Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
SAbrINA
I rushed down the hallway, back toward the conference space. I was going to find my purse and get as far away from Calvin Beckett as I could. Gads, this seemed to be a recurring theme these days. See Cal, get away from Cal. Swear to never see Cal again. Repeat.
Today, though, I meant it. I’d done my part, and now we could go our separate ways and forget the other existed. He was infuriating. He’d asked for my help but wasn’t happy with what I gave. Didn’t he realize that if we weren’t seen together again, the murmur of us would eventually die down?
Good riddance.
Paul came out from the conference-room side door, carrying my purse and wearing a giant smile. He laughed happily. “Sabrina, you are amazing. You’re in the wrong business because you should be in PR.”
I lifted the strap of my bag off his shoulder. “I kinda think what I do is PR.”
“If you ever want to change it up, I’ll hire you in a hot minute.”
“Well, I’m glad someone appreciates me.” I didn’t have to look over my shoulder to know Cal was coming up behind me. It was like my body was tuned into his pheromones and signaled whenever he was near, with goose bumps, twisty tingles in the stomach, or a head-to-toe flush.
Paul whipped out his phone. “Look at the headlines. Already, the narrative is starting to shift.”
Cal groaned.
“My work here is done.” I stuck my hand out to Paul. “It was nice to meet you.”
He shook his head as he put his hand in mine, not to shake but to pull me alongside him. He began moving toward the elevators. “No, no, you can’t leave. Let’s go up to the suite and talk.”
“Let her leave.” Cal came up between us and pushed Paul away, breaking his connection with me.
“She can’t leave.” Paul moved around to Cal to reach me.
“Why not?” Cal and I asked simultaneously.
“I will explain it all upstairs in private.” He gestured around the space before cupping one of his ears as if to say the walls were listening.
I looked longingly at the lobby, where my exit was. If I made a break for it, Paul would try to chase me, but Cal would stop him. So it would be an easy getaway. But there were a few reporters from the press conference lingering, and if I were to make a mad dash, that wouldn’t look good.
The elevator doors opened on a chime, and Paul pushed me in. We rode up to the tenth-floor suite in silence. Once there, I took a seat on a chair closest to the door. Marking the time, I made an escape plan. In ten minutes, I would be out of here regardless, and I’d stick my finger down my throat to induce vomit if I had to. Barfing was a surefire way to get out of a situation.
Cal moved to stand at the large windows overlooking the city, his back to me, giving me the luxury of studying him without his awareness. He’d been a big guy in college, tall with broad shoulders. He’d been a swimmer. He’d liked horses, cowboy boots, and beer. But this Cal was somehow even larger. There wasn’t an ounce of fat on him. Carbs probably didn’t cross that unsmiling mouth. With his arms crossed, his T-shirt pulled tight, outlining the ridges and valleys of his back muscles, and dang— if he wasn’t ripped, then I wasn’t the daughter of a gambler.
Paul plopped onto the couch. “Well, having Cal use the app is out of the question now.”
“Thank fuck,” mumbled Cal.
“You two need to be seen together rekindling,” Paul continued.
“No,” Cal said.
Paul lifted an arm and stretched it across the back of the couch. “Hear me out. Sabrina still needs to come on board as our love expert, but how tacky would it be to have her try and match you after what happened today? No need to answer because it would be super tacky and a terrible idea. What we do now is have the two of you work together on the dating part of the app, as originally planned, but now we have you two test stage two of the app.”
“No,” Cal repeated.
This response was on a loop. Wind. Repeat.
“Stage two?” I asked.
“What we think is so great about the app is not only the dating-safety aspect but also how the app fits with all stages of life. Match with someone? Now you have to figure out what to do. The app looks at both your profiles and locations and generates a list of options that are ranked for personal safety, location safety, etcetera. The options allow for intimacy calibrations. But let’s say you’re married. The app can do the same for you as a couple—and, if you have kids, activities for them and school ratings. Searching for a house? We got you covered.”
I gaped. “That’s wonderful, and a lot. A lot lot. Know what I mean?”
Paul smiled. “Sure, it’s a big reach, and we weren’t looking to do it all at once. That’s why launching now is imperative. The sooner we get stage one up and running, the sooner we can move on. But now I think we need to do both simultaneously. You two have changed the narrative to our benefit, and we want to capitalize on that.”
“It’s still a no,” Cal said.
Hope flared in me. Not romantic hope. Sure, I was attracted to Cal—always had been, probably always would be—but I didn’t trust him with my heart anymore, and then there was the whole forgiveness part. To know the job was on the table still, though, that in two weeks, I could be halfway to my money goal. That made my stomach flutter with possibilities.
