Nick shrugged and shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Wren. I think you’re starting to lose it a little. Probably working too hard.”
“She’s losing it? She wasn’t the one who sent a fucking pig heart with a steak knife driven through it, you fucking psycho!”
“Enough!” she shouted at Landon. He set his jaw and took a step back, folding his arms over his chest.
“Yeah, down boy,” Nick laughed. “What the fuck are you talking about, anyway?”
“The pig’s heart,” she rounded on him. “You left a note in it for me.”
“Sorry babe, not me, although I wish it had been. Sounds pretty sick.”
Lauren frowned as she studied his face. He was drunk but she knew that only made him more honest. Drunk Nick rarely lied and did it poorly whenever he attempted it. “What about all the photos? Even the ones from my phone?” A flush tinted her cheeks at the thought.
“Don’t know anything about ‘em. Oh wait, are these naked pics?” She wanted to slap the smirk off his face, but she balled her fists at her side instead. “Well then...she must really like you. I bugged her for years to do that for me and she never did. Course, I still have my memory,” he said tapping the side of his head.
Lauren heard the gravel shift under Landon’s feet as he lurched forward. She spun around and grabbed his shoulders, pushed backwards by his momentum. “Stop it! He wants you to hit him. Then he can beat you and call it self-defense. Just stop.” Landon halted but his muscles felt like tightly wound coils. He’s on a hair trigger.
Returning to Nick, she took a deep breath and tried to slow her own heart. “You’re seriously telling me you don’t know anything about all the phone calls, emails, packages...nothing?” She stepped forward and put a hand on his arm. “Nick, you gotta tell me. It has to stop.”
Emotions right at the surface, she watched as his crystal blue eyes flooded with tears. When he spoke, it came out in a whisper. “You destroyed me, you know that? There was no future that didn’t include you. I was going to propose...twice! Everything I did, I did it for us. Now what am I supposed to do, huh?”
“Oh Nick...” she managed, hot tears prickling her eyes as well.
“You’re moving on to bigger and better things and here I am, drunk all the time, living with my mom. You fucking wrecked me, Wren.” Before he could spiral out of control, he seemed to steady himself. He cleared his throat, straightened, and smiled, although she could still see the tears in his eyes. He never intended for me to see how badly he was hurting, she thought. “I didn’t do all that shit.”
“Alright, fair enough,” Lauren nodded, wanting to be done with this confrontation. “We’re leaving. Take care of yourself.”
As she turned to Landon and gestured to their car, Nick continued. “I didn’t do it but I know who probably did. He came to me about a week after we split. Almost told him to fuck off but now I’m glad I didn’t.”
Lauren turned. “Who?”
“You know who.”
“Just say it, Nick. Who came to you?”
He snickered. “Parker.” Lauren heard Landon swear under his breath. “He offered me a thousand bucks for all the info I could give on the two of you. I had email addresses, phone numbers, your office location...the whole lot,” he laughed. “I’m glad to see he’s put it to good use.”
Landon’s thoughts were a few steps ahead of her. He leaned down and whispered in her ear. “This makes Rochelle’s attack a little more serious. Parker’s probably behind that too.” Lauren felt like she’d just been punched in the gut. It was one thing for Parker to be such an asshole, but to essentially stalk, intimidate, and attack was an all new low.
She half turned and grabbed his arm. “We need to call Faith, find out what she knows.”
They were so consumed with this sudden revelation, they started walking back to the car, completely forgetting about Nick.
“You motherfuckers,” he shouted. “Yeah, just go. You know what? You all deserve each other. All you fucking care about is money and success, fuck everything and everybody else.” Lauren glanced over her shoulder but didn’t respond. “Fuck you, Wren. I thought you were different. I thought we were different.” His laugh sent a chill down her spine. “I hope you wake up with a fucking horse head in bed beside you.”
“He’s pleasant,” Landon muttered. “Are you sure I can’t take just one shot at him?”
Lauren nodded. “I think you’re gonna need to save your strength.”
