UNPLUGGED: a standalone novel

by LK Collins

  “Merritt,” my dad smiles a devilish grin, and for the first time ever, I acknowledge him as, “Charles,” and then turn to greet the latest addition to the list of people I no longer trust, “Ari.”

  “We were just gonna call you,” Ari says, like a fucking pussy.

  “Really, ‘cause I just watched you ignore my phone call.”

  They look at each other, and then my dad, or should I say Charles, puts his hands up and says, “Okay, you got us. We were planning a party for you when you take over the company.”

  “Fuck you both.” Charles smiles, and I ask them, “So was this your plan all along? To fuck me out of the business I’ve worked my entire life for?”

  “Let’s be honest, Merritt, you were never cut out to run the company, not the way Ari is.”

  “So why not fire me then, you fucking pussy?”

  “Because when you leave on your own, I’m done with you and neither of us is paying you a cent more.”

  “Neither of us? He doesn’t even work for you.”

  “Oh, but he does. He’s been doing plenty to make this the biggest merger in the history of the American oil and gas industry.” Ari won’t even look at me. The bitch betrayed me and now isn’t man enough to own up to it. It all makes sense now, the drama with the Serranos, the stocks, the deal in Steamboat my dad “offered a million dollars more for.” It was all for his benefit, and they played me. “Ari left so when he takes over the company, he can bring Azures’ business too. I didn’t build this empire to turn it over to some mistake of a child and not have it be the largest oil and gas company in the world.”

  “Fuck you both. You’re meant for each other, you know that?”

  “Oh, look at you getting all hurt. Why don’t you run along to that slut I took advantage of. I’m sure she’ll still want you because we’re fucking done with you.”

  I ignore my father and look at Ari, and he finally brings his eyes to meet mine. “Is it all true?” He nods, and even though I knew it was, having him confirm it is a terrible blow. “Why Quinn? Why bring her into all of this?”

  “It was easy, man,” Ari says. “I knew you’d fall for her as soon as I put you two in that bedroom. Just look at her. You both were fucking puppets.” Standing up, I lay a hard right hook into his face. His chair flies backwards with him in it, and Charles sits stunned, looking at me as Ari stumbles to his feet, obviously wobbled. The guests all look in our direction, and I tell my dad, “He’s your fucking problem now. Just feel lucky I don’t do the same to you. I’d probably kill your frail ass.”

  I walk off, looking back at Ari one last time. He’s half conscious. I really should mop the floor with both of them. The news of what Quinn did is really nothing compared to this betrayal.

  Chapter 43

  Quinn

  Looking at my computer screen, I’m not sure how I’m going to get through the entire day. Willow recommended I come back to work, and at the time, I thought it was a good idea. But sitting here, the faint smell of the flowers Merritt sent me still wafting in the air, looming from my trashcan, and I just can’t stop staring at the picture of us on my computer screen.

  God, it hurts. It’s the most excruciating pain I’ve ever dealt with, and I want it to go away. Looking down at my bracelet, the one he bought for me, I pop it open and take out the tiny, tattered piece of paper. As I unfold it, the ink has faded, but still faintly visible is his name, Merritt. What was a wish of mine not so long ago, now will never come true.

  Through a sob, I choke back the tears and drop it into my trash. I’ve got to let him go…I have to.

  “Quinn,” the receptionist calls through my phone, almost making me jump out of my skin.

  “Yeah.” I try and sound somewhat normal.

  “Your nine thirty is in the conference room.”

  “Okay,” I answer back, caught off guard. I don’t have a clue who my nine thirty is or what to do about it. Going into my calendar, I wait for it to load and it’s taking forever.

  Goddammit!

  Grabbing my iPad so I can search the company name if needed and fly by the seat of my pants, I make my way across the office and stop at the door, swallowing and taking in a breath of air before I go in and put on a fake happy persona.

