Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
Leyla
Present Day
Nikolas Demir. I loathed this man.
I didn’t wish him any real harm, but if he got a hangnail on every finger and toe, I’d be a happy woman.
“That’s twisted,” my best friend Luke said with a scowl.
“Sorry. Didn’t know I’d said that out loud. Well, guess what? I quit!” I declared dramatically, gathering my laptop and favorite mechanical pencil from my oak desk and shoving them into my leather bag.
Luke eyed me warily, unsure whether I was joking.
Honestly, I wasn’t sure myself. He knew all my tells, all my secrets (well, mostly all of them) and I knew his, including some embarrassing moments growing up.
When you’ve been friends through puberty, pimples, his voice change in seventh grade, which was beyond hysterical, his foray into waxing his legs (true story), and awkward first-date comparisons, there wasn’t much we didn’t know about each other.
Including what Nikolas had done all those years ago.
“You can’t quit. This isn’t like your summer job at Surf and Sand, Leyla.
You’re the CEO of my company, you maniac.
” He was standing over me as I sat at my desk, looking like I’d lost my mind.
His sandy-blond hair had gotten longer and was pulled back in a man bun. I teased him about it mercilessly.
“Should’ve thought of that before you hired him. Him of all people. Have you lost your mind? Wait, maybe it’s brain-eating amoebas you might have contracted from all that swimming in the Amalfi Coast, huh?” I asked, completely coming unhinged as I stood to leave.
His dramatic eye roll proved he knew how far I’d ventured into hysteria.
I had been in the R&D department for years after graduation, under his mother’s leadership, until she retired and appointed me as the department head.
Two years ago, when Luke got married, he promoted me to CEO, and the board appointed him as CFO.
It was an accomplishment for both of us at thirty-four that we were very proud of.
The change in positions allowed him to travel back and forth with his wife, Sofia, to Italy, where her family owned a company similar to ours.
I loved that he got to do this, especially now that they were parents, but this was too much.
“Come on. How was I supposed to remember your college nemesis’ name?” My eyebrows lifted so high I was sure they’d disappeared into my hairline.
“Remember? Remember?” I hissed. “Are you serious? How many times did I grouse about this man? Hmm, let’s see,” I said, tapping my finger on my mouth.
“Maybe, every single day for the last year and a half of my college life.” I was shouting now, my blood pressure rising.
I was surprised Jaz hadn’t rushed in the door to come to my defense.
“You said that guy’s name was Nick, not Nikolas Demir,” he answered, standing in the doorway of my office.
“Surely I mentioned his full name at some point, dude. I was not far from evoking incantations over this man. He’s insufferable. Arrogant. Self-absorbed.”
I raged on as I turned back toward my desk, Luke following me. I turned suddenly in the middle of my list of offenses just in time to see him stop mouthing my exact words when I glared at his stupid, mocking face.
“See! You do know exactly who I’m talking about if you know what I’m about to say.” My finger was so close to his face, I was sure he’d bite it. Wouldn’t be the first time.
He slapped it out of his way and said, “Yes, I know everything about the guy Nick who almost got you kicked out of chem class your junior year, but I’m telling you. I did not know his full name.”
“Whatever. But even so, why did you do this? I’m the CEO. I make these big hiring decisions. What were you thinking?” I raged like a bull who’d seen red.
“Listen,” he said, lowering his voice and giving me those puppy-dog eyes he used on me when he wanted his way. “You need to calm down.”
Luke leaned toward me, his hands out in front of his body as if he were dealing with an out-of-control animal. So I did what any woman would do in the face of such provocation.
I flicked him hard on the forehead, making him grab his head dramatically and walk backward away from me, howling as if I’d maimed him.
“Don’t think those weepy eyes are going to fix this, Lucas Austin. That may work on your sweet wife, but not on me.”
He growled, then took a deep breath, likely trying to decide whether to flick me back or walk away. We may be the CEO and CFO of a multi-million-dollar company, but we were still Leyla and Luke, two goofball surfing besties.
“Leyla, look. I’m sorry. I honestly didn’t know who he was.
The man’s CV is stellar, unlike any I’ve ever seen.
Yes, I saw that he graduated from UCSD, but so did several thousand other students that year,” he said as he used his phone camera to check the red welt that was already raised on his face.
Serves him right. Luckily, his wife and my friend, Sofia, would back me up on this and not be mad that I’d marred her pretty-boy husband’s face.
“Just…unhire him. Tell him you made a mistake, found someone else,” I said, putting down my bag and pacing around my expansive office, knowing how ridiculous that sounded.
“What I was trying to say before you took out my eyeball was…well, you’ve been different.
We’re all worried about you. You’re not yourself.
Haven’t been for a long time. Ever since you-know-who.
I know you can do this job. Better than I even did, but something has changed.
You’ve lost that light, and I just wanted to take one thing off your plate. ”
Being a tactile, passionate, and demonstrative person, I was a bit louder than most women.
I lived loud, laughed loud, played hard.
I had always been an extrovert, but I was trying very hard to change that lately.
That light my best friend was talking about.
Yeah, I had been trying to snuff that out for two years.
You’re too loud, Leyla. You’re just too much for me.
