Not Blue
Daniel
"No, Blue it’s not that,” I take a step towards her.
I’m still trying to get a grip on what the fuck is happening right now. The anger, the betrayal and hurt and the unmistakable sheen of tears in her eyes practically breaks my heart in two.
“You should call your dad. Apparently, what I’m doing is blowing your deal apart.”
“What do you mean?”
“Why don’t you go ask her ?”
I don’t give a fuck about whoever it is outside my house. Once I’ve sorted this out with Blue, I’ll damn well be giving whoever it is a piece of my mind. How fucking dare someone show up outside my house like this?
Oh shit. It’s got to be Erin. She’s Lauren’s best friend. And she did not take the divorce well. Like it had anything to do with her. She just found Blue in my house, wearing one of my shirts. She would have taken great pleasure in saying something to hurt her.
This is unbelievable.
“I don’t want to ask her,” I move towards Blue, steering her out of the hallway so Erin can’t see us.
“If this deal falls through what does that mean for your company?”
“Why would you ask me that?”
“Am I going to get sued by anyone else?”
“No, of course not. We would never do that. Blue, I don’t even know what is going on. Let me call my father and find out.”
“You do that.” She moves around me heading for the stairs.
“Blue!”
She ignores me and runs up to the bedroom. For a second, I consider going to the door and tearing into Erin but she doesn’t matter. All that matters is Blue, and she’s hurt. Confused and scared things are going to get worse for her.
Fuck, Robbie warned me about this. I didn’t think it would matter, and pushed the whole thing to the back of my head. Blue didn’t like to talk about the lawsuit, so we didn’t. Dad has dealt with Derek Faulker. As far as I’m aware, Reed has been sent to Europe to get him out of the spotlight.
Blue is right, Robbie was right. I should have told her. I don’t see this as a deal breaker. What I have with her has nothing to do with the company.
That isn’t true and lying to myself won’t help. Erin getting hold of this information might cause a problem. She’ll gleefully tell the world that I’m screwing the enemy. I can already see the headlines.
Blue doesn’t deserve this. I went into Blue’s Hideaway that night. It’s because of me he was there and everything that unfolded that night, leading to this pain in the ass lawsuit.
Fuck. I need to call dad, I need to call Lauren and get her to tell her bitch of a best friend to back the fuck off. Most of all, I need to stop Blue from thinking I would do anything to hurt her.
The bedroom door is locked. Why the fuck does my bedroom door have a lock on it?
“Blue, let me in. We need to talk about this,” I rest my forehead against the door and wait.
No answer. And still the knocking downstairs.
“Fucking dammit,” I mutter. “Look, I’m gonna go deal with her. Just, give me a minute.”
It feels stupid talking through the door, but I understand why she is in there. When she still doesn’t answer, I curse again and leave the door. I change into some workout gear from the second bedroom and jog downstairs. In the sitting room, I grab my phone and call Lauren. She answers after a few rings and doesn’t have time to speak before I’m yelling.
“Call off your dog.”
“What?”
“Erin. She is outside my house right now, trying to get a story that is non-existent. She’s hurting someone I care about and if you don’t get her the fuck off my doorstep, I’m going to lose my shit.”
“Wait, what? I don’t understand.”
It sounds like I woke her. I don’t care. “Hang up, call Erin and tell her to leave my house. And tell her if she writes even one fucking word of what she saw here today, I will come down on her so hard she’ll never write another fucking column in this city.”
“Okay. I’ll call her. But Daniel, you’re going to need to explain this.”
“Do it Lauren.”
I hang up and start pacing. Erin is no longer knocking, but she hasn’t left. It’s taking every ounce of strength not to go out there and tell her to fuck off myself. That would not be a good idea.
There is still no sign of Blue. I take a chance and call dad. Mom answers the phone, sounding cheery. She can tell there is something wrong immediately and goes to get dad. When he comes on the phone, I try my best not to lay into him, it isn’t his fault. But I need to know what is going on with Faulkner.
When I ask about the deal falling apart, dad sighs.
“What? What is it?”
I walk to the bottom of the stairs and look up. The door is still closed. Heading into the kitchen, I stand by the windows overlooking the small courtyard and run a hand through my hair in frustration.
