Beholden (The Belonging Duet, #2)(56)

“That’s the thing,” I pause. “He already broke the damn doors around my heart. I never broke his. He never let me in.” My lip begins to quiver as the emotions start to bubble up. “I loved him. He wants to keep secrets. Fine. But I can’t have that kind of relationship. You lied for him, his mother lied, he lied. I don’t know what’s real anymore.”

Mark doesn’t respond right away. “I didn’t lie to you. It wasn’t my story to tell and from what I understand—you still don’t know it.” Mark pauses allowing his words to settle in. “You owe it to each other to talk and at least learn everything. Then you both can go back to being f*cking stupid. I’ll let Nat know you’ll be there and I’ll text you the info.”

“I’ll be there. I promise.”

He hangs up without another word.

Next week I’ll have to see him. Next week I’ll have no choice. And then I can put this all behind me.





“I’m going to go over the remaining accounts you’re taking over and make sure you’re all set. The movers come tomorrow to pack, so it’s today or never.”

“Why do you keep reminding me? Are you part sadist?” Taylor jokes, throwing her arms over her face.

“You know it,” I laugh and toss a balled up paper at her. “Oh, please. You’re not going to miss me that much. You just got a big, fat raise and a pretty sweet promotion.”

“But I’m losing my friend and the only person I like in this office.” Taylor’s bottom lip juts out.

This is the part that keeps me crying every day. I’m an emotional wreck. I love Taylor like a sister. She’s been a part of my daily life for years. On top of that she’s a wonderful person—I’m going to miss her desperately. A very selfish part of me hoped she’d come to California with me, and then the other part is happy she chose to stay. She’ll shine here and I think if she came with me, she’d have a hard time coming out of the shadows. I want her to succeed and she’s ready to take this leap.

“You’ll never lose me.” I smile and tilt my head. “Here’s what I think. When I call you a week after I’m gone, and you’re in your new position, you’ll have forgotten all about me. You’ll be putting Elle’s snarky ass in her place, and blowing people’s minds.”

Taylor turns, wiping at her face, trying to hide the tear I saw falling. “Before I forget, your realtor called. She said everything checks out and the papers will be drawn up. The buyer’s ready to close on Wednesday.”

“Shit. The memorial is Tuesday. I guess I can go right there after.”

“Or you can cancel moving.”

“Not likely,” I chide.

She throws her hands up and huffs. “Fine. Whatever. Ruin my life. Let’s go over the Raven account.”

My good mood plummets as I think about having to talk about him. I’ve been avoiding dealing with Raven up until the last moment. The way we’ve been handling the account transfers is through conference calls with each client where Taylor and I explain that she’ll be their point of contact. Luckily, we haven’t had any issues. Most of the clients already know Taylor and trust her. With Jackson though, I know he isn’t going to allow it at all.

But the real issue is that I don’t want to speak to him. Besides the fact that I don’t want him to know I’m leaving.

“I’m going to see him in a few days. I’ll go over everything with him then. You know pretty much everything, and at this point we’ve wrapped most of the account up. Now they should only need us if something catastrophic happens,” I say, looking over the file hoping to mask my emotions.

“Right,” Taylor says slowly. “I’d like an opportunity to talk to him before you leave. Jackson needs to be comfortable with me as well. You know, in case something catastrophic happens and all. Not like the man has been shot, had his best friend die, or anything major since we’ve had the account.” She gives me a pointed look. “I’m not asking you to share your secrets with him, Cat, I’m just saying he needs to know that I’m his rep. Hell, I don’t care if you tell him you quit or were fired.”

She’s absolutely correct, and I’m being unfair and a bit unprofessional, but these last few days I’ve been a mess. My emotions are all over the place, from getting excited when I picked out the apartment in California to sobbing when I had to sell my car. Everything feels so much stronger because of all the stress. Ashton keeps looking at me like I’m losing my mind.

“I’ll be right back,” I say getting up to head to the bathroom.

I’m becoming a chickenshit. This is my damn job and I shouldn’t begrudge Taylor. If it were me in her position, I would call the client and handle it. But because she knows everything, she’s trying to walk the line of our friendship. Maybe if I tell him I quit and took another job he’d let it go?

Yeah, right.

This is Jackson, the man who runs a security company. He’d track me down before I could even leave the city. I keep my head lowered thinking about what the right way to handle this is and I crash into someone.

“I’m so sorry!” I exclaim and look up to see familiar green eyes and platinum blond hair.

Sure, I can do this now. I mean, it’s not like dealing with Piper on a good day isn’t bad enough.