The Unblocked Collection

by Marni Mann

  I carefully led her back toward the counter, poured two shots of vodka into a new tumbler, and handed it to her. “I’m as dedicated to this as you are. You have my word.”

  She drank until it was empty and placed the glass back on the counter. “If at any point I feel like you’re choosing her over this…”

  “Hayden: stop.” I’d heard enough. I may not have told her what was going on between me and Frankie, but I’d always been honest with her otherwise. She had no reason to doubt my focus or my desire to destroy Randy. “Trust me. When I say you have nothing to worry about, I mean it.”

  Her eyes bore into me for several seconds before her shoulders relaxed and her posture softened. She poured another drink and slid it over to me. “So do I tell Mom about Randy’s employee?”

  Finally, we were back to where we needed to be. “No.” I lifted the glass to my lips and shot the vodka down. “Don’t say a thing to her until you get him to sign with your firm and have his statement on record. Then there’s no turning back. I don’t want to get her hopes up unless we’re absolutely sure.”

  “Jesus, Derek.” She sighed as she rested her arms on the counter. “I know what’s riding on this. I’ve always known…but now that it’s so close, it feels even bigger.”

  I knew where this was going. But her job was to think with her head, not her heart. I needed to remind her of that.

  “I want you to be extremely careful. Talk to me or someone at the firm before you make any other moves.” As a lawyer, she knew the penalties if she got caught doing anything illegal. She also knew what she could get away with, what she could bury, and what the defense would be looking for before this went to trial. If there really was dirt on her hands—and I had a feeling there was—I didn’t want them getting any dirtier. “And if at any point you need me to do something, something you can’t or shouldn’t do, then just tell me. You’re in deep already; I don’t want you in a place where you can’t get out.” She said nothing, but I saw the appreciation in her eyes. “Now go get a broom so I can help you clean up all this glass.”

  While she walked to the closet, I sent Will a text asking him for Brea’s phone number. Even though things with my sister were still a bit messy, my mind was on Frankie, too. The “xoxo” she’d used at the end of her last text didn’t sound like her. I suspected it might have been Brea…if that were the case, I needed to speak to her.

  Hayden returned with a broom and dustpan. “Have you eaten?” she asked.

  “Nah.” I grabbed the broom from her hand. “I came straight from Timber Towers. I didn’t have time to stop for something.”

  “I’ll make a deal with you…”

  My sister was a princess, I knew where this was going. “I’ll clean up the mess; you go order food. Does that work?”

  She smiled. “Thanks, brother.” She headed toward her bedroom. “I’ll be back in a minute. I need to change.”

  As I started to sweep, my phone beeped. It was Will texting me back with Brea’s number. I waited until I heard Hayden’s bedroom door close before calling. She answered after the second ring. “This is Brea—”

  “It’s Derek. Is she okay?”

  She sighed. “Hang on a sec.” Rustling followed, as if she had put her hand over the speaker. Then I heard her breathing and the sound of a door shutting. “She’s okay.”

  “Why did she cancel our plans tonight?”

  “She got…tied up.”

  Tied up? The only person who tied her up was me, with my flannel—to my goddamn headboard.

  I didn’t like this at all.

  “Did you send me that text, Brea?” That got no reply. “Listen, if it’s work related, then that’s all you have to say, and I won’t ask questions. But if there’s something personal upsetting her, then you need to tell me.”

  Silence followed. Whatever was going on had nothing to do with work.

  “She’s with me, and she’s safe. I’ve got everything under control. She’ll call you in the morning.”

  I hated that I couldn’t take command of this situation. I knew I could put more pressure on Brea, but I had a feeling she approved of me. I didn’t want to jeopardize that.

  “I’m trusting you,” I said.

  “I know.”

  I hung up, staring at the glass on the floor. What the fuck could have gone wrong, when things had been so good between us?

