Freefall (Santa Cruz Skydivers Book 1) (23 page)

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Levi

It was easy to forget everything except your surroundings when you were fifteen thousand feet in the air and falling to the ground at a rate of one hundred and seventy feet per second, with the wind pushing up hard against your body and adrenaline coursing through your veins like a high octane fuel.  It was why I loved skydiving. It gave me the ability to be free from the confines of reality. The second you left that plane, everything else ceased to exist. The exact moment the cold hard wind hit and you began your high-speed descent, that adrenaline that had slowly been building during the plane climb, finally released like a shot of Nitrous Oxide, and you just hung on for the ride. It was total, pure, unadulterated exhilaration. If riding my Harley made me feel like I was soaring, when I skydived, I was. During that one-minute freefall, I
was
the eagle, weightless and carefree.

Except today. Today, I couldn’t wait to get my jumps done and go back to the condo. Only one thing was on my mind. Andi. Every jump I had taken this morning she was there—her smile, her smell, and oh God, her taste. It was a good thing that tandems had become second nature to me as I was merely counting down the feet until I saw her again this afternoon.

The morning was a blur of plane rides, freefalls, high-fives, and selfies. With the final jump in the bag, I was more than happy to leave for the day. Steve, who had taken over Phil’s management role, was leaning on the counter talking to Frankie as I walked through the reception area of the clubhouse.

“See you both tomorrow,” I called in farewell to them.

“Yo, LJ. You got a second?” Steve asked.

“If it’s quick,” I said. “I’ve got plans this afternoon.”

“Won’t take long. Just have to ask you something.”

I glanced at my watch. “Sure thing, as long as it’s quick.” I walked over to the counter.

Steve and Frankie gave each other side glances as I approached.

“What’s going on?” I asked suspiciously.

“When were you going to tell us about Taylor?” asked Frankie. “I thought you were hot on little miss cleanskin?”

“You mean Andi.”

She rolled her eyes. “I don’t really care what her name is. We just want the dirt on Taylor Lawson.”

“What?” I looked between her and Steve, who pushed a folded newspaper on the counter toward me. This wasn’t good.

My hands shook as I took the newspaper in my hands and silently read the caption, taking in the grainy long range photo of Taylor kissing me during the lunch meeting with my father on Saturday. The angle of the shot was perfect tabloid fodder. My hands were on the tops of her shoulders and hers around my waist. If I didn’t know that, moments after this shot, I had pushed her away and told her and Derek to go fuck themselves, even I would have thought we were in a passionate embrace. Hurriedly, I opened the paper and read the gossip news piece that was also surrounded with old photos of the both us when we were dating. Before she cheated on me.

“This is all lies and bullshit.” I tore away the offending pages.

“So you’re not shacking up with Taylor and getting married?” Frankie asked, actually sounding disappointed. “I think LJ has a past that he’s been keeping private. What do you think, Steve?”

Steve ignored Frankie. “What’s goin’ on bro? Do you need to talk?”

I shook my head and scrunched up the torn out pages into a ball. “I need to talk to my father.” My hands were still shaking.

“Something else you need to know. Frankie has been fielding phone calls all morning from international media. You might have to lay low for a while. If the paparazzi start showing up, I’m not sure how the business will be affected.”

“It’ll be great for business,” Frankie piped up. “Think of the free exposure.”

Steve shook his head. “I’m not going to risk it and expose our clients to a media circus. You understand, don’t you, LJ? Just until you clear this up or it blows over.”

“Yeah, bro. Sure, I understand. You’ve got to think of the business.” My mind was elsewhere, with my father to be exact. He was a master manipulator. This whole scenario was most likely playing out exactly according to his plan. One thing I knew without a shadow of a doubt—I wasn’t going down without a fight. “Look, I gotta go, guys. Steve, I’ll be in touch.”

He slapped me on the back in farewell as I left. I hoped to hell that Andi hadn’t seen this article yet. If she had, I was in deep shit. I flew down the highway on my Harley toward the
Bay Herald
offices. Given this article and his plans for the paper, I was sure he wouldn’t have left for his offices in LA just yet.

After parking in the guest parking lot in front of the James Publishing building, I walked straight through security and took the elevator to the top floor. My anger had only intensified on my ride over. I knew it would take every bit of self-control not to go bat shit crazy. Instead, I let my anger smolder deep in my gut and let it be my fuel.

Not long after I left Taylor and was down and out in LA, I had used my anger and hatred toward her to fuel my underground fights. But in the end, the hatred had also been my undoing. Today, though, I was determined to not let it get physical. I refused to give my father any more ammunition for the gun he had permanently pointed at my head. Derek’s control over me was going to end today. Whether he liked it or not. I wasn’t willing to live my life like this anymore.

