Indigo Nights (Nights #3)(67)

“Marie, can you arrange to have my laptop couriered to me? And can you speak to Dawn and ask her to pack my things for a two-week trip? Also, send the luggage already in my hallway as well.” Dawn was my housekeeper who came in three times a week.

“You’re going to be in London two weeks?” Marie asked.

“I don’t know.” I’d stay for as long as it took. “But it will be as if I’m there. No need to cancel anything. I’ll do everything on video or phone. Can you put me through to Raf?”

“No problem.”

“Dylan, what’s going on?” Raf asked when he came on the line.

“I’m in London—”

“What the f*ck? We’ve got that tech start-up coming in in an hour.”

“I know. I’ll dial in. Look, I think I’m going to be here a while, I just . . . I’ll handle everything from here. Marie is couriering my laptop and stuff to me. I can work remotely. You won’t notice I’m gone.”

“Of course I’m going to notice you’re gone. We have a mountain of work here, all these strategic plans to review. You never take vacations, so why the sudden trip? Are you trying to screw with me?” Raf and I rarely argued and the last thing I wanted was to f*ck things up with him as well.

I took a deep breath. “I f*cked things up with Beth and I need to set things straight.” Somewhere along the way, Raf and I had stopped talking about personal shit. He teased me about being celibate from time to time, and I made sure I told him he was a man-whore on a regular basis, but other than that, everything had been about business between us for a long time.

But now I needed a friend. “I don’t know what to do. I’m afraid I’ve lost her.”

Raf sighed. “What did you do?”

“What didn’t I do? She caught me having lunch with Alicia yesterday.”

“What do you mean caught you? I was there; Alicia forced you into having lunch with her. That wasn’t your fault.”

That wasn’t entirely true. “Yeah but I should have told Beth before I went. In fact, I just shouldn’t have gone.”

“You really like her, don’t you?”

“I love her, man.”

“Wow. Well, good for you. So lunch with an ex isn’t a great idea, but it’s not a capital offense as far as I can see. Can’t you just explain it to her?” Raf was very black and white. It was part of the reason his relationships never lasted. If only life were that simple.

“And then there’s Raine Media. I never got around to telling her we owned it.”

“You f*cktard.” Raf had a knack of getting right to the heart of the problem. He hadn’t lost his touch. I was a f*cktard.

The corners of my mouth twitched as if remembering how to smile.

“So when you told her, she went postal?”

I shrugged off my jacket. “If only. The Sun-Times ran an article about how she was sleeping with her boss.”

“Jesus, man, that’s how she found out?”

I nodded even though he couldn’t see me. “That’s how she found out. She wants nothing to do with me and it’s killing me. I can’t leave London until I sort this shit out. I need you to cut me some slack. I’ll be able to get through loads of stuff in the mornings here while you’re still sleeping. I’m not going to leave you to hold the fort—I’m not that stupid.”

“I know it sounds weird, but I’m f*cking ecstatic. I mean not that Beth wants nothing to do with you. That part blows. But the fact you care enough about someone to go after them? I wasn’t sure it would happen, and as much is it stings now, I’m pleased for you.”

Raf might be an * when it came to women, but he was a good friend. I’d missed this side of him. “She isn’t just someone, and I’m not just finally getting back on the horse. Whatever Alicia and I had doesn’t come close to what I feel for Beth.” I sat on the bed. “I feel like a f*cking douche for hating Alicia for so long. She set me free. I couldn’t be more grateful, but if I don’t make it right with Beth, this is the woman I’ll never recover from.” Telling Raf was like going to confession; it felt good to explain the gravity of the situation.

“Then you gotta do what you gotta do. You’ve got plenty of weapons in your arsenal. She won’t be able to resist you for long.”

“I don’t know about that. Honesty is the most important thing for her, and I’ve just trampled on that. I don’t know if I can ever get her back.” A darkness tugged at my chest. Losing Beth forever was too painful to think about. She’d brought me to life, and I didn’t want to go back to an existence without her.

“Look, we’ve built our considerable fortunes on turning the shitty situations companies find themselves in into million-dollar opportunities. You’ve just got to apply the same planning and precision to your personal life. I know you can turn this around.”

Perhaps he was right. My instinct was just to camp on her doorstep and beg her forgiveness constantly. But maybe I needed to be slightly more strategic, a little more patient. Perhaps I needed to give her the time she’d asked for.

“Thanks, man. I appreciate it.”

“Anytime you need me to call you a f*cktard, you know I’m here. Now f*ck off, I’ve got a meeting to prepare for.”