11.
Hey hon, I know it’s late but can you talk? It’s really important. Call me, okay?
“I really hope she’s up,” Lauren muttered as they drove back to her parent’s house. “With all the craziness with Rochelle, I can’t believe I forgot to tell you about Parker and the money. It’s insane, isn’t it?”
“To be honest, I’m not surprised. Wait, is it left here?”
Lauren pointed. “Just go straight. I’ll tell you where to turn.” She’d been too shaken up to comfortably drive, so Landon had taken the wheel. “Is it me, or do you feel like you just got dropped in the middle of a movie or something?”
“At least we know who the bad guy is now,” he said with a grim smile. “I really wish I’d decked him, just once.”
Lauren shook her head before exclaiming, “Oh! She’s calling. Hey hon, did I wake you?”
“No, I was just watching a Sex and the City marathon, what’s going on? What’s happened?”
Lauren sighed and dove into explaining the whole thing from the beginning, stopping only to give Landon directions. She started with the photos they’d received of their night in the club, the stabbed pig heart, the photos that’d been stolen from her phone. Apparently Ali was good at keeping some secrets because Faith sounded genuinely shocked.
“Nick just told you Parker did all this? I can’t believe that...oh shit,” she cursed lowly. “You said a pig’s heart, right? Did you get a box of chicken heads, too?” She sounded close to gagging, as if even the thought of it made her nauseous.
She glanced at Landon as he pulled into the driveway. “Landon did.”
“That piece of shit.” Hearing Faith curse still sounded odd. Goes to show, you can push a good girl too far, Lauren thought. “I actually saw him packing that up. He told me it was a prank he was playing on some old friend from college. I almost threw up when he showed me and he thought it was the funniest thing ever. What didn’t he lie about?”
“Are you sure? If you saw that, it proves Parker’s behind all this.”
“Absolutely. Who could forget something like that? Ick.”
“Hold on, Faith.” Lauren turned in her seat and covered the receiver. “We need to get back to New York, like, tonight.”
“It’s already past one...”
“No, we need time to plan.” Landon nodded, seeing how serious she was. “Listen, we’ll be back in the city in a few hours. Can you do me a huge favor? Can you pull together everything you have on Parker’s embezzling? Just, anything and everything that ties him to financial malfeasance. But be careful about it. Parker is a lot more dangerous than you think.”
Faith sighed. “I know he’s an asshole but I doubt he’d hurt me.”
Lauren knew she had to impress the severity of the situation on her. “Remember the other night when we went out for drinks? Rochelle jumped me on my way home. She threw me down a couple steps, bashed my head open. I don’t really know what she was trying to do but after what Nick just told me, I’m pretty sure Parker’s behind it.”
Faith gasped. “Right after you left me? Are you serious? That’s why he was over there. He’s not sleeping with her...”
She felt her stomach knot. “No hon, he is. Trust me.” I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.
After a pause, Faith spoke, her voice clearer. “Okay. I’m getting dressed and heading into the office. It’s going to take me a while to compile everything, so do you want to just meet me there? I’ll order breakfast in on th
e company card.” Lauren winced at the dark tone in her voice.
“Sounds like a plan. We’ll see you soon.” She paused. “I’m so sorry about all this.”
“I’m sorry, too.”
Lauren crept into her parents room, the door creaking slightly as she slipped inside. Her dad was lightly snoring and she knew he was impossible to wake, so she tip-toed to her mom’s side of the bed. She crouched down and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, rousing her instantly.
“Wha? Wren? Did you have a bad dream?” she said drowsily. Lauren smiled through the pang of nostalgia, wishing she could just curl up beside her like she’d done when she was younger. If only nightmares were the worst thing that could happen to me, she thought bitterly.
“No, Mom. I left you guys a note but we have to get back to the city. Something’s come up and we can’t wait. I just didn’t want you to worry if you woke up and saw the car gone.”
