What's a Girl to Do?

by Aimee Duffy

  Shey was about to turn on her heel when she spied Marco. He wasn’t alone. Her chin dropped when she saw the little bitch to Marco’s right drinking what looked like brandy and smoking a cigar. LB wasn’t clad in his usual gothic style either. He wore a suit, plain and dull and so unlike him she wondered if it was his older brother, but when she got closer and they both rose, Jude’s gaze ran over her outfit in that disapproving way of his that reassured her he hadn’t had a complete personality transplant.

  ‘Shey, I’m so glad you could join us.’ Marco pulled out a seat and she slid into it.

  She wanted to ask what was going on here, but Marco was the big dog and she was LB’s assistant. She had as much right to question him as she had to be there, and the latter was only because Marco allowed it.

  ‘Thank you,’ she said.

  Jude shifted in his seat and finished his drink in one go. The place obviously made him feel uneasy, and she could understand that. Worse, LB probably knew why she was there, so he couldn’t be as uncomfortable as her. But another good thing mommy dearest had taught her was the perfect poker face, and Shey embraced it now.

  ‘I trust you are well.’ Marco didn’t look like he cared either way.

  He was obviously stalling with what he probably assumed was polite small talk, but she was sick of being treated like shit by men. Jude, Calvin, and now Marco. Straightening her shoulders, she met his eyes steadily.

  ‘Why am I here, Marco?’ Demanding things of the owner of Storm was a bad idea, but she’d rather he fired her on the spot than patronized her with bullshit.

  His eyes widened for an instant, then he laughed. ‘Jude’s right, you’ve got balls. Those will serve you well in this business.’

  She sneaked a look at Jude, surprised he’d even mentioned her to their boss, but his attention was fixed on his empty glass. He didn’t look happy. That wasn’t a huge surprise, but if she was brought here to be canned and LB was there, she assumed it would be for his enjoyment.

  ‘I want to make you an offer,’ Marco said, dragging her attention back to him. His expression was hard to read. ‘Jude here is going to head the launch of a new magazine being released in autumn. For this he’d be assigned another assistant.’

  Shey tried to hide the panic threatening to close her throat. ‘What about the current article on page seven?’ Were they at least going to replace Jude, or cut the space for advertising and leave her without a job?

  ‘That would be yours, if you wanted it,’ Marco said.

  Shey couldn’t stop her mouth from falling open.

  ‘And of course you, would be assigned your own assistant. Jude assures me you’re more than capable of managing the feature, and what you did last week with the shoot was extraordinary.’

  She was dreaming, that must be it. Things like this didn’t happen to her. LB wouldn’t recommend her for the job. And why bring her here to offer her a promotion? Surely the office would be a better place to meet.

  Unless… ‘What’s the catch?’

  Marco laughed again, an uncomfortable rumble that only increased her suspicion. ‘Jude’s right; you catch on quick.’

  ‘I learned from the best.’ And when she threw a pointed look his way, he still didn’t meet her eyes.

  ‘As you know, we’re leasing the top floor. Jude will be moving there. The new magazine will be a smaller weekly digest, but of course there’re no guarantees it will kick off straight away and do well enough to pay for the space.’

  In that second she knew what he wanted from her. What didn’t click straight away was how he knew about her and Calvin and why he assumed they were a proper couple. She had no leverage over Calvin and didn’t want it.

  Then Shey realized. She glared at LB and the bastard couldn’t even look at her. He was as spineless as a gummy bear, and as twisted as they come. To think she’d felt sorry for his marital problems. More. Fool. Her.

  She turned back to Marco. ‘You want me to ask Calvin to lower the rent.’

  Marco nodded, smiling at her in a way that made her feel like a traitor. The reason she was here now made perfect sense. Blackmail, pure and simple. The walls had ears at Storm and no one other than Calvin knew she was meeting Marco tonight. There would be no proof for her if this all went the way she knew it would.

  ‘And what if I say no?’ Not really a question she needed to ask.

  ‘Then you won’t have a job. We’ve already hired another assistant for Jude, and if he can’t work on the new feature, he’ll return to page seven with his new assistant.’

