She doesn’t immediately notice me. I didn’t turn the lights on. The floor to ceiling window behind provides enough light. She looks good, better than any of the hundreds of pictures from social media I’ve been stalking for years. Her hair hangs straight down her back, and I curse myself for thinking that I hate that she’s still doing that instead of wearing it curly. She’s wearing a kelly green dress with a thin black leather belt and killer black stilettos. She still hasn’t noticed me.
“Ivy,” I say much more evenly than I feel.
Her head swings in my direction, and her bag falls to floor from her shoulder. “Levi,” she swallows nervously.
We stare each other down for a minute, tension and attraction thickening and electrifying the air.
“It’s super creepy that you’re sitting in dark like that,” she says once she’s steadied herself.
“It’s not dark,” I point at the window behind me but remain seated. “How are you?”
“Good,” she picks up the bag that fell, “I’m good. I think I’m settling in here.”
“Hmmm,” I twirl a pen through my fingers, “don’t get too comfortable.”
“Why’s that?” She straightens as her eyes narrow at me.
“You never stick around too long is all. I was reminding myself that, not to get comfortable to seeing you.” I stand up to go grab a cup of coffee. When I pass by her, I’m assaulted by her unique fruity scent and almost reach out to pull her to me. I pause while I fight the torrent of feelings and memories coursing through my veins.
I should feel guilt at the look of hurt in her eyes as I walk out the door. I focus on the satisfaction instead. Giving her that tiny little cut felt as good as it did bad. I ignore the bad while I walk to the break room.
Taylor is in there with two of the lower level VPs of some sort. I don’t pay attention to their titles, especially when I can’t stand them. They’re standing around the Keurig gossiping like a bunch of women.
“I think I’m going to ask her out after work,” Taylor says while he stirs some sugar into his cup. “We had lunch together a few times last week, and I think she’s into me.”
“She’s hot as fuck, too,” VP of douchebaggery says.
“Did you see that dress she’s wearing today? I’d bend her over my desk.” Those charming comments come from the VP of sexual harassment.
“The green one?” Taylor asks. “Yes, she looks amazing.”
Oh fuck, no. They aren’t talking about Ives like this.
“Watch your mouths.” I shoulder my way between the three. “I know who you are talking about. She’s basically a part of my family. If I, or Frank, ever hear you talk about her like that again you will lose your job.” I sneer at the two VPs and send them scurrying off to their offices.
“I’m sorry,” Taylor says, “I didn’t mean anything disrespectful. I actually think Ivy is brilliant and beautiful. I’m in awe of her.”
I stop him by holding up a hand, “She is all those things. She’s also a lesbian.” I manage to give a sincere sympathetic smile, “sorry.”
“What?” His face falls, completely crestfallen. “All the good ones are. Damn. Thanks for the heads up, man.”
I smile to myself as he walks away. It was almost too easy. I obviously know I can’t chase off every guy who looks in her direction, but I’ll damn well try. I can keep the ones who work here away from her. Actually, I wonder what our corporate policy is on interoffice relationships.
I take my coffee back to our shared office, which I know Dad did to try to throw us together again. Speaking of which, he’s sitting in front of Ivy’s desk having a nice little chat with her about her weekend.
“How touching,” I say deadpan as I walk over to my desk. “A little former family chat.”
“Levi,” Dad warns.
“It must be nice to have Ivy here, just like old times around the dinner table.” I snap my fingers and point in their direction, “except Jennifer’s not here to tell Ivy how big of disappointment she is.”
I know I’ve gone too far when I catch Ivy’s eyes and see a sheen of tears before she has time to blink them away. My traitorous heart pinches, and remorse floods my body seeing the obvious pain in her eyes.
“LEVI!” Dad yells. “My office, now.”
I hear his mumbled apology as I walk out of our office and across the hall into Dad’s. My head is held high, but I’m internally drowning in shame. I, of all people, know how much of an effect her mother’s toxic behavior had on her. That comment was a straight up dick thing to say.
“What the fuck was that?” Dad says after he closes the door behind him.
“A factual statement.” Holy shit, it’s like Con has inhabited my body right now. I can’t stop the asshole comments from falling from my lips.
“Do you know how much work she’s put into moving past Jennifer’s toxicity?” Dad leans and gets in my face. “You want to come out of this with a shot of still being worthy of her? You better watch your mouth.”
I clench my jaw and give the slightest nod because even though I want her to hurt, I still want her. There’s no mistaking that attraction that still fires up between us. If I had any doubts before today, they’re gone now. I’m going to push her to the breaking point before pulling her back in and never letting her go again.
“Do you think she didn’t hurt leaving you as much as you did her?” Dad asks leaning against is desk. “You had Con, Griff, and Lilith to fall back on. She had no one.”
“She had Oliver, Parker, and Isaac.”
“She had Parker, a partner in an international law firm and professor of law at Yale? She had Isaac, a junior associate at her father’s firm? She had her ex-boyfriend who was in college at Oxford? Really? I’m sure the slumber parties were enthralling.”
“She had Hoodrat and Griff, too.”
