“He said he wanted her to finally get some closure and for you two to finally talk things over.”
His jaw clenched. “I’m sure he does want her to get closure. He wants her to move on so they can ride off into the sunset together.” He snatched up the lighter and fisted it in his grip.
“It didn’t feel like that—”
“She’s still thinking about me.” His eyes lit up with a hint of self-satisfaction and longing, which morphed into teeth-clenching bitterness. “The fucker needs me out of the way for good. The ghost of her past is haunting her even now.” Shooting up from his chair, he turned to me. “I’ll do it.” He smiled, half-insane, half-longing, like even he wasn’t a hundred percent sure how he felt about it.
And I wasn’t going to be the one to push him over the edge.
“Ev, listen. I can find another way if you’re not okay with this.”
His jaw clenched, the muscles under his cheek bunching. “No, I want to do it.”
I glanced around at the destroyed conference room littered with all the signs of how okay with this he was.
“Seriously, I can figure out—”
“Set it up.” He’d mess up those perfect teeth with how hard he was grinding them, but I knew when to back off.
Maybe it would be good for both of them. Camden seemed to think so. Everest at least thought he thought so. Maddy…well, I wouldn’t be asking for any other favors anytime soon.
“And don’t forget we’re on baking duty this weekend.”
My mouth opened.
“You’re not getting out of this. If I have to be there, you have to be there. Jameson will make all the funding for this project magically disappear if you screw with Teresa’s big day.”
I snapped my mouth closed and nodded. Jameson wasn’t petty. He didn’t do anything without a reason and wasn’t one to be vindictive, except for when it came to his mom and little sister. He wouldn’t pull funding, but he’d probably make me crawl over broken glass for the next year if I so much as put in a purchase order for extra pens.
Everest left the conference room, and I got to work cleaning up the mess. He was a whirlwind when he wanted to be.
Alone with my thoughts, I found myself right where I always was whenever I had a moment alone. My mind drifted to the only person who seemed to push through all the chaos happening up there.
Sabrina.
A sharpness stabbed at my thumb. I’d snapped a pencil, wanting to punch myself in the face over how things had gone down over the weekend.
I wanted to shove the broken wood from the pencil under my fingernails. I’d been too much of a coward to face her since our kiss.
Last night I’d slept on the floor of the bathroom, trying to upgrade myself from the bathtub. I’d woken and rapped my knuckles on the tub, flailing and feeling like my heart was trying to escape out of my throat. That had been all the confirmation I’d needed that I’d made the right choice, but I couldn’t stop hating myself for not being strong enough to have slept next to her. Strong enough to wake up beside her and kiss her good morning before burying my face between her thighs to taste her until she cried out my name.
I slammed the notepads I’d gathered up on the conference table and stared at the whiteboard with all the plans I’d made and laid out for the guys—the ones that should be filling up my every waking moment. Instead it was her, and at this point I couldn’t blame her for wanting nothing to do with me.
18
Hunter
Sabrina was becoming a temptation, and resisting only made it harder to walk away.
I’d slept in the bathtub again like a psycho. But the sleep hadn’t been as sound. The lavender air freshener didn’t smell like her. I hadn’t woken up screaming, but I’d still been covered in sweat. This didn’t feel like progress.
Work had to get done. Now that Without Grey was tentatively on board, it meant everything needed to be bigger.
“I’m arriving there now. We need all this rigging ASAP, and Trevor’s the best deal I can get this close to New Year’s Eve.”
The flick of Everest’s lighter carried through the earpiece. At least he was still talking to me. “We’re still two months out.”
“Unlike your events, which depend on which team wins, these things get planned a year in advance. I’m lucky I caught him, or we’d be paying double the price to have everything trucked in from Virginia.”
“I like the sound of half the price.”
“Me too.”
I parked on the gravel lot outside the warehouse looming over me. The side door flew open, and Trevor, my contact, walked out in a pink polo with a popped collar and loafers with no socks. He rushed toward me like he didn’t want to be associated with the warehouse on the industrial lot.
It had taken him twenty-four hours longer than expected to call me up after I “accidentally” tagged him in a social media post while out at a club with tables filled with bottle-service booze. I’d reached out to apologize, and he’d said we should catch up.
“I got to go, Everest. I talked it over with Maddy.” A little white lie never hurt anyone. “She agreed to meet during the promo tour for the next album. It won’t be until late next year. Are you good with that? If you are, then we can sign the contracts with Without Grey this week.” Camden had come up with the idea of the promo tour. It would be a week, in a hotel where Maddy couldn’t escape. “Ticket sales are going well, but this would push them over the top.” In reality, the sales had been sluggish. Without Grey would skyrocket sales and save this event from the raging inferno it was threatening to turn into. Asking Everest for help knotted my stomach. I would not be the fuckup. No one else needed help aside from backup on the day of for bigger events, and usually we spent most of the time networking, not putting out fires. I wouldn’t be the weak link, but I did need his help for this one.
“Fine, just put it on my calendar and I’ll be there. Who knows, maybe she’ll cancel, then we all win.” His voice didn’t make it sound like not meeting with her would be a win.
“Thanks, Everest, I owe you.”
“And when I call in the favor, no matter what, I don’t want any questions.”
“None.”
I ended the call and hopped out of the car. Trevor walked along the passenger side with his eyes locked onto the pristine paint job and whistled. “She’s a beauty, Hunter.”
“She certainly is.” The Porsche Cayman wasn’t mine. It was a short-term loan, a favor for a contact who needed to keep it on the road while he was in Australia for the year. Trevor was the classic silver-spoon type who was kept on a tight leash by his father. The multimedia company he’d started working at after graduation sold and rented tech to most major events in the area, but for now he was stuck in the lighting rentals department learning the ropes of the business.
The chip on his shoulder was so big sometimes I wondered if he wouldn’t tip over.
I buttoned my jacket one-handed like I’d practiced for hours growing up with the suits my grandmother had given me back during my senior year of high school. Had I been the douche who wore suits to anything requiring a dress shirt back in high school and college? Maybe. But I knew it would get Trevor’s attention.