“Hence the name True Crime.”
“You need to watch out for yourself. If you have any bad feelings about Xavier whatsoever, you need to walk away.”
“That’s harsh.”
“He’s not a normal guy, Riley,” she hissed.
“What do you mean by that?”
She shoved her hair back from her face. “I mean, just put yourself in his shoes. You’re a hot, young billionaire. You own a club where you have the chance to meet a hundred new women a night. You’ve never had a serious relationship in your life, and you take a new date to each event you go to.”
“How do you know those last two things?”
She rolled her eyes. “You haven’t googled him?”
“No. You have.”
“Yeah.” She looked at me like poking around for information on the man I was dating was the only logical thing to do. “And if you believe his past, he’s just like what we suspected he was. He gets around.”
The last statement was almost too much. I chomped down on my bottom lip and held it tight between my teeth. The pain kept me grounded and stopped me from crying.
“I’m sorry,” Ann-Marie gently said. “I didn’t mean for it to come out like that.”
I cleared my throat. I was not going to cry in the same diner twice in one morning. “It’s all right. You’re just repeating information.”
“I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Yeah, I know. The problem with that is I don’t know what will hurt me more, staying or leaving.”
Ann-Marie solemnly nodded. “I hear you.”
The pancakes arrived, and we dug in. There was a dark gray cloud surrounding me, blocking any of my chances at getting some sunlight and happiness. Ann-Marie did her best to cheer me up by telling me funny stories about her coworkers, and I actually laughed once. For a few brief moments, everything was okay.
And then I remembered Xavier. I remembered the coldness in his eyes. The hard fear. How similar his look of pain was to that of scared animals. He hid something. Whatever it was, he kept it locked down deep inside of himself. And even if I never spoke to him again, I already knew he’d affected me in a big way.
Like it or not, and positive or negative, I would live with the impact he’d had on me for the rest of my life.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Xavier
I scanned the list of numbers and then threw the paper down onto the board table. “This is disgusting.”
Calvin’s lips drew into a tight line. “These are the same reports you saw last week.”
I sat up straighter and adjusted my jacket. “Right. And what’s going on over there in Oahu? Are you selling our plots for fifty percent of what they’re worth?”
The strained look on his face became even more intense. From the other side of the table, someone cleared their throat. It was Vivaca, our in-house consultant. She pressed her hands against the table and stood up. Vivaca reminded me of Rochelle in some ways, and I usually found that endearing, but not that day. That day everything and everyone fucking pissed me off.
Vivaca locked her eyes on me. “Henrick is going there next month to supervise the construction of the hotels. Perhaps you would like to go with him?”
“No, I don’t need to go to fucking Hawaii,” I barked.
Thick tension settled in the room as the other five people sitting nearby froze, becoming completely quiet.
Since no one clearly had anything helpful to say, I went on. “I need people to do their jobs. That’s what I need.”
“Or maybe you need some time off,” Calvin replied.
I whipped my face toward him so fast my vision blurred. “Excuse me?”
He spread his palms wide. “You seem stressed.”
He was trying to act like the comment was an innocent one, like it wasn’t an underhanded attempt to cut me down. But it was really a dirty and cheap move.
I was standing before I knew I’d made the decision to do just that. “You’ve always had an issue with me, so how about we finally talk about it?”
“Me? Have a problem with you?” He exchanged a grin with someone behind my shoulder.
My anger doubled, and something in my brain snapped. I stepped forward and dug my fingers into the collar of Calvin’s shirt. I was dimly aware of everyone’s gasps as I pulled him to his feet, but they seemed so far away. Calvin’s face quickly turned red, then purple. He wrapped his hands around my wrists, squeezing me tight.
Hands pulled against my shoulders, urging me away from him, but I wasn’t in control of my own body. Calvin had done wrong, and he needed to pay for it.
“You’re crazy,” he spat, a bit of saliva flying at my face.
The words made me freeze. I loosened my grip and lowered him to the floor. Someone yanked on my arm, and I stumbled backward. Vivaca’s face appeared in front of mine, a look of terror on it. I allowed myself to be pulled out of the boardroom and into the side office. She closed the door and turned to face me, her chest heaving up and down.
“Xavier,” she breathed. “I—”
“I know.” I clutched the roots of my hair and turned away from her. I couldn’t stand to look at anyone else right then. If there was a mirror in the room, I probably wouldn’t have been able to stand to look at myself either.
“Is something going on?”
No started to form on my lips, but I paused and reconsidered. I really would have preferred to not answer her question at all. “Postpone the meeting,” I told her, turning slightly to look out the window. “We’ll continue on Monday.”
“Very well.”
I waited to move until the door shut. With Vivaca gone, I collapsed into a corner chair. This was it. I was losing my mind. There was no other excuse. Work had been stressful lately, but it always was. I’d lived my entire life in a constant state of stress. It started with my parents and continued with my career. There was no reason it should have been causing me to come undone like this.
It was Riley. She was the cause of all of this. I should have known it was coming. The second I felt something for her that wasn’t physical, I should have run away. I should have deleted her number and forgotten her name. Instead, I stuck around and allowed myself to grow an attachment to her.
I heaved myself from the chair in disgust and pulled my phone from my pocket. The biggest plus of helming your own company was being able to take an early weekend when you felt like it. I’d pay for it on Monday with extra work, but it would be worth it. Taking a break and clearing my head would allow me to come back to the office in a better state. Two days at my Key West house would probably do the trick.
I made the call and requested that my private jet be ready at LaGuardia in one hour. After smoothing down my suit and hair, I went back into the boardroom. Everyone had left. I was saved from apologizing to Calvin in front of other people, but I’d have to send him a written apology before the day ended. And things would never be the same with us.