But all that confidence can’t heal a broken heart.
Brandon has ignored every single attempt I’ve made to reach out to him since he kicked me out of his condo after he found out about the stupid kiss-not-kiss I shared with the intern last semester. No text or phone call has been answered, and when February first rolled around and I realized it had been nearly two months since our breakup, I realized one gut-wrenching truth.
It’s over.
Truly over.
And there’s nothing I can do but pick myself up and keep walking.
The timing of what happened between us couldn’t have been worse. Spending the holidays with my parents was not what I had in mind. Brandon and I were supposed to go skiing in Colorado. We were supposed to exchange gifts and hang Christmas lights and cozy up together all through the holiday season. We were supposed to ring in the new year in Times Square, sharing a kiss under a rain shower of confetti.
I was supposed to have a Valentine locked in for life.
Instead, I’m alone, and it’s all my own fault.
So, while a badass new job doesn’t fix heartbreak, it offers a pretty stellar distraction from it, which is better than nothing.
A knock on my door frame jolts me from my thoughts, and I smile when I look up and find my assistant, Jeannie.
Yes, I have an assistant.
HBIC status.
“Ms. Daniels? Is now a good time to go over this week’s agenda?”
I usher her in, giving her a pointed look at the formality. “Call me, Lei, Jeannie. I’ve told you that at least five times now.”
“Sorry, Ms.— er, Lei. I’ve never worked for someone who didn’t… um…”
“Need their ego stroked every hour of the day?” I challenge with an arched brow.
That makes her flush furiously, but at least earns me a smile as she takes a seat in the chair opposite me.
Jeannie is sweet. My senior by ten years, she’s no stranger to agency life. We’ve only been working together a month now and I can already tell we’ll get along. She understands where I need her to step up and take over and where I need her to give me full reign. She organizes my calendar in a way that makes sense for me, keeps up to date with the latest agency drama so I can deal with it without accidentally involving myself, and doesn’t have a problem rolling up her sleeves and diving into the trenches with me when I need a hand.
With jet-black hair, a full-figure frame, and a dazzling smile, she’s far from hard on the eyes. But perhaps what I love most about her is — beauty aside — I have absolutely zero desire to fuck her.
And if I’ve learned anything from my past mistakes with Brandon and that little bitch, Sophie, it’s that that is a good thing.
“Alright, hit me,” I say, typing my password in to wake my computer up again. I go to my calendar to review with Jeannie, making notes of the particular team meetings, client presentations, and events coming up.
We’re just about to wrap up when she clears her throat uncomfortably, shifting in her seat. “There’s also the matter of the agency arrival event Mrs. Landers wants you to coordinate.”
I wrinkle my nose. “The what?”
Jeannie’s flush is almost comical. “She just, she did this in Atlanta, too, when she first opened Ball & Pen. And again in Chicago when that branch opened. Basically, it’s a hoity-toity affair where we invite all the other event and marketing agencies in the area to come get to know us, talk about possible collaborations, and—”
“Let them know there’s a new shiny toy in town and we’re here to play?”
Jeannie hangs her head. “Pretty much.”
I laugh, leaning back in my chair and crossing my legs. “That woman has some balls,” I comment, and then I point my pen at Jeannie. “As do I, which is likely why she hired me.” Sitting up straight again, I start typing into my notes app. “Get me a list of five possible venues. I’m thinking rooftop, on the water.” I gasp, eyes wide when I find Jeannie. “Or maybe in the water. Let’s look into chartering a yacht.”
I continue typing and rattling off tasks for Jeannie, asking her to look into everything from catering to entertainment and giving her some jumping off points to get started. Once she’s armed with a to-do list at least a mile long, she leaves me with forty-five minutes before my first meeting of the week.
The premise of the event has my chest light with excitement, my heart fluttering much the way it does when I’m about to do a pole performance or kiss someone I know I’m going to fuck. This is my favorite part — the brainstorming — other than when it all comes together in the end, of course.
With a little time to kill before I’m needed anywhere else, I decide to take the matter of the guest list into my own hands, and I can’t fight off the satisfied smile that spreads on my face with the thought.
After all, I’ve been working in this industry, in this city, for almost two years now.
And I know just who to invite.
THERE’S SOMETHING INCREDIBLY HOT about watching your man work on what he’s passionate about.
I’ve known about Kip’s passion for the film industry ever since before we even officially started dating. I know he’s obsessed with television, specifically that he has dreams of creating a series viewers can’t help but be obsessed with. I’ve seen the posters on his walls, the podcasts filling his phone, the documentary DVDs spilling out of his dresser back at UCLA.
But it’s something altogether different to see him in his element.
I smile, sipping my coffee as I relax in the casting director’s chair Kip made just for me. It was a joke, of course, but I appreciate the fancy place to sit with my fake title on the back anyway. While I’ve been chiming in now and then with my thoughts, I’m mostly here for support.
And to watch his fine ass in director mode.
