Because He Watches Me (Because He Owns Me, Book Nine) (An Alpha Billionaire Romance) (57 page)

“Listen, I want to apologize to you for how I reacted when you first came in,” Nicole said, holding the doorknob and twisting it in her hand nervously. “I just was so worried about you these last two days when I couldn’t get in touch with you…”

Danielle put her laptop to the side. “I’m sorry that I didn’t think to leave you a message. It just all happened so fast and you kind of disappeared yourself.”

Nicole laughed. “Talk about pot meeting kettle. I did the same thing as what I was frustrated with you about, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, kinda sorta.”

laughed too. “And it’s like the tenth time you disappeared on me without telling me what was going on.”

“Shit. I’m really a big dummy,” Nicole said. “Forgive me?”

“Of course.”

“So…it went well with Kane?” Nicole said.

“I feel weird telling you about it. I mean, I want to shout it from the rooftops, but with all the baggage between you guys and Kane, I don’t know if you want to hear me gush about him.”

“Gush away,” Nicole said, forcing levity to her voice that she totally didn’t feel in reality.

“Seriously?” Danielle said.

“Absolutely,” Nicole replied. She came over and sat at the foot of the bed.

Danielle scooted up and leaned forward. “Nicole, I’m totally freaking out. I don’t know if I can really say it out loud. But I want so badly to tell you!”

“Tell me,” Nicole said again. “I want to hear everything.”

“Well, maybe you should take a look at me and tell me if you notice anything different.”

“Of course, I noticed your Prada shades and your cool new hairdo right off the bat,” she said. “But I guess there’s more—“

And that’s when she looked down and saw Danielle’s hands. Not her hands. Her left ring finger, to be precise. How had she not seen that huge, glittering rock on her roommate’s finger?

But there wasn’t just a diamond ring on that finger. There was also a white gold diamond encrusted wedding band underneath the engagement ring.

Danielle watched Nicole with wide, joyous eyes. “Now you see?” she squealed, holding her finger up and wiggling it front of Nicole’s face. “Nicole, I’m married! I’m Misses Kane Wright!”

***

A
s Nicole took
the train into work the next day, she tried to organize her thoughts. In her purse, she had her resignation letter printed out and folded in half.

She’d actually been in the midst of composing it the night before when Kane Wright had buzzed the apartment to pick up Danielle. Nicole had heard her roommate making happy noises and telling her new husband she’d be right down.

After her ecstatic friend had left, Nicole peered into her bedroom. It looked as though Danielle was already starting to organize her stuff for when she moved out.

Nicole wanted to be happy for Danielle, but she couldn’t get past the fact that her best friend in the city was now married to her fiancé’s one true enemy. In point of fact, Red was starting up a new business geared to smash Kane Wright’s empire, to destroy the man that had tried to ruin him.

Danielle was somehow blissfully unaware of just how strange and uncomfortable the situation really was. She’d blown it off, telling Nicole how they would all get together soon for dinner.

“I think if the four of us all have dinner and drinks, before you know it we’ll be fast friends,” Danielle had told her at one point. “Besides, the husbands always follow their wives when it comes to social etiquette. And the two of them have sooo much in common.”

Yes, like the fact that they hate each other down to the bone.

But Nicole decided not to spoil Danielle’s fun. She’d have to deal with the truth at some point, so maybe it was nice if she enjoyed this blissful fantasy while it lasted.

Coming back to the moment, Nicole tried to put all that other drama to the side. Right now she had to come to terms with quitting her first real job. She couldn’t work at the company that had unceremoniously dumped the man she loved, the founder of the organization. Especially not after they’d then handed the whole enchilada off to Kane Wright. Kane would simply fold Jameson International into his larger organization, like a sponge soaking up a pesky soda spill.

Nicole was finished with Jameson International. Her time there had been lovely, but it was over now.

Nicole smiled, feeling her stomach with one hand. Just touching her belly was a comfort. She realized suddenly that she had everything she could ever want or need.

Together, she and Red would start a new business and a new family and they would be happy. Nobody could get in the way again, she would make certain of that.

