“So, you can collect interest and make money off them,” I snap. “I don’t want someone to hand me a job. Plus, banking is your thing. It’s not mine. I have no interest in working with you.”
“Where are you getting this mouth from? Since when are you so insubordinate? Do they teach you this defiance at that school? Maybe I should call the dean and find out what’s going on there. See, this is exactly why I should have forced you to attend Columbia. That school is no good for you. You belong here in New York. With me.”
“Why? Because I finally found something I like and want to go after it? Because I don’t want you to dictate every aspect of my life anymore. You can’t control everything I do, Daddy. I have to live my own life, and I want to go to nursing school after I graduate.”
“How about you meet me in the middle and apply for medical school?”
“I don’t want to be a doctor. I want to be a nurse. Are you even listening to me?”
“Yes, I’m listening, but I don’t like your tone or your decision. And I’m not paying for nursing school.”
“Fine, then I’ll take it from my trust fund.”
“I control that money,” he challenges. “You won’t get a cent if you choose to pursue this.”
“Then, I’ll get student loans like everyone else.”
He blows air into the phone, clearly annoyed with me. But I’m even angrier with him. How can he treat his only child this way? His parents didn’t hold him back from what he wanted, though he did follow in my grandfather’s footsteps and lived up to the Westbrook name. I, on the other hand, am now a massive disappointment in his eyes.
“Your mother is going to have a stroke when you tell her.” He adds, “I’m not breaking the news.”
“I don’t care what she thinks. It’s not like she’s ever done anything with her life. I might’ve made a decision sooner if I had learned anything of any value from her other than how to apply makeup and mix a martini.
“Don’t speak about your mother that way,” he shouts. “I don’t like the tone you’re using, Jade. Do I need to have Alexander collect you from that campus and bring you home?”
“No, don’t you even think about sending your driver because I won’t go with him.”
He lets out another deep breath. “I’ll pretend we never had this conversation. You have until next week to change your mind.”
“I won’t,” I yell so loud I don’t even recognize my own voice. “A few more days won’t make me do what you want.”
“We’ll see about that,” he says, his voice devoid of emotion. “Give it some time, and you’ll come to your senses. Look, Jade, I have to run to a meeting. Please think over the consequences of your actions if you want the money in your trust fund.”
“It was never my money anyway. You can keep it.”
“And it never will be yours if you pursue an unsuitable profession.”
“You mean a profession you haven’t chosen for me?”
“Jade, that’s enough.”
“You were never going to let me be a journalist were you?”
He snorts. “You were never that good of a writer. Why do you think you write about social events for the school newspaper instead of something more worthwhile?”
“Because of my sorority.”
“No, not quite.” His tone is so smug I wish I could slap him in the face. “Writing is not one of your strong suits, darling. You would have found that out the hard way when you applied for jobs. I was even going to let you submit your resume to The New York Times so you could see for yourself that you belong at the bank with me. But I don’t want you to tarnish the Westbrook name with something as silly as your writing. We have a reputation to uphold here in Manhattan.”
“You’re the worst person on earth,” I say with gritted teeth. “I hate you.”
He chuckles, and from the sounds of it, he’s moving through a crowded hallway. I hear an elevator ding and then more voices. “I have to go, Jade. Do as I say and think things over. Otherwise, you will suffer the consequences. I know you will make the right choice. You always do.”
Not this time.
Before I can respond, the line goes dead.
That asshole hung up on me.
Furious, I throw my cell phone across the room. It hits the wall and falls into the laundry basket on the floor.
“I take it that didn’t go well,” Shannon says.
“No, not at all. He’s a monster. What’s wrong with him? You should have heard the way he talked to me.”
“I heard enough,” she offers. “I thought my parents were unsupportive of my decision to open a bakery, but you have it way worse than me.”
“Your parents are afraid of you losing money on a business they don’t understand. I’m sure they’ll come around once you get it running. But my parents will never get on board with my decision to go to nursing school. He basically told me I’m stupid and can’t write and that I have to work for him or I won’t get any of the money in my trust fund.”
“What are you going to do?”
I shrug against the wooden headrest. “I don’t know. He’ll basically disown me if I become a nurse, and the sad part is that I don’t care. He has way too much power over me. It’s always been his way or the highway. I can’t live this way anymore. Even if I end up being a terrible nurse and fail out of nursing school, I’d at least like to say that I tried.”
“Then you should do it.” Shannon cups my shoulder with a bright smile. “I’m following dreams no one understands. You should see the weird looks I get when I tell people I want to start a bakery called Shake-n-Cake. And even weirder looks when I tell them the shake part is for the girls who will dance while they serve my signature cupcakes.”
“It’s different,” I say. “But I love the idea and so will other people. You make one hell of a cupcake.”
“And you’ll make a good nurse. You just have to take the first step and see if it’s for you.”
At least some people believe in me. It’s always the people you expect the most support from, and when you don’t get it, it feels like a knife to the chest.
