“I don’t—”
“When it comes to her, you do. I’m not going to hold your hand anymore through your heartache. It’s been five fucking years, dude. Honestly, I don’t have the patience, either love her or let her go.”
The phone rings, indicating the conference call I have. Gray puts on a smiling face, but I can see his aggravation hiding behind his blue eyes. He is right. I either need to love her or let her go, and all these years later, the fact that I haven’t figured that out yet is pretty pathetic.
The part of me that I’ve been fighting all these years, doesn’t want to let her go. And I don’t even know how to handle that truth.
Chapter 12 Everly
“No, that wasn’t me.” Tears brim my eyes at another rejection call for a job. “Someone has stolen my identity.”
I sigh, “I know that sounds made up, but it is true. I have a lawyer you can talk to about it. Just give me a chance.” The first tear falls, and I hold back as much emotion as I can, and I tell them, “I understand. Yeah, have a great day too.”
I let out a frustrated cry and throw my phone on the couch. It’s useless. I’m never going to be able to get a job. Don’t get me wrong, I love working at the tattoo shop, but Andy keeps asking me out, and I keep saying no because I know that wouldn’t work, and with how my life is going right now, I don’t even want to deal with a man.
“No, luck?” Blaire asks, setting down the mail on the coffee table along with the New York Times.
I cross my arms over my chest and pull my cardigan tighter around my waist. “No. Nothing. I don’t know what I’m going to do, Blaire.”
“The tattoo shop really loves you. Just stay there.”
“It isn’t my dream job. And I can’t just get paid under the table forever. I don’t want to have to settle just because someone fucked me over. It isn’t fair.”
Blare just wraps her arms around my neck and gives me a hug. “I know. It will get better though. You have me, okay? I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”
I hold onto Blaire tight and just cry. It’s been so hard the last year. No one will hire me because of this asshole that got my social security number. Everything is ruined. I have an eighty-thousand-dollar student loan debt, my credit cards are nearly maxed out, I apparently have a criminal record now because of this person, and the only thing keeping me afloat and fed is the tattoo shop.
A place I’m surprisingly feeling at home at. Andy will tease me about getting other tattoos, and when I tell him no, he just nods and says at least he can say he took my virginity. As in my skin virginity. For some reason, he feels really proud about that, and I just roll my eyes. Men are so difficult to understand.
So, I just joke along and say, “Yeah, no one can ever compare to my first time with you.” And like always, he will just shoot me a wink. It used to make my stomach flip, but now I see Andy as the playboy he really is, and I’m not interested in someone like that. They are all kind to me, and luckily, they knew me before my identity was stolen, so they didn’t think twice before giving the job to me.
But all I want to be is a veterinarian. It’s what I went to school for. I could open my own practice, but since my credit is shot from someone stealing my identity, I can’t even do that. I feel trapped, and I have nowhere to go. All I can do is hope the lawyer Gray set up for me is good and work at the tattoo shop until it can get cleared. It could take days, months, maybe even years.
Blaire pulls back and wipes the tears off my face. “I know it doesn’t seem like it, but it will be okay.”
“Sure,” I say as I sit down on the couch and grab the pile of mail that has red stamps all over it. Great. More late notices. I just add them to the bin of other bills that Gray told me to keep, so my lawyer had proof of those payments. “Bill, bill, bill, bill. Oh look, more bills.” I toss them in the bin one at a time. There must be twenty different credit card companies trying to get payment from me.
But underneath all the junk and headaches, is a picture of Rowan on the front page of the New York Times. Slowly, I pick up the thick newspaper and lean back against the blue sofa. I smile at the image in front of me and read the article dedicated to Rowan and Gray. I want to laugh. I didn’t even see Gray in the picture. All of my focus is on the tall, blue eyed man smiling wide as he and Gray shake hands with two other men that look foreign.
I squint my eyes to read the fine print below the picture. “Rowan Michaels and Grayson Jones shake hands with Takeru Tanaka and Lei Zhang, joining forces to expand LifeRight Financial to Japan and China.”
“Oh wow, Rowan and his friend are making moves, huh?” Blaire says over my shoulder.
I nod, my smile so wide my cheeks start to hurt. “I’m so happy for him. He has always been brilliant. He deserves it.” It makes me wonder if karma is being a bitch and making
