“Dom! Rise and shine. It’s a new day and I have news.”
I sighed, turning to the side and covering my head with a pillow. If Leyland was calling this early, it could only mean bad news. “What’s up?”
“Tech Dyne is what’s up. I managed to speak to one of the directors last night. Just happened to run into him at the Polo Lounge.” I could practically hear the grin in his voice.
“Anyway, they’re impressed with your portfolio. Very impressed. But they feel that Alexander is the more stable candidate since he’s a family man.”
My mouth twisted in disgust. “Really?”
“Yeah. So if you have any significant others to pull out of your ass, this is the time.”
I sighed. My shoulders slumped as I gave in. “Actually, Leyland, I do.”
“You do?” His voice both perked up and sounded extremely surprised.
“Yeah, I do. She’s a scientist. Works for the FDA.”
“And…” The skepticism was thick in the air. “What? Does she need money? Why’s she doing this?”
“Hey!” I shot upright. “Maybe she likes me; did that ever occur to you?”
Leyland snorted derisively. “No. Come on, Dom, I’m your lawyer. I’m on your side. What’s the deal?”
I sighed in defeat. “Well, the deal is, it’s a deal. I get a wife; she gets a last name with influence.”
“I…see.” As expected, he didn’t sound shocked at all. “You have a prenup in place yet?”
“Nah, waiting on her lawyer.”
“And when were you planning to tell me?”
“When I had the document from her lawyer.”
He sighed loudly and long. “We don’t have time for that. Ask her to have him send it to my office by tomorrow. I’m gonna get back to my guy on the board and notify him that we have a wife to be! Good job, Dom. This is the kind of initiative that will take you far.”
“Fuck you, Leyland. Can I go back to bed now?”
“After you tell her. Time’s a-wasting.”
“Yes, boss.” I threw my phone across the bed and closed my eyes again. I tried to go back to sleep but my lawyer had gotten my head buzzing with ifs, buts, and maybes.
I should have asked him to wait before making an announcement.
My heart sank as I thought about the potential fallout. Now that Leyland knew, there were balls that would be set in motion making it difficult to back out. I was pretty sure that Nico wasn’t in a state of mind to think about prenups or marriage agreements. Hell, she probably didn’t want to think about me at all. With a sigh, I shuffled out of bed and padded to the shower. The least I could do was go and see her so that we could discuss all this in person. If she wanted to back out, I would respect that.
And then what? You look like a liar in front of the Tech Dyne board?
I pushed that question away, deeply regretting now that I hadn’t contracted with some stranger I didn’t give a fuck about.
“You see? This is why I don’t do relationships!” I growled loudly to myself as the water beat down on me. I stood there, wondering if I could just save everyone the trouble by drowning myself.
Shaking my head at my own melodrama, I exited the shower and crossed over to my bed. I was surprised by the knock on my closed bedroom door and even more so when Morgan poked his head in.
I quirked an eyebrow as I picked up my t-shirt. “Back already? I thought you’d at least follow Nico around all day.”
Morgan walked into my room and dropped down on the pouf. He was still wearing last night’s clothes. “Yeah, no. She kicked me out. Insisted on going to work.”
“Why would she do that?”
“Cause she’s a workaholic and in denial about the danger?”
“Mmm.” My reply was non-committal because I knew that Morgan would totally be a helicopter brother if Nico let him. She was constantly fighting for her own space.
“So what’s up with you? I heard you talking to yourself in the shower. You only do that if you feel backed in a corner.”
I gave him a side-eye, wondering how he’d heard that.
“Oh, I was in here earlier looking for you. Went to put on the coffee,” he said without me having to ask out loud.
“Huh. Okay.”
“So what’s up?”
“Nothing…just…”
“What?”
“Leyland knows about my deal with Nico. He’s done that thing where he takes over everything, and I’m not even sure Nico wants to go ahead with this. Especially after last night.”
Morgan just sighed indifferently. “You should talk to her.”
“Yeah.”
“Take her a nice lunch at work or something. Hash things out.”
“You think?”
Morgan pursed his lips. “Yeah, I think it’ll work.”
I blinked at him a few times, trying to figure out what he wasn’t saying. Morgan was a hundred percent loyal to me. But if one person could beat me hands down for first priority, it would be Nicolette. So I didn’t know if he was telling me this for me, or for Nico.
I guess I would see in time.
8
Nicolette
I didn’t get much sleep last night. Thank heavens for my big ass, L-shaped purple and yellow couch. It enabled Morgan and I to at least lie down for the night, our heads touching like conjoined twins as we each took a side.
“Why’d you do that, Nico? Go with that guy? You know better than that.”
Everything always went back to Eugene. I felt shame burn in my chest at the blame I felt my brother was putting on me. I should have known better than to go with the big guy because my stepfather was abusive. So I’m not allowed to be stupid and emotional anymore.
I knew that wasn’t what he was saying, I did. But my own feelings of recrimination colored his question with blame. I hunched in on myself, panting a little, maybe in a bit of a panic. There was no real reason for me to go with Rooster except that I was ashamed and acting out. I