I love the way his glasses keep falling down the bridge of his nose as he examines audition notes on his clipboard, his brows furrowed in concentration. I love the messy way his blond hair is styled, the waves mussed from him scrubbing his hands through them. I love the smiles he flashes when he encourages someone auditioning to try again, giving them notes for a better application. I love how even dressed in a white button down and navy dress pants, I can imagine his lean muscles ebbing and flowing beneath the fabric.
More than anything, I just love that he’s here.
At Palm South.
With me.
I was unsure when he first told me he was going to make a show about our story, about all the games we played, the lies we told, the rough and rocky road we had to take to get to where we are today. But I know this is about more than just us. It’s about exploring the grief he feels over losing his father, and the complicated relationship they had while he was alive. It’s also a commentary on young love, on college, on finding yourself while also finding a relationship.
Whatever he does with our story, I know it will be amazing. Because it’s him creating it.
I smile a little more, inhaling the sweet scent of my latte. I’m in a state of peaceful calm and just taking in all the scenery.
That is, until my doppelgänger walks through the door.
Kip rented the smaller of the three auditoriums on campus for auditions, so everyone is waiting in the hallway until they’re called in for their turn. So far, we’ve seen auditions for Kip, his dad, my parents, Kade, all the girls, and some extras. Kip must have been saving the auditions for me for last.
That makes me smile, too.
Still, the sight of the girl who just walked in makes me dizzy. Her long, brown hair is the same shade as mine, pinpoint straight and parted just how I part my own. Her lashes are a little longer than mine, her skin a bit fairer, and I’d give just about anything to have her amazing lips. But her eyes are the same shade of blue that I see reflected in the mirror every morning, and her tight little athletic body reminds me of how I looked when I was at my prime.
It’s unsettling and exciting, all in the same breath.
She looks a little nervous, waiting by the door. Kip is engrossed in a conversation with one of the students he brought on to help with casting, reviewing notes from the last audition. So, when the girl’s eyes flick to me, I smile and usher her over, patting the empty chair next to me.
She blushes, looking around for a second before she smiles and makes her way toward me. The closer she gets, the dizzier I feel, but I fight past the feeling with a grin of my own.
“Hey there,” I say when she’s standing in front of me. “I bet I can guess which part you’re going for.”
She chuckles, tucking her hair behind one ear. “Skyler Thorne?”
“In the flesh,” I answer, waving a hand over myself dramatically. “What’s your name?”
“Natalia Colburn.”
My brows shoot up. “Wow. You already have a movie-star name.”
“Right? That’s what I told my parents when I was twelve. I said, ‘You already gave me the name. Now I just have to win the lead in the school play.’”
“And did you?”
At that, Natalia cocked a brow, looking down at herself before she gave me a pointed look. “What do you think?”
I laugh. “I like your spunk, Natalia. Here,” I say, patting the chair next to me again. “Have a seat. They’re finishing up something anyway.”
“Why, thank you,” she says, and when she’s seated next to me, she shakes her head as she looks around. “This is so cool.”
“Yeah?” I ask, looking around with her. “I mean, I think so, but I figured you’d be used to it by now. I’m sure you have been to many auditions.”
“Not in college, though.”
“Ah,” I say with a smile. “Freshman.”
“And eager as hell to make my mark.”
That earned her a laugh. “I know that feeling well. Where are you from?”
“South Dakota,” she answers with a grimace. “And yes, it’s as bland as it seems. Drama class was all that got me through to graduation.”
“Your parents still there?”
At that, her smile slips. “Yeah. Neither one of them has a college education. I’m the first in the family to even attempt a degree.” She shrugs, looking down at her fingers folded in her lap. “I want this part so bad. Not just for me, but for them. If I could be a part of a show like this, and it takes off? It opens so many doors. It could launch my career.” Her eyes flick to Kip then, and she smiles. “And if there’s anything I know about Kip Jackson, it’s that he’s talented enough to make it happen.”
I smile, surprised. “You know of his work already?”
“Oh, yeah. I always do a lot of research into the roles I’m auditioning for, and getting to know the director and producer is step number one. He’s done a lot of great things in just one short year out in California. And the fact that his professors sent him here to film his pilot?” She shakes her head. “They know something special when they see it. And I want to be a part of that magic.”
Natalia and I share a smile then, just as she’s called up to the stage. She gives me a nervous wave goodbye and I tell her to break a leg. Then, I sit back and settle in for her audition.
And I’m blown away.
I don’t know if Kip gave her clips of me or an in-depth character description in the casting call or if she has straight up been stalking me, but Natalia nails her impression of me so much so that I can barely keep my jaw off the floor.
Her mannerisms, her voice, her well-delivered jokes and deeply moving monologues when she talks about her family — er, my family — about poker, about PSU… it’s incredible. Kip has her run a few lines as if she’s hanging out with the girls in the sorority house, has her run a part of the scene he wrote for the night he came to watch me at the poker tournament downtown, has her speak a monologue like she’s sitting on her paddle board out in the water in the early morning light.
