Chapter Fourteen #2
bitterness to Mark’s tone. “I’ll let him know it was all a misunderstanding,
and I’ll be out of here as soon as possible. Shitty town. And you know what? I
didn’t want to dress that cow anyway. I have no idea why the press is
fascinated with that overweight bimbo. Good luck. If it works, maybe you’ll get
more of the fatties to try to design for.”
There was a click over the line. Rage bubbled inside Brooke.
How many times had she heard that? Fashion was supposed to be for everyone, but
the truth of the matter was if you weren’t a sample size then you were a token.
She had what she wanted. She should let it go.
She pushed the number to connect her to an old friend.
“Hey, Brooke.” Logan’s calm voice came over the line. “I
heard you got attacked.”
Even through her anger, she was amused by how fast the Bliss
grapevine worked. “Has he morphed into Sasquatch yet? Or an alien? I’ve heard
we’re crawling with them lately.”
“No, some city asshole. Maybe your old boss,” Logan replied.
“I mean of course by the time it got to me you were absolutely in the hands of
aliens from the Faraxis system. Apparently they like
our females. But I speak Bliss, so I know it’s probably your ex-boss, who
happens to be irritating the shit out of everyone at the lodge. I talked to
Lucy earlier. Pretty sure that was the guy she was complaining about. I caught
up with her at my moms’ store.”
It was good Logan remembered how things worked here. He
would understand exactly what to do. If there was one thing beyond tolerance
and acceptance that Bliss was good at, it was revenge. “He offered me my job
back but only if I introduce him to Georgia.”
Logan paused as though thinking about it. “I’m sure she
wouldn’t mind him coming over for a couple of drinks.”
“Fuck that.” See, Logan had spent too much time in the city.
He was getting soft. “I’m not letting that lowlife in the same room as my
friends. That’s not what I’m calling about. I’m going to need you to tell Seth
that in six months he needs to purchase House of Bianchi outright and burn it
to the ground and explain to every other design house that the same will happen
to them if they hire Mark Hallway. I need time because I don’t want him turning
around and pressing charges against Bay. He’s got a show soon, and I don’t want
this hanging over his head.”
Getting him into a suit would be hard enough.
Damn it. She’d been a bitch to him. He might have already
written her off. She’d let her emotions get the better of her, and it might
honestly be for the best. What could she offer them?
“Do I want to know what he said about my wife?” Each word
out of Logan’s mouth was coated in ice. “I ask because you would never take
this kind of revenge for yourself, so this is about Georgia.”
“You do not. Just know she should never be let around anyone
from that company,” Brooke replied. “They’re all snakes.”
“So you’re not going back?” Logan asked. “You want me to
talk to Seth? Look, I think you’ll find Georgia would love it if you would
design for her and her alone. You know moneybags will open up his wallet.”
“I would love to sit down and talk to Georgia about
designing some clothes for her, but I think I’m going to give costume design a
real shot. Cleo is starting to direct some films, and I think it’s a challenge
I would like to take on.” Even as she said the words, her heart ached because
she knew Bay and Shane likely wouldn’t come with her.
Logan’s voice went low over the line. “And what about the
Kent brothers? I’ve heard you’re getting married. And yes, I also know a
fuck-you sibling move when I hear it. Rye push you too hard?”
“He’s been a wildly massive overprotective asshole, but he
has his reasons.” No matter how sad she felt that her brother was ashamed of
her, she wouldn’t throw him under a bus with Logan. “As for Bay and Shane,
well, maybe they’ll still be willing to see me when I’m in town.”
“We won’t,” a deep voice said.
From below she could hear Cleo correcting something the
actors were doing, but all of her focus was suddenly on the man at the top of
the stairs. Shane stood there looking stern in his jeans and T-shirt.
Damn, she was about to get her heart ripped out. “Logan, I
need to call you back.”
“Okay, but you might want to talk to Lucy since she’s been
dealing with the guy. She’s going out to the G to help Nell and Henry. They’ve
got some kind of lesson with Noah today, but Henry’s worried because she’s been
having Braxton-Hicks contractions, and damn I can’t believe that not only do I
know what those are, I can speak competently about the effects on the mental
health of the mother. Who the hell am I? Do you think I can get my comic books
back?”
She loved Logan, loved how far he’d come. “I think you can
read all the comics you like. You’re still going to be Dr. Logan Green,
therapist to all. I’ll talk to you later.”
