Chapter 30
I wantto light this phone on fire.
It’s all I can see right now when I close my eyes. Because I never want to see these texts again.
First Mitch’s bullshit, then this fuckface who doesn’t seem to understand the word “no.”
“Why didn’t you tell me about this?” I don’t ask the question, I beg.
“I’m so sorry. I just knew you’d try and take care of it. He’s really harmless, just texts. I was hoping I could close this deal and then I could block him after that.”
My mouth falls open and I look around the coffeeshop, trying to collect myself. She’s talking about this like it’s normal, like it’s just another day at work. And it’s not just texts. Before she showed me her phone, she filled me in on Tristan’s surprise appearance at her charity event.
“Harmless? He had his hands on you, Liv. He thinks you’re playing some fucking cat and mouse game with him. I think he gets off on it.”
I shove the phone across the table like it might actually burn me to touch it again. My eyes squeeze shut as I lean back in the chair. Fighting the urge to punch something, I squeeze my hands a few times before running them over the top of my head.
“Scottie?” Liv’s voice, small and breaking, pulls me out of my rage. When I open my eyes, I see tears streaming out of hers. “I’m so sorry. And I know you told me to stop saying sorry, but I think you can make an exception here because all I feel is sorry.” She pauses, sniffs. “I know I should have told you sooner. I know I got in over my head. Just please know that my intention has never been to do anything but my job.”
The urge to punch something flies into my head again. How is this fair? Why does she have to put up with so much shit to do the same job as everyone else on our team? Just because she’s a woman? Because she’s hot?
“Please don’t give up on me,” she continues, her tears flowing freely. “I never planned on keeping anything from you. I just didn’t know the right time, or the right way. And I swear if you give me the chance, I’ll?—”
“Do you think I’m ending things with you?” I interrupt.
“I was a little worried you might be. You seem pretty mad.”
“Sparkles.”
“Scottie?”
I pull her onto my lap, not giving a shit if we’re in public. “I’m mad at the situation, at the fact that you had to put up with this for weeks. I’m sad that you didn’t trust me enough to tell me until now. I’m mad at Mitch. But not at you. Never at you. Not sure I have it in me.”
“Really?”
“Really. I love you, remember? And not just a little bit.”
I kiss her nose, because I know she loves it. She lets out a deep breath, like she was truly worried and nuzzles into the crook of my neck.
She whispers, “A whole damn lot,” and I smile for the first time since we walked in here.
“You’ve gotta tell someone what’s going on though. This is getting out of hand. Mitch absolutely cannot fire you if this deal falls through when the client is harassing you. It’s insane.”
“I know,” she replies quietly. “But I think I have an idea. I really want to try and handle this myself, my way. Can you let me do that?”
I let out a shuddering breath.
“No more secrets,” she continues. “I promise I’ll tell you everything. Just give me a night to work this out. Please?”
“You realize I can’t say no to you, right? That I’m completely powerless here?”
She grabs my face in her hands and tugs until our eyes meet. “That’s not what I want, Scottie. I’ve been in a relationship where one person has all the power and I’m not doing it again. You and I are a team. I’m just asking for a day, for a few more hours to make sense of an idea in my head. The rest, we’ll figure out together. You and me. Okay?”
I pull her close, because I’m not sure I want her to see the emotion in my eyes. I’m not sure I’m ready to admit how much I needed to hear those words from her.
“You and me, beautiful.”
“This feels weird,”Gabby says, sitting down at the kitchen table. “You’ve never made me dinner.”
True. I really do have the best sister ever, cooking for me almost every day. “I wouldn’t exactly call this cooking.”
I went to Liv’s favorite market after work to get some cheeses and meats that blow the Safeway deli section out of the water. It’s important that I do something nice for Gabby, and I wanted to start with dinner. Though actual cooking wouldn’t be very nice at all. I’d most likely poison her and burn down our apartment at the same time.
I bring the charcuterie board to the table and grab a bottle of wine Liv gave me from her vineyard.