  But as I open it and step in, the wind is knocked from my lungs and I freeze. Everything around me slows. My senses that weeks ago died suddenly come back alive breathing him in, and I stand unable to move.

  Merritt is sitting at the head of the conference table, his brown eyes hard to read. Why is he here? He hates me. Then in that commanding voice that I’ll do anything for, he orders me to close the door.

  Gently I do and take a seat across from him, prepared for the wrath of what is next. In front of him is a folder. I’m sure it’s of more pictures or something that his dad sent him, and I begin to feel as though I could hyperventilate.

  “How are you?” he asks.

  I nod, still not speaking, and he says, “It’s good to see you.”

  “You too.” My voice trembles; this is harder than I ever imagined it would be. He opens the folder and hands me a piece of paper. “What’s this?” I ask looking down at the blank white sheet.

  “You tell me, what do you see?”

  “Nothing,” I’m confused, but lately, that’s all I am.

  “I see something different.”

  I flip it over, the back is blank too, and I tell him, “I’m sorry, but my brain is mush lately.”

  “Please don’t be sorry, Quinn.” Hearing him say those words when that’s all I should be makes me cry. Why is he doing this? “I see a blank page with nothing but possibility on it.” He slides me over a pen and tells me, “If you could have anything in this world, what would it be?”

  I write the word you, very small, knowing he’s got to just be playing a game with me. It’s payback, I’m sure, but being in his presence, I can’t deny what I want. There is no way he’ll ever forgive me or look at me the same way, how could he? I can barely forgive myself for lying to him.

  I pass him back the paper, and he opens the folder. Inside is another one, and in his very large handwriting is the word, YOU.

  Reading it, it is hard to believe. Tears fill my eyes, and he says to me, “I know you had no idea my father and I were related, and…I forgive you for not telling me as soon as you found out. That must’ve been a hard moment for you.”

  “Why would you forgive me?” I ask, needing to know his reasoning.

  “Because you were set up, and so was I.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Charles and Ari have been working together to push me out of the business. From the moment you met my dad, it was all part of a plan to get rid of me.”

  “What the fuck, why?”

  “I guess because I’m not his son,” he tells me, the revelation is a giant surprise. As he explains further, it all makes sense, but understanding how Ari had a hand in it all doesn’t add up. “But you bought Ari’s stocks and gave him the money for them.”

  “It’s all such a shame. I’ve lived and breathed for that company since I was eighteen years old, and all along both of them were working against me.”

  “I get why Charles did it, but why Ari?”

  “We’ve all got a price, some more than others. Ari was willing to give his soul to the devil in exchange for an overinflated company that likely won’t last a decade being run the way those two do things.”

  “I don’t know what to say, Merritt.” I’m at a loss for words, completely taken by surprise. I’ve known Ari for years; he’s like a brother to me. “Does Willow know?”

  “No one knows, baby, but us.”

  “Don’t call me that.”

  “Why?” he scoffs like I’ve completely offended him.

  “Because I can’t get my hopes up; I’m barely able to function as it is.”

  “Quinn, did you or didn’t you write this on this paper?” He holds up what I wrote.

  “You watched me write i
t.”

  “Did you or didn’t you know Charles was my father?”

  “I swear to God, I had no idea.”

  “Then please, let’s get back to where we were.”

  “But I lied to you.”

  “Because you played into them. They put you in the worst spot imaginable. I’ve lost almost everything, Quinn; I will not lose you too. Do you understand me?”

  I nod, holding back the tears the best that I can, and he stands, “Get up.”

  I listen right away like I always do. He steps to me, and I wait as if this is all a dream that soon I will wake from. But as he places his palms against my face, I have found my place again. “Quinn Whitmore, I love you, more than anything in this entire world.”

  His lips find mine before I can speak the words back to him. He tastes like heaven, igniting everything inside of me, bringing me back to life. The gaping hole I’ve lived with slowly closes. I love him, I love him too, more than anything.

