“Simply put, Mrs. Schneider, I am no longer interested in making any sort of deal with you, although I would rather not discuss the particulars in mixed company,” I say as delicately as possible.
“That’s not how this works.” She arches a brow and opens her mouth with a fiery retort on the tongue. I raise a hand to halt her before she lashes out.
“Rest assured, the partnership you were so concerned about is dissolved, exactly as you wished, and it will remain that way. But, as for business pursuits, Zephyr Brothers will be considering other options. However, thank you very much for your interest in investing.”
“Yeah, thanks, but no thanks,” Cast adds with a smug smirk, arms crossed.
Candace’s ire morphs to confusion and back to anger. Vic looks just as out of sorts, but he does a better job of keeping it under wraps. He clears his throat and snaps open his briefcase. It occurs to me a man like him isn’t used to being told no. I guess I’ll just have to show him I say what I mean and mean what I say. He shakes out a folder and holds up something. I squint and discover it’s a copy of my criminal record. My eyes fly to Candace in disbelief. So she intended to betray me all along. I’ll be damned.
“Candace Schneider, you are one cold snake,” Castiel bristles. I shoot him a warning glance, and he sullenly slumps back in his chair, but I mentally echo his sentiments.
Vic Thorenson chuckles at the glower that passes between Candace and me. “Candy, girl, you sure know how to wage a war. Simmer down, young whippersnapper,” he says to me. “I’m sure you’re wondering how I came by this. As I alluded to a minute ago, Candace and I go way back. As such, she trusted me with this information, and she trusted me with the particulars of this special case.”
“Elaborate,” I order dryly.
Mr. Thorenson supplies, “Let’s just say I know all about this partnership that needed dissolving that got us all here today.”
“Well, since everyone is on the up and up, I can speak freely. I can’t be bought or sold, do you understand me? You can take that to the bank, ‘cause it’s as good as gold.”
Mr. Thorenson slides the empty folder back in his briefcase and wags the criminal record at me, with a thoughtful expression. “I was hoping you would say that. In fact…”
He slowly and meticulously rips up the document, page by page. The paper makes the satisfying sound of tearing as Candace opens and closes her mouth like a fish out of water. “Vic!” Candace manages in a hoarse shriek.
Castiel begins to laugh. “Well, don’t that beat all?”
Mr. Thorenson collects the tattered pieces of paper, crumples the shreds into a wad. “Trash,” he says. “Mr. Jay, I came here this evening to help out an old friend, but once Candace apprised me of the full situation, I made a decision not to work with her or you simply because I don’t do that kind of business. No offense, Candace. But, Mr. Jay, just so you know, that paper wasn’t worth a damn in the first place.”
Candace laughs nervously. “I simply wanted to help him, despite his past.”
Vic looks over Candace and addresses me, alone. “Mr. Jay, I’m sure I can provide you with financial solutions that will fit your needs as a small business on a track to expansion. Just not under duress. You okay with that?”
“No blackmail with the deal? Hell, yeah, we’re okay with it!” Cast hoots.
I nudge him in the ribcage and speak up for myself. “That’d be excellent, sir.”
“Good, good, good. Well, I, for one, am glad we could get this wrapped so quickly because I have a date tonight with a hot woman who goes by the title of My Wife. Mr. Jay, here’s my card. You give me a call, and we’ll get the paperwork going to make some things happen. Castiel, was it? It was nice meeting you. As always, Candy, pleasure to see you. Don’t stay mad at me, hear?” His jolly laughter follows behind him as he stands and collects his briefcase, leaving behind the wad of my criminal history.
I watch in amazement as he walks back the same way he came. Then my eyes swing to Candace, and she looks like she’d skewer me if she could. Castiel jauntily replies, “Looks like our work here is done.”
I smile. “Mrs. Schneider, it looks like the grave you dug me wasn’t deep enough. After that little exchange, I’m thinking I won’t be needing your investment or your client list, so you can tell them whatever you want about me.”
