Chapter 30
THIRTY
Kyle
“Where’s the new project?” Alex asks, confused eyes focused on me when he opens the file I sent him earlier but doesn’t see what he was expecting.
I point at his computer. “You’re looking at it.”
Alex shakes his head back and forth, clicking his mouse back and forth, pulling up images, more anxiety in his movements the more he checks everything out.
He called this meeting, and he wanted it to be more official. Instead of him coming to my house, or doing a Zoom call, he decided that I should meet him at the office.
This is the place where he makes all his money, and he is extremely proud of it, as he should be.
He has people who work in the office, but most of the game creators are allowed to work from home, which is what I prefer to do.
I also get special treatment because I am one of the investors in one of his startups.
While we have a definite boss-employee line, it’s probably a bit more relaxed than he is with everyone else.
Today is different, though. I don’t want him to be my friend anymore. I told him that on the night of the fiasco at Ray’s wedding. He thought I’d said it only in the heat of the moment, but I meant every word I said.
Zara hasn’t been returning my calls since her brother picked her up that night.
I was ready to go back and beat on Alex until he couldn’t walk anymore.
But Cal got to me first, and before long, I found myself surrounded by Evie, Carrie, Shannen, and even Hayden, who instead of enjoying her wedding, she ended up asking me a million questions about my fight with Alex.
She gave a standing ovation when I told them that Zara punched Alex in the nose, making it bleed.
“I love that girl! Please bring her back to us! We need a friend like her!”
Unfortunately, it hasn’t been easy at all. How am I supposed to make contact with her when she refuses to talk to me?
At first, I figured I’d go the funny route because that’s always worked out in my favor. So, I texted her.
Zara: I told you not to call me
Me: That’s why I figured I’d text you, baby. This is not me calling.
Zara: please don’t, Kyle. I need my space
The smile fell off my face, and that’s when I realized that things were serious.
I debated going to her office, but given how nosy everyone there is, I don’t think she would’ve appreciated me showing up.
Going to her apartment was also not an option.
I wanted to get her back, not make her more upset with me.
“Kyle, this is nothing like what you showed me before,” Alex snaps at me once he has a chance to digest the files I sent to him via our shared drive.
I shrug in self-deprecation. “You were not so impressed by what I had before. This new stuff is more in line with the general vision for the company.”
“I never said I wasn’t impressed.” He raises his tone a bit. “I just gave a few suggestions. It was constructive criticism.”
Taking my time to respond, I reposition in my seat. I know how much he hates it when people delay speaking, and I make the most of it.
“You hated my heroine.” My answer is straight and to the point. “She was too plain while also having too much color. She needed more work and time than you wanted me to invest in the project. So…” I open my arms wide. “I started from scratch and came up with a new concept.”
The annoyance on Alex’s face is unmistakable. He wants to rip my head off and throw it out in the bay. But that would land him in jail, so he makes an effort to calm down.
“Is this because of the girl?”
Honestly, I thought he would do everything in his power not to bring up Zara. The fact that he does causes my blood pressure to spike. But I play dumb.
“What girl would that be?”
“Jesus fuckin’ Christ!” He rolls his eyes ay me. “I knew it. The second I opened this shit up, I knew it was about her.”
My eyebrows raise in question. “Are you talking about the plain virgin?”
At least he has enough sense to look away, possibly in shame.
“It’s been two weeks,” he says. “And everyone has been on me like flies on shit, asking me to fix this for you.”
That part I did not know, but I make a mental note to thank my buddies’ wives and significant others for their support.
“And have you?” I ask my former buddy.
He is taken aback by my question. “You want me to fix it for you?”
“Well…” I shrug and look around. “You’re the one who broke it for me, so why not fix it?”
“I…”
He is at a loss for words. That’s new since he always thinks he knows better than anyone else. I was amused when he was doing shit like this to other people. Now that I’m the target, not as much fun.
“I thought she was with you for your money,” he confesses.