Walking into Jameson International for probably the last time, Nicole couldn’t help but think back to her first time in the building, when she’d come begging for an interview, bowing and scraping at any scrap they decided to throw her way. Back then it had all seemed exciting, intimidating and like the end-all be-all of her life.

Funny how much things could change in such a short time. Now she felt like there was not much left to see or learn around there. She’d been to the top floor; she’d seen all the dirty tricks and a lot of the backroom politics that went on behind closed doors.

She’d even slept with the CEO, rode the corporate jet, felt like the cool girl on campus.

It was time to move on, time to start a new chapter.

Nicole stepped into the elevator and rode up to her floor, got off and headed for Remi’s office. Remi was her direct boss now, and so she would hand her resignation to the best friend she’d made at the company.

When she walked into Remi’s office, Remi was relieved to see her. “Are you okay, Nicole? Nobody knew what was going on with you the last few days!”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks for asking.” She suddenly realized how hard this was going to be. She didn’t know how Remi would feel about the sudden announcement that she was leaving, even though Remi had expressed a desire to quit the company as well.

“Sit down,” Remi said. She had a pen in her hand and the end of it had clearly been chewed. Remi was a stress case, Nicole knew. She worked so hard, and a lot of the work was thankless. Today, the middle-aged woman was wearing a black button-down shirt, the top couple of buttons had been left open. As usual, she had a masculine, severe look to her—but Nicole saw past that now, to the sweet, sensitive woman underneath.

Nicole sat down and took a breath to prepare for the awkwardness to come. “So…I’ve been doing some thinking.”

“Uh-oh.” Remi’s eyes gained a new intensity. “That’s never a good start to open a conversation.”

“Yeah. I—you know how close I was—how close I still am—to Red.”

Remi nodded. “You two are still together? I didn’t want to pry.”

“We are. We’re very happy together.” She tried to muster a smile.

“You’ve grown up a lot since you first started here. It’s been a real rollercoaster ride for you.”

“It has. And unfortunately, I think the ride has come to an end. I need to get off now.”

“You’re quitting?”

Nicole dug into her purse and took the resignation letter out, handed it across the desk to her boss. “This is my letter of resignation. Sorry for not giving you more of a head’s up, but I’m definitely willing to stay on another few weeks if it would help.”

Remi read the letter. She sat back in her chair, stunned. “Wow. I did not see this one coming. I mean, I should have, but I guess I was too caught up in my own problems to realize that you had plenty of your own to contend with. I’m sorry if I’ve been insensitive to what you’ve been going through.”

“It’s got nothing to do with you. You’re an awesome boss. It’s just everything else that’s gone on. I don’t feel comfortable working for Kane Wright.”

Oh, and by the way—my husband and I are going to start a new company specifically designed to destroy this one.

“So.” Remi tapped her chewed up pen against the desk. “What’s next for you?”

“I’m still not sure,” she lied. “Red and I are going to be planning our wedding—“

“I hope there’s an invite for your coolest boss?”

“Definitely,” Nicole told her.

Remi smiled, and Nicole could see the wheels turning as she processed everything. “Listen, this might not be my place, Nicole,” Remi said, sitting forward now. “And I support your decision. No matter what, I really hope you and I will continue to be…well I think we’re friends.”

“I do too.”

“Good.” Remi sighed. “So, as a friend…I just hope you’ve given a long, hard thought to being unemployed with your husband for any extended period of time. I’d imagine it’s a very new experience for Red, and now you’ll both be home and out of work temporarily. That could be stressful for you guys.”

“Red is working on something new,” Nicole said carefully.

“Oh.” Her boss nodded as if that piece of information explained everything. “Well, what the hell do I know?” She laughed and stood up, extending her hand.

Nicole stood up too and they shook hands firmly.

“Thanks for being so understanding, and for being a great boss,” Nicole said.

“It was easy working with someone like you. And you’ve always got a reference from me.” Remi smiled but the smile was short lived this time. “Unfortunately, because of who you are and your relationship to the former CEO—I’d imagine word will come down that they want today to be your last day, Nicole. I just don’t want you to be surprised if that’s what happens.”

