Chapter 32 #2
“That’s why I was so surprised. That’s why I went looking for other opportunities. I didn’t think she’d screw me over like that. But you know what they say about women in business,” I said, with a scoff.
Nate stared at me, narrowing his eyes. He shook his head. “No. What do they say about women in business?”
I gulped. A tinge of red splashed across my cheeks.
But I sucked down my embarrassment and kept piling on.
Truth and lies began to blend. Everything I said felt true because it sure as hell seemed to me that Casey Sullivan had stolen my idea.
“I just mean she’s kind of a ball-breaker.
She’s tough. She’s cutthroat. She goes after exactly what she wants, no matter what. ”
Nate pushed his fingers against his temple and rubbed. Closing his eyes, he lowered his head, and let out a frustrated sigh. Then he looked up. “You want a piece of advice?”
I flinched. I wasn’t expecting that response. But then again I’d told him I wanted some, so I should say yes. “Sure,” I said tentatively.
He leaned forward, took a long beat, then said, “What have I been telling you all along?”
I gulped again. “Be respectful?”
He flashed me a closed mouth smile that looked lethal.
“It seems you didn’t learn it. Let’s try again.
Don’t talk that way about women. Not women in business.
Not women in general. Those comments you just made are nasty and disrespectful.
You need to learn to treat all people with respect.
Everyone. Every human. It’s not a card you play.
” He took a fueling breath. “And stop trying to pull this underhanded shit.”
I gulped. This was definitely not how this meeting was supposed to go. “I wasn’t—”
He held up a hand. His voice was ice. “And as for Casey? I never want to hear you utter a negative word about her again. In fact, keep her name out of your fucking mouth from now till the end of time.”
I swallowed even harder.
“Are we clear?” he asked.
Fear raced through me. “Yes.”
Nate pushed back, and rose, casting a deadly look my way. “And here’s my final piece of advice…” He paused, shook his head, like he felt sorry for me. “Get your shit together.”
Then, he tossed a few bills on the table to cover the coffee.
A kindness I hardly deserved.
Nate
When I left the diner I was seeing red. Dark clouds billowed from behind my eyes. I wanted to punch that asshole. It took all my self-restraint to walk away. Anger lashed my body, fueled by a latent shame—I’d trusted him once upon a time. He was a friend. Not a great one, but a friend nonetheless.
And he’d tried to fuck with me.
And my woman.
He’d somehow tried to use her words against me. Against us. It’s like being licked and fucked at the same time.
Casey had said that to me the night in London.
Said it in the throes of passion the time she came undone courtesy of that toy.
Somehow Ethan had gotten ahold of those words and tried to twist them.
His games didn’t work on me. But maybe they’d worked on someone else, someone who’d given him information.
I couldn’t stand the thought of that little weasel being able to impact a titan like Casey’s reputation. That he could have fooled anyone.
I breathed out hard, huffing through my nostrils, frustrated that I’d been fooled by him for years.
I remembered my sister’s words—We’ve all been wrong before. Doesn’t mean we’re always going to be. And I didn’t want to be the kind of person who treated everyone with suspicion rather than trust. That was exactly where Ethan had gone wrong.
So really, there was no point in wallowing in how he’d tried to fool me. I’d eventually seen him for who he truly was.
I needed to talk to Casey, to let her know what this asshole was up to.
She was my top priority. I dusted off my pride and focused on her, remembering Kat’s other words from the park: you have to make a choice to move into the future.
I grabbed my phone as I marched along the crowded avenue, late morning foot traffic clogging the sidewalk. As I started to dial her number, my phone beeped.
The guy Jack had put me in touch with was calling. I answered, not wanting a distraction, but knowing I had to. I gave the guy the necessary details for the delivery, then hung up.
It was that simple.
That easy.
That important.
Yep, that’s what I was doing. Finally. It felt like a weight being lifted. A whole new kind of freedom settled over me. Freedom from the past. Ethan had tried to take it from me, but I hadn’t let him.
Because I wasn’t the same person who’d been blindsided by Joanna. Casey and I had made a pledge to talk to each other. We’d pledged to do that the night we returned to each other in the Maldives.
Dirty talking, and sexy talking, and honest talking.
When she answered, I heard the rattle of a subway train leaving the station.
“Hey! I’m downtown and heading back to work. The connection here is terrible,” she said.
What a shitty time to have this conversation.
But it was important. “Hey. So I just met with Ethan Holmes and he seemed to think you were doing a deal first with him, then with The Pierson for your new product. He went on and on about how he pitched it to you and you stole it from him,” I said, and I hoped I hadn’t been too rash with the things I said to Ethan.
But before I could tell her what I said to that prick, she jumped in.
“He said that?” she shouted. “What a dick! He pitched me on an idea. I didn’t look at it right away, and when I finally did I was already doing the deal with you.
And, for the record, it was my idea to work with you.
I didn’t steal it from him. Besides, his pitch was for another product, and his tagline was terrible.
But I was going to put him in touch with Good Vibes.
That’s what I meant by exploring possibilities.
On top of that, I’m not even in talks with The Pierson. ”
She was so fiery and I loved it. I loved, too, that she wanted to explain herself, even though I knew in my heart that she wasn’t underhanded.
I knew he’d been manipulating her and us.
“He did say all that and some other shitty things,” I said, giving her the details.
“And I hope you’ll forgive me but I basically told him, well, to fuck off and never utter your name again.
” I took a breath. I hoped I hadn’t overstepped in defending her.
“But the man has no respect for women and I can’t abide by that, Casey. ”
“That’s hot,” she said.
And I laughed, loving her reaction. It touched my heart and my soul that she’d be turned on by what I’d said.
“And the fucker even said something about the LolaRing. The whole being licked and fucked thing. Like he thought that was going to prove his point—but I do wonder if your launch is quite as under wraps as you thought it was? If he got to someone?”
Casey laughed. “Nah, I’m not worried. Mahsa knows what happened, and what didn’t.
LolaRing is kind of an open secret at this point.
We have a focus group and all. Also…it’s a freaking cock ring with an oral sex simulator vibe attached to it.
It damn well better feel like being licked and fucked at the same time.
I can’t believe he tried to turn you against me.
I would never ever try to screw you, or anyone else, on a deal. ”
I inhaled deeply, and a smile dared to appear on my face. She didn’t even need to say that, but she had. That was her. Honest, truthful, bold, brave. I could be the same because of her. You simply made a choice to trust, a choice to believe, a choice to move forward.
“I do know that,” I said. “And I never doubted it for a second.”
This was the true moving on—finally trusting myself.