I stop walking to stare down at it. I decide that it’s ugly and gaudy anyway. That’s basically how I see anything associated with Chase Covington now.
Chase is sitting on one of the lounge chairs and Liam is sitting on the one next to it. Ashley is currently rooting around in the refrigerator.
And then, in the last hurdle standing between me and the Covington inner circle, I glare icy needles into the last Covington security guard. He quickly steps aside to let me pass.
“Ma’am,” he says.
“Oh, don’t ma’am me,” I say without looking back.
Chase and Liam are watching something on Liam’s phone. He looks up as I approach. “Hey, babe.”
Ugh, I clench a fist. He looks happy, relaxed, normal. And I’ve had the worst day in the history of the world. And it all started with him being an asshole this morning. And now, he’s just laughing with his brother and ignoring me completely. “Hey, Chase, can we talk?”
For the first time, he looks all the way up at my face. Then his expression changes to a more appropriate flavor of oh, shit, she’s mad.
Liam notices as well. He takes his phone back and mutters something about joining his sister in the search for celebration alcohol, smartly leaving the two of us alone.
The panic in Chase’s face quickly melts away to indifference. And just like that, the infuriating Chase from this morning is back. Just as well, it’ll make all of this easier.
“You okay, Kaylee? You look awful.”
And now I’m counting to ten in my head to calm myself down, but I only get to four. “I said we need to talk.”
“Why?” he asks.
I get closer, close enough to bend down and whisper in his ear. To the outside world I’m sure it appeared sweet, but it’s not. “What do you mean why, you conceited, self-absorbed ass? Obviously, if we step away from your clan for a moment, I will explain to you very clearly what’s wrong. Got it?”
Instead of freaking out, he looks at his watch. “Five minutes,” he says. “Then the board of directors will call. Liam will put them on speaker. After that we can talk all you want.”
In other words, fuck you, Kaylee. I can tell by the look on his face that he has no intention whatsoever of talking to me. In five minutes, he’ll have everything he wanted out of this vacation. He won’t listen to me; he’ll be on a fucking jet. And that was the agreement, only I have some things to get off of my chest before that happens.
“Nope, it’s got to be now.” I grab his hand and pull him upright. Once we are up and moving, I don’t stop until we’re almost to where the waves are lapping at the shore.
“Okay, you can have like, sixty seconds,” he says, looking at his watch again. “What the hell is wrong with you, anyway?”
“What is wrong with me?” I cannot believe he is asking me this question right now. “What is wrong with me? First of all, you flipped out on me this morning and turned into an utter asshole. Secondly, because of all of our very public sneaking around so that you could get the board of directors to back off, the paparazzi got great pics of us on the beach all weekend.”
“So?”
“So, my boss saw the pics and they fired me this morning.”
“Okay,” he says, “so you can work full time on Scrumptious Chocolate, right? I thought that was the plan.”
I shake my head. “You just don’t get it, do you?”
His sea-green eyes flash down at me. Only this time in anger, like the first time we met when I spilled his drink on him. “Get what, Kaylee? You have more than enough money to start your chocolate business. And good luck to you. That was the deal.”
I should have known. “That’s all this ever was, right, Chase? Everything is just about money to you.”
“Hey,” he yells. “You got what you wanted too. I guess you could say we used each other. But don’t pretend I mean something to you because we both know that’s a lie.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” I ask. At this point, I’m thoroughly confused. This is about him being a jerk, not me.
“Time’s up, Kaylee. I’m going to hear what the board of directors has to say. You can come with me or not, it’s your choice.” He turns and walks away from me. Away from the ocean. Back toward the cabana with his brother. And a world I don’t belong in. I never belonged in his world, and I feel so stupid for the way I felt the last few days.
The camaraderie, the heat, the joy of being together. I’m stunned that it was all a lie, all a show. And he has the nerve to accuse me of being the same as him? I never lied to him. I lied to everyone else, though, and look where it got me? Standing alone on the beach, that’s where.
I guess he just dismissed me. Oh hell no. When the entirety of the situation hits me and my emotions kick in, I know what I have to do.
I spring back up the beach to the cabana. As I get there, I hear the raspy connection of Liam’s iPhone on speaker. The new board chairman makes a speech. It’s short, thankfully, and then he congratulates Chase on being named the new CEO.
I hear a series of moderately loud golf claps on the other end of the line. Then Chase thanks the board for their diligence and understanding under difficult circumstances. He says when he gets back into town, he’ll buy them all drinks. Then Liam and Chase say goodbye and Liam ends the call.
There is a long moment of silence after the call ends. It’s the perfect opportunity. “Congratulations, Chase,” I say, my voice dripping with sarcasm. “You got your way.
