“She’s got her hands all over another woman’s guy,” Casey said. “How is that not shady behavior?”
“It’s complicated.”
Lexi sat down beside me.
Casey sighed with exasperation on the other end of the line. “So you’re going to let him ride off with her into the sunset, then? You’re not going to fight at all?”
I gazed out my windows at the twinkling lights of New York City. Just mere minutes ago, my life felt like it was reaching a point where I could be content with myself. Now?
The future I thought I was working toward had been thrown to the wolves.
I reached into the bag of sour cream and onion chips and poured a handful into my mouth. Lexi watched with wide, surprised eyes.
After I chewed and swallowed, I answered my sister. “I don’t fight for people who don’t want me. If Storm chooses Jennika? So be it. He can have her.”
CHAPTER 33
STORM
My skull felt like tiny mice had been chiseling away at it for hours upon hours while I slept. When I finally opened my eyes, the headache was so intense that I had to shield them from the gloomy morning light coming through the window. A clattering of dishes close by made me wince, and I sucked in a sharp breath as I sat up to get my bearings.
I wasn’t at home.
I found myself in Luke’s living room, apparently having slept on his sofa last night. I racked my mind trying to recall what had happened last night. I remembered Jennika’s post to her Instagram page and the fallout online and the furious call from Garrett.
After that?
Nothing.
Blank.
Lights out.
“You’re finally awake.” Luke’s voice made me turn toward the doorway to his kitchen, where he stood towel-drying a glass. He shook his head in a sympathetic way. “How do you feel?”
“Like shit.”
“Sounds about right. You look like shit, too.” Luke tossed the towel over his shoulder and leaned on the doorframe with one shoulder. “You got a little heavy into the beer after you got off the phone with Garrett. My folks thank you for your patronage.”
I rubbed at my eyes and temples, willing the headache to pass. It increased in intensity for a brief moment as if it was giving me the middle finger. “Fuck. I must have spent a small fortune to feel like this.”
“Apparently your tab was several hundred dollars.”
“For beers?”
Luke chuckled. “Nah, man. You switched gears for the hard stuff pretty quickly. You said the beer was to ‘whet your whistle’ and you were ‘ready for the pain.’”
“And you didn’t stop me?”
Luke scoffed. “I tried, believe me. There was no reasoning with you. It was like you’d just, I don’t know, given up.”
I leaned forward to rest my elbows on my knees and my forehead in my hands. Given up sounded right to me. I couldn’t think of a single thing I could do to fix the damage that one picture on Instagram had done. The ripple effect would reach far and wide, and I was sure other brands that were considering partnering with us were swerving hard.
Who would want to hitch their wagon to a billionaire playboy who only cared about sex and money?
Besides Playboy, of course.
Groaning, I endured the wave of shame that washed over me.
I’d been so damn close to the finish line. So close to making things official with Laila. So fucking close to finally achieving something my old man might have actually deemed as a success. I muttered that last part aloud, and Luke marched into the living room and sat down across from me on his coffee table. It groaned under his weight.
“Fuck your old man, Storm.”
I lifted my face from my hands. “What did you say?”
“You heard me. Fuck him.”
A rush of anger briefly drowned out the shame. “You can’t say that about—”
“I can say whatever the fuck I want about him, and so can you. He was a prick, Storm. Nothing more. Nothing less. He never lifted a finger to try to understand you, let alone do right by you.”
The shame came back with a vengeance. My stomach turned over. Luke turned into two Luke’s before they collided and merged back into one.
“Your life isn’t about him,” Luke said, his voice firm. “He’s gone. And you know what? I’m sick and tired of sitting back and letting him taunt you from his fucking grave. Alive, he was a formidable man, but dead? He has no power over you, Storm. Not anymore.”
“He tried. In his own way, he did.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it. Your dad blew you off over and over because it was easier for him, and he didn’t give a damn what the consequences were for you, or your mother for that matter. All he cared about was when he was going to get his next drink. His next fix. His next lay.”
“Stop.”
“No,” Luke growled. “Today is your fucking day. Not your father’s. Garrett works for you, not the other way around. Fire his old ass and replace him with someone who understands your vision for the company. He’s just pushing your dad’s legacy, and it’s outdated. You know this, but you keep resisting.”
“I’m not resisting,” I growled. “My father ruled his empire with an iron fist.”
“And he broke it with the same fist,” Luke snapped. “He ruined everything he fucking touched. His biggest failure was that he let you down, Storm. He could have been so much more if he’d wanted to be a good father, but he chose not to be.”
“I’ve had enough.”
“No you fucking haven’t.” Luke got in my face, the vein in his forehead standing at attention the same way it did when he lifted heavy weights at his gym. “You haven’t because you’re still rolling over and playing the victim. You’re still letting your old man’s ghost haunt you. I’m so sick and tired of watching my best friend sell himself short and underestimate himself. You didn’t blow this, Storm. Jennika did. And from where I’m sitting, it sure as shit looks like she’s trying to pull a stunt.”
“She’s not like that.”
“I don’t give a damn what she’s like. Why is that what you hear after everything I just said to you?”
I looked down at the carpet beneath my feet.
Luke sighed. “Somebody has to tell you to get your head out of your ass, Storm. Who else is going to do it, if not me?”
“You’re an asshole.”
“Yeah, funny how that happened as soon as we became friends. My father says you’re the best and worst thing that ever happened to me.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Luke laughed before he sobered up again. “I mean it, Storm. You’ve got to stop thinking about your dad the way that you do. You’ve got to stop putting so much pressure on yourself to do what you think would make him proud. Do what will make you proud. What will make her proud.”
I lifted my gaze. “Laila?”
“Yes, Laila. Of course, Laila. She’s got your heart in her hands. You and I both know it. And I think you might have hers, too. But if you keep chasing success that you can’t reach because you can’t get a pat on the back from a dead man, you’re going to lose more than just her. It’s time to take control, get back into the ring, and make tonight serve you and your business as intended.”