Ask Me Something (The Something Series Book 2) (30 page)

He laughed. “You
could assist me by agreeing to a coat closet if I need to blow off any steam
from dealing with my family.”

I rolled my
eyes. “Yeah, because having my panties in my hand after sex while your mother
confronted me for pouring wine on Rebecca wasn’t humiliating enough. Like I
need a second bad impression.”

“Ah, good times.
I think I’d worry more if my mother did like you.”

“Can I ask you
something?”

He tensed. “If
it’s about my mom, I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Okay,” I
sighed, tabling my question. I’d wanted to ask why he continued to go home if
she was that miserable to be around. I could guess it was for Kenzie, but
considering she was out of the house, too, it begged the question why either of
them still chose to do so.

He snuggled me
to his side, bringing my face within inches of his. “Is that an annoyed
okay
or an understanding one?”

“Understanding.
If you don’t want to talk about your mom, then I’m not going to push it.
Everyone should be able to keep some personal things, well, personal.” No truer
words were spoken, particularly when it came to me.

His eyes
narrowed, but thankfully he left that proverbial land mine alone for now.

The upside of
having to meet with Vanessa down in Charlotte instead of up in New York was
that I got to spend more time with Brian during the week. Currently, we were in
his bed on a Wednesday night, and I was enjoying the feel of his strong hands
caressing my back. The lull of the air conditioner trying to keep up with the
unusually hot May night was making me sleepy.

“I know dealing
with Vanessa isn’t your favorite thing, but I really like that you’re in my bed
during the week,” he murmured, both of us tangled up there after a bath
together had made its way to the bed.

I’d given up on idea
of needing space from Brian the night before seeing Vanessa. No amount of
mental preparation or separation from him could change the fact that the woman
was horrible to deal with. And if I was being honest, our two-week rule no
longer seemed to be enough time with him as it was, so I now took all
opportunities to see him. “Mm, I like that, too. I’m going downstairs to get
some water. You want anything?”

“You, back in my
bed.”

My belly
fluttered at the thought. We were insatiable even after all these months.

“You got it.” I
didn’t know when I’d gotten over the hesitancy of walking around him naked, but
I proceeded nude to the kitchen. Brian was certainly good for my sexual
confidence, I mused, slugging back the water bottle and then parading sexily
back into the bedroom where he was now sitting up.

I could tell
instantly by his posture and pale face that something was wrong.

“What is it?” I
asked, bracing myself for bad news.

“Juliette
called. She’s getting on a plane to Florida to stay with her sister as we speak.
Things with her husband, Rob aren’t good. She thinks he may be cheating on her
and addicted to prescription drugs.”

I was completely
shocked. “Oh my god. Do you think I should I call her?”

“She’s boarding
any minute and until she has proof, I don’t think she wants people to know. Which
I guess I should’ve thought about before telling you.”

I tried not to
take it personally. Brian would move hell and earth to help Juliette and was
definitely the person she should be confiding in. But she was my friend too and
knowing that she was hurting and I couldn’t reach out was tough. “So what’s the
plan?”

“Tomorrow I’m hiring
a private investigator. I’d mentioned it to her a couple weeks back, so I have
some candidates. It’s tricky though with Rob being a police officer, but we’ll
sort it out.”

“Let me know if
I can help in any way. Do you think she’s ready for a divorce if he is
cheating?”

He nodded. “Yeah
and I should probably call Mark too and see if he has any suggestions for
divorce attorneys in case it comes to that.”

Good idea, I
thought. We settled down in bed needing to get some sleep.

He sat up
suddenly. “Shit, Sasha. Vanessa’s meeting is tomorrow. Maybe we can reschedule.
I’d hate to put off doing this for Juliette. I told her I was on it first thing
in the morning.”

“No, you go and do
whatever you need to, and I’ll explain there was a family emergency to Vanessa.
I’m confident she’ll understand. We’re only finalizing the details for phase
two. This should go smoothly considering she was happy with phase one’s
magazine advertisements. And Juliette is more important.”

