’m sitting next to someone and don’t expect anything more, because merely sitting with them makes me happy. That’s love. How would you define it?”
“Always a bitter disappointment,” I admit dryly.
He smiles indulgently. “Come on, be serious. How would you define love?”
“When I feel truly free with someone.”
“Did you feel truly free when you were with Linden?”
“More than that. I thought I could fly. He gave me … such an incredible feeling of unlimited possibility.”
“Then you should … give him another chance.”
I look at Nate with a raised eyebrow.
“I’m not saying you should open your heart to him right away—though I doubt he was ever kicked out of there properly—but I think you should try to build a sound basis for honest conversation. And maybe friendship?”
“I don’t think I can do that,” I confess sheepishly.
“Why do you say that?” he probes.
“Because it still hurts too much. I feel like I’m burning up inside when I see him.”
Nate pulls over to the curb when he sees that I’m starting to sniffle. He kills the engine and pulls me into an embrace. Holding me close, he whispers, “You’re the strongest person I know. You can do this, and maybe then it won’t hurt so badly.”
“I’m not strong at all,” I mumble. “Or else I wouldn’t feel so damn weak whenever I see him.”
“The day will come when you can look at him and feel nothing.”
“God, I sure hope so.”
***
Nate drops me off at home and goes back to the farm with my car. I don’t need it with him picking me up, and with the emptiness in my wallet, I can’t go shopping anyway. “Mom?” I call out when I enter the house. I haven’t seen her yet.
She comes running down the stairs. “Thally, oh, how wonderful to see you!”
Whoa, she’s going pretty fast in those high heels! Reckless Mom for the win! “Hey.” I smile, and then she’s already there, wrapping me in her arms.
“How are you doing, honey?”
“Good, and how are you?”
“I’m just fine. Are you very tired, or do you still have enough energy to take a trip with your old mother?”
I pull away and look her up and down, squinting at her. “Old? Mom, you’re only forty-six. That’s not old, and you look … damn hot.”
She blushes. “You know exactly what I want to hear, honey… So, are you coming with me?”
“Where?”
“Downtown,” she says. “I want to go shopping, and now I finally have the chance to take you along.”
“I’ll change my clothes and then we can go, okay?” I answer with a grin.
“I’ll be waiting in the living room.”
I kiss her on the cheek. “Just five minutes, Mom.” I rush upstairs to my room, where I open the closet and look inside. It’s hot outside, so maybe I should put on a skirt and a simple top. With a sigh, I take out my short, beige, pleated skirt and a short-sleeved blouse. I put them both on and slip on my peep-toe shoes before pinning up my hair anew and freshening up my makeup. A glance in the mirror tells me I look okay, so I skip down the stairs and announce, “I’m ready.”
My mom was sitting on the couch in the living room, but now she rises. “There you are.”
I nod at her. “If you’re ready, we can leave.”
“Gr
eat,” she says happily. “I’ll go fetch my purse. You can go ahead to the garage. Oh, and this Nathaniel seems to be a very nice young man. I take it you’re getting along famously?”
I shake my head and make a face as I follow her. “Yes, we get along well, but we’re just friends.”
“Are you sure there’s nothing more? He smiled whenever he mentioned your name.” She grins. My mom has long, black hair like me, and her eyes are emerald green. My dad’s eyes are brown, and mine are a mix of both.
“No. We’re really just friends.”
“And what happened to the guy I saw on TV? The pop singer?” she asks with great curiosity as we walk out to the garage.
“That’s over and done with, Mom,” I answer despondently.
“Why?”
“Because there are a few things I can’t forget. He hurt me, and I don’t want to talk about it,” I explain in a low voice. I’m on the verge of crying again. I was really thrown off balance by today’s encounter with Linden. The wounds are open and bleeding again, and I’m utterly confused. If I really have to manage this project, this is going to be a tough summer. I can’t refuse to work, or my dad will cut the money supply.
“What things, Thally?”
“Mom, I really don’t want to talk about it,” I answer calmly, but firmly. “It still hurts, so I’d rather not be forced to wallow in my pain.”
“Okay, honey. I shouldn’t have probed. But I want you to know that I’ll always be here for you if you need to talk. You know that, don’t you?”
“Yeah. Thank you, Mom.” I smile after we’ve both gotten into the car.
She returns the smile and then steps on the gas. Instantly, I know what my dad was talking about when he made that comment on her driving. She races down the road at breakneck speed, paying close attention to any potential obstacles, but still.
“Mom, just in case I don’t survive this drive, I love you and Dad,” I say after she has made an especially wild turn. I feel unusually glad that I have a seatbelt—I would’ve crashed into the door otherwise.
Linden: Rocking Pleasure: New Adult College Romance (Coral Gables Series Book 3) Page 25