The elevator doors opened directly into the executive offices foyer. A young receptionist sat to attention when the doors opened. I walked past her and on toward the glass doors that separated the offices and the foyer.

“Can I help you, sir?” she asked politely.

I stopped in my tracks and turned to her, glaring in anger. She recoiled slightly at the hatred burning in my eyes. “Are you totally fucking serious?” I growled. “Don’t you know who I am?”

She shook her head nervously side to side. “I’m...I’m...sorry, sir. No, I don’t.”

Her hand shook slightly as she picked up a phone on the desk and pressed a button, but before she could speak into the receiver, the glass doors opened and in walked secretary of the year.

“It’s okay, Lisa, Mr. James has been expecting Levi,” Queen Bitch Mary said to the receptionist before she turned to me. As far as looks went, Mary was extremely attractive and had a completely rocking body. But I wouldn’t expect anything less from my father, although she was older than his average screw. I figured she was late 30s and really looked after herself. Long, lean, toned, and tanned. She had the perfect SoCal sexy secretary look going on. Complete with heavy black-rimmed glasses and her blonde hair pinned in a bun.

She showed me her pearly whites. “Levi, what a pleasure it is to see you again.”

“I really can’t say the same, Mary.” I tapped my thighs to a nonexistent beat, needing to keep my hands busy.

Mary pursed her lips in thought. “Lisa, Mr. James will be busy with his son for the next hour. Can you please reschedule all his prior appointments and push back his flight? We won’t be leaving for LA until later today.”

“Yes, Ms. Murphy,” Lisa replied, and started tapping away at her computer.

Mary swept her hand toward glass doors. “Levi. Shall we?”

I grunted and followed her through the doors and to the far corner office. She pushed the door open for me, waiting until I stepped inside before she followed. My father, who was sitting behind the desk looking intently at his computer, looked at me and smiled. Not a, “hello son, so pleased to see you” smile, but an, “I’ve got your balls, how do you like it?” smile.

“Levi. I thought you would have been here sooner.”

“You son of a bitch. I didn’t think you could get any lower.” My fingers curled and balled in fists by my sides. “You’re playing with real lives.”

He extended his arm to the chair opposite him. “Please sit down, Levi. I have to admit I feel very uneasy with you standing there like that.”

I didn’t move. I wasn’t about to let him call the shots on this meeting. “I’m fine standing, thank you.”

“So be it.” He looked at Mary. “Mary, can you please call security and ask them to wait outside? My son has a somewhat volatile temper, and judging by his black eye, he’s back fighting. I’m afraid if things don’t go his way, he might do something he regrets.”

“Yes, Mr. James,” she replied, and turned and left us alone.

I threw him looks of hatred. “I’m not staying long, Derek. I only came to tell you we are through. I want nothing more to do with you.”

“I was afraid you might say that. I would like to remind you of our little agreement.” He pulled out a file from his briefcase and dropped it on the desk, the contents spilling across the table. Strategically placed, on the very top, was my mugshot attached to my arrest details, and underneath that, a police file photo of the guy I had nearly killed, fueled by my hatred of the man before me and the woman who had betrayed me.

I clenched my teeth, now having to really restrain myself. “You can’t threaten me any longer. I don’t care what you do. Publish my record, have the documents leaked, whatever. I’m done being your bitch.”

“If that’s the way you want it, son.” He swept his hand across the room. “This could all be yours. I only ever wanted us to be a family.”

“You sure have gone about it the wrong way then. You can’t blackmail and buy me into your life. Relationships of any kind are built on trust, and you will never have my trust.” I walked over, placed both hands on the edge of the desk and leaned toward him. “You are going to be a very old, lonely man, with only your business empire and cheap ass secretaries to keep you company. You have no fucking idea what it takes to be a decent person, let alone a decent father. You can screw me over, but I don’t care anymore. You know why? Because I will be free of you.”

Derek looked at me, his face pale. I was done. And finally, I think he got it. I turned and opened the door to the office, then thought of one more thing. “I’ll be out of the condo tonight. I’ll leave the keys with the concierge.”

And then I walked, a massive weight removed from my shoulders.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Andi

“I don’t want to talk,” I yelled at Lili through my locked door.

Why wouldn’t she just leave me alone? I pulled my blankets back over my head to shut out her incessant door-banging, and for good measure, buried my head under my pillow. My refusal to talk to her didn’t deter her any, she just kept banging away. She shouldn’t have wasted her energy. If Lili had half a brain, she would have known that I’d have to leave my room at some point. I was almost out of vodka.

The banging finally stopped, only to be followed by threats. “Do I have to call Tony?”

Damn it. She knew my weakness.