He rolls his eyes. “First, they were both in Founder’s Ridge with you and then living with you in Boston. Second, quit calling her Hoodrat. She runs a multimillion-dollar security company.”
“She’ll always be my hoodrat.” She doesn’t even mind the nickname anymore. She knows it’s said with the utmost love and affection.
He blows out a disappointed breath. If only he knew how truly disappointed I am going to make him in the near future. “Just lay off Ivy okay? She looked like she was about to cry earlier, and I don’t remember ever seeing her cry before.”
I nod and walk out of his office without saying anything else.
19
IVY
“Hey girl!” Lilith says as I walk into the apartment Friday night. “Ready for girls’ night tonight?”
“Yes! This week has been hard as fuck.” I drop my purse on the kitchen island. “Levi either ignores me or makes little cutting remarks.”
“Want me to kick his ass? I can still take him down.” She flexes her bicep and growls.
“No,” I laugh even though I know they’re actually pretty evenly matched with her training in Krav Maga. “Maybe this week got it out of his system.”
“Maybe.” She doesn’t look convinced.
“I can always fight fire with fire, if it comes down to it.” I smirk, knowing I that I am well aware of each of his buttons. “We’ve known each other too long and were too close to not find our way back to each other at least as friends.”
“Agreed,” she nods. “We’re meeting Claire and one of the girls she dances with at nine for dinner, and then they want to go out clubbing. I was thinking we could just go to Indigo. We’re always on the list for VIP there.”
“Sounds good to me. I’m going to go start getting ready.”
I’m zipping up my dress when I hear a knock at the door.
“Come in,” I yell from the closet.
The bedroom door opens and closes quietly before my eyes see Con, leaning casually against the door jam. He’s still in a suit and tie, so he must have just gotten home.
“I have everything set for the yacht next week. Do you think you could
sneak into our room at some point this week and pack a bag for everything she’ll need? I want to completely surprise her with the trip, the proposal, everything.”
“Yes, anything to help. I’m so excited,” I tell him while I slide my feet into a pair of black platform peep toe pumps.
“Thank you.” He watches me with a concerned look on his face.
“What?”
“How was Levi this week? Griff had concerns.”
“He was fine,” I sigh, not really interested in dishing my feelings to his best friend. “I mean, he’s mad and having no problem showing it. I want to get back to our friendship, but it’s going to take some time.”
“Just friendship?” Con cocks an eyebrow and rubs his jaw.
“I can’t let myself think of anything beyond that right now.”
“Okay,” he nods. “There hasn’t been anyone like you for him. You should know that.”
“He doesn’t act like it,” I mumble as he walks away.
I walk back into the bathroom to finish my makeup. I do a shimmery plum smokey eye, contour the fuck out of my face, and put on a nude lip gloss. My goal tonight is to forget about everything this week and enjoy girl time. I don’t even want to look at guys.
“Remember the last time we were getting ready together in here?” Lilith says from the doorway of the bathroom.
“Yes,” I smile at the memories of her eighteenth birthday. “That was such a great weekend.”
“Yeah, it was.” She walks over and rests her head on top of mine, smiling at our reflections in the mirror. “I’m so glad you’re staying here this summer. I miss you.”
Tears prick my eyes. “Same, but don’t be sentimental. I just did this flawless makeup,” I elbow her. “No tears allowed once lashes are applied.”
“That’s somewhere in the girl handbook, right? I never got my copy of that.”
“I have extras.” I take a look at what she’s wearing. It’s an improvement from the tank tops, ripped jeans, and dirty chucks she wore when we first met but not by much. She’s wearing black skinny jeans and a shimmery charcoal halter top, no jewelry, hair hanging down her back in waves, and minimum makeup. “Can I do a few things?”
“Why do you think I came in here to begin with?” She sits on the chair in front of the vanity. “Work your magic, woman.”
I start pulling her hair back for a high ponytail. She always looks amazing with her hair up.
“Do that thing that makes my face skinny.”
“Contouring?” I ask. “Your face is already thin, that’s not necessarily why you do it.”
“Whatever, just transform me.”
A few minutes later, I finish with everything. She looks flawless as usual, and taking in our side by side reflections, I remember how insecure I used to be about how I looked compared to her.
“You know what’s amazing?” I ask.
“What?”
“I can look at myself next to you now without thinking all sorts of negative things. I used to feel so self-conscious when we went out together.”
“Really?” Her brows furrow, and she turns to me. “Why?”
“The things my mom would say to me just sat around inside my head. I didn’t say anything to anyone, just internalized it all.” That was a realization that took months to come to in therapy.
“I had no idea.”
“No one did. Levi didn’t even know how bad it was.” I point my finger at her. “Don’t say anything to him, either.”
“No promises,” she says with a stubborn set to her jaw. “If he doesn’t stop being a dick, I’ll say whatever I want.”
“Saul’s got the car ready for you whenever you want to leave,” Con says, poking his head in the room. “I’m sending some security with you, too.” He and Lilith have a silent conversation that ends with him rolling his eyes and walking away.
