Chapter 31
Slade
Saturday Afternoon
“What?” I asked, no barked into my cell phone, angry for so many reasons. This time was due to the way I fell asleep last night, so drunk that I must not have set the do not disturb option.
“Boss?” Nico asked in a combination of a deep gravelly tone mixed with uncertainty.
Why the fuck was he concerned about anything on my end?
“Just tell me what you fucking want. Dammit,” I growled, a piercing headache blinded my vision, and I rolled for the glass of water on my nightstand. Jeez.
I cracked my eyes open again. Why was it so damn bright inside my bedroom?
Did the curtains just stay open all the time?
The years I was out of the house before sunup and home after sundown, played in my head, but I couldn’t seem to put the two thoughts together.
I lifted the glass of water, taking a long gulp.
Motherfucker, I spewed out the watered-down vodka, coughing and gagging at a taste I never wanted to experience again.
Shit. The phone dropped as I rose, still in the loungewear I’d put on last night.
Sleep meant no clothes. What the hell was happening to me?
I knocked my way around and went for my en suite bathroom.
The sink was my goal. Once there, I decided I needed water all over my body, not just my mouth and turned for the shower.
With a flip of the faucet, water cascaded from multiple jets. I discarded my clothes where I stood, then stepped directly under the temperature-controlled spray. Fuck. My normal hot water was way too hot and the pressure too forceful. Luckily, I bent and threw up.
My excessive alcohol consumption over the last few days had finally brought me to my knees. I couldn’t even chastise myself properly with the way my head pounded.
It took everything I had to rise and allow the water to clean my mouth and finish the shower. Fuck, I felt bad. When had I turned into such a lightweight.
I managed to leave the shower, brush my teeth without hurling, and wrap the damp terrycloth around my waist. As soon as possible, all this hair was coming off.
I never wanted to wear another beard again.
But that had to wait. Right then I needed carbonation and maybe some sort of fruit juice. And a lobotomy.
I got through both of those drinks before glancing at my digital alarm clock.
It was four-thirty. A sharp glance at the window reinforced it was actually the afternoon, not the middle of the night.
Even then, it was such a difficult concept to believe I’d slept so long that I searched for my phone in the disrupted blankets on my bed to prove the time wrong.
Okay, based on my phone, it was also four-thirty in the afternoon. My alarm clock didn’t lie. My ass hit the mattress, my head still hurt, preventing my ability to consider anything I’d done, which was beautiful.
Mace.
My Mace.
I slid my fingertip down the background image staring at me. Tears built quickly, which was interesting with as dehydrated as I was. The love of my life. The only person to ever love me with an unconditional grace.
I lowered my hand to my lap as the decisions I’d made last night came to the forefront.
I was going to let Mace go, so he could be free of me.
He could have my Texas property, and I’d still work behind the scenes to fund his sanctuary.
He was too perfect of a guy to be saddled with the likes of me.
My purpose in his life was to build his confidence and give him a chance to shine, and boy, was he the brightest light I’d ever seen.
The piercing in my heart dropped me back to the mattress. Thankfully my stomach roiled, distracting my mental anguish as I used every bit of concentration to keep the contents of my belly where they belonged.
My phone rang. I glanced at the screen and saw Nico’s name.
Right, I was talking to him when things went south with my body.
“What?” I answered calmly.
“What’s going on? I’ve been trying to reach you. Tank says you haven’t left the house,” Nico said.
“They fired me yesterday,” I said, staring up at the ceiling. “I had a bender last night. Not feeling my best right now.”
“I heard, but you wanted out of the show so what’s the big deal?” Nico asked. Not in his normal gruff way but he was using that negotiator’s voice as if trying to lead me to an answer. Fuck that. Reasonableness had no place in my life.
“Why’re you calling me? Did Tommy post whatever he and whoever came up with?” My right hand was free, bouncing up and down on the mattress until the pain in my heart required my palm to cover my chest.
“Yeah, he did. We’re tracking your online presence, and you’re the number one trend for the day so far. We’ve found some credible threats. We’re working those, but it seems calm around here overall. Mace’s business as usual. He’s still out doing whatever he does,” Nico said, updating me.