Her mom sat up, sleep fading quickly away. “Oh, really? Alright sweetie, let me just fix you something for the road.”
“Mom, you really don’t have to.” Lauren’s protests were useless. Her mom was already in her slippers and bathrobe.
“Nonsense. You’ll at least need some fresh coffee. Come on.”
A few minutes later, she and Landon stood by the front door with two steaming travel cups of coffee, a bag of cookies, and a couple sandwiches her mother had managed to whip together out of thin air. Lauren smiled as her mother gathered Landon up in her arms.
“It was so wonderful to finally meet you,” she said, standing on her toes to reach him.
“And you, Mrs. Kemp. Thank you for everything and again, I’m sorry we’re leaving like this.”
“Don’t you worry about it. And you should get used to calling me Mom. Welcome to the family,” she said with a wink to Lauren, whose cheeks instantly turned red. “You take care of each other, okay?”
Lauren hugged her tightly, closing her eyes as she breathed in the smell of her mother’s favorite lavender soap. “Of course. Give my love to Dad. I’ll be back before I leave for California, I promise.”
They loaded everything into the tiny rental car and started to back out. Lauren’s mother stood in the lit doorway, one arm wrapped tightly around her waist and waving.
“Part of the family, eh? Guess I didn’t do too badly,” Landon said as they drove away. “They weren’t so scary.”
“No, they took it pretty easy on you,” she replied wiping a tear from her cheek. “I hate leaving like this.”
“It’s alright,” he said reaching out to console her. “I promise, we’ll come back before we fly out and make up for it, okay? Depending on what’s going on with the business, maybe we can fly out for Christmas.” A private smile spread across his face as his eyes scanned the forest. “I’ve never actually had a white Christmas before. I bet this place looks amazing in the winter.”
“I’d really like that.” She coughed and sat up in the car seat, taking a sip of her mother’s amazing coffee. “We just have one or two things to sort out before then, huh?”
“Yeah, just a few,” he chuckled. “So I was thinking that we could—”
“Just wait. I actually don’t want to talk about all this until I have all the information in front of me, if it’s all the same to you.” Landon glanced at her, his brow furrowed. She chewed the inside of her cheek and continued. “I want to be able to look at everything with fresh eyes and try to leave emotion out of it. Right now, I’m pissed as hell. If I start trying to plan anything, I’ll make a mistake. So far I’ve been vastly underestimating the depths to which Parker can sink. Does that make sense?”
Landon nodded and switched on the heat. “Absolutely. I did have something else I needed to talk to you about, would that be alright?”
Lauren rolled through a stop sign, sure that they were the only souls out at this early hour, including the four policemen stationed in town. “Sounds serious, but okay.”
“It is serious.” His tone caused her to look at him. “Henry wanted to make absolutely clear that he would not accept any cats moving into the house. He might be willing to consider another dog, as long as she’s pretty.”
The ridiculousness of the comment coupled with his serious voice gave her a true belly laugh. “I can see why this is such an important topic. Of course, let’s discuss it, but be sure to tell Henry that I’m definitely more of a dog person.”
A few hours later, their conversation had been replaced with quiet music and internal speculation. Lauren was still at the wheel, mind exhausted yet racing. She was glad for the time to think. She looked at Landon’s sleeping form and smiled. God, I actually do love him, she thought. Yet a piece of her heart remained hesitant, especially after everything that’d happened.
I knew Nick for years and all it took was a couple hundred bucks for him to sell me out? He cheats on me, lies to my face, gives all my private information to a person even he hated...what does that say about me? Could I have possibly driven him to all that? He was so angry yet only a few months ago we were happy. Is that going to happen with me and Landon?
Lauren loved this time of day, when the night sky was subtly, slowly replaced by an ever-encroaching light. Everything was quiet, calmly filled with potential just waiting for the new day. A few more cars joined them as she drew closer to the city, hard workers beating the rush hour, but she knew they wouldn’t hit much traffic on a Sunday morning.