“Dude!” I burst out of my seat. “You think everyone who’s not in our circle is out to get our money. Look at the way you embarrassed yourself with Hayden!”
He is startled by my outburst, but I don’t know what he expected.
“Every fucking time we try to remember that you are our friend, and that you got your own demons, you manage to do something to fuck us up.”
“I didn’t know she meant that much to you…”
“It doesn’t even fucking matter how much she means to me,” I bellow. “Why do you have to treat people like shit? How can that make you happy in any way?”
He shakes his head at me. “It doesn’t. I…”
“I’m a happy, go-lucky kind of guy. I don’t fucking hate anyone,” I yell at him. “But I fuckin’ hate your guts right now, Alex. To the point where I want to quit working for you.”
He tries to interrupt. “Dude…”
“Fuck that!”
I turn around and storm out of his office. When I step out into the hallway, I notice a few of the employees hanging around, pretending like they were not eavesdropping.
“Your boss is a fuckin’ motherfuckin’ asshole!”
My ears are ringing from how loud I yell that out. I hope it echoes through the entire building and then some. I hope the entire world hears it.
I march to the elevator, annoyed to hell at how slow it goes down.
By the time I am on the first floor, I am ready to climb out of it, wishing I’d taken the stairs.
I get into my truck, still angry as all hell.
I should’ve never come here to meet with Alex.
I thought I could handle continuing working for him.
But why am I even trying when I don’t need to work?
If I stopped working tomorrow, I’d still have money to live comfortably for the rest of my days.
The phone connected to the Bluetooth in the truck goes off, scaring me to hell.
I see Alex’s name on the screen, and I stab myself on the Decline button.
Two seconds later, it starts again, same caller.
I repeat the action. By the fourth time, I am sick of him.
I will either block him, or I have to answer. I decide to go with the latter.
“The fuck you want?” I bark at him. “I thought it was obvious that I didn’t want to talk to you as I kept on sending you to the voicemail.”
There’s no sound coming over the line, making me wonder if the connection is lost and I just wasted my time yelling at him when he can’t even hear me.
“I’m sorry.”
The way he says it, it’s obvious it’s not something he is used to saying. I want to unleash unholy anger on him, but I am suddenly too lost in my misery.
“I insulted Zara on purpose,” he admits when I don’t say anything. “I wanted to prove to you that I was right about her…”
“You insulted her way before you even met her in person,” I remind him. “Those drawings…”
“They’re badass,” he cuts me off. “I knew they were of her. I hated her on sight just because I don’t trust any women, no matter who they are.”
This is a lot more than he’s ever been willing to share about the demons in his head.
“What about the girls?” He’s been acting normal around them. “Evie and Carrie, and…”
Alex lets out a heavy sigh. “I’m just always waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
“What the fuck does that mean?”
“They always leave…”
“Not always,” I snort. “My parents have been married for thirty-two years. And I’ll have you know that my mom is awesome.”
He laughs a little, but it sounds forced. “Your mom is the exception.”
Running my hands through my hair, I pull at it until it hurts. Alex is fucked up, and he decided to ruin what I had with Zara only to prove to himself that he was right.
“You only hate women?” I finally ask. “Or all the people in general?”
“I…” He doesn’t know what to say. “I hate my mother.”
I pull on my hair harder and drop my forehead against the steering wheel. I don’t know if it’s my brain not working or his.
“What the fuck does Zara have to do you with mother?”
“I always assume all women are like her.” He sounds ashamed by the confession. “I never give them the benefit of the doubt because what’s the point, right?”
I snort. “Not even fuckin’ close.”
“I guess I didn’t want you to get hurt…”
“Oh, that’s fuckin’ rich, man. You were brutal to this poor girl. You destroyed her! And your excuse was that you were doing me a favor?”
I start laughing like lunatic.