Despite the sick feeling that call left behind, a sense of relief washes over me. I finally told my father how I feel. And I’ve made a decision, one that hopefully is the right choice.
Chapter Nineteen
Killian
“I know you’re up there, Killian,” Jade yells from outside my window, throwing something at the glass. “Open the damn door. Right now.”
I shake my head, wondering how many people are gathered outside of their houses watching her make an ass of herself. She’s doing it on purpose. Jade knows how much I hate it when she makes a scene.
“You need to talk to her before she breaks something,” Jamie says, his eyes fixed on the flat screen on the wall in front of us. “Preston will be up your ass if you don’t deal with her.”
Sitting on the floor next to Jamie, I click the buttons on the controller with my good hand, using my fingers on the casted hand to cradle it. It’s not easy playing games with one hand, but Jamie now has me hooked on his new video game, Quest for Shanaya. I still can’t believe he named it after Shannon. And to think, at one time, I sat next to his girl in class and hit on her for fun, only for him to end up with her.
“She’s better off without me,” I snap. “Stop worrying about Jade and focus on the fact I’m kicking your ass in your own game.”
He chuckles, tapping the buttons with fury and a look of determination on his face. I’ve know Jamie for so long it’s like we’re brothers. We don’t share the same bond he does with the other guys in the house, though our love of nerdy things makes it easier for him to talk through things he can’t with the other guys.
“Just open the window and tell her to go home then. She’s embarrassing herself… and you. She was over here every day for weeks, and then all of a sudden you push her away? It doesn’t make sense.”
I let out a sigh and drop the controller on the flo
or. “Because I love her. I’m doing this for her own benefit.”
Jamie cocks an eyebrow at me. “You think you’re saving her?”
“Yeah… actually, I do.”
We stare at each for a few seconds before Jade throws something at the window, this time much harder than the last.
“What the fuck, Kade?” Jamie presses his palm to the carpet and gets up to walk over to the window. “Stop being a pussy and get your ass downstairs right the fuck now.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “Fuck you, J. I don’t take orders from you.”
He folds his arms across his chest and glares at me from across the room. “You will, if you want a job on my team.”
I close the distance between us, only a few feet from the window.
Jamie glances over his shoulder to peek out the curtains. “Just go talk to her. If you don’t want to be with her, then go tell her, so she can move on with her life.”
“I do want to be with her.”
“Then what are you doing up here playing video games with me? For someone smart, you make so many stupid decisions.”
“Sorry, but we all can’t be billionaires born with silver spoons in our mouths. Some of us have to do the hard shit to survive.”
The second the words leave my mouth I know I’ve made another mistake. Jamie has been nothing but a good friend to me since we were kids. He doesn’t deserve my anger. Neither does Jade.
What the fuck is wrong with me? It’s like I can’t keep my shit together anymore. My entire life is unraveling.
“I can’t believe you’d say something like that to me.” He frowns, disappointment scrolling across his face. “After everything I’ve done for you. What my dad has done for you.” Jamie shakes his head, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans, looking away from me. “I never once thought of you as a charity case because you were poor. I’ve never treated you any differently. My dad grew up even worse off than you. You know that.”
I step forward, and he dodges me. “I’m sorry, J. I didn’t mean it. I’m fucked up. All I can think about is everything I’ve lost, and I keep taking it out on the wrong people.”
With that, he finally meets my gaze, his blue eyes so sad they mirror mine. “For as long as I’ve known you, we’ve been like family. You’re really fucking your life up, Killian. I don’t know what to do for you. Jade’s a good girl, and whether she’s rich or not is irrelevant. It doesn’t make you less worthy of her love. We all care about you. Everyone in this house. And you keep pushing us away. Why? Because our circumstances are different?”
“All of you have a choice,” I growl, my head somewhat fuzzy from the pain medication I took an hour ago. “You could go pro, and you’ve decided to give that up to go work for your dad. I’d fucking kill to be you right now.” I hold up my arm in the cast. “What the fuck am I supposed to do now? I risked everything to be here, and for what?”
“You did that to yourself, Killian. Don’t blame everyone else. You made the decision to steal cars for money.”
“Because I don’t have any,” I shout not meaning to be so cruel. Jamie brushes past me, and I grab his arm to stop him. “I’m sorry. Fuck! I keep messing shit up.”
Instead of pushing me away, he hooks his arm around my back and pulls me closer. He pats my back with his palm, slamming hard enough that I stumble forward. “You’ll get through this. But you need to get your head out of your ass.”
Another crack on my window steels both of our attention in that direction.
“Man up already,” Jamie hisses. “Either talk to Jade or I will.”
I nod, and he moves toward the door. On his way out of my room, he steals the bottle of pills from my desk.
“Yo, what are you doing?”
He doesn’t stop, fisting the bottle in his hand. I follow him out of my bedroom and into the bathroom where he’s dumping the pills into the toilet. My heart beats faster when I see the last one hit the water. It’s as if my chest is caving in, the thought of not having the pills to help me get through another day is like a punch to the kidney.
