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“I’ll call you tomorrow,” my mom said as if nothing had gone wrong between us.
I shook my head. At this point, I wasn’t even going to answer, but I was upset. I would feel better when I had a night’s sleep behind me and the sun was out again. In the darkness, everything felt worse. Today was the first day. It would all calm down eventually, and I had gotten through day one. One day at a time.
When I had thought it after seeing Brett, it had been a good thing. Now, it was horrible.
I did what I had wanted to do. I climbed into the shower and turned the water up so hot that it felt like flaming needles hitting my skin. I wished the water would burn away the pain and the anger and everything else that I felt. I wished it could wash away what had happened. But that wasn’t something that would happen, and when the water finally turned cold, soothing my seared skin, I climbed out of the shower and towel dried my hair just enough so that I wouldn’t get sick if I went to bed with it wet. I closed my eyes and pushed away everything that mulled around in my mind. Everything from the paparazzi that bombarded me outside the office, to the fight with my mom. I even pushed away the thought of Brett himself. Finally, there was only darkness left, and I grabbed onto that, letting it lower me into sleep.
Chapter 15
Brett
On Tuesday, the media frenzy outside hadn’t dissolved. In fact, it almost looked like it had gotten worse. Maybe it was because I was already in a shit mood. I had barely slept at all. Erica’s face was plastered all over the news, and I knew it was my fault. She was being an angel and saying that it was her fault too. After all, neither of us had acted alone, but that didn’t stop me from feeling guilty.
After battling off the reporters, I should have been safe in my office. I wasn’t. My phone started ringing, and as soon as I picked it up to take the call, Susan came into my office to tell me I had more people on hold. In the end, Jeremy Brock was the one that made it through to me.
“We want a meeting, Loomis,” Brock said.
“I’ll have to see when I can slot you in.”
“Do you think I give a shit about your schedule? You put all of us at risk, and we need to see you now. Make it happen, or we will pull funding.”
Well, there was nothing as persuasive as a threat. I agreed to an emergency meeting with all the investors. Susan came in with the paperwork, and Shane followed shortly after.
“Have you seen it?” Shane asked.
“I’m just about to look at it.” I flipped open the document that Susan had brought in and skimmed over the contents. As I read one number after the other, my heart sank. Overnight, my stock had plummeted fifty points. It was more than we had ever gone down, and I knew now why Brock was so pissed off. If I were an investor, I would have pulled funding without asking for an emergency meeting. I was lucky my investors were as dedicated as I had thought. I had a feeling I had Erica to thank for that.
“What are you going to do?” Shane asked after I put down the file. “Susan said you cleared your schedule this morning. Are they coming in?”
I nodded. “No doubt to shit all over me.”
I knew the investors weren’t going to be happy with me at all. Let’s face it, I did jeopardize everything we had been working for. When Erica and I had fucked in my office, I’d known I was taking a risk, but now that it was all happening, it hit me hard. I should have thought it through. Then again, I had been thinking with my dick, not my head.
Confidence had always been the name of the game for me. But today, I was nervous. I had no idea what to expect, and I didn’t know if I had what it took to keep the investors interested. They had been very pleased with Erica, but seeing that she was part of this disaster, I doubted that would be enough to pull us through if they decided they were done.
Half an hour later, Erica walked into my office. She looked stressed, and I was willing to bet she’d had to fight off the outside as well. She was almost a head shorter than I was and not nearly as strong. She would have had a harder time. I would have liked to be down there, waiting for her so that when she arrived, I could have helped her through the throngs. Unfortunately, that would only have proven exactly what the reporters had already been suspecting. The more attention I pay to Erica, the deeper it would get us in trouble.