“I love you having a fancy girlfriend.” Me too, I think. “But what’s this all for? Are you about to ask me to commit a crime together? I mean I will. I just draw the line at murder, depending on the target, obviously.”
“No murder this month, Gabs.” She actually pouts. “I told you things would change around here, that I’d be honest with you about everything. So that’s what I’m doing. There are still a few things you need to know.”
I’ve been meaning to have this conversation with Gabby, and after Liv confided in me earlier, I decided it’s time all the secrets stop. Because Liv said we’re a team. And so are me and Gabby. I never meant to have a power imbalance with my sister, but I created it anyway. That stops now.
“Oh.” My sister who never stops talking looks like she’s been rendered speechless. “Okay.” She smiles.
I unload everything.
Starting with the real reason Liv and I had a fake relationship. Initially I’d just told Gabby it was to help her with the Ian stuff, not wanting the whole story to get out. Once I explain the details, Gabby’s kicking and screaming on Liv’s behalf.
“Mitch. Let’s murder Mitch. I actually think I know how we could?—”
“Gabby.”
“Sorry. Please continue.” She swaps her vigilante smolder for an angelic grin. My baby sister can be scary as hell sometimes.
“So, like I said, I didn’t want to protect Mitch, just like I didn’t want to protect Davide.” Her eyes narrow again. “And the only reason I did is because Daanesh and the board are working on an acquisition offer. You know Mojave? That huge company that went public last year? They’re making a massive offer to buy Sizzl.”
“That’s great, but why all the secrecy?”
“The term sheets for these kinds of deals are insane. Our board’s been back and forth negotiating the legalese for months, and I have no idea how long the whole thing will take. Nothing is a done deal yet. So while it’s all in the works, it’s important our company stays just as desirable as it did when they made the initial offer. Until it’s signed, anyone can back out.”
“How much money are we talking about, Gav?” she asks. Maybe now she’ll be on board with my behavior, once she realizes what it means for us.
“A lot. Multiple seven figures a lot. We’d be set, Gabs. School, loans, all the debt wiped clean. We’d have savings. Can you imagine?”
“Savings. Wow.” She sighs through the words like I just told her we’d be spending a year vacationing in Santorini.
And now that her feelings toward me have brightened, I share the rest. The loans and lines of credit, the increases in rent every year I kept a secret because I knew how much she loves this apartment.
By the time I’m done, I’ve unburdened myself with anything I’ve ever kept from Gabby. It feels fucking amazing.
“We can make this work,” Gabby says. She stands from the table and shoves a piece of bread in her mouth as she jogs over to her room.
She returns a few moments later with a notebook and a handful of pens and highlighters.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
“Planning!” she practically screeches. “It’s not like you don’t make good money. However much time stands between now and the big pay day, we can figure it out. I’m going to put together a budget and I’ll do a better job of meal planning so we stop wasting groceries. No more Ubers to Kadesha’s place. I’m not too good for the train.”
Gabby continues to ramble on, furiously scribbling notes to her pages. But she’s right. We can make this work. I never should’ve doubted letting her in, letting her help me.
I’m done trying to do everything alone.
Pride flares through me as I watch Gabby finalize our new budget. I’m so entranced that I jump when my phone buzzes.
Daanesh Khan:
You still on for the U Club?
Daanesh has been a member at the University Club since he moved to SF. Whenever we get drinks together, we meet there. It’s not a scene like the bars around the city, and we can shoot pool in peace. I completely forgot we had plans tonight, Gabby occupying my mind again.
Me:
Sure. I can be there in thirty
I’d normally Uber there, but after Gabby’s rant, I decide to walk it.
“What’s up, Daan?”I greet my friend with a hug. We haven’t been spending as much time together lately and it’s nice to get back into old habits. Even if everything in my world feels like it’s changing.
We grab a couple drinks at the bar and head to the billiards room.
“Wanna break?” he asks.
I take the offer, and then am immediately reminded of how shitty I am at pool.
Luckily, he’s not much better. Knowing we can both take a rugby hit tends to soften the blow.