“Don’t get too sure of yourself, Mr. Zephyr. There’s more than one way to skin a cat, and I still haven’t told Kitrina everything I know about you. Yes, you and I both know what she thinks is what matters most to you.”
I steel my jaw. “As I already told you, Kitrina and I are no longer together.”
“But you still care, because you hope she still cares,” Candace taunts.
“That’s the thorn in your side, isn’t it, Mrs. Schneider? The fact Kitrina loves my brother. Now, do you really believe that feeling will just evaporate all because you tell her it should? Man, you can’t possibly know the meaning of the word,” Castiel scoffs.
Half-rising from her chair at his statement, Candace’s lips twist in a sneer. “Don’t dare speak to me about what it means to love,” she says in a quivering whisper.
“I loved Kitrina’s father. He was a good man! Do you know he was crossing the street to help someone whose car had broken down? When some lowlife drunk driver plowed into him! Kept right on driving, driving like they had run over a bump in the road, a piece of garbage, someone who didn’t deserve to make it! That asshole killed the one person I ever truly loved! So, don’t tell me about the meaning of the word!” Castiel blanches white at the vehemence of her speech.
“Mrs. Schneider, I’m sorry for your loss,” I say quietly. And I am—but I’m more sorry for Kitrina’s loss.
“You will be, yes. The minute Kitrina hears that you were arrested for driving under the influence, her infatuation with you will come to a natural end and she will never, never want to see you again,” she laughs bitterly, shaking out a cigarette and lighting up right there in the middle of the restaurant. “You think my daughter not talking to you again is terrible? Try losing a spouse. Try losing your very own flesh and blood like you tried to take my daughter from me. You lose, Jayson Zephyr.”
Candace pulls a wad of bills from her clutch, tosses them on the table, glares at my brother and me. “And, I’m glad you don’t want my charity, Mr. Zephyr. I would sooner help a roach lay eggs than help a drunk driver fund his vice of choice. So, thank you for saving me with your charade at nobility. Good day, gentlemen.”
Just as a waiter comes over to tell her she can’t smoke inside, Candace puffs and saunters out of the building, leaving me and Cast looking after her in stunned silence.
“What just happened?” Castiel asks out of the corner of his mouth.
“Hell if I know,” I murmur, scratching the back of my head. “But, I think we just got ourselves an investor and lost ourselves an evil potential mother-in-law.”
“So, does this mean you and Kit won’t be getting back together?”
I snap for the waiter and pay the bill with my card, leaving Candace’s money as a hefty tip. I refuse to answer Castiel because I refuse to think about it. There is no me and Kit. Based on what Candace said—Kit hadn’t told me the detail about the driver being drunk— there never will be an “us” again. Had I committed any other offense, Kitrina might be able to look past it, but given what happened to her father, there’s no hope for it now.
Chapter 37
KITRINA
January turns into February as life goes full circle. I wake up in the same bed I slept in as a child, a teenager, now a young adult. A sense of gratefulness at not having to worry about slaving away at Devil in the Details pervades, but a longing for the independence I fought fiercely to gain sticks around, too. At first Mom seems suspicious of my every move, checking in on me, asking who’s calling, where I’m going. It gets to be tedious until she finally realizes that Jayson’s out of my life for good. In other ways, I realize she’s trying to be nice. I
now own two new cashmere sweaters and a leather backpack. My favorite foods are on the table more often than they used to be. We’ve gone to the hair salon together and a couple of movies.
As the weeks pile up, I learn how to busy myself to keep Jayson out of my thoughts as well, and I finally start to feel like I’m putting the broken pieces of my life back together. Schoolwork becomes a pleasure again. And, even though my mother is against the idea of me working, I pick up an online job acting as a virtual assistant to make money on the side. Since I never leave the house, she doesn’t notice. I watch the numbers slowly, slowly add up in my bank account. I quietly pay my mortgage and save to pay Mom back.
I link up with Professor Schwartz, who continues to play my mentor, despite the fact I don’t have any classes with her this semester.
“Your work is improving,” she murmurs thoughtfully as she looks through my portfolio.
