"You should brush your teeth first. I don't want to drool."
I groan, she laughs, and Maverick's cackles follow us all the way to the car. Fuck this night.
Chapter 31
HARLEY
Despite the one blip where Dale was convinced my scratch was an arterial bleed, and the fact we looked like crazy idiots at the hospital, the rest of the weekend was actually nice.
Maybe even amazing.
It would have been amazing if it had just been the two of us, but it was way better than I ever expected even though the other Sterlings were there.
Plenty of sex, relaxation, and oddly, I found myself easily sinking into conversation with the Sterlings after one of the most humiliating experiences ever. Life has a funny way of working out sometimes.
Dale immediately threw away the tube he says came straight from hell as soon as we got back that night. I keep laughing every time I think about it.
I used to avoid any sort of humiliation at any cost. Yet, when faced with people who were known to laugh at others, I actually laughed with them. They never made it feel malicious. It was just something funny. Not something that made me want to hide under the covers.
Something so incredibly weird turned out to be a good thing.
I can't believe I'm even thinking that.
But I work so hard at never being the thing people point and laugh at now, that it felt … good to be able to laugh at myself. For the first time ever.
Smiling, I head up to the creative design room of my office building, and find Frank looking over my latest additions to the newest app.
It's been almost a week since my 'relaxing' weekend, and I already need another one. Frank is on my nerves with questioning this project.
"What now, Frank?" I ask, putting my afternoon pick-me-up coffee down as I go to look at what notes he's making.
He frowns. "I'm just not seeing any reason to design a non-profit app. At least allow ad campaign space to be bought. There aren't any in-app purchases to make this worth while."
I shake my head. "Do you understand the point of non-profit? It means no profit. I don't want ads popping up when someone tries to use it."
"Then go back to the original idea. I liked it. Loved it even. It could have made us a fortune."
"The original idea was a game where they could design their own superheroes. This is real life. The game is still on the back-burner and will be used once I have the creative juices flowing to finish it. For now, I'm focused on this."
He hates it. I can see it in his eyes. You'd think this was his company.
"Frank, who owns this company?" I ask with a dark smile.
His face pales, and he clears his throat. "You do," he says, though it sounds strained.
Frank was once a highly sought after creative engineer. He had free reign to create garbage at his last job. Here? I make him earn his place. He's also here because this industry is challenging and cutthroat.
Something new comes around every five seconds and makes all your previous things irrelevant. Hence the reason we're still going strong and others are tanking. He knows he doesn't want to be on someone else's sinking ship.
"Who signs your paychecks?" I go on, playing a game I'm too familiar with.
"You do," he says, his lips thinning.
"Who should you not question?"
He cuts his icy eyes toward me. I regularly threaten to fire him, but this time, I'm actually considering it. It seems like he's lost the plot if he thinks it's okay to glare at me like that.
"You," he finally says, practically spitting the word out.
"Just remember you signed a non-compete clause when I hired you. If you lose this job, you have to wait five years to get back in the business. By then, you'll be irrelevant."
I move back to my designs as he stalks out. I'm immersed in code when Britt is suddenly beside me, startling me.
"Sorry. Your assistant asked me to bring you this," Britt says, smiling as she hands me a folded up note.
I open it to see something I was waiting on.
"I need to go somewhere," I tell Britt, walking out without explaining. "Work with Vinny to finish up those last bits of code today," I call over my shoulder.
Britt is still new to all of this, but catching on quicker than any intern or student I've ever seen. She'll make a great addition to the team as soon as she's finished with college.
I trust they can finish it up for presentation purposes while I handle this.
I've waited a really long time for this. And I'm not talking about the app.
Vivica calls as though she knows what's happening, and I answer.
"Dad has requested a meeting."
"I figured he would. You sold the business already though. He doesn't know that, since you took painstaking measures to keep the rushed closing under wraps. When is the actual takeover?"