  And then it hit me: if Reed had sent me a text, he must have sent Frankie one, too. I wondered how much he had uncovered about me, and how much he had told her. And if it was making Frankie question who I really was.

  TWO.

  FRANKIE

  I REALLY DIDN’T UNDERSTAND why we were at Anna’s apartment, or why she and Brea were staring at me as though I were about to break. I had told them in my office that I’d made a decision and I thought I was clear. It was a difficult one, but it wasn’t going to break me. And yet, when I tried to voice it, they stopped me—cut me off and said that before I spoke another word, they needed to talk to me. So after my final showing, Norm dropped Brea and me off at Anna’s.

  I’d noticed the cookies as soon as we arrived, and the brownies, too, decorating a tray in alternating patterns that had been placed in the middle of the coffee table. They were from The Carrot Cake; I recognized them easily. Next to the tray were two bottles of pinot noir—the same wine Derek had sent us…a detail I wasn’t oblivious to, either.

  They were feeding me all my favorites: sugar and wine.

  What they weren’t feeding me was an explanation of why I was here. So far, there had been nothing but small talk and silence. The silence made me think…and thinking led to Derek. My brain needed a rest from that topic.

  “Can you please tell me why we’re here?” I said finally.

  Brea returned to the living room and took a seat next to Anna, who nibbled the corner of her brownie and placed it back on her plate. I wasn’t sure it was possible, but she looked even thinner than normal. “Have some patience, doll. We’re trying to figure out the best way to knock some sense into you.”

  “Knock some sense into me?” I reached for a brownie. I hadn’t planned on caving to the sweets so quickly, but they looked too good to resist, and I was feeling a little pressure now.

  “You haven’t told us your decision, but we know what it’s going to be,” Brea said. “So yes, you need some sense knocked into you.”

  The frosting swirled around my mouth before I spoke again. “You promised me that I had your full support.” I looked at Brea. “You both did. So I don’t know why you’re fighting me on this. I told you, it’s either Derek or work. I can’t do both, so I choose—”

  “Doll, I’m going to be honest with you: you’re being ridiculous.”

  I reached for a bottle and filled my glass, swallowing down half a cookie with a large gulp of wine. “Well, I think—”

  “I agree with Anna,” Brea said, interrupting me. “You haven’t been this happy in a really long time. Why would you change things with Derek just to please your dad?”

  I thought about the hours I worked, the schedule I tried to keep, the sales that were required, the numbers I needed to maintain and grow. It was already a challenge managing it all. And now, I was going to be responsible for the residential side of our company—the side that held the majority of our business—and all the agents who would be directly reporting to me.

  I would never have told my father this, but as excited as I was to be given that division, I was so scared, too—scared that I couldn’t manage it all, scared that I would disappoint him. Scared he would regret his decision.

  The weight of it all was intense.

  “I don’t want to change anything,” I admitted. “Things with Derek feel so right.” If I were being honest, my feelings for him were intense, too…and scary. And they were so strong, especially for knowing him so briefly. “But my father made it clear that I haven’t even begun to sacrifice like I will once I take over. A change has to be made. And I—”

>   “I’m disappointed in you.”

  Anna’s words hit me like the backside of her hand. She hadn’t said that to me since I was in high school, when I failed geometry because I couldn’t wrap my head around a particular proof. Anna taught me to look at the shapes as though they were blueprints—things I looked at every day while working at my father’s company. My average slowly rose, and I passed the class with a B. Her encouragement helped.

  I could have used it now.

  “You’ve always been a girl who goes after what she wants,” she continued, “and you never let anything come between you and your goal. When your clients can’t agree, you help them find a common ground. When your employees argue, you help them work it out. So why would you deprive yourself when it comes to your own life? You let your father rule your business decisions…now you’re letting him rule your personal ones, too.”

  That angered me. So I ate my feelings, restocking my plate with another brownie and cramming it into my mouth.