Was there a specific point it all went wrong and I just can’t recognize it? Maybe I am so self-involved I don’t think of anybody but myself...he did try to reach out to me.
A wave of anger washed through her, tightening her grip on the wheel. She glanced in the rear-view mirror, glad to be both metaphorically and physically driving away from Nick.
No, fuck that. My success was going to be our success. It’s his own damn fault if he couldn’t see that or felt too threatened. Not my fault...
Her thoughts were disturbed by Landon’s drowsy voice beside her. “What an awesome view,” he said straightening in his seat.
Lauren refocused her eyes and followed his gaze. “Huh, I almost missed it,” she muttered. The New York skyline rose on the horizon. The windows on a few of the highest buildings glinted with the morning light, the lower part of Manhattan still bathed in shadow.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen it like this. I’ve always flown in and out,” said Landon. “It’s really impressive, isn’t it?”
She smiled at the awe she heard in his voice. “It really is.” If we can get through this intact, I think he and I will be able to face anything together.
12.
As they turned the corner onto 37th Street, Lauren felt a growing sense of dread. The StyleSpur office had been like a second home to her, almost more than that considering the amount of time she’d spent there. Years of her life, happy memories, proud achievements and they all felt tainted because of one person.
Landon slipped his hand in hers as if understanding how difficult this all was. The gesture was comforting. “I just feel a little paranoid right now,” she explained in a shaky voice. “I knew that when I eventually had to leave it was going to be difficult but this is something completely different.”
“Don’t let him get under your skin. He’s just a guy,” he said, jaw tightening. “Although, he might be a mound of shit shaped to look like a guy, now that I think on it.”
The image made Lauren smile, but it was quickly erased as she unlocked the front door. She paused as she pushed it open, stopping so short Landon nearly collided with her back.
“This may be the lack of sleep and you’re gonna think I’m paranoid, but I don’t think you should come in.” She peered into his eyes, hoping he wouldn’t think she’d gone completely crazy. “I can’t be sure that he hasn’t put cameras or recording devices in the office. I have no idea what we’re going to do about all this, but I do know he can’t hear or see anything of the planning. Unless he has eyes on us right now, he won’t know y
ou’re with me. I could just be helping Faith out with something work related.”
“That doesn’t sound paranoid at all. Here, take these and I’ll stand guard,” he said puffing up his chest playfully. Lauren stood on her toes and quickly kissed him on the cheek, taking the tray of coffees from him.
“I’ll just go in and get her. Won’t be long.”
The front office was dark and deserted but the conference room was glowing down the hall. It made the office feel foreboding and unwelcome. She could see Faith leaning on the long table, scanning the dozens of papers scattered in front of her. She glanced at Parker’s dark office down the hall before gently knocking on the glass door.
“Coffee delivery,” she said.
Faith smiled but she looked exhausted. The dark circles under her eyes somehow made them seem brighter. She rounded the end of the table in a few swift steps with her long legs and pulled Lauren into a big embrace.
“I’ve been so worried about you. All this stuff just has me freaked out. You think you know someone, right?”
Nick’s face briefly flashed in her mind. “Seriously. It’s frightening,” Lauren whispered as Faith pulled back.She held her finger to her lips and pointed around the room, indicating they should be quiet. She found a scrap of blank paper and quickly scratched out a note.
Could be cameras or microphones. We should talk somewhere else. Act normal
With her head crooked, Faith read the note over Lauren’s shoulder and nodded.
“I’m so sorry you had to come in on a Sunday, but I just needed some help with planning the Halloween party. With everything that’s happened...” said Faith.
“Oh, totally, don’t worry about it. It’s super important for morale, so of course I’ll help.”
Their conversation flowed naturally. After all their kitchen rendezvous, complaints said through fake smiles, this charade was easy. Their conversation became almost banal until Lauren let out a loud groan.
“Listen, I’m totally starving. Do you want to maybe gather all this up and we can go out for brunch or something?”
Playing with Power - Book 5: New Adult Office Romance Page 9