by Layla Hagen
Lori winked at me, pulling her long blonde locks into a ponytail. “We already know. You’re head over heels in love.”
I smiled even wider, nodding, looking to my right, then to my left. I was seconds away from a Connor sandwich. My sisters hugged me at the same time. I loved them. They made me feel loved and safe.
“So, if you love him so much, why did you leave him all alone in there?” Lori asked.
“On the way here, he was a bit too cocky, thinking he had everyone in his pocket. Thought he should know what he’s getting into.”
“Damn, girl.” Val giggled, pushing a few strands of hair out of my face, the way she did when I was a kid. “How is work?”
“I absolutely don’t want to talk about that tonight. Too early for a mood killer. How about we go back to looking at Carlo’s designs and decide which ones are deserving of our hard-earned money?”
Val opened her mouth, clearly about to disagree, but Lori pointed at my phone. “Val, you heard her. Eyes on the phone, sis.”
Once we were at the table, the conversation circled to Jace and Brooke’s wedding, of course.
“The seating chart is still killing us,” Brooke said. “Oh, Reid, I’ve been meaning to ask you, are you free that weekend?”
“I don’t know.” He turned to me, taunting with a cocky smile. “Am I invited?”
I tapped my chin, as if I had to think hard about it. “Hmm... you’d save me from the embarrassment of being the only single Connor, so I’d say you’ve earned a spot.”
He laughed, kissing my temple. “It’s a date.”
I caught my sisters’ and my brothers’ better halves exchanging conspiratorial looks and smiles.
“What’s that?” I pointed between them.
“The girls made a bet,” Jace informed me.
I set my fork down. “Wait a second. The girl team made a bet and I wasn’t involved?”
Val glared at Jace. “You just had to give us away, didn’t you?”
“What did you bet on?” I asked curiously.
“That you’d have a date at our wedding,” Brooke said.
“Well, technically, we said at the next Connor wedding,” Val went on. “But since Carter’s and mine happened sooner than anticipated, it didn’t count.”
Wow. The girls had even more confidence in me than I did.
“So this is the first wedding where you’re going with a handsome date, huh?” Reid asked. I blushed.
“Yes, it is. Welcome to the Connor clan, Reid,” Jace said. “We’ll be making bets about you soon enough, don’t worry.”
I peeked at Reid out of the corner of my eye. He was chuckling.
“Don’t make this awkward,” I warned Jace.
“What are younger brothers for?”
I shook my head, laughing, then steered the conversation toward another subject before Reid could find out too many embarrassing details about me on his second dinner. I tried to suss out if anyone was in trouble or needed my PR skills, but so far, no one was in hot water.
“My phone’s almost out of battery. Do you have a charger?” Reid asked after we finished the main course.
“Oh, Val has the same phone. Her charger’s in the kitchen. I’ll do it for you.”
I headed to the kitchen with Reid’s phone, plugging it into the charger. The second it connected, the screen lit up briefly, and I froze.
A preview of an email flashed. The sender’s name was a certain Mr. Lawson. I had no idea who he was but the first words caught my attention.
Your meeting with Marion...
The screen faded back to black, with a small charging battery symbol in the right corner. I was rooted to the spot, feeling as if all my blood had suddenly pooled into my feet.
I set the phone on the counter. My heart was beating fast, the pulse reverberating in my eardrums. What was going on?
I couldn’t block out Marion’s words, her smug expression. I pressed my fingers to my temples, drawing in a deep breath.
I was overthinking this. I just had to ask Reid. I was sure there was a perfectly logical explanation for why the hell he’d met with his ex and why he’d kept it from me. I didn’t want to jump to conclusions, but I wasn’t sure how to stop that from happening.
***
Reid
Hailey had painted a vivid picture of the family, but experiencing it myself was a perk. She seemed a little pale when she returned.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded but didn’t meet my eyes. Fuck, she was definitely not okay, but before I could insist, she turned her attention to Brooke, asking about the seating arrangements at the wedding.
Landon proceeded to ask me how I’m planning to finance the new hotel, and before long, we were discussing the pros and cons of bank financing.
I kept glancing at Hailey, waiting to see her relax, but her shoulders remained stiff and her smile seemed almost forced. I had to force myself to remain in my seat and carry out the conversation.
While we cleaned the table, I got my chance to pull her to one side.
“Hailey, what’s wrong? You’ve been... on edge since you returned from the kitchen.”
“Nothing.” Her snappy tone could only mean one thing: whatever was wrong had to do with me.
“Did I do something to upset you? Let’s talk about it.”
“Not with my family around, okay? They’ll catch on and worry. Later.”
My insides tightened. What the hell was going on? I didn’t want to wait until later. Even so, I couldn’t help but admire her strength. Despite clearly being rattled, she had a smile for everyone and even played a game of Monopoly with Milo and April.
I was torn between simply dragging her into an empty room or throwing her over my shoulder and taking off with her. I wanted to know what had put her in that state. And I wanted to know right now.
As the evening wound down and everyone was heading out, Jace leaned on the sofa, groaning.