  “It sounds like you’ve got quite a man there. He obviously cares about you, and I can see how much you like him. But now you’re going to toss that aside so you can work more? For your father?”

  “It’s what I want,” I said.

  “I don’t believe you,” Anna replied bluntly. “I think you want your job and Derek equally…and I think you’re afraid of what wanting him means.”

  “Anna’s right,” Brea said. “You love him…don’t you?”

  I didn’t answer. I put the plate down and drank the wine, holding the glass to my lips until it was empty.

  “You love him, and that scares you to death,” Brea said. “You’re freaking out over the demands your father has given you, and you’re pulling away from Derek because that’s easier than facing your feelings.”

  “Brea—”

  She slid to the edge of her chair. “Tell me I’m wrong.”

  Did I love him?

  I knew I was absolutely crazy about him; when he spoke, a flutter deep inside my chest came without warning. He made me feel full…and yet somehow, I always wanted more of him. When I wasn’t with him, I wanted to be. Even now, with two of the most important people sitting across from me, I wanted to be with Derek.

  Then there was also our physical bond, the responses my body gave to his touch. He made me scream, shudder…feel sexier than I ever had. I had a definite sense that eventually he would satisfy all of it—my sexual fantasies, my emotional desires. But I knew all too well that everything could so easily turn to nothing…I learned that when Reed took away my everything.

  Having it all wasn’t possible.

  It was the part of the story I hadn’t told Derek, the part I hadn’t told anyone but Anna and Brea.

  “You’re rubbing your stomach, doll,” Anna said softly.

  Our eyes met, and I looked down. My fingers were circling my navel.

  I poured myself another glass. It was time to confess my feelings, as hard as that was going to be. I took a deep breath, the wine warming my chest, helping to calm me. “You’re not wrong, Brea.” I glanced at Anna. “When I think about what I want, I always remember what I lost.”

  “But if you give up Derek,” Anna said, “you’re going to lose again.”

  “I know,” I whispered.

  “And you’ll be giving up someone who loves you,” Brea said. Her eyes pleaded with mine. “You know how badly Derek wants you; you can feel how much he’s changing you, how much you’re changing him. You will never forgive yourself if you throw this away, especially if you’re doing it for your father.”

  I could hardly breathe; the air in my lungs felt like it had frozen. I did know what I would be sacrificing if I gave up Derek. And I wasn’t entirely sure I would forgive myself if I let it happen. The decision felt heavier and much harder to make than it had earlier.

  “Talk to him, Frankie.” I looked at Anna again as she spoke. “Be honest with him. Tell him what you’re struggling with, and why. Maybe his response will surprise you.”

  I sighed, my body deflating into the couch. “I’ll think about it,” I said finally.

  “Well, he’s not going to let you ignore him in the meantime,” Brea said. “When Derek wants something, he wants it now.”

  Brea was right again. Derek was relentless in his pursuit of me—whether it was my body or my thoughts or my emotions, he found a way to get what he wanted. And I seemed to always give in to him, not just because I wanted him to touch me or be inside me, but because I wanted to be closer to him. I wanted to feel his emotions with every thrust. He was one of the most beautiful men I’d ever seen, and my attraction to him was undeniable, but it was an emotional connection that I wanted the most.

  I looked at Anna; the pain in her eyes could have killed me. She wanted more for me than a higher title at Jordan International, but I had to be sure it was what I wanted and what was best for me. Her home had always been a place where I found refuge. Now it was making me face my fears.

  “I need a second to process all of this,” I told them. “And I really need to think, but I can’t do that here.”

  I set the half-empty glass on the table next to my full plate of sweets, two things I never would have walked away from ordinarily. But the thought of putting anything else into my stomach was making it churn.

  “You’ve done too much thinking,” Brea said. “That’s why we’re here, to get you out of your head and into ours.”

  “We care about you, doll. You have to trust us, we only want what’s best for you. And what’s best is for you to lead with your heart.”

