“And you never told me,” I hissed. “We could have done this together, Dad. You took it all on yourself.”
“I did what needed to be done.”
“That’s why Chase has been coming around the winery. Why he was there when the barn burned down.”
“Yes,” my dad said. “I got Arnold to agree that we would continue to manage day-to-day operations. It’s no different than before.”
“No different?” I gasped. “Are you crazy? Everything has changed.”
“Nothing has changed.”
I stepped away from him. He had no idea of the absurdity of what he was saying, the enormity of how this affected us all. He might have gotten Mr. Sinclair to agree to treat it like normal, but for how long? Was it written into the contract? How did we know that we wouldn’t all be fired tomorrow and put out on the street?
The bottom line was that the winery was no longer mine. I’d grown up there. It was the one constant in my life. The one thing I’d always loved and turned to. And now, it didn’t even belong to me.
“You’re wrong. This changes everything.”
“Piper,” my dad said earnestly.
I kicked off my uncomfortable heels and carried them in my hand as I walked away from my dad. I didn’t want to cry in front of him. Didn’t want to have to process all of this information in front of the person who had created this catastrophe.
And it was already done. Finalized and signed away. There was nothing I could do to fix it. I was fucked.
I couldn’t go back to the party either. As much as I wanted to be in there, celebrating with my sister on her big day, there was no way I was going to be able to keep it together. Not now.
All I needed was my boyfriend. I needed Hollin to hold me and tell me that it was going to be all right. He’d gone through West Texas Winery falling apart and gotten Wright Vineyard out of it. There was hope, and only he could give it to me.
Tears streaked down my cheeks as I hurried down the walkway toward the cellar. I sure hoped that he was still down here and hadn’t come back to the barn when I went outside to talk to my dad. I didn’t even have my phone on me to text him and ask where he was. So, I kept walking far, far away from Peyton’s happily ever after.
I opened the door to the cellar, dropped my heels at the entrance, and headed down the worn wooden hallway toward Hollin’s office. I choked back a sob and opened the cracked door.
“Hollin, I need to talk to you.”
I froze.
Because Hollin wasn’t alone.
He was standing in his office with his hands gripping Tori’s shoulders.
35
Piper
A vacuum opened in my mind, and all the air rushed out. There was nothing inside but a sense of depthless unknown. Because what I was seeing made no sense. I couldn’t even process what they were doing together. Not after the last couple months. Not after finding August and Tamara together. Not after the way Hollin had reacted to seeing me just talking with Bradley.
I wanted to be the bold, stubborn, tough-as-nails Piper. I wanted to rip into him right then and there. To tear him apart for having the audacity to make me think he had changed and throwing it all back in my face.
But I’d been hurt too much today. I could barely stand after finding out about the winery. I’d yanked all of my walls down, hand over fist, to let Hollin into my heart. And then this? This was too much.
“What…what’s going on?” I asked, my voice breaking on the words.
Hollin pushed Tori back a step. “Piper…”
My eyes tracked between the two as Tori slowly turned to face me standing in the doorway. She bit her bottom lip and took another step away from Hollin.
“I don’t understand.”
“This isn’t…it isn’t what you think,” Hollin said.
I almost laughed, but it came out as a muffled sob. “Isn’t that what August said?”
The blow landed, and he winced. “I’m not anything like that fucking idiot. Nothing was happening here.”
“You’re alone with another girl.”
“I’m just going to…” She gestured to pass by me.
But I blocked her path. She wasn’t going to get to just leave.
“Aren’t you here with Chase Sinclair?”
Hollin wrinkled his nose. “Seriously, Tori?”
She shrugged at Hollin. “I thought it’d piss you off the most.”
I looked between them. My confusion deepened. They seemed to know each other. And here I’d thought, he was stupid enough to go back to his old ways. Give up on our relationship and fall for some other vapid girl. But it was more than that. Like I was missing the key to open the vault that explained how any of this made sense.
“I don’t give a fuck who you’re here with,” Hollin growled.
And he looked angry. I’d seen him look like that before when dealing with August. It didn’t absolve him of what the fuck was happening right now.
“Then, why are you down here with me?” Tori asked.
“I’d like to know that, too.”
Hollin looked up at me helplessly. I didn’t like that expression on him. He’d been caught, and now, he was acting the part of the prey. When I’d only ever seen him as the predator.
Tori sighed. “Just tell her.”
“Tell me what?” I asked, hugging my arms to my chest.
“Tori is my…ex,” Hollin finally said.
“So? Aren’t there a hundred of them?”
“No,” he said softly. “There’s…just Tori.”
I looked between them one more time, and it all fell into place. The ex-girlfriend who had wrecked his life. The one who had abandoned him after years of bullshit and left him in shambles. The very reason he’d been an asshole to my friends. The reason he hadn’t dated since. Until me.
Lucky me.
“Okay,” I said slowly. “The one who ruined your life?”
Tori huffed and stared at the ground. “Really, Hollin?”
“Shut up,” he snapped.
Tori looked up at me and frowned. “I didn’t mean to hurt you, Piper. I really did like you.”
I blinked at her. “It sure doesn’t seem like it.”
“Wait…how do you even know each other?” Hollin asked.
“She works with Peyton,” I said. “We’ve been getting lunch and stuff for a while. I’m going to guess that you knew the whole time that I was with Hollin.”
“I figured it out after you told me about the concert.”
I winced as I remembered divulging to her about the tour bus sex. It had been fine because I was talking to a stranger. Not realizing I was talking to his ex-girlfriend, who apparently still had designs on him.
God, I felt like an idiot.
“I don’t deserve this.”
“Please,” Hollin said, reaching for me.
“Don’t touch me!” I yelled at him. “Don’t you dare touch me. I don’t know why you’re down here or what you’re doing with her. But it all feels like a cosmic joke at my expense.”
Hollin sighed heavily. “It’s complicated.”