Chapter 51
CHAPTER 51
SIMON
A fter everything that happened with Abigail today, I felt awful. I left the hotel with my stomach in knots, my heart in my knees, and the intense urge to drink myself into oblivion.
Once again, I had found myself in a situation that had looked like something it hadn’t been. I didn’t know how she’d found out about Ashley and the bracelet, but it was clear she hadn’t seen the part where I’d pissed off the boss so badly that I probably shouldn’t even bother showing up at Fit Gal on Tuesday.
Maybe Abi had a point about me landing in a lot of situations I had to explain, though.
Every time she and I got close to being together again, something happened that made me look like an asshole. It was seriously making me question whether I was insane to think that we were meant to be.
People who are destined to be together don’t go through so much shit, do they?
As I strode into my house, I shed my tie and jacket, kicking off my shoes. I made a beeline for my bar, pouring myself a stiff whiskey and carrying it and the bottle out onto the balcony.
The fact was that I didn’t think people who were meant to be faced so many misunderstandings. Circumstances didn’t keep getting in the way of them being together. Life didn’t actively fight to keep them apart.
In our case though, shit kept happening that made it pretty clear we did not, in fact, belong together. I was starting to wonder if we even belonged in the same damn city.
As the smooth alcohol warmed its way to my stomach, I realized that the sad reality was that her life had probably been a lot better without me in it. When I’d seen her dancing with Blake tonight, I’d wondered if it was time to leave her to her future without trying to interfere and now I had a feeling I’d been right.
I hadn’t been able to follow through then, though. As soon as I’d seen her break away from him, I’d decided not to give up just yet and I’d bided my time, waiting for her to have a minute alone. That had only come after she and Jeffrey had seen the event through to its bitter end.
Then she’d shot me down.
Hard.
Without leaving any room to question what she wanted.
All of which had brought me to where I was right now, slowly getting tipsy alone at my cold, impersonal penthouse while staring out at the lights of a city that was notoriously filled with possibility. Only, all that possibility only panned out for some people.
Most others, it chewed them up and spat them out, sending them all back home again wondering how the hell they’d ever even gotten that far. A lucky few survived this place. Fewer yet even found love here.
Me?
My love was better off with somebody else. A guy who didn’t live in the shadow of his dead brother. Someone whose father wasn’t so evil.
That guy might not be Blake. I hadn’t really seen her look at him in a way that made me believe there was something there, but even if she didn’t know that guy yet, he could show up any day. Hell, maybe he already had.
Maybe that Austin dude who was already an honorary member of her family would one day actually become a member of her family. Whether or not it was him, though, all I really knew was that it wasn’t me.
This had been part of the reason why I’d left her the first time. I’d always felt that need to succeed for my father and to fill Brooks’ shoes, and I’d known she deserved someone who would choose her. Over and over again. Always and without hesitation.
Abigail Walker loved fiercely and intensely. She was loyal as hell and she was brilliant to boot. She should be someone’s priority, and while I’d often thought I would make her mine, something had always cropped up and proven otherwise.
Bringing the bottle of whiskey to my lips, I drowned my sorrows until I finally passed out face down on the couch. Then I spent Sunday trying to put myself back together again. Like a sad, pathetic, Humpty fucking Dumpty.
On Monday morning, I was back to feeling more like a human than a bar rag, but I was still struggling to accept that Abi might just be better off without me. David was at the coffee cart in Astor’s lobby when I walked in and he waved me over, passing me a takeout cup from the tray the barista was filling for him.
“Happy Monday, man,” he said cheerfully. “Those were some epic events this weekend. What do you think? Think we’ll find out who won today?”
“All they said last week was that we’d find out after the ball,” I told him. “I doubt it’ll be today, though. They’ll probably let us know tomorrow, when we’re all there in person.”
“Fair enough.” He picked up the tray when all the slots in it were filled and walked to the elevator with me. “I’m still curious to hear your thoughts about both events. What do you think our chances are?”
