43. Haelyn
FORTY-THREE
HAELYN
“I’ll come back tomorrow,” I said with a smile, squeezing my mother’s hand in mine at the same time she did. “Love you.” I kissed the top of her head.
“Goodbye, D,” Merielle said.
We both walked out of the hospital room and I slowly closed the door behind us. My mother was doing fine—not great, but a lot better than before. And that was enough to run some kind of fuel through me.
The guilt was still there and it was something I had to learn to live with. If that was the price I had to pay for her recovery, I had no problem doing so. I carried a lot of weight on my shoulders since I was young, this wasn’t something that was going to take away the happiness at the improvement in my mother’s state.
She was going to be better sooner or later even with the decision I took to disconnect her from the machines. So, I was grateful.
“Are you seriously not going to tell me anything about your date with Tristan?” Merielle pushed as soon as we were out. She slumped on a bench and I shot her a look.
I knew she wanted to talk about it, but it was freezing cold outside and after a rainy day the last thing I wanted was to besitting on a cold bench.
“What?” She raised her brows.
I shook my head. “I still don’t understand how you ending up working with him behind my back. I thought you hated him.”
She looked around, biting her bottom lip as she dragged her jacket tighter over her body. The wind was sneaking its way under our clothes.
“Well… he seemed sincere,” she lied, and when she saw the judging stare I had, she cleared her throat. “Okay. Yes. He offered a seven-day trip to Tenerife for me and David and I thought it’d be good for us once he recovers.” She got up to her feet. “And before you say anything, that’s not why I said yes.”
I placed a foot in front of the other, crossing my arms over my chest. “It’s not?”
“No.” She shook her head. “He told me he was going to buy the stupid dating app and I thought it was so so so—” Her eyes started dreaming, zooming out into a land of love.
“He did what?” My eyes almost popped out of my head.
She squinted. “Wait. I thought you knew.”
“What the heck, Merielle,” I started. “How could you let him spend that kind of money for one night when you knew I had no intention of going back to him?”
Merielle sighed. “It was romantic, Hae. Admit it.” She put her hands on her chest.
“I would’ve never accepted it if I knew it was him. I’m not ready to step on my pride just because he’s feeling sorry. Did we have a great night? Sure. Did I want to kiss the shit out of him? Yes. But did I change my mind once I got home and everything sunk in? Definitely,” I explained.
My best friend opened her mouth to talk, but no words made it out. I knew she wanted to help and it did since I got out of the house after two weeks, but that doesn’t mean I’ll forgive him.
“Thank you for waking me up, but it wasn’t fair for him to spend that kind of money when I’m not ready to forgive him.”
She nodded, threaded her arm through mine and gave me a soft smile. “Consider that as his punishment for what he did to you.”
I was just about to call Tristan when a powerful and inpatient knock sounded on my door. We haven’t spoken since the last time we saw each other—at the mysterious date—and while I would’ve liked to keep it that way, he had to know.
With my phone in my hand, I rushed to my door and flew it open. I was expecting to see one of my neighbors and I didn’t think for a minute that Tristan could be the person standing on the other side.
He was dressed in his jogging clothes, sweat gliding on his forehead as he fought to regain his breath.
Did he run all the way here? How the hell did he get my address?
Merielle.
I really needed to have a serious conversation with her about trying to hook me up with my ex-boss after I carefully explained I wasn’t ready to forgive him.
My eyes swept down on their own accord on the tight jacket showing off his muscles.
No. Nope. Don’t go there.
“Hi,” I said reluctantly.
“Hi. I need to talk to you,” he started.
“Yeah. Me too.” I stepped aside, letting him walk in my apartment.
I knew the place looked like shit and to be honest, I couldn’t care less. I bought this with my own money at the worst time of my life. If anything, I was proud of it.
He walked inside and I was surprised to see he didn’t let his eyes linger on his surroundings. The only spot they stopped on was the wire that kept my door closed. However, Tristan didn’t say anything about it.
“You first,” he suggested, planting his palms on his hips.
I nodded, biting my bottom lip as I took a seat on my couch. He kept his tall posture and waited for me to talk, even though I could see how impatient he was to tell me what he had to say.
There was no right way to deliver what I just found out. I knew he was safe, but it was still a gut-kicker.
I took a deep breath. “I know I’m no longer part of your company, but I still paid close attention to your activity,” I said with a small smile. “And Gorig’s.”
Tristan squinted his eyes at me but kept quiet.