I beam at her from the other side of her clunky, industrial desk. “I hoped you’d like that one. I took a page from your design book and worked outside of my comfort zone. You’re so much more utilitarian than I am, but it worked. It really worked for me!”
“Ah, maybe that’s why I like it.” She chuckles and hands the leather portfolio folder back to me. Her black hair falls across her cheeks as she looks down at her steepled fingers. “I take it you didn’t seek me out just to show me your portfolio for Professor Roberts. Is there anything in particular you wanted to talk about, Kit?”
“Actually…” I nervously dig into my purse and pull out prints of photographs I took of my house before leaving to move back in with my mom. “I wanted to show you my first attempt at decorating an entire single-family home. It’s bohemian meets Moroccan meets whatever else I could find at thrift stores.” I grin. Professor Schwartz’ eyes light up with glee as she goes through each of the photographs, making impressed sounds at some of them. I peek into her hand for a look at what catches her attention.
“Kitrina,” she breathes excitedly. “These are refreshing. Dare I say it? Your best work yet. May I keep these?”
“Yes, of course. I printed them just for you.”
“I have a friend who publishes a design quarterly. I have a hunch she’d be interested in showing off your handiwork in her circular, both the ezine and the hard copy. If she is, she’ll want to send in her own photographer. Are you comfortable with that? And, what do you say you come up with a snappy eight-hundred-or-so-word essay describing your process to accompany the spread?”
My stomach does a flip-flop. “Are you serious?”
“Very.” Professor Schwartz taps the stack of pictures down on her desk.
“I-I’d love to! Oh my gosh, I don’t know what to say. Thank you! Thank you so much, Professor Schwartz. This is unbelievable!”
She chuckles softly. “Now, now. I can’t promise you anything. I said I have a hunch.”
“Either way,” I giggle. “I appreciate all the help you’re giving me. I can create content tonight and email it off to you tomorrow. How soon do you think you’ll hear back from your friend?” I hate to sound overeager, but the prospect has me salivating at the potential doors it will open for me.
“I’ll let you know something before the week is out.”
I leave Professor Schwartz’s office and rush straight home after my last class. The second my mom opens the front door, I rush her with the good news.
“You’re never going to believe this!” I exclaim.
Mom tugs off her fur coat and hangs it to dry. Pulling off her riding gloves, she presents me with an expectant smile of appraisal. “Well, what has you in a tizzy?”
“Professor Schwartz is going to show pictures of my house to a friend of hers that has a circular. She thinks she can get me a spread!”
“That’s wonderful news, Kitrina. I’m so proud of you!”
Mom hugs me demurely, careful not to wrinkle her suit. I pull back and eye her carefully. “Are you really?”
“That’s an odd question to ask. Of course I’m proud of you. I know you put your all into your designs. I’m happy to see that paying off for you.”
“Don’t take this the wrong way. I’m not gunning for an argument, but…it’s always seemed like you weren’t too enthused about my career decision. I mean, you laughed at me in front of everyone when I mentioned I want to have my own show.”
Mom sighs, lips downturned. “Kit, you’re my only child. I’m sorry if I made you feel I lacked faith in you. Sure, sure, I wanted you to follow in my footsteps, with that brilliant mind of yours, but no matter what you decide to do with your life, I’ll always be behind you.”
I gnaw on my bottom lip and refrain from pointing out she didn’t support me at all in my love for Jayson. Maybe if she had, then things would be different. If I were he, dealing with people like my mom, I’d keep a Plan B just in case the relationship fell through, too. No wonder he was cheating on me.
I suppress a dejected sigh. “It doesn’t matter now. Regardless, I have confidence in myself. I’m really going to make it, Mom.”
“I know you are, sweetheart. Ah, never really a doubt in my mind.” She heads out of the foyer but pauses after a few steps. I stare at her straight, slender back wondering what stopped her. Mom peeks over her shoulder. “There’s something else.”
She seems to struggle internally with whatever else it is she has to say. Mom takes a shy step toward me, grabs my hands. She looks me in the eyes. “I’ve always been proud of you, but I haven’t been quite as proud of myself lately.”