  Her mind spun. She could go to Calvin, let him apologize like he’d tried to do before she stormed out, persuade him to lower the rent and secure her dream job. Be like that bitch who had taken all his money.

  Or she could hit the job sites and end up working for something cringe-worthy like the modern dog magazine. She revolted from the idea, but Marco wasn’t giving her time to think. He strummed his fingers on the wooden table, scrutinizing her like a bug he could squish.

  There wasn’t any doubt about her answer. And she gave it to him without further hesitation.

  Chapter Nine

  Calvin found himself at Shey’s apartment by nine that evening. The guilt of his parting words to her made him restless and he was anxious to make things right with her, even if this was the end of their time together.

  One of her roommates buzzed him in and opened the door when he got to it. ‘Is she here?’ he asked the blonde.

  ‘I hope you’re here to grovel.’ The woman was tiny, but the fierceness in her expression cut him to bits.

  Because he’d cut Shey to bits. ‘I am.’

  ‘Flowers wouldn’t have broken the bank.’

  He scrubbed a hand over his face. ‘I think it will take more than flowers to make this up to her.’

  The red-head let him in. He followed her through to a longue surrounded by vases of different kinds of fresh flowers, and was glad he hadn’t brought any. A blonde glared at him from a leather sofa, then went back to reading a book she had open on her lap. He definitely deserved to feel this awful, and it warmed him to know Shey had friends who cared about her.

  ‘Where is she?’ he asked the red-head.

  ‘In her room. She won’t come out.’ She pointed down the hall. ‘Second door on the left.’

  He took a step in the direction she’d pointed but she grabbed his arm. ‘After everything she’s sacrificed, you better be nice or Georgia and I will tie you down and cut off your balls with a rusty knife.’

  Ah, she must be Eloisa, though from Shey’s description of her friends he would have expected something like that from Georgia.

  ‘Sacrifice?’ he asked, but then didn’t wait for an answer. Just like him, she’d given up her own rules to keep herself safe and he’d hurt her. ‘Okay, rusty knife. Got it.’

  Eloisa released him and he made his way to Shey’s room. There was no answer when he knocked, so he opened the door. Shey was wrapped in a duvet facing the other side of the room, but her shoulders shook like she was crying. His heart ripped in two seeing her like that, and knowing he was the one to cause her pain.

  ‘Shey, I’m so, so sorry about today.’ He crossed the room, but didn’t dare sit next to her. ‘I didn’t mean what I said. I was angry that you assumed I cheated on Jane. I never did. She had affairs, which I never found out about until she took every dime I had, but none of that excuses the way I treated you.’

  She didn’t turn. ‘I don’t care about that. Not anymore.’

  Something shifted in his chest, stalling his heart and blocking his air supply. This couldn’t be the end, they couldn’t be over so quickly.

  ‘I know I fucked up. I’m truly sorry, but I don’t want this to be over.’

  She turned to him, her eyes rimmed red, and Calvin had a horrible feeling that he wasn’t the only cause of her pain. They’d only known each other for just over a week, though they’d spent a lot of time together. He’d grown closer to her than he had anyone, but one ar
gument shouldn’t have destroyed her. She was so much stronger than that.

  ‘Shey, what happened with Marco?’ He crouched by the side of the bed; had to work to keep his voice even. ‘If he hurt you I’ll—’

  ‘There’s nothing you can do.’ Her voice was quiet, dead even. ‘I don’t work for Storm anymore. They fired me.’

  His hands fisted on the sheets. ‘Why?’

  Shey turned back to face the wall, shrugging under the covers. ‘Doesn’t matter.’

  Like hell it didn’t. Calvin was going to pay Marco a visit. He wanted the twelfth floor? Well, he could work for it. Calvin had signed the contract but hadn’t sent Marco his copy. It was easy enough to rip it up, which he would if that bastard didn’t rehire her, or at least give her a glowing reference.

  ‘I’ll fix this,’ he promised.

  She sat up and turned to face him so fast he thought she might get whiplash. ‘You’ll leave it alone. There’s nothing you can do, and I don’t want you to. What’s the point, Calvin? You and I are a few nights away from never seeing each other again, and honestly I don’t see a point in keeping this going.’