  Chapter 44

  Merritt

  “Are they closed?” Quinn asks me with her tiny hand around mine as she walks me down an unsteady surface.

  “Yes, I promise.”

  “You better not be lying.”

  “I’m not.”

  We stop, and she says, “Step up again.” I listen to her voice, not knowing where we are going, but knowing that I’d follow her into the depths of hell if she wanted. For Christ’s sake, we’ve been there and back and survived, so there’s not much that could bring us down now.

  “Okay, open ‘em!”

  “Surprise!” a small intimate group of our closest friends cheers.

  “Happy birthday, baby,” Quinn says, still holding my hand and I kiss her. It’s my birthday and as much as I wasn’t looking forward to it, seeing as what I’ve gone through lately, she still made it a great celebration.

  “Whose boat is this?” I ask her, and she says, “My boss,” who comes up and shakes my hand. “Happy birthday, Merritt, it’s great to see you again.”

  I met him the day Quinn and I got back together. Looking around I notice Kami and Jacob and Willow and Ted. “Happy birthday,” Willow says, hugging me, a glimmer of pain still in her eye because of what Ari did. She feels bad, but it’s not her fault. Hell, it’s no one’s fault, but their own, and they got what was coming to them. After I thought long and hard about devising a plan of payback, I sold my stocks to Exlon, because Charles had weaseled out of the lease deal I made with them. Once I found out he gifted them some stocks as a cop out, I knew it was my only way to get back at him. He had no idea I’d go to them; he was blindsided…a lot like I was.

  But after what I went through, I was one step ahead of Charles. For the first time in my life, I had one up on him. With my stocks, Ari’s old ones I bought, and the ones he’d given Exlon, they had a fifty-one percent ownership in Charles’ company.

  When Exlon sent their team in, seemingly to join in as a partnership, it didn’t take them long to uncover the years of deception Charles had skillfully conducted. Immediately they kicked him to the curb, indicting him for embezzlement. I knew Charles had always skewed the books, I just never thought I could use it against him.

  For Ari, he made his own bed with Azures. They handled him the same way my father was handled. They really are two peas in a pod. Maybe one day, they’ll be two peas in the same prison cell.

  “You good?” Quinn asks me, handing me a glass of champagne. Coming back into the moment, I pull out of the dazed and clouded mind fuck I find myself getting easily lost in.

  “Never better, baby. Never better.”

  Letting her lead me around the boat as we sail off into the night, we visit with all of our friends and family. All of whom she has arranged to be here in Denver. I haven’t been back to Texas since Quinn and I got back together, and I don’t see myself ever going back. My phone rings and I pull it out of my pocket.

  “Hello?” I answer.

  “Merritt, it’s John.”

  “Oh hey, John. How are the girls doing?”

  “They’re all right. I’m a little worried about Tink—the vet came for a visit today, and she has desmitis in her front left leg.”

  “Really? How’d that happen?”

  “She must’ve been overworking it.”

  “How can it be fixed?”

  “She’ll need to take it easy for a while; we won’t be able to bring her to Colorado like we’d planned, not at least until she’s better. But with some time and medicine, she should be good.”

  “I understand, thank you for letting me know.”

  I hang up with him, and Quinn is concerned, “What did he say?”

  I fill her in, and I can see the worry on her face. “We can go back there and look for a place in Texas.”

  “No, I don’t want to be away from you, and your job is here. She’ll be good.” She’s got an angel in my mom watching out for her.

  “Thank you for this, baby,” I tell her, looking around at all the people closest to us. She smiles looking up at me with her big dark blue eyes, and I hold the side of her face, leaning down and kissing her. Her lips are so soft, reminding me of the first time we ever kissed, on the ski slope, and still to this day, that same spark lives inside me. Who knew a week unplugged from the world, that was a set up to ruin us both, could turn out to be the greatest thing that’s ever happened?