“What do you mean?” I think I know what she means, but I want to give her the chance to expound.
“I’ve done some things, said some things I wish I could take back. I can’t…I can’t make you trust me the way you used to. Look, I know you hold that nasty situation with Jayson Zephyr against me, and frankly I don’t blame you, given the circumstances. I’m sorry he broke your heart. I didn’t want him to hurt you, darling. I didn’t want to hurt you, either.”
I touch her cool, dry cheek. Mom’s smile wavers, and her blue eyes glisten. “I don’t hold it against you,” I murmur. I forgive her. I’m all she has and she’s more fragile than she appears. I understand her better now that I have some idea what losing the man you love is like. “I wish things didn’t have to be the way they are, but I’m glad we’re moving past all this.”
“I vow to do better, starting with absolving you of your debt.”
“What?”
“You shouldn’t have to pay me back for that minor bit of renovation work. Consider it a gift. Of course, given the money I sank into making it a home worthy of a magazine spread, there’s no way I’ll let it slip through your fingers either. I’ll do whatever I can to help you keep your house.”
I throw my arms around her neck with a squeal of glee. I squeeze my mother close. The tears that fall are tears of joy as I realize she understands me too. She realizes how important that house is to me.
“Dear God, I can’t believe I almost never spoke with you again!” I laugh through my tears. Mom hugs me tighter, and I feel like everything that happened to scrape and scar our relationship heals over. “What would I do without you?”
Mom smooths down my pale, silky hair. “You’d thrive. You’ve shown me that. You’d fight tooth and nail for your values and beliefs. You’d live life to the fullest.”
I lay awake later that night thinking about what she said, that I would live life to the fullest, like that’s what I was doing while I was out there fumbling at being a grownup. It’s funny how I went into things feeling like I had to have a certain this or that and be perfect at everything. Funny I felt like a failure after losing my perfectly imperfect independent life. And, funny how it turns out that I was apparently out there living life to the fullest. I smile to myself and close my eyes.
But, when I fall asleep, I dream about him. I can’t remember the dream exactly, just that we were together, in my house. With everything else falling in place, I can’t help but wonder why I can�
��t work things out with him too.
JAYSON
For the first time in months, I dream about her.
“I miss you more than I know the words to say it, Kitrina Schneider,” I whisper heatedly against her rosebud mouth.
“Tell me what you miss,” she growls. Her white teeth nip at my bottom lip. My palms skim down her back to the curve of her buttocks, and I squeeze her closer so she can feel the hot, hard ridge of my shaft straining to pierce her. It’s answer enough. Her slender hand slips beneath my shirt, and she caresses my stomach.
“Tell me how anybody could make you give all this up.”
“There’s no one, Kit.” With a soft giggle, she pulls at my shirt until the buttons pop free one by one. I grab her hands and make her stop touching me. “Listen. There’s no one else. There was never anyone else. I could never betray you like that.”
“It’s alright. Relax…” Kit presses me back into the bed, her new bed, the one I only made love to her in once. She daringly stares me in the eyes and straddles me, pushing me back down. I stare up at her through a haze of desire. She’s so damn sexy, wearing the outfit she wore that first night at the club. She has on a yellow midriff shirt and a floral print skirt, and it’s so short. Short enough to make my cock get harder at just the thought of what’s underneath.
“I know you took the deal, Jayson.”
“Wha-what?” She eases forward and subtly shifts her hips to teasingly roll her hot, damp sex against my growing erection. “Hmm,” I groan. I clasp her hips to stop the torturous movement. “What deal?”
Her hair cascades around us like a curtain, shutting us off from the rest of the world. “The deal to get ahead by leaving me behind. How could you do that to me, baby? After everything we’ve been through,” she whispers seductively against my mouth. Her tongue lashes my lips, and I wrestle with a fierce desire. But I have to set her straight. I pull away from the kiss.
Jayson: A New Adult / Coming of Age Romance Page 28