“What’d you get into this weekend?” he asks, almost sinking the first cup.
“I was in Sonoma, actually. With Liv’s family. Did you know they own a vineyard?”
Daanesh narrows his eyes at me. “Yeah. I’ve heard of Diamond Sky. What were you doing there?”
“Celebrating Passover. Kind of, I guess. I don’t know. It was honestly confusing as hell.” I finally make a decent shot and scratch. I grunt out my frustration with this game. Finesse, I have not. “It was fun though. Anything with Liv is. Did you know she rides dirt bikes? That girl never stops surprising me.”
“Okay, enough.” Daanesh murmurs. His voice is quiet but there’s a sharp edge to it, hitting me square in the chest. He drops his cue on the table. “You can cut the shit with me, man.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I know this thing with Olivia is all for show. I don’t care what you do with everyone else, but you can stop lying to me about it.”
“What?” It’s all I can say because I’m completely caught off guard. How would he know it was fake? And does it even matter anymore? Because there is nothing fake about our relationship now.
“I’ve known for weeks. I was hoping you’d just tell me what the deal is at some point, but apparently, you’re planning on keeping up the lie forever. What the fuck?”
“What do you mean you’ve known for weeks? Did someone say something to you?”
“I saw a text she sent Andie a while ago. Something about not needing you at an event because no one from work would be there. So are you gonna tell me what the hell is going on?”
“What did Andie tell you?” I ask. Because Andie knows everything. Does that mean Daanesh does too? Even as I think it, I know he doesn’t. He’d never stay quiet knowing what Mitch was up to.
“Nothing. She told me I misread it, but I know what I saw. Look, I know we don’t really talk about relationships, but you work for me. Olivia works for me. If there’s some scheme happening within my company, with one of my best friends, I’d like to know what’s going on.”
“It’s not a scheme,” I tell him. “And you know I wouldn’t lie to you unless I had to, right? I was just trying to protect Liv.”
He picks up the cue, but it looks like it’s just for something to do with his hands. Our game is on pause until I come clean.
So I do. Every detail from the moment I found Olivia barely breathing in the stairwell. From the moment I knew I couldn’t stay away from her anymore.
“Why the hell wouldn’t you come to me? You should have called me that night. You really don’t think I would have helped her?”
“I mean, yeah, but, it just felt kind of similar to the Davide thing, and?—”
“You know where I stood there.”
“I know where you stood. But what about Vaughn? The board? I honestly wasn’t sure what would happen.”
“Davide’s a board member. It’s different. I couldn’t overrule him on my own. Mitch can be replaced like that.” He snaps his fingers, his tone still full of quiet rage.
“Liv’s asshole ex is on the fucking board!” I yell. “This whole thing is fucked, okay? Maybe I screwed it up even worse but there was no easy way out. And Liv didn’t want to go to you, or HR, so it wasn’t my decision anyway.”
It looks like he’s about to say something else but changes his mind, his mouth still open. Instead, he shakes his head and kicks the leg of the pool table. “Fuck.”
“Hurt yourself?” I ask.
“Fuck off.”
“I really am sorry about lying to you. And for what it’s worth, Liv and I are together now. It’s not just for show.”
He looks up at me. “Yeah? Well, at least something good came out of this. Too bad I’m disgusted by my own company.”
“A few bad apples don’t make an entire company, Daan. It’s still a great place to work.”
“If a single employee doesn’t feel like they can speak up against their boss, even just to go to HR, then it’s all to shit. I have to fix this. Mitch is gone.”
Part of me is ready to fist bump Daanesh. I’d love nothing more than to watch Mitch get the axe. But then I think about my conversation earlier today with Olivia. I promised I’d let her handle this her way.
“Is there any way I could convince you to, umm, hold off on that for a bit?” I ask.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me.” He actually huffs this time.
“Just let me talk to Liv first. There’s a reason this all started, remember? This isn’t how she wants to solve this.”
“That isn’t her decision, Gav. I have to speak with her about it.”