“How am I supposed to go home now?”
“You can always spend the night. There are enough rooms,” Val offered.
“You know what? I’m going to take you up on it,” Hailey said.
What?
I stared at her, about to lose it in front of her entire family. First she said we’d talk later, and now she wanted to spend the night here?
Val looked between us, grinning. “Or not. I see someone has plans for you, Hailey.”
I draped an arm around her waist.
“Apparently so,” she replied.
“I do.”
She tensed under my fingers, cocking her head in my direction. I didn’t miss the challenge in her eyes, but I didn’t back down.
Val smiled at us both. “Well, off you go then, lovebirds. Just don’t get up to shenanigans on the porch. There are kids around.”
Hailey was mad. I could tell that by her stiff posture and the speed with which she stepped away from me the second we descended the stone steps in the garden.
“Hailey, we need to talk.”
“We could have just talked later.”
“Really? Because it looked to me as if you were just planning to give me the slip.”
“Not everything is about you. Maybe I just wanted to have a sleepover at my sister’s.”
“I don’t buy it. What’s wrong? I want to know right now.”
She folded her arms over her chest, taking a deep breath.
“On your phone, I saw a message from a Mr. Lawson about your meeting with Marion.” Another deep breath, and then she spoke so quickly that I could barely understand the words. “When I plugged your phone in, the screen lit up, along with the latest notifications.”
“Doesn’t matter how you saw it—”
“I don’t want this to turn into a conversation about why I was snooping around in your phone. I wasn’t.”
“I don’t have anything to hide, Hailey. And guilting the other person into thinking they are in the wrong is a coward’s way out.”
Her shou
lders were slightly hunched, as if she wanted to roll into herself. Shit. I’d done that to her.
“So, why did you meet with her?”
“I wanted to tell her to her face what my next steps would be.”
“Reid, I’m your PR agent. I need to know about these things. Do you know how hard it is for me to do my job these days? My boss is breathing down my neck, my clients are on edge. The last thing I need is to be blindsided by some photos of you and Marion out in town.”
“The meeting was in my office. I also saw Lincoln.”
“You’re killing me.” She ran a hand through her hair, biting her lip. “Let’s just go.”
She was quiet on the way to the hotel. At first I thought she was just tired, but when we arrived in the living room, I noticed she was still tense. Her shoulders were still raised, her back stiff.
“I’m just going to go to bed early,” Hailey said quickly. “I’m just tired... and....”
She went silent when I brought a hand around her waist. I could feel all her muscles clench.
“You’re still mad at me?” I asked against her hair.
“No, no. It’s not that. I just....”
“I’m not letting you go to bed like this.”
“What? I just said that’s what I want.”
“No, it’s not. You want something else, but whatever it is, you don’t want to say it. I’ll wait you out.” I could feel we were on the edge of something, both of us pushing. If I relented now, she’d shut me out. If I kept pushing, I risked her getting angry, but I couldn’t just leave things like this.
“Look, I’m sorry I’ve overreacted back at the house. I just... I don’t know, I saw that message and... tonight, Marion was at the designer presentation, and she made it seem like you’re not telling me everything.”
Fucking hell.
“So you were jealous?”
She swallowed, pointing a finger at me. “Don’t mock me.”
“I’m not. I’m not mocking you.” I touched her cheek, bringing my hand to the back of her head, leaning closer. “In fact, I’m weirdly happy about it.”
“Now you’re being mean.”
“Just honest. You caring so much that you’re jealous... I can’t tell you what that does to me, Hailey. Woman, you have no idea how much power you have over me.”
She relaxed under my touch, but folded her arms against her chest.
“Still being mean. You’re lucky I love you so much, Mr. Broody.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Hailey
I spent the weekend making up for my little scene at Val’s house. I had meant what I’d told him—that as his PR pro I needed to know if he planned something like this, but I couldn’t pretend that was the only reason I’d gone berserk. I owned up to my flaws.
On Sunday evening, Reid left for San Diego.
He had an early meeting Monday, and it made more sense for him to sleep there overnight. I wasn’t in the mood to be on my own, so I asked Val if her sleepover offer was still on the table.
“Ummm, is the Earth round? Hell, yes.”
She figured out the second I arrived that I wasn’t in the best mood. I was dreading tomorrow, and I hadn’t felt like that about Mondays since I’d changed jobs.
We were up late into the night, long after Carter and the girls went to sleep, with the result that the next morning I woke up with a headache and low energy. Val took care of the latter.
When I descended to the kitchen, she had coffee and pancakes ready.
“Breakfast of champions, huh?” I murmured. “Where’s everyone else?”
“Carter took the girls to school. But I’m here to give you some sisterly love, and pancakes.”
I laughed, digging into the pancakes. Yep, my sister totally knew how to brighten my day. We talked about nothing in particular, just enjoying the quiet morning.
“Are you going to the office today?” she asked.
“Have to. We’ve got a meeting every Monday morning, or I would have worked from home.”
“Pity. You could have kept me company.” My sister was working from home now that her due date was approaching.