Cal was what was standing in my way. His tight expression and rigid shoulders expressed his resistance. Paul was going to have to be the one to change his mind. If I told Cal I wanted this job and why, he would probably give me the money and send me on my way. Which, come to think of it, wouldn’t be all that bad. It would certainly be easy for me.
But I would never be able to take it. Money needed to be earned, and any money given freely by Cal would feel like guilt money. So I played it cool. I took out my phone and started scrolling through my calendar and then my emails. Now that I was home, I had to get back on track in case this opportunity fell through again.
“Give me one good reason why this is a bad idea, Cal?” Paul said.
“I can give you a hundred, but how about this—it will make Sabrina a target. He will come after her just as hard as he is coming after me.” Cal turned slightly away from the window. “I’m going to make a wild guess about this, but I think Sabrina would not like to see her livelihood and good name trashed.” Cal then turned fully to me; his eyes met mine briefly before he searched my face, looking for only he knew what. He stuffed his hands in his pockets, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed, keeping time with his flexing jaw. “Am I wrong?”
I shook my head. “I think an attack could be launched at me, but I don’t think it would stick. All my business comes from word of mouth. That won’t change.”
Cal looked up at the ceiling as if he was working something out. Perhaps picking his words. He pulled a hand from his pocket to wipe it down his face and rub his chin. He looked exhausted, a complete contrast to how he’d appeared in my room earlier that day. Then he returned his attention to me.
“Reenie, the sole purpose of this attack is to destroy me. In my books, I talk briefly about personal safety. On a large scale, I work toward school safety. All those people who have worked with me or have read my books are questioning the advice I’ve given them, the programs I’ve taught, compromising their decision-making and putting them in harm’s way. I want to help people get out of violent situations. Doing so, or fighting back against a stalker, takes a fortitude many people don’t have, and this ‘exposé’ will make them question my advice and maybe take poor advice from someone less ethical than I am. People could die because of this. All because one man wants to ruin me. He will not stop there. He will come after you. He won’t quit until he’s destroyed everything you love. I can’t have that on my conscious too.”
I gasped, fully understanding what Cal was feeling. “Why? I don’t understand how… I met your dad once, and I never suspected…”
I didn’t know how to finish that. I never knew he was so evil. I’d never thought that way about people. Guys like Dalton were only seen on true-crime shows. I’d spent all of five minutes in his presence and by accident. He hadn’t been very friendly. Cordial, sure, but there’d been no warmth. I’d been shocked that my sweet and loving Cal could have come from him. But I hadn’t known he was a man who wanted to annihilate his own child.
“It’s a story for another day. The longer you are here, the bigger the target on your back gets.” Cal looked anguished, as if the weight of what could happen to others because of this attack was eating him alive.
The urge to soothe him was strong, but he would never accept it. And I should never offer it. We did not have that type of relationship anymore. I wouldn’t even say we were friends. But my heart ached as I watched him hurt, to be on the sidelines of this attack.
“What can he do to me? He can’t go after my clients, because there is no way he could know who they are. So he’ll tell people I’m the daughter of a professional gambler? Big deal. I’m not ashamed of that.”
“He’ll do more than that. I can promise you that. His imagination for destruction is far more creative than mine.”
I wasn’t sure what the break between Cal and his father had been, but Cal had gone in a completely unexpected direction since college. “Is this because you didn’t join the family business?” I asked.
He crossed his arms and gave a quick, slight nod. Which showcased his hot bod. This new Cal was hot, hot, hot. He did not deserve to look so good. Now was not the time to get distracted.
I cleared my throat. “Well, your dad is a dipshit. Going after you like this isn’t going to help his cause.”
His lips twitched, but he managed to suppress his grin.
“Why didn’t you go into the family business?” I continued. “I thought you were all set to do that after law school.”
He looked away. “Another long story.”
I huffed in frustration. “Make it short. Give me the CliffsNotes version.” The tension in the room was thick and heating up the space. Or maybe that was my body’s response to eyeing him up.
“I decided I didn’t want to work with him. There was a moment when I saw what my future looked like, and I didn’t like it. So I broke off and did my own thing. I never took the bar exam either.”
He made it sound like it was no big deal, and maybe it wasn’t to him. But to me, well, his simple statement sent a barb through my heart and dug a deeper gouge in the already ripped-open wound he’d given me. Maybe when he’d had his glimpse into the future, he’d realized he didn’t like what he saw with me either.
“I see,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady.
I looked at my phone and attempted to focus on my emails, trying to get my wits about me. Maybe Cal was right to say I shouldn’t be here, not because I was worried about his dad but because moments like this were too hard. They left me feeling raw and exposed, and even the light brush of my clothes against my skin hurt.
