Page 110 of Rival Hearts
“You fucked my sister,” Gabe said in a low voice.
“I’min lovewith your sister,” I pointed out.
“You slept with my sister!” Gabe cried out loud enough that a few of the patrons looked around at us. At least he hadn’t used the wordfuckthe second time around.
“Gabe, listen to what I’m saying to you.” He wasn’t ready to listen to me. His anger had taken over.
“Of all the friends I have around here, you’re the only one I actually trusted. You’re the one Irespected. And now, this? What the fuck, man! What did you think you were doing?”
“I wasn’t thinking at first,” I said. “It was just a one-night thing, like I said. But now that I know her, now that we’ve spent time together—”
“I know you Blackwood boys all think you’re the shit, invincible and above all the rules of the game but this is taking it too far, man.”
“We’re not above anything. And I’m not trying to do something to hurt her, or you. That’s why I’m here, talking to you about it. I wanted you to hear it from me rather than fromsomeone else so that you know we’re still friends. We’re good, Gabe.”
“No, Alex.” He laughed bitterly. “I don’t know what your definition of friendship is, but we’re notgood. And you better stay the hell away from my sister because if you so much as talk to her, I’ll knock your fucking block off. Do you hear me?”
He got up and marched out of the bar.
“Gabe!” I called after him, but he wasn’t interested. I kept going, the door slamming shut behind him.
I looked around at everyone staring; they quickly looked away, pretending to be engrossed in their own conversations but they weren’t fooling anyone.
They’d watched and listened to the whole thing.
I didn’t give a shit, though. I didn’t care what they thought of me. They could all go to hell. The only people I cared about what they thought were Gabe and Charlotte.
But now Gabe was pissed off at me, and that hurt like a bitch.
I’d known he would be upset about this, but I hadn’t expected such an explosion. He had no idea how serious I was about his sister, but I’d thought at least talking to him about it would make it possible to clear it up.
My mistake.
I got back to the office, and I felt like shit. Marina jumped up from her desk when I walked in.
“You have two calls you need to tend to urgently,” she said. “I sent you the messages.”
I nodded. “Thanks.”
I sat down behind my desk, and I got the two digital notes she’d sent through.
The calls had been from Sasha Martinez and Henry O’Connell.
My stomach twisted. Something told me these weren’t going to be the best conversations.
I picked up the phone and called Sasha first.
“Sasha,” I said. “Sorry I missed your call. I was out of the office. What can I—”
“Are you still going through with the new direction? I didn’t get a concrete decision from the company.”
“I haven’t made a concrete decision yet. But so far, I can’t see why I—we wouldn’t want to take a new direction. It will be good for business in the long run, and—”
“I can’t go in this new direction with you,” Sasha said. “If you haven’t made your final decision yet, then there’s still time for you to change your mind, and I respect that. In business, minds change all the time. But I want you to know that if you do decide to make this change, then I won’t be going with you. I’ve run the numbers, I’ve spoken to my own industry experts, and I don’t think it will benefit me in the long run.”
My stomach dropped. “I’m so sorry to hear that, Sasha.”
“You understand, of course,” she said. “It’s just business.”
