“Do you hate me too, Vira?”
She pulled away from me. “What? How could you even ask that? If your mom chooses to hate you because of what happened, then she doesn’t deserve you.”
“You should have heard the things she said to me. I know I deserved it and so much more, but she said she never wants to see me again.”
“Fuck her. People make mistakes and if she can’t forgive them, then she isn’t the Christian person I thought her to be.”
“But she’s right. What I did was unforgivable.”
“Maybe to Logan, but sweetie, your mother’s supposed to forgive you your mistakes. Sure it may take some time, but she should still be there for you. Besides, how could I hate you? I’m the one that came up with the idea to begin with.”
I sniffled and made my way to the couch. “I guess this is my life now. Working a dead end job with one friend to my name and the rest of the town hating me.”
“Not the whole town. Just about half.”
I laughed at her teasing. It was only about half. Not bad for six months work.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Logan
I could have sworn we were screwed. We had clients calling us constantly asking questions about the rumors that plagued us. There was no way we were going to come out of this in a good light. Ryan was pissed, but not just at me. He was pissed mostly at Cece. She had done a good job of fucking up our business. Yet, he was pissed at me because I did this to myself. Not really, but when you hurt people, it’s only so long before one of them does something back.
That old phrase hell hath no fury like a woman scorned had never been so true. I don’t think I deserved all this, but if I were honest with myself, I had hurt her deeply and fate was a fickle bitch. Imagine my surprise when Cassandra called and told us the investors had changed their minds about us.
“What happened? What changed their minds?”
“Your ex called a marketing meeting requesting all the investors be there. Then she told them all about how she had sabotaged you in an effort to get revenge. She even handed over her marketing plan for the building before she left.”
“And they believed her?”
“Well, they made some calls and found out that what she was saying was true. They are back on board and send their apologies. They’d like to get the project up and running again as soon as possible. Time is money, you know.”
“Sure. I’ll talk to Ryan and we’ll get going on the project again. Cassandra, I can’t say how sorry I am for this. This could have really hurt the project.”
“I understand. Let’s just hope from here on out there are no more hiccups. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Sure. Bye.”
I went to Ryan’s office and the smile on my face must have said it all.
“We got the job back? Please tell me we got the job back.”
“We got the job back.”
“What did you do to fix it?”
“I told Cece she needed to fix it and somehow she did. She convinced the board that she had spread those rumors out of revenge and they believed her.”
He heaved a huge sigh of relief. “Oh thank God. That could have ended the company. Wait. If she admitted that to all the investors, she just screwed herself over.”
“What do you mean?” I asked in confusion.
“Well, the minute she walked into that meeting and confessed that to the investors, she probably lost her job. Nobody would ever trust anything she said ever again and no company would want her on their team.”
I stared at him for a moment as I thought over what he said. He was right. I hated the woman right now, but a huge part of me still loved her and didn’t want her to lose her job over this. Which was insane because I almost lost my job and so did many other people.
“Shit.”
“Don’t feel too bad. She tried to screw us over.” When he saw that I didn’t necessarily feel the same, he continued. “However, for a woman to give up everything she’s worked for to save a man, even though she’s the reason he almost lost everything…” I shot him a look that said to shut up. He raised his arms in concession. “I’m just saying, that doesn’t sound like a woman that doesn’t love you. That’s a good woman that did some terrible things for the wrong reasons.”
He didn’t need to say anymore. While I wasn’t anxious to see her again, I couldn’t help that something was happening in my chest. Something that seemed almost like joy, though why the fuck I felt joy when the woman almost destroyed me, I wasn’t sure. If she really did love me, maybe this was her way of showing it. If she really hated me, she would have tried to fix it, but given up when her job was on the line. However, first I needed to be sure that she had actually done all of this for me and not just found a way around all of it.
I called her office and asked to speak with her, but I was told she wasn’t working there anymore, so I asked to be patched through to Mr. Johnson.
“Mark Johnson speaking.”
“Mr. Johnson, this is Logan Walker. I’m calling in regards to Cece Baker.” I heard a grunt on the other end so I continued. “I understand that she confessed some things about a situation at a meeting she was attending for a client of yours. I’m wondering if you could tell me how that went?”
“Let’s not bullshit here, Mr. Walker. Cece came in here and told me that she spread lies about your company to get back at you. Then she turned in her resignation and went to the meeting to tell our clients what happened.”
“You didn’t fire her?” I asked in disbelief.
“No. She quit before I could do it. She knew there was no way we would keep her on here after what she’d done. However, the situation is taken care of and she is no longer employed here. I’m sorry she used our company to attack you.”
I was baffled. She hadn’t even tried to plead her case. She knew exactly what would happen and took it all. I didn’t know if this was because she felt guilty or she did it to save my company, but I would be finding out very soon.
“I appreciate your candor. Thank you for your time.”
