Chapter Twenty-Six
My spa time is anything but relaxing. My conversation with Fletcher dominates my thoughts. Why now? Why, when life seems to be going just the way I planned, does he have to try to convince me he’s changed his stripes?
I don’t understand. I’m not equipped to understand, if I’m being honest. I’m not a player. I should never have gotten mixed up with Fletcher. He’s way out of my league.
And that thought stops me again. Do I really think that? Is he right? Do I think he’s too good for me and all that shit I spewed at him this morning was just a way to cover up the fact that I feel unworthy of a looker like Fletcher?
“Owww,” I whine at the masseuse.
“You need to relax, Miss Preston. Your neck is bunched up tight as a fist. Let go and let me help you.”
I let out a long sigh and try to relax my shoulders. God, even the staff thinks I’m uptight. “You know what? I’m just not into it today. I’ve had enough.” I sit up, clutching the towel to my chest. Marie, the masseuse, looks hurt. Like she did something wrong. “It’s not you, Marie. I just have too much on my mind. I can’t relax right now. How about I come back later this week and we try this spa day again?”
“OK, Miss Preston,” she says, gathering up her oils. “You just give us a call when you’re ready and I will clear my schedule for you.” She squeezes my shoulder. “But don’t let it go too long. Stress isn’t good for you.”
I smile, get up off the table, and let her walk me to the door. “Thanks. I’ll try.”
I leave the massage room and go back to the lockers to take a hot shower and wash off the oil. The water feels good, but it’s not enough to calm me down. My heart has been beating fast since I hung up with Fletcher this morning. I just can’t get his words out of my mind. What are the chances that he’s genuinely interested in me?
But then I hear my dad’s voice in my head again. You will never know if people like you for your money or just for who you are.
He’s right. Fletcher seems to be preoccupied with money. So much so that he took me on like a charity case to keep his job. There is a very real possibility that the only reason he’s interested is because of who I’m related to.
But I don’t know. That little speech he gave me out on the rocks seems to contradict all those assumptions. He’s scrappy, he said. He can take care of himself. He doesn’t need my job offer and he’s got other jobs already lined up.
So how do I fit these pieces together?
I don’t know.
I just get out of the shower and tug a new pair of shorts and a tank top back on. I grab my purse and slip my feet into my flipflops and head to the stairs that will take me back to the main lobby.
As soon as I get there, I smell food from the bar and realize I haven’t eaten all day. Maybe that will ease my nerves? Some good old comfort food from the bar. I ease my way past the bustling waitresses and the customers and make my way to an empty booth in back. A waitress I haven’t seen before nods to me and holds up a finger, telling me she will be over in a minute.
I settle back in the booth and let out a sigh and then gasp.
“What the—?”
Cole is across the restaurant, sitting at a table with a beautiful blonde girl.
“I thought he said he had meetings?” I whisper to myself.
“Oh, he’s got meetings all right,” the waitress says. “Maybe this one will stick.”
“What?” I look up at her dumbly. “What do you mean?”
“He’s got a new meeting,” she says as she does a little upper body shake and stresses the word, “every afternoon.”
“You mean, with vendors?” I try, hopefully.
The waitress snorts. “No-ho-ho,” she says through a laugh. “At least I’ve never seen him kiss the vendors.”
“He’s been gone half the week—”
“Oh, he’s here all the time, Miss Preston.” She squints at me. “You didn’t know?”
I get that sinking feeling in my stomach. That one that comes when the doubts creep in. “Know what?” I ask, feeling the truth before the words ever come out of her mouth.
“He’s been coming here for almost three months. Except…” She pauses, like the thought just occurred to her that she should shut up.
“Except what?” I prod, looking back over at Cole and his blonde bimbo.
“Well…” She looks over at her shoulder at him as well. “We never knew who he was until you came together. Usually he’s just here for fun.”
“With that woman?” My heart is cracking.
“Oh, lots of them, I guess. At least a dozen meetings since I first started noticing him. And when he showed up with you I figured he was spying on us. He is, isn’t he? We were all told when the merger went through that the Landslide was on a short list for liquidation.”
Since when? I want to scream. My father gave me control over the Landslide as soon as the deal went through. But I hold my cool so she doesn’t realize how my tension is ramping up and my heart is beating even faster than it already was. “Hmmm. I’m not sure. Maybe my father sent him.”
“I bet that’s it.” She smiles at me. “At any rate, I hope he’s found what he’s looking for in this one. He’s met with her three times already last week. And each time they get a little more cozy. I guess Fletcher really does know what he’s doing.”
“What?”
She cocks her head at me with a quizzical look. “I thought you were working with him?”
I stare dumbly at her again.
“A matchmaking deal. Sorry.” She laughs. “I’m nosy. And Fletcher is so interesting the way he works. I can’t help but take notice every time he meets a girl for lunch. That girl there with Mr. Cole is Fletcher’s last week’s client. Fletcher works fast, right? Did he find someone for you yet? If he does, you can bet he’ll be a keeper. My girlfriend swears by his pick for her. She’s already engaged.”
I want to throw up. But I take a deep breath and say, “Can you get some water with lemon?” instead.
“Sure, Miss Preston. Be right back.”
She gets distracted with other tables, and I take that opportunity to slip out of the restaurant and make a dash for the elevators. When I get to my room, I hope and pray that Claudio isn’t there. He’s been gone a lot with that stripper, Steve, and my luck holds. Still out from last night, probably.
I lock myself in the bathroom and turn on the shower, just in case he comes home. I am in full-on hiding right now. I need to come to terms with what I just saw and heard.
Cole has been coming here for months.
Rumors of a selloff.
Either he was sent by my father to spy on the operations, which is highly unlikely, or he’s been using the Landslide as his personal fuck palace.
Jesus Christ.
And Fletcher. He said he was helping me get Cole’s attention, but the whole time he was setting up his other client with Cole?
I feel sick. So sick, I lift the lid of the toilet and dry-heave into the porcelain bowl for several minutes. I wait out the revulsion, the cramps in my stomach and the hurt in my heart. I wait until the knotted-up tension in my neck becomes a full-fledged ache in my head.
Fletcher set me up. He used me. He played me. Like a fucking chess piece.
And not only that… he humiliated me. How many other people here know about our deal? How many other people here know about Cole and his women?
I sit back on my butt and wipe the sweat off my forehead.
How stupid do I feel right now?
I have no words to describe it, but crushed comes to mind. Broken, maybe. Mortified. Embarrassed of my naivety, ashamed of my trust in men.
And not just these two men. All men. My mother was right to marry my father and forget about the worthless piece of shit who couldn’t get out of the picture fast enough.
She was right. Love is a dream some people were never meant to have.