He looked
reluctant. “It’s not that I don’t think you’d do a great job, but are you sure
you’re up for it on your own?”

I smiled, trying
to convey false confidence. “Of course. It’s my job and the proposal is sound. You
said so yourself.”

He breathed a
sigh of relief. “Okay. Good.”

What was the
worst that could happen?

***

It was hard to
concentrate on business while knowing that Brian was helping Juliette navigate
her own personal hell. I found myself checking my phone, waiting for him to
indicate how things were going. The best action I could take to support both
Juliette and Brian at the moment was to take care of Vanessa so neither of them
were impacted. That’s what I set my mind to do.

Tryon
Pharmaceuticals was proving to be my most challenging client in my ten years of
working in advertising. Not only was Vanessa difficult to please in general,
but she obviously had an issue working with me in particular. The fact that she
was keen on leering at my boyfriend in front of me didn’t help, either.

Huh, I’d
mentally referred to him as my boyfriend.

With ten minutes
to spare, I donned my headphones and blasted my music, closing myself away in
my temporary office. I let today’s selection of Fight Song by Rachel Platten
take over my mind. Afterwards, I put on my best client-facing smile and went
into the conference room ready to do battle. Uh, that is, ready to meet with my
client.

“Nice to see you
again, Vanessa,” I welcomed.

Her eyes scanned
the room. “Where’s Brian?”

I tried not to
bristle at her inability to say hello like a normal human being. “Unfortunately,
he can’t make it today. He had a family emergency come up last night.”

I didn’t know
anyone who wouldn’t have been sympathetic to that statement, but clearly I’d
underestimated her.

“And that
excuses him from missing this meeting how? I flew all the way down from New
York. If this so-called emergency turned up last night, I should’ve received a
call last night letting me know. Did someone die?”

What a callous
bitch. “I’m not at liberty to discuss his personal situation except to say that
it’s obviously very serious. And since I’m the lead on the account, and we
worked together on this proposal, we wanted to go forward with this meeting so
we didn’t delay phase two.”

“Yes, I suppose
you are the lead, technically, aren’t you?” She tapped her long red nail
against her lip like she was considering something and then flopped down into
one of the chairs.

I swallowed down
any retort I could’ve made. Messing up this campaign was not an option.

We settled in
and went over the PowerPoint slides in depth. Vanessa was relentless with her
questions.

“I don’t think I
care for your first proposal, Sasha. What’s the alternative?”

She damned well
knew there wasn’t an alternative. Furthermore, the first one was perfect for
the direction her company wanted to go with television ads. “We are confident
that this first proposal will boost your market share, not to mention set the
company up for its long-term strategy.”

“In other words,
you put all of your eggs in one basket. For shame not to give a client multiple
options, but then again, I’m not surprised. Perhaps Brian will have more
ideas.”

It took all that
I had in me to utter my next sentence. “This proposal was his, but I’ll be
certain to relay your dissatisfaction with it when I speak with him later. If
you give me until tomorrow, I’d be happy to come up with some different options.”

Amazing how fast
she changed her tune. “You know what? It’s growing on me. But it does make me
wonder: if this was Brian’s idea, what does he keep you on the account for?”

“We work as a
team, brainstorming and coming up with ideas to keep the client’s best
interests at heart instead of our individual egos. Brian will be very pleased
to hear that you’re comfortable with the proposal.” I got up out of my seat and
flipped on the lights before handing her the proposal for signature. I tried to
act nonchalant, as if the two-million-dollar phase two contract was a drop in
the bucket.

After she
finished signing, I stood with her. “I’ll see you out.”

“No need, I know
my way. Please tell Brian that I missed him and look forward to our next
meeting.” She made her way to the door.

“Certainly.”

I was about to
breathe a sigh of relief, but she turned.

“Tell me, Sasha,
are you currently fucking him, or is it in the past?”

The shock of
that question floored me. I knew she glimpsed the surprise on my face before I
could cover it. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, I think we
both know. A man doesn’t look at a woman like Brian looks at you without having
had intimate knowledge of her at some point. You know what, I answered my own
question. The look is definitely one of
been there, done that
. Take care,
now.”