I pushed back my ex-boyfriend Ethan’s hurtful words, feeling their impact on my heart. This wasn’t the time to confront those repressed memories.
I sat down with a loud exhale. Luke followed, taking a seat in the chair opposite my desk, still rubbing his forehead.
“I just, I’m fine, Luke. I don’t need your help. I should’ve been the one to find another department head for R&D when Samantha decided to resign.”
“You do need the help,” he said firmly, leaning in toward me and putting his hand on my arm. “You’re stressed, quiet, sullen, working nonstop. Won’t respond to texts or calls. You constantly make excuses about hanging out or coming to dinner. Sofia and Vicky are one step away from an intervention.”
I huffed out a laugh. Sofia and his brother Miles’ wife, Vicky, had become close friends whom I adored. And he was right. I had pulled away from everyone, using the job as an excuse.
“I’m sorry, Leyla. I don’t want to hurt you. It’s just that you’re not what I’m looking for anymore.”
Turning my face away and closing my eyes to shut out Ethan’s words, I held my breath, trying to keep the tears at bay.
I’d spent the last two years trying to change.
Trying to be better, different, while hiding the hurt from those who loved me most. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d surfed.
The thought made me pull my pendant from under my white button-down shirt, my thumb instinctively rubbing it.
“You’re going to rub the gold off that thing,” Luke said with a smile, dipping his head down to look into my eyes when I turned to look back at him.
I rolled my eyes at his words. He’d been saying that since Dad gave me the simple gold necklace with a pendant of an ocean wave back in high school.
The wave was raised, and Luke made fun of me for years when he saw me rubbing it, saying I’d smooth it out one day.
Or invoke a genie, an idea I certainly enjoyed thinking about all through high school.
Neither of us would ever admit how many times we’d seen Will Smith’s version of Aladdin.
I inhaled loudly and shook my head. “I’ll find someone else. I can’t work with that man. You know what he did to me.”
Nodding solemnly, he said, “Yeah, I do. Although you never really gave the guy a chance to explain, if I remember right. And I’m really sorry, Leyla.
He signed the contract last night. HR has all his paperwork.
It’s done.” I felt as if a judge had slammed the gavel down hard, sentencing me to life in prison.
Dramatic, I know, but I couldn’t help it.
Leaning back in my chair, I grumbled, “I can’t believe this is happening to me. And now, of all times. Yeah, I’m busy and working through stuff. There’s always something pressing down on me here, but it’s not just the position. It’s the other things.”
My best friend knew I meant the ugly breakup with Ethan that had left me brokenhearted, or maybe just broken.
“And yes, you do know what Nick did to me in school. I honestly thought I was going to fail after all my hard work, not to mention being humiliated at a plagiarism accusation.”
“I can’t say it any other way. I’m so sorry.
Knowing this will cause you even more stress has my stomach in knots.
I really thought I was helping when I stepped in.
With his credentials and experience at Solara Labs, you won’t have to babysit him.
And Kimberly will be directly over him, so you probably won’t have to see him much at all.
He’s on a three-month probation, like every other hire.
If, at that time, you feel it’s an impossible situation, or if he pulls any of that stuff like back in college, I’ll terminate him myself. ”
“Kimberly has a lot on her plate right now. I’m not sure she can juggle all her COO duties and this, to be honest. We’re growing so rapidly that we can’t get enough people in place to keep up. I mean, it’s a good problem to have, but…”
Just then, Jaz, my assistant and friend, knocked on the glass door, and I waved her in, ready for this conversation to be over. She had a huge cup of her famous thick, black coffee in her hand, and I knew what was about to happen when Luke smiled like a Cheshire cat.
“I keep telling you to calm down with the coffee, Jaz. You know the way you drink it is going to age you quickly,” he said to his former assistant.
His mouth twitched as he tried to hold back a laugh, and her dark eyes widened. She had turned forty on her last birthday and was a tiny bit touchy about it for some reason.
Why this man kept poking the bear, I didn’t know. He teased her about her caffeine addiction and made age jokes just to see her explode. She was from Belize and as fiery as they came.
The barrage of insults in Spanish spewed out like a fountain. My high school Spanish kicked in, but I only caught a few things. Something about shaving his eyebrows while he slept. I could get behind that after what he’d done. I chuckled and welcomed the momentary reprieve from my darkened mood.
Jaz’s scolding ended as quickly as it started and she took a deep breath, smoothing down her skirt. Ignoring her tormentor, she asked me, “What did he do? You looked upset when I came in.”
“He hired my college rival,” I mumbled, rubbing my temple as the words felt like ash in my mouth.
“The guy that almost got you kicked out?” she asked, her mouth gaping open, hands on her hips.
I pointed wildly at her. “See. Even Jaz knows about Nick.”
Luke rolled his eyes and stood to leave. “Leyla, I’ll handle this. Three months. That’s it. If you want him gone after that, I’ll find a reason to let him go, and he’ll be history. I’ve got a meeting now, but we can talk again later.”
I waved my hand like I was shooing away a fly as Jaz looked him up and down with disgust. “I’m here if you need to talk,” she said as she followed Luke out the door, closing it with a soft click.
I couldn’t believe this was happening.
Nikolas Demir was back in my life.