“It’s fine. I totally understand.”

They said their goodbyes and Nicole went back to her desk and began packing up the few things she’d accumulated over the time she’d been at Jameson International. She put most of it in her purse and then she threw out anything she could get rid of.

A moment later her cell was buzzing. She figured it was probably Red checking to see how they’d reacted to her quitting, but when she took her phone out of her purse, the caller ID said: Mom.

“Oh jeez,” she sighed. She debated the pros and cons of answering versus not answering and decided to just be a big girl and deal with her mother.

Nicole left the cubicles and went into the hallway near the bathrooms to talk without disturbing anyone. “Hi Mom,” she said, feigning enthusiasm.

Her mother didn’t even try to fake it. Her voice was cold and distant. “Hello, Nicole. I was wondering why we hadn’t been hearing from you the last few days, but then one of my friends was kind enough to forward me a link to the new article about you and Red.”

“Huh? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Maybe you haven’t seen it. But apparently, the entire world—except for your father and I—knows that the two of you are back together.”

“Who printed this article?” she asked, her stomach suddenly in knots.

Her mother made a noise of exasperation. “That’s not the point, Nicole. You’re back together with him, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” she said, simply.

“Well, isn’t that just lovely,” she muttered.

“Mom, I really hope you’ll support me. I hope you’ll support my relationship with Red because—“

“So the wedding is on again?”

“I feel like I’m being cross-examined.”

“I’d just like to know what’s going on with my own daughter. I didn’t realize that meant I’m cross-examining you. But since you refuse to tell me anything, and I have to find out from the Internet—“

“I’m sorry about that. I didn’t know someone had reported on us.”

“This relationship is unhealthy, Nicole. You’ve been up and down, up and down, dragged around by the whims of this rich person who has no regard for anyone but himself and his money.”

“That’s not true, Mom.” Nicole closed her eyes and tried to stay calm. “Listen, I’d love it if we could all get together for dinner and try to start fresh. Could we do that, Mom?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know if I can get past what this man has put your through.”

“Well you need to try, for me.”

“Nicole…” her mother sighed.

“Will you give it another try, for me? Please? Red and I are going to be spending our lives together and I’d like it if you could be a part of that, too.”

“This is not a man who can make a lifetime commitment.”

Nicole was fed up. “Do you want to try or not? I’m pretty much done with this conversation.”

There was a long, long pause. “Fine,” her mother uttered after what felt like an eternity.

“Maybe you and Dad can come to the city and we’ll all have dinner together.”

“That works.”

“I love you, Mom. I’ll be in touch, okay?”

Her mother curtly replied that she loved her too, and then they got off the phone. Nicole let out a weary, tired breath.

It never ends, does it? She thought.

A moment later she was back at her desk, on the computer, staring at The Rag’s front-page headline.

RED AND NICOLE TOGETHER AGAIN!

Beneath the headline was a picture of the two of them coming out of the rental car place the day before. Nicole was shading her eyes from the sunlight, and Red’s arm was on the small of her back as they walked toward his car in the parking lot.

Nicole couldn’t believe it. The Rag was back to reporting on them—in fact, it was probably written by that same creep, Anderson, who’d hounded them until Red had gone and bought the paper.

But Red no longer owned Jameson International and so he no longer owned The Rag. In point of fact, Kane Wright would be the new man in charge over there. Nicole could imagine plenty of scenarios where Kane might like to encourage The Rag to go even further in its stalking and harassing tactics. Kane Wright and The Rag—the two entities seemed tailor made for one another.

“This isn’t good,” Nicole said aloud. “This really isn’t good at all.”

***

R
ed came
into the city to meet her for lunch. They went to Five Napkin Burger, a great little restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen.

“I need a milkshake,” Nicole said, wiping the hair out of her eyes. She’d been paranoid the whole way over to the restaurant that someone was taking pictures, and she’d had to explain to Red all that had gone on that morning; the call from her mother, the realization that The Rag was once again publishing stories about them online, her concerns about Danielle and Kane Wright being married.