  He gritted his teeth and fought the urge to reach for her, shake some sense into her. ‘We don’t need a time limit. This doesn’t have to be over.’

  Shit, just what he hadn’t wanted to say, but panic made him desperate. Extending their time together would only make it harder to leave down the line.

  ‘I suppose you want it all? Love, marriage and two point four children? Get real Calvin, we both know that won’t happen and I don’t want to fall for someone who’ll drop me the second he gets bored.’

  ‘You could never bore me.’

  It was the best defense he had, because he couldn’t deny the rest. Marriage, kids, any kind of future beyond what they had now wasn’t what he wanted. And that wouldn’t be fair to her, to live separately, to never have any kind of commitment from him other than his word that he wouldn’t fuck anyone else. The scars Jane left ran deep, and though Shey was nothing like her, he couldn’t risk this… relationship ending the same as his marriage. With him left with nothing.

  It would be dangerous letting her into his heart, his life, and would cost him if they ever broke up. What he felt for Shey now far surpassed what he thought he felt for Jane. Letting Shey go would be more than him not being able to give her what she one day wanted. It was also self-preservation.

  Her gaze softened. ‘But we could never be what the other needs. I need security, now more than ever. And you need to be free, because you could never truly trust me. You’d always be wondering when I was going to walk out and leave you with nothing.’

  She touched the side of his face and he caught her wrist, flattened her palm against his cheek and tried to breathe through the agony of knowing this was goodbye. ‘I’ll never forget you, gorgeous. Ever.’

  Her eyes filled, and his vision got a little blurry too. To distract them both, he caught her face in his palms and kissed her too softly, too briefly. It didn’t stop his whole body firing to life like it had been weeks and not hours since he made love to her.

  Calvin pulled away. Rose from the floor. Couldn’t take his eyes off her. Her expression crumpled and her amber eyes shone with the grief he felt.

  He didn’t have parting words, wasn’t sure if he could speak. But he had a plan. He was going to make things right for her if it was the last thing he did, starting tomorrow with a visit to Storm.

  ***

  Shey was still shaking an hour after Calvin left.

  Really left.

  For the last time.

  Her heart was broken, utterly shattered, and all that crap she’d spewed about not wanting to fall for him was the biggest lie she’d ever told. She’d fallen all right. Hard, and there was no going back from that.

  But this was better now she could get over him. Move on. Look for work. A glance down at herself showed she was as much of a mess as everything else in her life.

  Pulling herself together, she washed her puffy face and prepared for the inquisition. Georgia was reading on the sofa, while Eloisa was glued to America’s Next Top Model, and look, mommy dearest was a guest on tonight’s show, looking more put-together than freshly made dough.

  ‘Will you guys help me send out my resume?’ Shey asked.

  Both turned her with shocked expressions. Shey never asked anyone for help, but she was on a mission to get her life back on track. The sooner the better. And the busier she was, the less time she had to pine over Calvin.

  ‘I don’t know what the hell he said in there, but I think I like him.’ Since Georgia rarely liked anyone, that was saying something.

  ‘He didn’t say anything.’

  Not even to fight for her, not even to reassure her she’d have more with him someday. And that was the motivation she needed to get her ass out of bed and get on with her life. Her mom had been right. She couldn’t rely on a man, but unlike Felicity, she had friends. Friends who cared and were willing to help at the drop of a hat. And Shey loved them for it.

  It was obvious from their mmhmm’s they didn’t believe her. But she ignored them and grabbed her laptop. ‘First up, job-hunting.’

  Eloisa switched off the box and picked up her own laptop, Georgia pulled out her iPad, and the three of them got to work.

  ***

  Mandy didn’t seem surprised to see Calvin when he arrived at Storm, though she’d probably heard about Shey by now. What did seem to surprise her was that Marco met him at the reception desk, instead of asking for her to show Calvin to his office.

  Calvin was happy with the arrangement; it gave him more of an opportunity to show the bastard how furious he was and make Marco sweat that little bit longer.

