Page 118 of Bayside Heat
“Jesus. This is business. I trust you. You have to know that. You’re with the guy every frigging day. You have drinks with him, sing karaoke with him. The guy brings you cookies, Serena. If I didn’t trust you, I wouldn’t still be with you. But you’re my girlfriend, and you might not be willing to take my money, but I’ll be damned if I’ll sit back and watch you possibly make the biggest mistake of your life.”
“Way to trust my instincts.”
“That’s not what I mean. Damn it. Listen, if he’s on the up-and-up, then I’m all for it. But how can you know without doing your due diligence?”
He was answered with silence.
“Serena,” he said in a softer voice. “I love you. If this is what you want, I want it for you. But can’t we agree that having him checked out is smart business? It has nothing to do with not trusting you, or being jealous, and everything to do with wanting to protect you.”
She was quiet for a second, and then she said, “Shoot. That’s Justine calling on the other line. I really need to take it in case something’s wrong. I’ll call you back after.”
The line went dead.
“Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
Rick and Desiree came around the corner of the building. “What’s going on?” Rick asked.
Drake shut off the grill. “Serena’s making an offer on Shift—with Gavin as her business partner.”
Rick and Desiree exchanged an oh shit look. “Okay, well, you said he’s a good guy, right?”
Drake glared at him. “I meant for hanging out with, not handing everything she’s ever worked for over to. She’s so damn stubborn. I told her I wanted to get him checked out. You know, due diligence, as we would on any business partner. We don’t know this guy from Adam.”
“But she does,” Desiree reminded him.
He scrubbed a hand down his face. “Yeah, I know.”
Rick held his stare. “What are you going to do?”
“You mean besides having Reggie Steele check him out? Fuck if I know.” He stalked toward the office.
“Drake—”
Rick started to follow, but Drake stopped him with a cold stare. Then he stormed inside, taking the steps two at a time.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“I KNOW, CHLOE!” Serena said into the phone. “I’m over-the-moon excited. Once you told me to take M-O-M out of the equation, everything fell into place.”
“You know if you were doing this for Drake, it would be okay, right? You’re not Mom. You could never be her.”
Serena nodded, even though they weren’t on a video chat. “I know. Thank you. Listen, I gotta go. Justine and I were on the phone forever, and I’ve been trying to reach Drake. He’s not answering my calls or my texts.”
“He’s probably at the music store or out for a run.”
“Maybe, but he was pretty pissed at me. He wanted to have a PI check out Gavin and I was…less than okay with it.”
“Oh shit. You’re so fucking bullheaded. He was only trying to look out for you.”
Tears burned in Serena’s eyes. “Yeah, I know. I gotta go.” She ended the call and tried Drake again. It rang three times before sending her to voicemail. She didn’t leave a message this time. How many times could she plead for forgiveness?
She called the music store, and when that went to voicemail, too, she realized she was an idiot. If he wasn’t answering his phone, why would he answer the music store phone?
She called Mira next, and the second she answered, Serena said, “Have you seen Drake?”
“No. Why?”
“We had a fight. I’ve been calling him for almost an hour and he’s not answering. If you see him, please ask him to call me.” She pushed the gas pedal to the floor, needing to get rid of her frustrations.
Less than two minutes later, red-and-blue lights appeared in her rearview mirror. She threw her purse over the bottle of champagne on her seat. “Fucking perfect.”
By the time she reached Bayside, she was a teary-eyed, angry mess, and so damn relieved to see Drake’s truck, she nearly kissed it. She sprinted up the stairs to his apartment, hearing music vibrating through the closed door. She didn’t even slow down to knock. She pushed open his door and stormed through his living room.