“I need them.” My voice sounds so desperate I almost don’t recognize it.
He turns to face me, chucking the empty bottle into the trashcan under the sink. “No, you don’t. You’re never going to get back in shape if you’re addicted to drugs.”
“They’re not drugs. The doctor gave them to me for the pain.”
He stares at me for far too long, the awkward silence between us knotting my stomach. Or maybe it’s all the meds I’ve taken on an empty stomach. “You’ve been popping Percocet like they’re Tic-Tacs. It’s not about the pain anymore.”
“Like you know. Have you ever broken a bone?”
“No. But I don’t need to break a bone to know that you’re using the pills as a coping mechanism to deal with your problems. The only way you come out on top of this shitty situation is to face it. You have to stop acting like you’ve given up.”
“Because I have,” I admit. “My career is over. The doctor didn’t sound too optimistic. I’m only trying to prepare myself for the future I know I’m going to face.”
He cocks an eyebrow at me. “By turning into a drug addict? Yeah, great plan, Killian.”
I snort at his comment. “I’m not an addict.”
“Maybe not right now, but you will be if you keep going down this road. Look, man, I get it. This is a lot to deal with. You should talk to Preston. He knows what you’re going through. He’s in the same position now that he’s out of the league for fighting Lehane. But he hasn’t given up hope. What he did definitely isn’t going to put him at the top of any NHL teams’ list, but he’s still planning to heal his broken hand and get back to work.”
Not long before the crash, Preston got into a fight with a player from Boston College and shattered his nose. Because it was such a bloody and violent fight, the NCAA suspended him for the rest of the season, therefore, ending his college hockey career.
“Yeah.” I nod in acknowledgment, so happy to have a friend like Jamie in my life, allowing everything he’s said to sink into my thick skull.
If I were him, I would have knocked my ass out and called it a day. But that’s not who Jamie is. He’s a good dude who truly wants to see all of his friends succeed. I wish I had his confidence right now. My lack of hope has dwindled with each handful of pills I swallow.
What am I doing with my life?
Finn needs me. He can’t have a brother like me fucking up his life. Even if I can’t do this for myself right now, I need to do this for him. My family needs me, so I have to suck this up and try to move forward.
“Now would you go deal with Jade?” He steps into the hallway, headed toward his room. “Do it or I will.”
Rolling my eyes at the back of his head, I sigh.
When I open the front door, Jade is nowhere in sight. I step onto the covered porch and glance over to my left where she would have stood to throw shit at my bedroom window.
She was out here for at least thirty minutes before she gave up.
Man, I’m such an asshole.
I really do love her.
But if you love someone you let them go, right? I’m doing her a favor. She could date some rich banker in New York and make her father happy.
Since she’s met me, her life has gone up in flames along with mine. Her dad stripped away her trust fund leaving her penniless and without any family.
Was that my fault?
She never would have challenged her dad about nursing school if I hadn’t gotten hurt. I feel so responsible for all of the bad things that have happened to everyone around me. Preston is out of the league and without much of a chance. And Jade is throwing her future away for me.
Maybe she’ll stay away this time. But I doubt it. My girl always puts herself before others. It’s the reason we were together. Had it not been for her kindness, I never would’ve gotten to know the girl I’m so hopelessly in love with.
Jamie’s right.
&n
bsp; I need to fix this—starting with Jade.
Chapter Twenty
Jade
Shannon wraps her arms around me as I cry on her shoulder.
“Why is he acting this way? I know he’s in pain and hurting, but I thought we were in this together. He said we were…” Lost in thought and unsure of everything when it comes to Killian, my voice trails off.
How can he do this to me? I’ve been there for him through everything. He needs me whether he realizes it or not. But I can’t exactly push my way into his house or break into it. I stood outside of his bedroom window for at least thirty minutes before I couldn’t stand the heated gazes of those watching me from a distance.
None of his teammates bothered to answer the door even though I know most of them were home.
Shannon talked to Jamie, who said Killian needs more time before he comes around. He said he loves me. Jamie confirmed he still cares about me, and that he thinks by avoiding me he’s saving me from a horrible life with him. What he doesn’t realize is that I don’t have a life without him in it.
Shannon steers me over to my bed, and we sit so close our thighs brush against each other. I stare down at the carpet, the tears falling from my eyes so fast I can’t stop them.
“When he’s ready, he’ll beg you for forgiveness,” Shannon promises. “He’s worked his entire life to attend Strick U. I understand more than anyone what it’s like to do whatever it takes to come to a school you can’t afford just so you can have a better life.”
“I’m sorry,” I say.
She raises an eyebrow at me. “For what?”
“That it’s so hard for you… and for Killian. I wish I could say I understand what it’s like, but I don’t. Until my father cut me off, I had everything handed to me. I keep trying to put myself in Killian’s shoes. I want to understand.”
“You don’t have to feel guilty all the time for having money.”
“I don’t have money anymore.” I still can’t believe my father followed through on his threat.
Kissing Killian: Face-Off Legacy #5 Page 13