I shook my head, briefly replaying my conversation with Ashley in my mind. “I don’t know what to tell you, bro. Our team did great and we pulled off our vision for the day perfectly, but I think Abi’s team took the cake on this one.”
I jabbed a thumb into the button to call the elevator while David side-eyed me, eventually leaning a shoulder against the wall between the doors without ever taking his gaze off mine. “I saw you going after her at the end of the night. Benny and I were at the lobby bar having a last drink. We were about to call you over when we realized you were with her. Whatever that was didn’t look good.”
“It wasn’t,” I admitted, gripping the back of my neck with my free hand and then taking a sip of my coffee to buy myself some time.
I hadn’t told the guys about the drama with Ashley and the bracelet yet, nor had I told them that we were literally half-dead in the water as a result, but the time had come. All I was doing right now was delaying the inevitable unless we could figure out a way to work around it.
“Abigail saw me with Ashley that night,” I said as the doors slid open in front of me.
David and I climbed into the car and I immediately jammed the button to shut the doors. This was a conversation to be had in private, not whispered in the back of a crammed elevator. My friend’s eyes were wide, but his brow furrowed in confusion as he looked at me.
“Ashley? I thought you were all about Abi again.”
“I am, but Ashley doesn’t know that and it turns out that she might be crazy in the head.” I quickly explained what had happened with the bracelet and what she’d told me after, but to my surprise, the Fit Gal account wasn’t what David focused on when I was done.
“You just need to make it right, man,” he said easily as we stepped off the elevator once we’d reached our floor. “Yet again, it really wasn’t what it looked like. I get why she’s frustrated with you at this point, but you can’t leave her under a wrong impression and let that be what finally puts an end to you two.”
“It’s funny.” I let out a humorless chuckle. “For the last decade, I couldn’t give two craps about what any woman thinks of me, but Abi thinking that I’m selfish and that I’d want anyone else if she’s an option? That’s driving me mad.”
David smirked. “Well, this is the girl you always said you were going to marry. She’s not just some woman. She’s the girl and she always has been.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean she should be.” We walked into my office, both of us setting our things down before taking a seat at the conference table off to one side. “Look, whatever way things go with her, we’re still in the running for Fit Gal right now. We need to focus on that today.”
“Do you really think you’ll survive the first elimination now that Ashley’s gunning for you?” His head tilted as he glanced toward the floor-to-ceiling windows behind me, his teeth sinking into his cheek. “Maybe it’ll be best if we step out gracefully. Leave the race on our own terms.”
“You mean give up?” I shook my head and leaned back in my chair, coffee in one hand and my pen in the other. “No way, bro. If our team loses and Ashley wants to kick us to the curb, then so be it, but they’ve got Fit Guy coming up soon.”
“Yeah, so?”
“So I have a feeling in my gut that I’ll have to present a pitch for that sometime soon. I heard some buzz at the events about it and I have some ideas for that campaign.”
“Ideas you won’t get to pitch if Ashley gets you tossed out now,” he said, eyebrows rising as he brought his gaze back to mine. “Look out there, Simon. Look at how many other companies and people are right outside. There are a lot of other potential clients waiting for us to woo them. If you really think Ashley meant what she said, is it worth spending any more time on Fit Gal?”
I wheeled my chair forward and set my coffee down. Hooking my elbows onto the table, I thought about his question. Giving up wasn’t in my DNA and it wasn’t in Astor’s. Plus, my dad would never let us throw in the towel, but if I really thought that was best, I would have done it anyway.
“Ashley can come for me all she wants,” I finally said, studying the wooden grain of the table before I looked back up at my friend. “I won’t make it easy for her to eliminate us from the competition. If she wants us gone, she’s going to have to come out all guns blazing.”
“And if she does?”
“We’ll have to be bulletproof.” I felt my lips spread into a slow grin. “Fit Guy is up next and Blake knows that. I’m a Fit Guy myself and so are all of you. Get the team in here. I want to get ahead of this pitch and I want to make sure they know that if they get rid of us now, we won’t be an option for them in the future.”