  Marco led him through to his plush office suite, with a full wall made of glass looking out over New York. Calvin slid into a chair without being offered, and placed his briefcase holding the contract on his lap.

  ‘Personally delivering the tenancy agreement?’ Marco asked with a raised brow that said the fucker knew why Calvin was there.

  ‘Let’s cut the shit, shall we?’

  Marco took the seat opposite him and nodded.

  ‘Mind telling me why you fired Shey Lopez?’

  The guy’s eyebrows hit his hairline. ‘She didn’t tell you?’

  Fuck, he should have opened with something that didn’t show he knew zero. ‘I’m asking for the reason you fired her, not why you told her you did.’

  ‘If she told you anything at all, you wouldn’t be asking me.’ Marco smiled and Calvin wanted to wipe it off his face.

  ‘I’m going to make this clear. If you want the twelfth floor, I’d suggest you reconsider her employment.’ But if Shey didn’t want to come back, what would be the point? ‘Or recommend her to one of the other magazines in the city.’

  ‘Shey was given a choice.’ Marco’s expression got serious. ‘We’re reorganizing staff, opening a new magazine, and that takes money. You drove a hard bargain. If I couldn’t get a discount on the rent, the capital for the new venture would be too limited to go ahead.’

  His stomach shifted. Calvin didn’t like the sound of where the guy was going.

  ‘Shey has been dating you, and I offered her the position of editor. For this to happen she had to convince you to lower the rent.’

  Calvin’s fists clenched. ‘You blackmailed her?’

  ‘I offered her a conditional promotion.’

  Was this guy fucking insane? Then it hit him. Shey must have said no, knowing they would fire her if she didn’t bow to the bastard’s demands. She refused to ask that of him, even when losing her dream job was at stake.

  It didn’t make sense. Why the hell would she do that? Sure, they’d argued, but he had tried to apologize and she must know by now he’d do almost anything for her. He’d broken his own rules to make her happy. Twice, for Christ’s sake.

  ‘So you canned her when she said no.’ His voice was cold with rage.

  Marco shook his h
ead. ‘Her position was already taken by another, although for the new magazine. Even so, I did not fire her.’

  ‘You backed her into a corner so she had no choice.’ Calvin had to get out of here before he put the bastard through the glass wall.

  ‘Shey told me to shove my job up my ass. Hardly the same as me firing her.’

  Fury cracked Calvin wide open, until something else overpowered him. Shey had given up so much because she wouldn’t ask him for anything. She knew how his marriage had given him trust issues, even when she didn’t know all the details and refused to use him to get what she wanted.

  For the first time since his father died, he felt like he could trust another person implicitly. And it wasn’t just trust, but pure, unadulterated love that sang through his soul. He hadn’t loved Jane really, and it wasn’t until he met Shey he realized that. Somehow, knowing she’d destroy her own dreams instead of asking him to lower the rent, made him certain he could have a future with her.

  He’d fucked things up with Shey, but he’d make that right if it was the last thing he did.

  ‘If you don’t get on your knees in front of her and grovel, I’ll rip up the agreement. And if you dare try to sabotage her finding work anywhere else in this city, the second the lease is up on Storm you’ll be out on your ass.’

  Calvin didn’t wait for Marco’s compliance. The fucker liked his fancy office up there in the sky, and if he wanted to keep it he had to play on Calvin’s terms.

  As he left the building, a familiar woman stopped him in his tracks.

  ‘Is Shey here?’ Felicity asked.

  Calvin was about to dismiss her, when it struck him. Today maybe he could right two wrongs against Shey. ‘She doesn’t work here anymore.’

  Felicity’s face, so similar to Shey’s, dropped. Wringing her fingers in front of her, she pleaded with wide amber eyes. ‘Can you tell me her address? I need to see her.’

  ‘You don’t know where your daughter lives?’

  Her eyes narrowed. ‘We haven’t been close. I was hoping to change that.’

  Calvin folded his arms. If the witch was going through a new I-need-a-daughter-fad, he wasn’t letting her anywhere near Shey if he could help it. The woman had hurt her enough, and he owed Shey so much.