She hung up and pulled all her strength around her. She had
to get through the next couple of minutes. She slid the cell into her jeans.
“Hello, Shane. I’ll be out of the house before tonight. Tell Bay I’m sorry he
felt like he had to deal with Mark. I’ve made certain Mark is going to drop all
charges, so he should be out in an hour or two.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Shane asked.
She pointed to the stage. “They’re rehearsing. Keep your
voice down, please. I won’t cause any trouble. Like I said I’ll be out tonight,
this afternoon if I have to, and I’ll arrange with Bobby to get a pickup out
there so I can leave you Stef’s car.”
Shane stared at her, his eyes nearly glowing in the light
cast from the stage. “Just like that?”
What did he expect her to do? “Like I said, I’m not going to
cause trouble.”
“Oh, my love, but I will.” He stalked across the narrow
hall, and she took a step back. It didn’t matter since he wasn’t giving her
space. His hand came around her neck, and he gently brought her up on her toes.
His mouth hovered over hers, and despite all the crap of the day, a thrill went
through her as he spoke. “You have no idea the amount of trouble I’m going to
cause if you step foot off the G without one of us with you. Something is going
on and it’s not about your former boss, though you should know I would have
done the same damn thing as Bay.”
“I was going to handle it.” He was so close, and he was
giving off some serious Dom vibes.
He stared at her for a moment as though deciding how to
handle her. If it had been Bay staring down at her with intense eyes, she could
have gone on her toes and kissed him and distracted him, but Shane was far more
intense about some things. “If some woman had her hands on me, what would you
have done?”
She could lie. “I would have trusted you to handle it.”
His eyes narrowed, and she felt the hand on her neck tighten
slightly. “Some woman is making me uncomfortable and you’re fine with that. I’m
on my own?”
She let loose a low groan of frustration. “Damn it, Shane.
That’s not fair.”
“Tell me why you freaked out. Did you want your job back?”
His jaw tightened. “If that’s the truth, then I’ll talk to Bay about
apologizing, though I would bet that asshole will be nasty about it.”
“I handled it.”
“How did you handle it, Brooke?”
“I told him he could either leave Bay and Rye alone or I
would press my own charges and make sure everyone in the world knew exactly who
he was,” she replied with some fire of her own.
“There’s my girl,” he said, his mouth hovering above her
own. “Now tell me what you would have done in his place. No fucking lies,
Brooke.”
Such an ass. “Fine. I would have pulled her off you by the
hair, and I wouldn’t have thought twice about it.”
“Again, my girl.” There was a wealth of satisfaction coming
off the man. “Now tell me why you’re so pissed off about losing a job you
didn’t want back in the first place that you’re willing to leave both of us
behind. I’m suspecting you weren’t planning on asking us to go with you
wherever it is you think you’re going.”
Put like that it didn’t sound great. “I’m going with Cleo
when she leaves town.”
He took a step back as though he needed to consider her
decision. After a long moment he nodded. “Will she stick around after opening
night? I read some directors hand things over to the assistant or the stage
manager.”
He sounded so calm it made her heart ache. She’d kind of
thought he would fight her. Still, it was better if they could be civil.
“She’ll stay for a couple of weeks. We’re going to hole up somewhere and start
talking about design for the film. There’s not a ton of money attached, but
we’ll make do. I expect to stay at her place in LA for a couple of weeks until
I can figure something out.”
“I’ll start looking. Is there a particular area you’re
interested in?”
“What?”
“I know the marriage thing was fake for you, but it wasn’t
for us. If you go to LA, we go to LA. Bay will make some money off the showing,
and even if it’s not a lot, I’m going to apply for some art grants that should
keep us afloat until he does. He won’t like it, but he can start doing some
commissions.”
She shook her head. That wasn’t how Bay worked. “He needs to
feel inspired. You can’t count on that when you’re doing commissions.”
She should know. It was what she did every day. She could
handle it, could find the artistry in giving the client what they wanted, but
what she and Bay did was different.
“All he needs is you,” Shane announced quietly. “We’ll let
Trev know we need to put in two weeks’ notice. It’ll be okay because he’s
interviewing a couple of new hands. We’ll have some time to train them.”
She was floored. “You have to talk to Bay about that.”
His head shook. “No, I don’t. If there’s one thing I know
it’s where our priorities are, and they’re with you. We love you. We’ve waited
all of our miserable lives for you. If you think we’re going to let you walk
away, you’re wrong.”
“You can’t do this.” She couldn’t believe what she was