“I could come after the meeting. I don’t know.”
“Hmm, I can sweeten that offer with a homemade burger for lunch.”
“Val. That’s not sweetening the offer. It’s bribing me.”
Val smiled coyly. “You know me. Always up for that. Plus, you can borrow some sweatpants from me. We can slum it if we’re both working from home.”
“Now you’ve won me over. Sweatpants and burger it is.”
I decided to check my emails before leaving, and good thing I did, because I’d received an email from Cameron.
Do you have time after the morning meeting? Need to talk to you.
I gripped my phone tight, rubbing the back of my neck. “Looks like I have to stay longer at the office after all. My boss needs me.”
“Oh, damn. And I was already in a sweatpants mood. Go get them.”
I wasn’t particularly looking forward to going into work. All I wanted was to indulge in some more sisterly love.
But I shook myself, put on my proverbial big girl pants, and headed to the agency. The office was buzzing with activity, as usual on Mondays. It was one of the very few weeks in which I didn’t have any highlights to present.
Afterward, Cameron gestured toward his office.
“Want to grab a coffee before?” he asked.
“No, thanks. I’m good. Let’s get the ball rolling.”
Before, I’d always been excited when Cameron called me in. It usually meant exciting new projects, more ways for me to prove myself. Now, however, I was dreading it.
“You know how I always talked about expanding our business, maybe also moving into corporate PR.”
“Yes.” Maybe this was going in a positive direction after all. I really didn’t want to hear any bad news. There were only so many bad things a girl could handle at once.
“Well, I’ve had the ball rolling for a while, and I think we’re finally ready for the next step. You’re a valued member of this team. Your drive is hard to come by. Your skills are perfect for Hollywood PR, but for a while, until things are running smoothly, you’d be spearheading that corporate PR effort.”
“Hell, yes.”
I felt a flicker of hope.
“Okay, well, before I give you more details, let me just say that this office would be headquartered in Houston.”
“In— Wait, what? Why?”
“There’s a huge business cluster there, and the PR market isn’t crowded like New York or Washington. And my sister lives there. She’d love to get involved too. She’s had a hard time going back into the workforce after having her baby, so this would be a great opportunity.”
I shoved a strand of hair behind my ear, suddenly feeling the need to move my hands. I couldn’t stand still.
“It wouldn’t be bad for you to lie low for a while,” he continued.
“Because of the pictures.”
“Look, I know it’s not your fault. I’m not blaming you for anything. But it would be good if you were out of the spotlight for a while.”
“But being in Houston would mean that I couldn’t handle my LA clients. You know how important personal meetings are. I’ve talked a few off the ledge just because I met them in person.”
“Someone else can handle your current clients for a while.”
It felt like I was getting pummeled from all directions, and I frankly only had so much energy.
“I can’t move to Houston, Cameron. I mean, I could, of course, but I don’t want to.”
He tapped his fingers over the desk, nodding. “I know how close you are to your family, but this would just be for a few months.”
“Would that really make sense, though?”
“You can get the ball rolling and also hire someone to run the office together with my sister permanently while you’re there.”
“How many months?”
/> “Two, three? We’ll play it by ear. You don’t have to give me an answer now. Take your time to think about it.”
“What happens if I don’t go?”
“Then I’m going to ask you to take an extended leave for two to three months. Unpaid vacation.”
Right, because I could afford three unpaid months.
“You really need me gone.”
His shoulders slumped. “I need the buzz to die down. In this city, out of sight is out of mind.”
“You don’t have to tell me that. I know.”
“It’s not a punishment.”
“It feels like it, though. I did nothing wrong.”
Cameron smiled sympathetically. “I’ve given this a lot of thought. It’s the best solution I have. The only one, if I’m honest. I’d really hate to lose you.”
Translation: you don’t have a choice.
“I’ll go. Thanks for giving me this out.” I felt as if someone else was speaking the words and I was merely a puppet, moving my lips.
I really did appreciate it. I just didn’t want it. I knew that most bosses would cut their losses and just let me go, but Cameron was being more than fair. I hated that I’d disappointed him. I’d only met him a few years ago, but he meant a lot more to me than a mentor. He’d looked out for me from the very beginning, and still was. And I’d gone and disappointed him, and now the only way for me to keep my job was to relocate to Houston.
Usually, I’d jump up and down for such an opportunity, especially because it was for a limited time. I could fly back every other weekend to be with my family and wouldn’t miss out on too many shenanigans. But that was before Reid.
“When do you want me to start?”
“As soon as possible. Annalise opened up shop last month, but honestly, she can use all the help she can get.”
I rubbed my palms over my skirt, then caught myself, forced myself to remain calm.
“Okay, well... umm, I’ll make the necessary arrangements.”
“Sure. Just don’t take too much time.”
I left his office on shaky legs, feeling as if the walls of the building were closing in on me. I made it to my desk and plopped down into my chair before realizing I couldn’t possibly sit there for the rest of the day. The agency had been a source of joy for me ever since I returned to LA, but now I was suffocating.