“I know that doesn’t sound right, but I’m sorry to say, right before she left, she called some dude named Owen. He was coming to get her, so…”
I think I just popped a vein. My eye is twitching, and it is safe to say that I shouldn’t be driving right now. Chances of me getting into an accident are high due to the extreme anger I feel.
“Owen is her brother.” I don’t know how, but I do manage to grind that out.
Alex is startled into silence. “What?”
“ Brother !” I yell, an instant headache settles in the back of my head. “Owen is her brother!”
Alex clears his throat nervously. “I didn’t know that.”
“How would you fuckin’ know? You just assumed a bunch of garbage, then decided there was no way you could be wrong.”
He stays quiet for a little longer. “I’m really sorry, man,” he sighs. “I’ll call her and make it right to you.”
My hands clench on the wheel. “Please don’t fuckin’ try to help me anymore. You did enough.”
I don’t wait for him to respond. Instead, I disconnect the call and lean back.
I try to brainstorm on a way to get back with Zara, but I am lost. Also, if this ever ends well for me, I will call the rest of the group so we can stage an intervention for Alex.
He’s fucked up, and he needs to know just how bad.
With all the ideas swirling in my head, a plan sort of hatches. I don’t know if it will work, but I have to at least try. I grab my phone and look up Owen’s phone number. I did a quick search for it once I knew I wanted to be in Zara’s life for as long as she’d have me. Now, I’m glad I did that.
“If this is a scammer calling,” Owen growls into the phone in greeting, “Know that I will find you. And I will kill you.”
Struggling not to laugh, I clear my throat a couple of times.
“Owen, this is Kyle.”
Silence comes over the line. I half expect him to grab me by the throat through the imaginary line and actually strangle me to death.
“Well, lookie there, it is a scammer after all,” he says.
“Dude, I need to explain.”
He laughs. “You better think again before you call me dude . You lost that right when you broke my sister’s heart.”
“I didn’t, though,” I rush to say. “It was my friend who was an asshole to her. I didn’t know. I went to get a water for Zara, and by the time I came back, she…”
“Why would you leave her by herself at a party where she doesn’t know anyone?”
“I didn’t think,” I admit. “I thought she was having a good time with everyone, and that…”
“Why would you tell your friends about…” He hesitates for a second. “About you being her first?” It’s almost as if he shudders at the end of the question.
“I swear to fuck I had only talked to Alex about it. I was scared. I’d never been with anyone so innocent before. I… I fucked up.”
Owen sighs into the phone, and I brace myself for whatever he is about to unleash on me, only grateful that I am not doing this in person. It’s safe to say I would shit my pants.
“Why did you call?”
I start pulling on my hair again. “I need to talk to Zara. I want to make sure she is okay…”
“She’s fine.”
“I want to see that for myself,” I insist.
“Nothing to see, though.”
I let out a frustrated growl. “I am begging you to help me, Owen. Please help me talk to Zara. I need to talk to her. I need her to know how sorry I am that shit happened the way that it did. I need her to know that I’ve fallen in love with her, and I hope we can figure out if we have a future together.
I’m a fuck-up when it comes to her and love, and I am begging for a chance to make it right. ”
Out of fear of him hanging up on me, I speak fast. By the time I’m done, I feel out of breath and like I ran a marathon.
“No.”
It’s just one word, not even a long one, but it holds such a punch, it’s as if my heart has been ripped out of my chest.
“Owen, please. I’m begging you…”
He growls, but I can’t tell if it is in approval or denial.
“Fine.”
I could cry with relief.
“But there are conditions,” he adds.
“Anything, dude!” I catch myself. “Man… Owen…”
“First, cut your fucking hair,” he tells me. “I could deal with it when my sister was happy with you. Now that I know what a fuckwit you are, it has to go.”
I push strands out of my eyes, surprised at his request.
“Done,” I promise. “I’ll go to a barber shop today.”
“Second, if you’re even a second late, the deal is off. Forever,” he adds for good measure.
Forever.
No pressure there.