A subject line caught my eye. I tapped on the email from my client Mindy. Less than twenty-four hours had passed since she’d paid the deposit and taken the forms to fill out to start the process. Sure, she’d been a little scared, but she’d expressed both her firm desire and her excitement to work with me, and now… she was bailing. Telling me she’d had a change of heart.
I couldn’t believe it. I gave a small, quiet, derisive laugh. Surely, the timing was a coincidence. I stuck my phone into my bag.
“What?” Cal took a step toward me.
“Nothing.” I used my best poker face to cover the lie and drew Paul into the conversation. He’d been watching us with a curious expression on his face. “When you say ‘rekindle,’ what do you have in mind? How do you want that to be seen?”
Cal moved to my chair and stuck out his hand. “Give me your phone.”
I swatted him away. “Go away, bad dream. I’m not giving you my phone.” I stared up at him and narrowed my eyes. I had to shift to my side to get the full picture, or else I’d be staring up into his nose. “You are making a big deal out of absolute zero. I saw a meme or read a headline about us, or it could have been a host of things. Why are you acting like a straight-up weirdo?”
Paul cleared his throat. “Like I said, with stage two, we see you guys dating. Rekindling. We let the app plot out some outings or events and have you two go together.”
Cal lunged just as I swiveled to the side, turning my back to him. I snaked my hand into my purse and covertly tried to tuck the phone into my bra. His long arms were reaching over me as I bent to protect my purse and front. I jumped from the chair and skirted away from him, going to stand behind the couch, putting Paul and the furniture between us.
“What has gotten into you? Why are you obsessed with my phone?” I kept my purse over my front as a decoy.
“I’m curious about what you saw that made you frown, and I know that laugh.”
“What are you talking about, you loon?”
He moved across from me. “That ‘I can’t believe this’ laugh that you follow up with a rant.”
I rolled my eyes. “Like you know me so well. Maybe that laugh has changed. I haven’t followed it up with a rant, so clearly you’re wrong.”
“Reenie,” he growled.
I went back to Paul. “You were saying, Paul? Something about outings and events? You want us to appear like a couple?”
“Or two people entertaining the idea of becoming a couple.” His attention swiveled between Cal and me.
“If there is nothing on your phone, then why can’t I see it?” His hands were on his hips.
“Maybe I got a naughty message from my boyfriend.” I quirked a brow.
“Didn’t you say you weren’t dating that blond actor?” He quirked a brow to match mine.
“Maybe my boyfriend isn’t Nick.” I kept my eyes on his. It was a battle of wills, and I was determined to win.
“So he sent you a breakup text because had it been naughty, you would have blushed.” He took a step toward me and the couch.
“Puh-lease. You really are under the illusion that I am the girl you used to know.” I took a step back.
If he saw the email, he would one hundred percent blame himself and loudly proclaim, I told you so .
He clenched and unclenched his fist, and I knew he was about to leap. His tells were still the same. He would clench his fist as he made his plan, then unclench when he had it figured out. He was going to come over the couch like a field-and-track runner in the hurdles. And he would be able to clear it easily. We’d done this tango before.
“How long do you think we need to pretend, Paul? I say ‘pretend’ because we wouldn’t really be dating.” I wanted Cal distracted by Paul’s proposition.
“Just a few weeks—like eight to twelve—and then you guys can break up and go your separate ways,” Paul said.
“That’s two to three months. Saying it in terms of weeks does not make it feel less like an eternity. Have you not seen us? We can’t be together more than a few hours.” I did the math in my head. Twenty-five K for two weeks of work, times six, would be one hundred fifty thousand dollars. If we pretended for two months, the amount went down by fifty K.
Sweet Jesus. My heart skipped a beat.
Goal achieved. Next level unlocked. I couldn’t even wrap my mind around it, the prospect was so unreal.
Cal and I swayed, moving from side to side, mirroring each other. “What do you say about that, Cal? You and I pretend to be dating again?” I asked.
Cal launched, but I saw it coming when he had no response to my use of the word again. He took two long steps, then pushed off the edge of the couch to go over.
In any relationship, it seemed there was always one person more in love than the other. I’d been the more-in-love one, and I had devoured all-things-Cal like an addict does a drug. I knew how to anticipate him more than he did me. As he came over, I ducked down and went under. He literally leaped over me.
I burst out laughing. “You’re a jackass,” I said, skirting the couch. “Look at how you’re behaving.”
I was halfway back to my chair when a long arm snaked out and jerked the purse from my hands. I gave a scream of protest. Cal’s other hand grabbed me by the elbow and dragged me toward him. He tossed my purse to the ground as he wrapped one arm around my waist and pulled me up against him. His body was a hard wall.
“I know whatever it is you’re hiding has to do with this whole situation. And I’m sorry to do this, Reenie, but I need to say I told you so.” And he plunged a hand down the front of my shirt and slipped out my phone from between my breasts.