Page 127 of Mr. Aster
“You have Darcy Burke to thank for that,” I said, intentionally pushing his buttons.
“You never seem to miss an opportunity to remind your mother or me of that fact,” he said.
“Why did you call, Dad? We just wrapped everything up on the reopening, and I’m half-drunk and in need of rest.”
“Do you think you can sleep on the jet?”
“Huh?” I said, kicking off my shoes and trying to relax at my desk chair.
“I need you in Ibiza for a merger that must happen tomorrow,” he said.
“Can’t I do a video conference for that?” I asked in annoyance, unhappy with the reminder that my work was never done. “I haven’t seen Darcy in nearly a month.”
“I imagine you and her have discussedthispart of your life, correct?”
“I plan on doing that with her,” I answered.
“Well, no better time than the present for her to experience the full scope of who youreallyare,” my dad said, echoing what John had said earlier.
“I understand that, but I think—” I closed my eyes, feeling overwhelmed by reality. “Email me the itinerary, and I’ll be on the jet when it arrives.”
“It landed an hour ago at the private airport your mother and I flew in and out of while we were there,” he answered.
“So nice to know you’ve still got faith that I’ll askhow highwhen you say jump.”
“I have faith inyou, Sebastian,” he answered. “I’ll have everything emailed to you by the time you board the jet. Get rest on the flight. You’ll need to be polished and ready to go by the time the meeting begins.”
I hung up with my dad and stared at Darcy’s name on my phone for about five minutes before biting the bullet and calling her. After numerous rings, the phone went to voicemail. I figured it was wise to hang up since she was most likely busy or asleep, and the last thing I wanted was to tell her in a voicemail that I was leavingliterally tonightfor business in another country. I would have to talk to her when I returned.
When I flew overseas for business, it wasn’t abnormal for me to be gone for a month. I felt the odd sensation of fear creeping up on me. If Darcy had a problem with how I worked here at her parent’s home, I wasn’t sure how she would deal with my life and job when I had to leave like this for business.
All I knew was that we needed to have a serious talk about things, and leaving the country for an extended period wasn’t the best way to make that happen. I just wished more than anything that things could be less complicated.
Chapter Fifty-Three
Darcy
Iwalked out of my new office space, which was given to me after Juniper noticed I’d been here every day for the past two weeks. He liked to say it was a promotionsincehisbusiness was booming in the billionaire gossip world after we published my article about Sebastian; however, when people were typically promoted, they received monetary compensationandthe corner office. Not only did I not get a pay raise, but I also didn’t get an office with windows because Juniper was too cheap to invest his influx of cash into a new building.
In frivolous multi-millionaire fashion, Juniper took all the money he made from his magazine—something that seemed more like a time-wasting hobby than a passion project—and blew it on vacation homes, toys, and sports cars. God forbid he put it back into the business and reward the people who made him successful. Of course, I had no room to tell someone how to spend their money; if I didn’t like it, I could leave, and that option weighed more heavily on my mind every day.
Since things seemed to have fallen off between Sebastian and me, I’d resigned myself to the fact that he and I were pretty much over, and that reality was heartbreaking. I wasn’t one to cry or seek attention for my drama, though. Instead, I processed things differently and kept it all inside. Therefore, anything that reminded me of Sebastian felt weirdly traumatic.
Writing about the lives of billionaires was now a depressing, constant reminder of what I had with Sebastian for all of three and a half minutes. I wanted to avoid things that reminded me of our sample relationship because I would never move on from him if I didn’t. So, sadly, in the art of avoiding my pain about the disastrous and confusing demise of our relationship, I steered clear of anything that might bring him to mind. It was immature and childish, but it was the only way I knew to cope with it.
I hadn’t been back to the winery since I heard he left the day after the grand reopening, and though I wanted to see how well it was doing, I couldn’t go back until I was emotionally ready. Mexico was off the books for a vacation if I planned on ever taking one, and, of course, writing at the magazine now was just torture.
“I need you to attend a dinner with the Mitchells tonight. You’re still friends with them, correct?” Max, my editor, questioned me.
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” I said, annoyed.
I needed a new fucking job.
“Well, since Sebastian went dark on you and bailed on your relationship, you’ve been hiding in this office. It’s only been two weeks, so I wasn’t sure if you were still friends with his friends.”
“First of all, Max,” I said with irritation, “the Mitchells weremyfriends long before I got involved with Sebastian. And he didn’tgodarkon me. His actions made it clear that he was no longer interested in me. So, keep your facts straight when you question me.”
He smirked, the fluorescent lighting of the room shining off the top of his balding head. “Well, thisisa gossip magazine, and you write the most sought-after gossip in it, so I was just trying to spin stories like you.”