"Finn is taking over next week. Officially, anyway. He's cutting all the dead weight tomorrow. He'll slide in as the new CEO next week, though. The board will have no choice but to approve it, considering he's now the primary shareholder, and we have half the board in our pocket anyway."
"Take someone with you. I'll meet you if you need me to. Don't meet your father alone."
I laugh to myself. "He's an asshole, but he's not a dangerous asshole. He's never laid a hand on me."
"You never stole his business out from under him either. Seriously, Harley. Take someone. Where are you?"
"I'm fine, Vivica. Tell me what you have on my two latest acquirements."
She blows out a frustrated breath.
"One is ready and primed-the easy one. Only needs the finishing touches. The other one is taking a little longer. I didn't realize how spread out the shares were. But just a few more weeks for it. It's not as massive of an undertaking as your father's company was."
"You're sure it's mine? The easy one, I mean?"
"Jessie's business partner signed over her half of the business to you. Your lawyer is taking care of the paperwork as we speak. Just need your signature."
"Have him fax the paperwork to me."
"What about Chloe and Johnna? What do you want done to them?" she asks.
I wanted a lot done. Maybe I'm getting soft, but they no longer seem relevant to me. "Chloe and Johnna will lose a lot of money when I take over Tasha's husband's business. He'll only be allowed to buy it back from me as long as he ruins her. But all of Chloe's trust fund is tied up in that business. Same for Johnna's inheritance that she finally got after her dad died. They're trying to take it from Tasha's husband without him knowing, and sinking in all their combined funds to do it. It'll make swaying his opinion to ruin Tasha much easier."
"And Rebecca? You're paying her for her half of Jessie's business? What then?"
"Rebecca will always have money. But what she wants more than anything is a place in all the Sterling Shore elite places. After those pictures you have leak-tomorrow-that will no longer be an option."
"Tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow … yeah. And see what you can do about ruining Tasha's life a little faster."
She sighs. "Okay. Don't press the gas too hard, Harley. You know these things can backfire if we're not careful."
I study my nails, wondering what life might have been like if I hadn't learned to hate more fiercely than I learned to love.
"Hold the pictures. I'll see if Finn will hold back on the takeover. I'll put off the meeting with my dad until you get the final shares bought for the Landcaster business. And as for the paperwork concerning Jessie's bank, you sign it. You take it over. I'll buy it from you."
"That's actually a much sounder course of action," she says, a proud tone to her voice.
"Just call me when it's ready."
"Aye, captain," she says, mocking me. It makes me think back to Dale's pirate gibberish, and I giggle.
"It wasn't that funny," Vivica points out.
I sober, clear my throat, and battle my grin. "Long story. When Dale thinks it's funny, I'll tell you about it."
"I have no idea what that means, but okay. I'll call you later."
Instead of going home to pack a bag, I head to Dale's instead. I've gotten used to just showing up without warning him. Just like he does me.
"Dale?" I call out, grinning. His car was in the driveway instead of the garage, so that means-
A woman walks out, her eyes wide when she sees me, and my heart slams into my throat.
Don't overreact, Harley.
"Hi," I say cautiously, then finally realize who exactly I'm staring at. And that calm inside me turns cold. "Fiona."
"Harley, right?" she asks, swallowing nervously. "I saw that Dale had updated his status to being in a relationship with you."
"So you came to discuss it with him?" I ask, trying to piece this together before I have a thermo-nuclear, crazy girlfriend reaction.
Girlfriend? He's called me that, right? I am definitely his girlfriend. I have every right to claw someone's eyes out and only be marginally crazy instead of desperately psychotic.
I can't think when I'm staring into the eyes of his ex-fiancée. In his house. At a time he wasn't expecting me.
"No," she says quickly. Too quickly. "I came to drop off some of his mail that still comes to my house. Our old house. I bought the house from him a while back, and he changed all his major mailing things directly, but some things still come to me."