Chapter 29 #3
My cell phone vibrated and rang with Tommy’s designated ringtone.
One of three contacts able to get through the blocks I’d set up.
I discarded the martini glass on my coffee table.
It took me a minute to find the phone underneath the scripts.
As crazy as my head was going, I was eager to know how Mace had taken my post. Fearful, he’d be upset I hadn’t asked him first.
“Talk to Mace,” Breezy said, now standing directly in front of me.
“I’ve bulldozed our relationship since the first moment I saw him. He needs time without me in his face to decide what he wants,” I said, already regretting the small amount of space I was giving him.
If Mace would have just come with me today…
Why couldn’t he have come? I needed him here.
You know why he isn’t here. As if he’d want you after you blew his life apart.
I had to glance at the picture in my text messages twice before I understood what I saw. Some sort of… casserole?
I read the message bubble above the photo.
“Mace’s parents are here. I’ve shown them the post. Nico’s going nuclear on his staff. He plans to find the leak with his brand of justice. We’ll see.”
Another picture popped in under the casserole.
My love, his parents, and Tommy were huddled around the kitchen table.
The noodle dish was in the center of the shot.
All were grinning in the photo, but Mace’s smile didn’t reach his eyes.
I expanded the photo to where I only saw his face.
The smile wasn’t his genuine one either.
How many times had I felt rewarded when Mace laughed, usually at me.
Excited tingles and solid dread meshed inside me creating a foreign instability. Something that scared me.
I typed over the small phone keyboard. “Eat whatever she made for you whether you like it or not. Tell Mace I’ll call him later. Shit’s hitting the fan. I have to focus.” It wasn’t the truth but would buy me time to digest what I had done.
“Sure. His head’s in the right place. He doesn’t understand the fuss because, to him, social media isn’t real. He’s actually got a great perspective,” Tommy replied.
The guilt of the lessons Mace was about to learn had a slice of pain zinging over my heart.
I sat back on the sofa, almost groaning as I broke my own rule, lifting the call restrictions I’d placed on my phone before the post went live. It took seconds before the notifications beeped their urgency in their own dramatic way. A melody I didn’t like to hear.
Gray’s video call managed to get through the barrage of alerts.
“Hey,” I said, phone in my hands, elbows on my knees. His eyes narrowed and his face got bigger as he came closer to the screen.
“You don’t look good.”
“Thanks. I’m here with Breezy.” I glanced over at her. She’d curled up in her armchair across from me again, martini in one hand, her cell in the other.
She lifted her head long enough to say, “Hey, Gray.”
“Hey, Breezy. Our guy doesn’t look well,” he said loudly.
“In person, he doesn’t look great either,” she said and took a sip. “He has a martini ready for him. He needs to get to drinking it.”
“Probably not a bad idea,” Gray said, still looking at me as if he could see inside my head and read my thoughts.
“Why’re you calling?” I asked.
“Three out of three are gone. Steve sent a request to cut ties with you. Did you know?”
“I did,” I said, “but that’s all I know. I have my phone locked down. Nobody’s getting through.”
“Okay. I’ll handle my end. I’m waiting on Titan’s Fall, Steve’s all over that contract. You’ll probably need to touch base with them soon, or I can. Whichever. Did you let them know about what’s happening?” Gray asked.
I shook my head no. I’d been shooting from the hip since I left Texas. Might have been better to put a bit more time and thought into…
“Nico’s found something of interest.” Gray effectively interrupted my spiraling thoughts with that news. “He wants to talk to you.”
“Ask if it can wait until we get through the next couple of hours. I think I’ve got all I can deal with right now,” I said, scrubbing an open hand down my face.
“Don’t wait too long, Slade. He’s got your entire field security team on notice. It doesn’t sound pleasant over there,” Gray explained. “He doesn’t trust the lot of them. He’s ready to fire his guys and start fresh.”
I shifted enough to reach for my martini, draining it in three burning gulps.
“I’ll make another,” Breezy said. Her brightness never dimmed as she bounced up to make me a refill.
My shoulders rolled on their own accord, trying to ease the rock-hard tension there.
I had to remember getting the “sinister three” out of my life was my goal tonight, and those ties were now cut.
Strangely, that had played out in a favorable way.
If anything about this fiasco could be considered favorable.
“All right, I’m out,” Gray said, lifting a hand. “I’ll handle this end and contact Titan’s for you. Look for a text from me in the morning in case I need approval for anything.”
The screen darkened before I could do more than nod my agreement, leaving only Breezy to pick up my pieces. She planned to stay for as long as needed to squelch my anxiety. I didn’t know if she held that much power over me, but I clung to the hope she provided.