My mouth remained open. I didn’t know how to say this. “And I don’t know if you got time to look at your phone on your way here but...”
Now he was starting to act suspicious. His eyes searched for an answer in mine and his body came closer to me. Tristan stared down at me, ready for any shot I was about to give him.
“Uhm.” I looked at the ceiling before meeting his eyes again. “Gorig is building a car for next year’s race.”
He leaned back a bit and took his hands off his hips before threading his fingers through his hair. I couldn’t tell if he was mad or pissed, he was as stern as a stone.
I got up to my feet, not able to maintain the silence. “I’m pretty sure he’ll use your sketches,” I added, just in case he didn’t figure it out by now. “But I left out the most important things, just to avoid something like this happening.” He was still silent, so I continued. “You can sue him, Tristan.”
Tristan watched me in the eye, then shook his head. “I don’t have time for shit like that. He can go to the race and fail. I don’t give a fuck. My plan wasn’t to go to the race this year, anyway. My sketches were mid at best.”
What?
How could he be so... relaxed about this? I thought he would freak out since the car project was the only thing up his sleeve and now he doesn’t have that either.
I frowned, then found myself closer to him. Right up to his nose. “Tristan, you can’t let this go. This could be huge for the company and in ten years, you could fight the first place with Serrari if you find the right racer, the right partners. This could be big,” I blurted, my mouth not able to stop my thoughts from coming out.
He laid a hand on my shoulder. It was meant as a comfort, not in a romantic way. “Listen. This has been my dream since I was a kid and I’m not saying I’m giving up on it. That’s actually why I came to you today.”
I relaxed and listened to what he had to say.
“Gorig has a plan and that’s why he’s moving so fast with joining the race. He doesn’t want to join it because it’s a passion, but because it will promote his brand. I want something more and what I want can’t be done in a year. I’m not the type of doing something just for the sake of doing it.”
“Okay,” I breathed out. “I agree that a year is too little time, but that doesn’t mean it’s fair for Gorig to participate with your sketches.”
“I don’t care. He won’t get far, I promise,” he assured me. “It’s impossible to with so little preparation.”
I nodded, then dropped back on the couch. He had a point and even if I didn’t like it, it was better to focus on your growth than on destroying others. Tristan was right. He could wait and come up with something fresh on the market.
“And I want to partner with Serrari, not against them. They are the best and they deserve it for a reason.”
At that, my eyebrows shot up. He wasn’t wrong, but I also knew from my little knowledge that they do everything on their own. Tough to achieve, but it can’t be impossible for someone who’s last name was Graves.
“Sounds like you have a plan,” I said.
He took a deep breath and then sat down next to me, wiping a drip of sweat from his forehead with his arm. Tristan was looking right at me, yet I couldn’t find the courage to do the same.
“Come back to the company, Haelyn,” he said it so simply.
My head snapped to him. “What?”
Go back as in be in his presence twenty-four-seven, know his schedule, and get closer to him by the minute? I didn’t know if that was something I wanted. I should’ve been far away from him.
“Come back to the company and let’s work together on this. As friends .” He stressed the last words.
How did he know my mind flew right to that?
“Friends,” I repeated the word.
Friends? How was I supposed to be friends with him ? How was that supposed to happen when I was having a small conversation with him and my heart was ready to jump out of my chest? How was I supposed to be his friend when it took my entire strength to not kiss him the second he showed up at my door like a goddamn sin?
“Haelyn,” he interrupted my thoughts.
“Huh?”
“I don’t want to be your friend,” Tristan said, those beautiful eyes watching me. “Just wanted to make that clear.”
I nodded, even though my breathing was stolen. If I was bothered by the idea of being his friend, hearing that it’s the last thing he wanted was way worse.
When I worked for him I felt like I had a purpose and I was slowly finding out something I was good at. But when I worked for him I got attached and then, betrayed.
How could this be any good to us?
Why should we try?
We tried once. It worked terribly.
So why bother again?
The app labeled us as a possible match, but what if our love wasn’t qualified?
When I realized I was silent for too long, I cleared my throat and gave him a smile. “I’ll think about it.”
Tristan seemed like he was looking right through me. As if his eyes struggled to get a hold of what my mouth didn’t say. But if he knew… if he knew, we would’ve been all over each other and I wasn’t ready.
“Yeah,” he murmured, then got up and walked to the door. Before he left, he looked over his shoulder. “Thank you for telling me the truth about what you think about Ryker and I. If it wasn’t for you, he wouldn’t have still been home.”