I’m so moved, so touched, so enraptured that I almost feel like I’m having an out-of-body experience.
When she finishes, Kip and the casting director share a knowing smile before excusing her and letting her know they’ll be in touch. The minute she’s out the door, before they can call in whoever’s next, I’m out of my chair and running to Kip.
“Cast her.”
His smile is dazzling as ever as he arches a brow at me. “You like her, huh?”
I shake my head. “I don’t just like her. I love her. She gets it. She gets me. And she comes from means that I know she can really understand what it’s like to be me.”
“I saw you two chatting over there.” Kip smiles, looking down at his clipboard. “We have seven other girls outside waiting to audition, though. I think—”
“You said you’d let me have a say in who played me,” I remind him.
“I know,” he replies with a chuckle. “But you’ve only seen one girl.”
“I don’t need to see anyone else to know she’s the right choice.”
Kip frowns a little, and I huff, throwing my hands toward Dina, his casting director.
“Come on, you had to see it, too,” I say to her. “The girl was magic.”
Dina bites her lip, looking at her notes before her eyes find Kip’s. “She really did have something, Kip. The look is spot on, and the monologue she gave about Skyler’s parents…”
“I know,” Kip says on a sigh, looking at his own notes. “I almost got teary-eyed.”
“See?” I grab his arm and plead, giving him my best puppy dog eyes. “Trust me on this. She’s the one.”
Kip smirks, then, shaking his head as he tucks me under his arm and presses a kiss to my forehead. “Alright, then. She’s the one.”
“Yay!”
He laughs when I throw my arms around his neck and kiss him all over.
“Even as great as she is, she’s got the toughest part in the show,” he says, resting his arms around my hips.
“Because I’m a pain in the ass to understand?’
“No,” he says, kissing my nose. “Because there’s no one in the world like you.”
“Thank goodness for that.”
He laughs, and then his lips find mine, and I revel once again in how happy I am that he’s here.
THERE’S SOMETHING RATHER UNSETTLING about being in your last semester of college.
It reminds me of high school a little bit, how excited you are at the end of your junior year. You think to yourself I’m finally a senior! It’s my year to rule! And everything is full of possibility and promise.
But then, you transition into that last semester of your senior year, and something changes.
Something shifts.
Suddenly, you realize that it’s the end of an era, a door closing that you can never open again. This time in your life — whether you’ve loved or hated it — is about to end. Which, of course, means a new chapter is beginning.
It’s both exciting and terrifying.
Those emotions on their own are strong, but when you mix them together, it’s like having a permanent stomachache. You slow down a little more, look around a little more, appreciate things that maybe you never took the time to throughout the last four years of your life.
I’ve been to hundreds of Alpha Sigma events by now — dozens of which I’ve coordinated myself. And sure, I’ve enjoyed myself. I’ve thrown myself into event planning, stayed up all night long with my brothers celebrating, lost weeks on end where there was so much going on it was like a blur.
But tonight, at our first annual Valentine’s Day Soirée, I’m soaking it all in.
The event was actually Kade’s idea, which threw me for a loop because I’d always taken Kade as more of a party brother than one interested in leadership. But something’s happened since he’s been with Jess. It seems that he’s transformed, that he’s been moved by the urge to do more, to be more.
He came to me with the idea a month ago: a Valentine’s Day, all-inclusive event that every girl on campus would be dying to go to. There’d be an elegant catered dinner at
the house, a quartet band playing old jazz favorites, and an excuse to dress up — which, if I’m being honest, is probably the main allure.
College girls love an excuse to dress up.
Now, sitting at my rose-petal-covered table with Cassie as we drink champagne and listen to the band, I can’t help but look around at what Kade created in awe. The Alpha Sigma house has been completely transformed, inside and out, with intimate, candle-lit tables lining our hallways, filling our common rooms, and spilling out onto the covered dance floor in the back yard. The tent is strung with fairy lights, too, and there’s just something about the jazz band that elevates the whole experience.
It doesn’t feel like a college party, like a typical frat event.
It feels sophisticated and grown.
It feels magical.
“You’ve really outdone yourself tonight, Adam,” Cassie says, her green eyes sparkling in the candlelight from our table. I chose one that was outside for us, under the tent, and not too far from the band, and it just so happens to be the most pleasant evening we’ve had all month — cool, but not cold, with a gentle breeze wafting over the yard.
Cassie always looks radiant, but seeing her in a blush silk gown tapered in all the right places with pearls on her neck and in her ears, her red hair pulled back in an elegant twist of braids and curls, her lips painted a soft pink that makes me want to kiss her senseless… it’s enough to make me dizzy just looking at her.
“I wish I could take the credit,” I admit honestly, taking a sip of my champagne. “But this is all Kade.”
“Kade?” She shakes her head, finding him and Jess on the dance floor. He’s got one hand holding hers upright, and the other snaked around the small of her back as they sway softly to the music. “I had no idea he had this in him.”
Hazed: A New Adult College Romance (Palm South University Book 6) Page 5