  Epilogue

  Merritt

  1 year later

  “Are you done yet in there, my sexy wife?” I yell to Quinn as she is finishing up the last of her work. Since we got married, she likes it when I call her my wife.

  “I just finished,” she struts outside so gorgeous, all sexy, and sits on my lap. “How’s my husband?”

  “Better now,” I hold her warm body, close to mine. We are on the front porch of our home in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, and this time of year the weather is gorgeous. Bell and Tink graze on the fifty acres of land that we own, and since we moved them here, they are in heaven. Tink’s leg has been great, they both seem in better health. I credit the elevation.

  “You know, we probably don’t even need to buy hay anymore,” I tell her as we watch them eat, and she says to me, “You are not about to starve my girls.”

  “They are far from starved, how do you think they live in the wild? You think some sexy little lady hand feeds them carrots and hay every day out there.”

  “I don’t care about the wild, that’s how I do things here, in our house, and our life, and we are going to keep feeding them hay.”

  “Jesus, it was just an option.”

  She grins and cups the side of my face, still looking out at the view as she rubs me and I ask her. “Work good?”

  “It was.”

  “You get anything done today?”

  “Nope.”

  After we agreed to move up here together, she didn’t want to leave her job, so they are allowing her to work out of the house a few days a week, which keeps her busy. I’d rather her do nothing, but I get that she wants to work. I, however, am done. I will never work another day in my life. I have more than enough money to take care of us forever.

  “What’s for dinner?” she asks me as the oven dings as we wander inside. I always cook for her, and she loves it.

  “Spinach lasagna,” I tell her, taking out the hot heaping pan of it.

  “Smells good.” I serve us both plates as she pours us wine and then she says to me, “You know, once I’m pregnant, I’m gonna miss wine.”

  “The doctor said you can have a glass every once in a while.”

  “Is it safe, though?”

  “I’m sure it is, or he wouldn’t have said that.”

  Sitting down to eat, her eyes are on mine, and I can’t believe this is what my life has become. From having a crazy obsessive drive to own my own company, to now being content with the little things in life. It’s a complete one-eighty, and I couldn’t be happier.

  “Did I tell you that Stan offered to split the season tickets
to the Nuggets games next season?”

  “Really? Wait ‘til I tell Ted.”

  “No way,” she scoffs at me.

  “Come on; that was a one-time thing.” The last time Ted and I went to a game together, we got a little drunk and crazy and…you can guess the rest.

  “It better have been, because next time I’m not bailing your ass out of jail.”

  “Peeing in public really shouldn’t be illegal, I’m just saying.” She hits me on the arm as I pull her onto my lap. Her face is so happy in the evening light. I love to see her smile; it’s what I work for every day.

  Reaching down, I cup her sex. Her grin gets bigger, and I can’t wait any longer. Lifting her up, I take her into our bedroom, tossing her down on the plush fabric of our comforter. She giggles, a sound I depend greatly upon.

  “Get your hat,” she tells me as I pull my shirt off over my head.

  “Do you have a fetish for cowboys?” I ask her in my best Southern accent.

  “Yes, tattooed cowboys,” she tells me and strips naked, lying there so willing and ready. “Then I better grab my whip.”

  Taking it from the closet along with my hat, I find her kneeling, panting for my dick. “You miss me?” I ask her and stroke myself.

  “Uh huh.”

  “You wanna suck my cock clean?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “If I let you suck me, are you gonna make me come?”

  She stops me from playing and dives in. Wrapping those tight, tight lips around me. I grunt, as loud as I want, pummeling her mouth. Taking the whip, I trail it over her skin, loving how it pricks beneath the tip of the leather.

  Pulling back, I land a hard smack on her ass. She moans and sucks me faster. “Touch yourself,” I tell her, looking to the side as she kneels there and plays with her pussy, letting me fuck her mouth so good.

  I hit her again, and she whimpers for more. She rubs her pussy faster, pushing me so close to the edge, but I hold on, not giving over to her yet.