“Hmm,” I said, seeing the mental picture of Mace’s gentle ways of coaxing his animals to respond to whatever he wanted.
And I really liked his ass in a pair of Wranglers. My cock stirred but the desire flashed and burned out. My body was in no position to consider sex with anyone.
Maybe I needed to become a monk.
“Are you thinking about my question or did you leave me again?” Nico asked.
“Ask again,” I said, unable to tick backward to remember what I’d missed.
“There’s no report of your travel itinerary for tomorrow. As far as I know, we’re all still expecting you. Has that changed?”
“I’m not coming to Texas,” I said with more strength than I felt. “I’ve wreaked enough havoc on Mace and his family. Things need to settle before I think about going back there.”
Nico went silent. I remained silent too as I rose to pull the blankets and sheets off my bed. The towel I wore fell on top of the pile.
“The Suttons seem fine, boss. Mace’s about as unaffected as he could be.
His parents and sister are loving all the attention.
Their business’s running out of liquor every day.
The townsfolk are posting about their memories of Mace, trying to be a part of the fuss. This town isn’t sweating anything.”
Good. I believed Nico to tell me the truth. It’d make it all easier for everyone.
“Have you found anything that leads us to a source?”
“Actually yes. I told my staff that we were monitoring them, from banking information to personal communications. One of the newer guys, Bart, didn’t show up for work today. Before I count him as the infiltrator, I want to track him. If it’s him, I’ll know soon enough.”
“All right,” I said, mentally preparing to sue the fuck out of the guy. “How long do you need? I need to regroup here, probably need you and Tommy back here in a few days, after all this settles down.”
“I figured you’d be here full-time now,” Nico said. “I’ve been looking for a place to live around here.”
My silence lasted a few seconds as I decided whether to treat Nico as a friend or my employee. I went for something in the middle of those two. “Nah, I’ve caused too much harm. Mace’s on his feet again. He’ll do better without my instability.”
“I don’t know what that means,” Nico said slowly, “but what you just said doesn’t track. You’ve been working us this direction for months and months. If you’re having second thoughts…”
“That’s it. I’m having second thoughts,” I said, hanging on to such a simple out.
“Why?” Nico shot out. “You’re finally where you wanted to be. If it’s money, we can scale back on security. That’ll free up dough…”
I let him continue until I’d had a belly full.
A small… the tiniest possible inkling of common sense wanted me to cling to Nico’s words. Without question, he wasn’t wrong, but apparently my volatile personality insisted I was wrong for ever starting this with Mace in the first place.
I wasn’t the man I thought I was. Far, far from it. Or maybe, I was exactly the man I thought I was and not the one I’d hoped to be.
“Give me some time,” I said, cutting him off. “I’ll text Mace later and tell him I won’t be in Texas until tomorrow. We’ll see how it goes from there. He needs to at least be given a chance of an out.”
“I strongly disagree,” Nico said.
“Noted. I gotta go. I’m deep inside my pity party. I’ll make contact Monday.”
Nico didn’t respond.
“I’m hanging up now. Consider counseling for your next career choice.” I got a chuckle as I hung up the phone. I needed clothing and a vitamin-infused Bloody Mary. From there, I’d figure out the rest of the day.
=?=
Mace
In all the ways I thought this would play out, I never suspected that Slade would throw in the towel on me. He’d pushed so damned hard for us to be together, seemed so damned genuine in his pursuit.
Whatever look I had on my face caused Tommy to lift his fingers from his laptop’s keyboard at his designated desk—the kitchen table.
“I’ve known Slade a long time. He’s led by his emotions.
It’s what makes him such a good actor. But he’s not cut out for the weight of being a celebrity.
He wants people to like him. This industry’s broken. They’ve whipped him,” Tommy said.
As the last few days happened then passed us by, I knew I should’ve insisted Slade come home. He was such a strong man, always seemingly in charge of the things happening around him.
“I’m not buyin’ it,” I started, my hands going to the edge of a kitchen table chair, squeezing the posts. “He wanted out of his films. He was dead set on it…”
“Right, and that’s the reason we need to give him time. He’ll remember his truth soon. I promise. Like I said, he’s a good guy. Give him time, Mace,” Tommy said, maybe pleading, maybe trying to figure out Slade’s shift like I was doing.