I hung up the phone and stared out my office window. I needed to go talk with her and find out exactly where she stood and then I needed to make some decisions. I didn’t know if I could forgive her, but I also didn’t know if I could live without her if she truly loved me.
✯✯✯✯✯
The first place I looked for her was her apartment, but I had no luck when I got there. Either she wasn’t answering or she wasn’t home, but I would bet that she wasn’t home. I didn’t hear any movement on the other side of the door. The next place I tried was the cafe we met at every morning. It was a long shot, but I really didn’t have any other ideas.
I finally broke down and gave her a call, but she didn’t answer. The more time it took to find her, the more my desire to talk to her grew. I was getting impatient and my skin was crawling with the need to see her. There was still one person I could try.
“Sean, I need your help with something.”
“Sure, whatcha need?”
“I need you to get ahold of Vira and find out where Cece is.”
There was a pause on the other end. “Logan, I don’t think that’s a good idea. You guys are over. No sense in beating a dead horse.”
“Sean, I need to find her. Please. Do this for me.”
I heard a sigh on the other end and I knew it was going to be tough to convince him to do this. “If you’re just trying to find her so you can harp on her some more..”
“That’s not..”
“Because you’ve said enough. Look, I know what she did was horrible, but you have to let it go and move on from her. You guys are toxic to each other.”
I was about to argue with him, but his words stopped me in my tracks. Were we toxic? I had always thought we had explosive chemistry, but to the point of being bad for each other?
“What? Why would you say that?”
“Logan, seriously, you two get revenge instead of working out your
issues. It’s not a normal relationship.”
“She did something for me, something that really helped me and I need to talk to her. I need to know why she did it. I need to know if she still loves me,” I said fiercely.
“Fine. I’ll get in touch with Vira, but if she says no, that’s the end of it. I’m not getting involved any further than that.”
“Thanks, man.”
I hung up the phone and sat in my truck, waiting impatiently to hear back from Sean. I knew I should be at work, but this was too important and I wouldn’t be able to concentrate anyway. I waited for fifteen minutes before my phone rang and my heart kicked into overdrive.
“Yeah,” I barked into the phone.
“She’s at Maggie’s diner, but..”
“Thanks, Sean. I owe you one.”
“Wait, Logan..”
I hung up before he could finish. I didn’t need to hear about how I should think about this first or I should just leave her alone. I needed to see her and it had to be now. I was across town so fast, I was surprised I didn’t get pulled over. I parked and all but ran into the diner, my gaze sweeping the booths for her. When I didn’t see her, I was so disappointed. I had missed her.
I turned to leave when I heard her voice float across the restaurant. Turning, I saw her coming out of the kitchen with a tray in hand with plates on top. I stared in confusion and then it dawned on me. Sean was trying to tell me that she was working here. I wasn’t sure if I should stick around or leave. She may not want me here seeing her working here.
Before I could make a decision, she looked up and our eyes locked. Her face paled and shame filled her eyes. She swung around quickly and ran straight into a customer, spilling the food everywhere and causing the plates to shatter on the floor. She knelt down immediately and started gathering the broken plates and food from the floor while apologizing to the customer that was now covered in food.
I rushed over to her to help her clean up as an older woman walked out and stared at the mess on the floor. “What happened here?”
“I’m so sorry, Sylvia. I was clumsy and dropped the tray. You can take it out of my pay.”
“Don’t worry about it, honey. Accidents happen. Let’s just get it cleaned up. What were the orders? I’ll take them to the kitchen to get them whipped up real fast.”
She spouted off the orders and then continued picking up, all while ignoring me. Her hands were shaking and she looked close to tears. When we finished, she picked up the tray and brought it into the back as the woman, Sylvia, came back out front.
“Excuse me, Sylvia is it?”
“Yes.” She eyes me skeptically.
“Could I borrow Cece for a minute? It’s important.”
“Are you the guy?”
“Excuse me?”
“The guy she ruined her career over.”
I blew out a breath and looked away. “Yeah, that’s me.”
“What makes you think she wants to see you?”
“I don’t know that she will, but I have to talk to her. I just found out what she did for me and I need to talk to her.”
“You’re not here to start trouble are you? Because she’s a good worker and I don’t want you running her off.”
“No, ma’am.”
She walked into the kitchen and I heard her telling Cece to take a break. A minute later Cece walked out of the kitchen looking very uncomfortable to see me. She was fidgeting and wouldn’t look me in the eye.
“Can we go talk for a few minutes,” I asked.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. I think we’ve said enough to each other.”
“Please.”
She looked up at me and after a minute, nodded in acquiescence. We went over to a table in the corner that was in a secluded part of the restaurant. She took a seat, but refrained from looking at me.
“I heard about what you did.”
She shrugged. “It was the right thing to do. You didn’t deserve that and neither did your employees.”