She strutted out
of the office in her killer four-inch stilettos and too-tight leopard-print
skirt while I envisioned a scenario in which I could tell her to go to hell and
not lose my job.

After going
through the motions of getting the signed contract over to the accounting
department, I scanned a copy for Brian, and then set up the meetings to get the
ball rolling on the actual commercial shoot.

Finally, after
everything was in order, I settled into the visitor’s office and refused to
think about Vanessa’s comments. I was on the fence about whether or not to tell
Brian but reasoned he didn’t need my shit on top of everything else he was
dealing with. I was effectively stomping my emotions down, refusing to
acknowledge how they were making me feel. You’d think I’d be better at it by
now. Pushing thoughts of Vanessa out of my head, I proceeded to plow through my
day.

As I was driving
back to Brian’s house, the number from the New York office flashed up on the
car’s Bluetooth. I answered and heard Nancy’s voice on the car speaker.

“Sasha, I know
you told me to screen your calls regarding that attorney, Michael Frank. I’m
really sorry to bother you, but the message he left today I thought you might
want to know about.”

I steeled myself,
already knowing deep down it wasn’t good news. “Yes, of course, Nancy.”

“He wanted to
let you know that she passed yesterday. He didn’t give any details but did
leave his number again and that of the county morgue.”

My veins felt
like ice water, and I didn’t know what to say.

“Do you want me
to email you the details?” she asked.

“Yes, please,”
came an automatic voice I didn’t recognize. I was numb.

***

Patience wasn’t
my strong suit, so waiting on Brian at his place after nine o’clock that night—after
not hearing from him all day—was about to drive me mad. Finally, I couldn’t
stand it any longer and sent him a text.

“Everything okay?
Anything I can do to help?”

“On my way
home,”
came
the reply.

I didn’t like
this restlessness I was feeling. I hoped a glass of whiskey would take the edge
off.

Pacing until I
heard the garage door open, I had to physically grab the countertop ledge to
keep myself from launching at him when he came through the front door. I tried
to keep my inner turmoil at bay and focus on him. It wasn’t hard to make that
switch when Brian entered the kitchen, looking emotionally exhausted.

“That bad huh?”

He nodded,
walking over and kissing me briefly before crossing over to his bar. He fixed
himself a stiff drink to match mine. “Yeah, it was.”

“Do you feel
like talking about it?”

His tired eyes
met mine. “Not really. Do you mind? Right now I only want to decompress a
little.”

It stung. But with
another glance at him, I recognized that he had the weight of the world on his
shoulders at the moment. “I don’t mind. Come on, let’s go sit on the sofa.”

I snuggled up
next to him, and we both sat there in the silence, sipping our whiskey.

“Tell me how
things went with Vanessa.”

I was surprised
he hadn’t checked his email, but it spoke volumes about how wrapped up he must
have been today. “Good. She signed off on the proposal. I have a meeting on
Tuesday afternoon with the media department to go over the commercial shoot,
but if you think that you won’t be able to get away, I can reschedule for next
week without an issue.”

He squeezed my
hip and tossed me a small smile. “No, Tuesday is good. Great job.” He held up
his glass, and I clinked mine to it.

“Thanks,” I
murmured, thinking about the train wreck of a day it had actually been. “How is
Juliette?”

He kissed me on
my forehead. “I had to tell her that within hours of the PI following her
husband, he had proof that he was cheating. The investigator is going to dig
for more, but clearly Rob is enjoying the fact that his wife is out of town. She’s
going to be okay though. The tricky part is the custody. She wants proof that
he’s using drugs as leverage to ensure she can keep Tristan safe. Mark found a reputable
divorce attorney that Juliette will work with once she gets back in a couple of
weeks.”

“How did she
take it?”

He sighed.
“Better than I thought. I think she’s angrier with herself for being duped.
She’s put up with a lot from him over the last couple years and tried to remain
positive, so an affair was a slap in the face.”