“There is a lot of bad press at the moment and the board has been weighing up how we want to take things forward.”
“You signed the deal.”
“We did, but there are certain clauses. It’s not like we need the business, son. Having our name attached to someone who can handle themselves like this is bad for business.”
Fuck.
“I thought you’d be happy. You’ve never liked the idea of us partnering with them, not after what he did to you. I only wish I’d listened to you.”
“I will not get in to whether or not we should have done it, dad. That isn’t the point. What I want to know is are we pulling out, the deal is off?”
“Like I said, we don’t want the adverse publicity that is being brought on Faulkner right now. It will have an impact in the press I’m sure, but we’ve never let anything like that bother us. I don’t like what they’re doing.”
“Has Derek mentioned the lawsuit?”
“Yes. I know it was all Reed, not Derek but their name is behind the lawsuit which means Derek didn’t stop his son. You know he’s sent him away. I never liked their family,” he mutters. “Going after a small business like this is distasteful. We want to distance ourselves from that.
“I don’t know his intentions. If it was me, I’d quietly withdraw. Before our reputation was ruined any further.”
“And you have no intention of going after the bar?” I ask.
“God no, why would you think that? I want this to go away, not cause any more trouble. I have no intention of harming the reputation of a small business to further my gains.”
I should have known that was his stance. Convincing Blue is going to be a different story.
Jesus Christ.
“There is something you should know,” I glance behind me, there is still no sign of Blue. Is that good or bad? I don’t know. I should be up there talking to her.
“This sounds like it might be another issue.”
“It’s not an issue. Not for me.”
“I don’t understand, Daniel.”
Whirling away from the window, I lean one elbow on the kitchen island and bend forward, lowering my head. “I met someone. And she means a lot to me.”
“Really? Well, that’s great. I mean, so soon after Lauren?”
“Lauren and I were over months ago dad. Longer if I’m being honest. This isn’t about her. The woman I met is the owner of the bar.”
Dad goes quiet. Then there is a quick puff of breath. “And how serious is this?”
“I’m in love with her.”
I hate that the first time I admit that is to my damn father.
“Well then, it’s settled, we are pulling out of the deal. Like I said, it never sat right with me. Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Call the Chicago Evening Star and tell them if they allow Erin Witt to run a story about me or Blue and the Faulkner bullshit, we’ll make their life hell.”
“I see. Okay. I’ll do it now.”
“Thanks.”
I end the call and a sound at the bottom of the stairs makes me straighten. Blue is standing there, fully dressed and looking disappointed.
I can tell her I fixed things. I got rid of the reporter, dad is ending the deal and Faulkner is going to drop the lawsuit, she holds up her hand.
“Is this how all rich people deal with things when they go to shit?”
“What do you mean?”
“Sue the newspaper?”
Shit. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“But you made the threat. It’s the same thing they did to me. Don’t you get that?”
“This isn’t about the newspaper or Erin. Blue, I can’t let anyone else hurt you.”
“Like you have?”
“That isn’t fair,” I take a few steps closer.
“You lied.”
“It wasn’t a lie, I had nothing to do with the deal, and I forgot about it.”
“Forgot about it? Something that important, something that is threatening my livelihood, my family business. And you forgot about it?”
Jesus, nothing I’m saying is coming out right.
“How long have you been standing here?”
Blue looks away. Did she hear me? The way she can’t meet my eye tells me she did. My phone rings. It’s Lauren. I turn it over, not wanting to speak to her now. It has gone quiet out front. Erin must have done what Lauren asked, and left.
“I need to go.”
“No,” I walk over to Blue. “Don’t leave.”
“I have to,” she shrugs away from my outstretched hand. “I need to think. I’m angry. And I’m confused, and this isn’t me, Daniel. I don’t like feeling like this. And I don’t like being lied to. It’s even worse that you didn’t think it was important enough to tell me.”
“I made a mistake. It wasn’t intentional.”
“You’ve said that already. It doesn’t change anything. Please just let me go.”
“I can’t. Blue, you mean too much to me.”
“My name isn’t Blue.”
She turns and walks away. The sound of the door closing echoes through the house, even though she didn’t slam it. It sounds so final.
If someone shot me through the heart, it wouldn’t hurt as much as those words did.