We get to the restaurant, and Claire is already sitting at the table with her friend. They’re both slim and petite girls, obvious dancer bodies. Claire has the classic Volkov appearance, dark brown, almost black hair, green eyes, but where Connor tans, she has constant ivory skin. She almost looks like Snow White with that combination of features. I follow Lilith through the packed restaurant toward the girls.
“Hey!” Claire says giving both Lilith and I hugs. “It’s so good to see you, Ivy!”
“You, too.” I hug her back. We didn’t spend much time together, but there were times she was around my junior year. We always got along, especially rolling our eyes at the guys and commiserating about how irritating they could be.
“This is my friend, Friday,” she points at the redhead sitting beside her. “We’re at the academy together.”
“Hey y’all,” Friday says with a deep southern accent. “Nice to meet ya.”
“Same,” Lilith says with a smile as she sits.
I pull my chair out and sit. “Did you two just meet recently?”
“Yeah, we’re in the same modern ballet and contemporary classes at the academy,” Claire answers.
The four of us fall into easy conversation over dinner. Discussing summer and post-grad plans for Lilith and I. Claire and Friday excitedly share the details of their classes at the James Academy of Modern Ballet. Friday is especially hilarious with her crazy southern drawl and weird sayings.
The restaurant we had dinner at is only three blocks from Indigo, so we just decide to walk. Four of Lilith’s security team follow several feet behind us; she told the ones wearing uniforms to back off.
“The uniformed guys are VI,” she explains, “so they only listen to Con or Victor. I can ask them to back off, but they won’t leave unless directly ordered to by one of them.”
“Yeah, it’s excessive,” Claire adds. “At least they listen and back off when you tell them to, they won’t ever leave my side.”
“If I didn’t have my own guys, they probably wouldn’t.”
We’re met at the door of Indigo by Grant, who leads us back to a booth in the VIP section. He and Lilith chat about some business she has with Lake, one of his business partners. Claire and Friday are already off on the dance floor, completely ignoring the appreciative stares they are each getting from every man and half the women around them.
I sit down and pour myself a glass of champagne from the bottle chilling on the table. A small appreciative moan leaves my lips at the crisp taste of the Dom Perignon. I startled out of my little champagne-gasm by a heavy, warm hand landing on my shoulder.
I turn my head and am greeted by a welcome and familiar face.
“Oliver!” I shoot out of my seat and wrap my arms around his neck in a hug.
“Ivy,” he pulls back a little but leaves his hands on my hips. “I can’t believe my first night out back in the city and I run into you. Kismet.” His body still has the lean musculature of a soccer player, but his jaw has sharpened into a more chiseled line. He looks damn good.
“Must be,” I smile up at him. “It’s so good to see you. Sit down with me.” I slide into the booth, and he sits beside me.
“Who is this?” Lilith asks as she sits down across from us.
“This is Oliver. Oliver, this is Lilith.”
“Ah, the Oliver. I’ve heard a lot of about you.” She gives him a kind smile. Then a mischievous smile crosses her face, it’s so similar to Levi’s I don’t know how we went six months without making the connection.
“I’m sure most of it bad since you are Levi’s cousin,” Oliver jokes charmingly.
“I take anything he says related to Ivy with a grain of salt. I’m sure you’re great.”
“Thanks,” he winks at her. “You and Connor are still together? How are the Titans doing these days?”
“Fuck,” she rolls her eyes, “that stupid ass nickname. We all live together up in Boston. Con has one more year at MIT, I’m at Boston College, and Griff and Levi are both at Harvard. We all live together in Cambridge.”
“And Ivy’s all alone at Yale,” Oliver makes puppy dog eyes at m
e. “I’m back in the states for good now though. New Haven isn’t that far from Manhattan.” His hand squeezes my thigh.
We’re interrupted by Claire and Friday stumbling over to the table, giggling and holding each other up. Claire gets a look at Oliver and narrows her eyes, trying to place how she knows him.
“Claire?” Oliver asks.
Her widen with surprise, “Oliver Abbott! It’s been ages!”
Lilith makes room for Claire and Friday, and we all spend a few minutes making introductions and catching up.
“Well, ladies, it’s been great seeing you. I have to go find my mates.” Oliver grabs me for a side hug and whispers in my ear, “Let’s grab dinner this week. We can catch up better than in a nightclub.” He kisses my cheek and stands to leave.
“I’ll call you, and we can set something up this week.”
I turn my head and find Claire and Lilith’s heads together, smirking, while she types away on her phone. They share a devious look and then smile at me when they notice me looking at them.
“What are you two up to?” I ask.
“Sending a picture to a friend,” Lilith says innocently.
“Someone who would definitely be interested to know that you are making plans with Oliver,” Claire adds.
“So you texted Levi.”
“Yep.” Lilith smirks. “You’re welcome. Although Oliver is hot as fuck in case Levi doesn’t get his head out of his ass.”
“That accent, y’all,” Friday sighs exaggeratedly. “If only I liked dick.”
20
LEVI
I was pissed when I saw that picture from Lilith of Oliver all over Ivy at the bar from last Friday. The memories of that year he got from her that I lost came bubbling up to the surface. He lives in New York now, running the American branch of his family’s marketing company. I can’t have him slipping back into her life while I sit around pouting like a pussy.
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