  I walked over to Anna and took her hand. “You’re going to have to trust me, Anna, and know I’ll make the right decision.”

  “We do,” Brea said.

  “Of course we do,” Anna added. “I know I can’t protect you from everything. But as someone who’s been around for almost all your life, I can’t stop myself from trying. And with this in particular, I think Brea and I can see more clearly than you can.”

  She’d protected me from so much over the years, and I understood why she wanted to do that now. I couldn’t tell her how that made me feel; the thoughts were there, but the words were stuck. So I raised her hand to my lips, and I kissed it. “Trust me,” I whispered. Then I wrapped my arms around Brea and gave her a quick hug. “Thank you for being such a good friend.”

  “He’s going to accept you, Frankie,” Brea said. “All of you. Even the parts Reed never did.”

  Her statement hit harder than she probably intended it to. There were parts I hadn’t given Reed because our relationship hadn’t reached that level. He had gotten farther than any man had, but there was still so much he hadn’t known. So much he hadn’t cared about. So much I couldn’t share because our relationship couldn’t handle it.

  I compared that against the connection I felt with Derek… then I stopped myself.

  It wasn’t time to go there yet.

  “I’ll talk to you both tomorrow,” I said, grabbing my purse and heading for the door before they could say anything else.

  Once outside, I hailed a taxi and climbed into the backseat. I hugged my purse to my chest and leaned into the corner of the door.

  “Where can I take you to, miss?”

  I felt my mouth open and heard myself recite an address… but it wasn’t my own.

  THREE.

  DEREK

  “FRANKIE,” I SAID, opening the door wide enough to let her in. But she didn’t move, and her expression worried me. “Are you okay?”

  “I should have called. I’m sorry.” She wouldn’t look me in the eye. “I…I’m not even sure why I’m here.”

  The woman standing on my front steps wasn’t the same woman who had sucked my dick in her office earlier today. It looked like there was a goddamn war raging inside her head. Whatever was wrong, I hoped I could fix it…and I hoped it hadn’t been caused by Reed.

  “Do you want to come in?”

  She finally looked up. “Maybe we could go for a wal
k?”

  I was wearing gray sweatpants, and nothing else. “Let me grab a shirt and some shoes.”

  “I’ll wait out here.”

  I left the door open a crack and jogged up the stairs to my room. I grabbed the first T-shirt in my drawer, threw it over my head, and slipped on some running shoes. Frankie was sitting on my front steps when I returned. I gave her my hand to help her stand; she stared at it for several seconds before she took it. I didn’t understand her hesitation or what she could be doubting.

  “Come here,” I said as she got to her feet. I wanted her skin under my lips, her scent filling my nose. I needed to taste my pink ivory.

  She stopped me from pulling her closer. “Let’s just walk.” Her posture was stiff; she added space between us as she stepped onto the sidewalk, her fingers slipping from mine.

  There was a storm coming. I could feel it in the air. It wouldn’t be much longer before the rain started and we would be caught several blocks away from my place without an umbrella or an overhang to keep us dry. Something told me she wouldn’t care.

  She didn’t break her silence until we reached the end of the block. “My father gave me the residential division of Jordan International today.” She didn’t sound excited, even though she should have. I knew it was something she really wanted.

  “Congratulations. You deserve it. Shit, you deserve the whole company.”

  She paused on the curb, her feet teetering over the edge. “I was sitting in his office, listening to everything he was saying and…”

  Her eyes looked everywhere. When they finally circled back to me, I searched them for the truth, for what she wasn’t telling me. I didn’t like what I saw. “Say it.”

  “He commended me on what I’d sacrificed to get to where I am now, and just minutes before, I’d been in my office…giving you a blowjob.” The disappointment was starting to break through in her voice. “I could still taste you in my mouth, Derek. It didn’t feel like I had sacrificed anything in that moment. Or that I deserved what he was giving me.”