Page 79 of Open for Negotiation

Chapter 16

Max

It’s been over a week since the fiasco at the news station, and every moment has stung like a bullet wound.

I’ve been back to the office, but not truly present. Obviously, I had to address the elephant in the room with the entire staff, letting them know the truth. That Scarlett and I were pursuing a relationship and her position at Fortress was never heightened or lessened by anything involving said relationship.

I tried to move through, business as usual, until I came into work on a Wednesday morning to find that her desk had been cleaned out and wiped clean, as if there was never a beautiful blonde to ever occupy that cubicle.

That made it real, and that’s why I’m sitting in my large, leather wingback chair in my home office with all the lights off, sipping a brandy, scrolling through my phone about to make a really dumb, really impulsive decision.

“Uh, should I go?” Jackson says from the doorway. “I let myself in, but it seems like you’re having a moment.”

“Shut up and come sit down. Pour yourself a drink.”

“Are you all right, man?” he asks, forgoing the drink and just sitting in the chair across from me.

“To tell you the truth, no, I’m really not.”

“I’ve never seen you so torn up over a broad before.”

“Watch it, Jackson, you know she was, is, more than that.”

“I know,” he holds up his hands in surrender, “I’m just trying to get you to show some kind of emotion here. The stoic, rich, villain vibe you’ve got going here is kind of scary.”

“I just fucking miss her, man. I miss her a lot.” I down my drink and place the glass with a thump on the floor by my feet.

“Have you tried calling her?”

“I’ve called, texted, emailed, but at what point do I become a fucking lunatic? She said she was done. Shouldn’t I respect that?”

“Yeah, you should, but… since when do Duke men do what they’re told?”

“Since my actions, my wife, my choices, embarrassed her on television and made a mockery of her and brought past trauma right back to the forefront.” I push to my feet after retrieving my glass from the floor. “I need more alcohol.”

He hisses like he’s in pain from my words, “Fuck, yeah, I’d say space is needed for this one.”

“And what if she never comes back or speaks to me again?” I pour another two fingers of whiskey into my glass and immediately take a long sip.

“Then you just… move on too.”

“That’s the part that is making me sick. I don’t know if there will ever be anyone like her.”

I pull my phone out of my pocket, staring down at the website I have open that will give me at least some connection to her, a way to remember her and decide right there that I’m going to do it.

“Hey,” I ask Jackson. “You have plans tomorrow?”

Scarlett

I’ve just hit “purchase” on the airline website, securing my flight back to Tennessee when there is a knock on my door. I check the time on my phone, it’s really early in the morning. I can’t imagine who would stop by this early without calling first.

I put my laptop on the coffee table and pull a hoodie on over the sports bra I was wearing with leggings.

When I push up on my tiptoes to look out of the peephole, there is a part of me, albeit small, that thinks it could be Max. There’s even a part of me that wishes it was.

But it’s only Garrett with a large box in his hand.

“Hi,” I say after opening up for him. “What’s all this?”

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