Flinging back my blankets, I stumbled to my door, unlocked it, then went straight back to bed and cocooned myself once more. After a second, I felt the end of my bed depress.

“Andi, you can’t stay under there forever.” She patted my ankle through the blankets.

“I know.” I gave up hiding and pushed my blankets away to look at her. She recoiled slightly.

Well-known fact, I ugly cry. Without seeing my reflection, I knew my face would have been red and blotchy. And as for my eyes, I could feel they were tiny slits, puffed out from crying all morning. After Scotty read me the article, it felt as if my heart had been torn out and stomped on. Then, after I reread the article and saw
her
wearing the leather jacket that Levi had given me, it may as well have been ground up into ash with
her
three-inch Louboutin stiletto. I had even dry heaved a few times.

“You’re not going to lecture me, are you?” I asked. “Because I’m not ready for the ‘I told you so’ talk just yet.”

She bit her lip. Her eyes were sad and full of pity. “Of course not. What kind of friend would I be if I did that?”

I raised my eyebrows at her. Seemed like she had a short memory. “Lili, I’m really not up to small talk. I just want to be left alone to wallow.” And drink in private, preferably straight from the Goddamn bottle.

She sighed. “Okay, I’ll leave you alone. Just so you know, I called Costco for you and told them you came down with a case of food poisoning. They were cool, but your boss said you would need a doctor’s certificate if you want more time off. Anyway, Scotty and I are going to collect your Jeep now and bring it back here.”

“Scotty’s still here? I thought for sure he would have left already.”

Her mouth lifted in the slightest of smiles. “I didn’t want to tell you just yet, but we’re talking, and he’s giving me another chance.”

“That’s great.” My reply was monotone, unable to find it in myself to be happy for her. “You guys have history, too much to let go. Just like bitchface and asswipe.” I couldn’t bring myself to speak his name, so the best way to avoid that was to make up new ones. Asswipe was one of the less offensive ones. What I really wanted to call him was the word that started with a c and rhymed with runt. But, apparently, according to Lili, that word was for truckers, rockers, and
Games of Thrones
characters. Of which I was none, unfortunately. Have you seen the way those
Game of Thrones
characters deal with double-crossing asswipes? I looked away from Lili, unable to take her pitiful stare any longer.

“Also, Char called. She wants to know if you want her to come over and chat?”

I shook my head, and mouthed no, my gaze fixed on a speck of dust dancing in a sliver of sunlight that had managed to break through my drapes. What part of alone didn’t Lili understand?

She took a deep breath. “Something else. Le... asswipe texted you.”

I snapped my attention back to her. My initial reaction was for her to tell him to go get fucked, then changed my mind. I held out my hand. “Can I have my cell, please?”

“You’re going to call him, aren’t you?” Her tone was disapproving as she pulled my cell phone from her pocket and placed it in my hand.

Maybe. “No, of course not. I want to see what he wrote. It is my cell phone, and it was a message meant for me. Anything wrong with that?” God, I sounded like a bitch right now.

Again, she bit on her lip in thought. “Will you be okay if Scotty and I go to get your Jeep?”

“Of course I will be. What do you think I’m about to do, kill myself or something?” My words dripped with sarcasm, but were not far from the truth.

The thought had crossed my mind more than once today. If I had ever hit rock bottom, it was now. Even I knew it was completely illogical to fall in love with someone after only being together two days, romance-a-holic or not. It was just that what I felt went deeper, and foolishly, I thought it had been mutual.

She laughed uneasily. “No of course not. I just don’t want you to do something you will regret.”

“Too late for that.” I had no plans to call him. What I really wanted to do was reread his messages over and over, and cry some more until my puffy eyes had shut completely. What didn’t kill you made you stronger, right? However, the way I felt now, I was sure my soul was slowly dying. And I was pretty sure there was no coming back from that. “Weren’t you leaving?”

She stood up. “Okay, I’m going. If you need me, we’ll only be half an hour. Tops.”

“Can you shut my door when you leave? Please?” I needed the darkness and solitude.

She nodded and left me alone, closing my door on the way out. I was thankful she hadn’t tried to hug or kiss me. That was next level pity and I wasn’t ready for that.

As soon as she left, I opened my messages folder in my cell phone. My empty chest cavity ached for him as I read his message, then reread it...over and over.

Some major shit has gone down today. Please do not read or even look at the paper. I want to explain things to you in person when you get here. Levi

He wanted to tell me in person about
her
. Ha! Too late! I already knew all I needed to know. I pressed the off button on my cell and threw it onto my table next to my bed. As much as I wanted to, I knew I didn’t have the courage to go through with killing myself. I would have to suffer through my heartache. But, to him, I may as well be dead.