“Is that the only reason you did it?”
She looked at me with tears swimming in her beautiful eyes. “I made a huge mistake letting my past with you dictate my future. I will always be sorry for that. I ruined something great between us.”
“Yeah, well, I did a pretty bang up job of helping you with that. I should have talked to you about what I overheard.” I shook my head as I continued. “I said and did some horrible things to you at the club. No matter how hurt I was, that wasn’t the way to handle it.”
“No matter how awful you were to me, there was no excuse for me to try to destroy your company. That was…the most despicable thing I have ever done in my entire life. I lost you, my job, my mom..”
“Your mom?”
“She wasn’t exactly thrilled to know that her daughter could be so evil. She basically told me not to ever step foot in her house again.”
I was shocked. I mean, I was the one who was hurt by all this and yet I was sitting here talking with her. “I’m sure she’ll come around. She loves you.”
She scoffed. “No. Apparently I have been a disappointment to her ever since I went off to college.”
“Did you tell them why things changed? What I did to you?”
“It wouldn’t matter. She wouldn’t want to hear it anyway. Besides, I have no right to plead my case to anyone.”
“Even me?”
Her eyes narrowed in on me. “Especially you. I don’t even understand why you’re here talking to me right now.”
I didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t sure what I hoped to get out of this either. I wasn’t sure if anything she said would change my mind or not. I just knew I had to hear what she had to say for herself.
“Just tell me one thing. Do you love me or did my actions ten years ago ruin everything for us?”
Something like hope sparked in her eyes. “I don’t think I ever stopped loving you. I wanted to hate you, but this time around was different. There was a strong connection between us that I don’t think we had ten years ago. I was just a kid then and I was naive to think that we would be together forever. This time though, I knew who I was and I liked who I was with you. I just wish I would have trusted that.”
“I want to believe you. I want to just take you in my arms and pretend none of this happened, but I don’t know that I can and it wouldn’t be fair to get your hopes up. I have to be sure I can get past what you did.”
She nodded, but I saw the hope die. There was nothing I could say though. I couldn’t just magically forgive her. I needed some time to wrap my head around all this. I stood from the booth and looked down at her.
“I need to sort this all out.”
“Don’t, Logan. I think we’ve run our course. I’m through hurting you and I think it’s about time I moved on. It’ll be too hard for me to do that here. Maybe I need to start over somewhere else. Everyone here knows what I did. The only chance I have is to move somewhere people don’t know me.”
Damn it. I wanted so badly to tell her to stay, but I couldn’t. I didn’t know if I had anything to offer her and she was right, moving on in this town would be difficult with everyone knowing what she did. She wouldn’t ever be able to get a better job than she had now.
“Take care of yourself, Cece.”
I walked out of the restaurant and out of Cece’s life. It was time to get back to my own and get it back on track.
✯✯✯✯✯
A week had passed since I made the decision to move on with my life. Cece was still part of my thoughts throughout the day, but I made my best effort to push her away as much as possible. She’d made her choices and now I had made mine.
Thursday night was poker night at Jack’s house and Cole was going to be there. I hadn’t see much of him lately because he was helping Alex recover from her injuries. She had a long road ahead of her and so we rarely saw him. Alex had convinced him that he needed a guys night, so this would be my opportunity to convince him to help us out with VAS.
<
br /> I started in on him right away, not wanting an opportunity to slip through my fingers. Ryan also took a few turns trying to convince him, but the thing that really worked in our favor was the suggestion Cassandra had.
“The woman running the project, Cassandra, thinks it would be a good idea to start a work program at the center. The idea is that we would set up a workshop and have veterans do what you’ve basically been doing for the past two years. She wants you to run the shop since you’re a veteran and it’s worked for you.”
“I don’t know that it worked. Alex was the driving force behind me getting better.” Cole played his hand as the conversation continued around them.
“Do you think you would have ever met Alex if you hadn’t been working in your dad’s shop? Would you have been strong enough to help her?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think I’m in any position to help others though.”
Ryan threw down his cards. “Who better to help them get through their shit than someone who understands what they’re going through. None of us were really able to pull you out of what you were going through. Sean dragged you out of bed and got you out of the house, but you did the rest on your own. That’s what these guys need is someone to help guide them through their shit.”
The other guys grunted their agreement and I could see we were getting through to Cole. We didn’t push too hard and changed to other topics, hoping that what we said sank in.
“Vira tells me that Cece is moving out of town next week. Didn’t say where she was going, but said that Cece felt she needed to get out of town so she could move on,” Sean said as he played a hand.
I grunted. I already knew all this. “What’s your point?”
Everyone at the table stilled. It was so quiet, you could hear a pin drop. I looked up from my cards to see all the guys glaring at me. I furrowed my brows trying to figure out why they all looked so pissed at me.
Logan Page 21
