Addicted After All (48 page)

He stays silent, his muscles constricted.

So I lick my lips and add, “Let’s do this together. You and me, like we were supposed to do from the beginning. It’ll be a fair fight. We’re even right now. Just get Daisy the hell out of this.” And then I’ll find a way to win. There is no way that I’ll let my brother live this kind of life. It’s not even remotely something he’d want.

He’s just too selfless to let me have it without a fight.

Ryke opens and closes his fists. Even when he’s in deep contemplation, he looks aggressive. After a long moment, he says, “Fuck.” He lets out a pained laugh. “She’s not even a Hale.”

“Neither are you.”

His face contorts in a cringe. “Don’t justify what you’re doing, Lo.”

I grit my teeth. “I’m just stating a goddamn fact. Another fact—she’s beating our asses. So unless she self-sabotages, she’s going to be handed the company. You and I both know that’s a darker fucking world for her than it would be for us.”

Ryke rests his hands on his head for a second and then drops them. He just shakes his head, over and over.

“This isn’t going to break me,” I tell him. “But it’ll ruin her. Do you want to live with that?”

He looks sick to his stomach. “No…but—”

“There is no
but
,” I force, setting a hand on his shoulder so his gaze lifts to mine. “This is it.”

A full minute of pure silence passes between us, the type that vacuums the air. And then he says, “I need you to come with me.”

I frown. “Why?”

“If I’m going to convince Daisy to self-sabotage, we need to gang up on her.”

{ 50 }

LOREN HALE

I just barely wrap my head around this plan before Ryke adds something else.

“Don’t expect me to fucking lie down and give this to you,” he says quickly. “If you
really
fucking want this, Lo, you have to beat me for it.”

He doesn’t think I can. At the start of this, I would’ve agreed. Years ago, I wouldn’t have even tried, knowing the end result would be the same.

Fuck that guy.

There is nothing that says I can’t measure up to my older brother.

I may be a bastard, a failure, a natural-born loser, but I can win in the end. For once in my goddamn life, I’m going to do it.

* * *

“Hey, guys…” Daisy says hesitantly. We’ve dragged her away from Irene to the lobby outside of the hotel’s ballroom. It’s quiet, except for the occasional server that passes through with empty trays of food.

Ryke and I have our arms crossed, towering over her. Even so, she stands straight, unflinching. “Let’s try this again,” Ryke tells her. “I don’t fucking want you taking this position.”

She sighs. “Ryke—”

“I’ve thought about it,” he cuts her off, “and I’ve decided that I’d rather Lo become CEO than you. So you can stop fighting for this and start cheering on my brother.”

Daisy laughs like he’s joking, but our no-nonsense postures never change. Her laughter dies. “I don’t want you to choose me over him.”

My ribs constrict, and I expect this to pain Ryke enough to retract his statement.

Instead, he says, “Too fucking bad, Calloway. I chose you.”

She hesitates, and so I interject. “Come on, Daisy. You’re not a Hale. It’s weird if you steal this position from me. It’s
mine
.”

Her shoulders drop and begin to curve inward. She meets my edged features still. Not scared off by them. “I worry about you and…” She can’t finish that statement. But I get it.

My lips lift in an agitated smile. “You think this’ll push me to drink?” It sucks that Lily’s little sister sees me like a breakable doll. I have been put together too many times to let Hale Co. pull me under.

“We all do…” she replies, looking to Ryke for affirmation.
Stay fucking strong,
I glare at him.

He does well, not once shifting towards me or wavering with an unsure glance. He just focuses on his girlfriend. “Lo can handle it.”

The foreign words ring in my ear. Even if it’s constructed for Daisy, I like hearing that phrase from my brother.

“See,” I add to her with the tilt of my head. “I haven’t self-destructed yet.”

“This is between Lo and me,” Ryke layers it on, not letting up. “This isn’t about you, Dais.”

The guilt-trip actually works this time. She can’t meet our eyes anymore. She concentrates on the carpet like the ugly fucking gold pattern is suddenly more interesting than this conversation.

“Come here,” Ryke breathes as he seizes her hand and tugs her to his chest. She hides her face in a hug, and he places a consoling hand on her head. “We’re not trying to beat you down, Dais. We’re just trying to make you understand.”

“Okay,” she suddenly murmurs.

Ryke and I exchange surprise. “Okay what?” I ask.

She takes a single step back with a heavy exhale. “Okay, I’ll self-sabotage.” Her green eyes flit to ours. “If that’s what you both want…”

“It is,” we say in unison.

She twists the bottom of her white blouse, untucked from her green skirt. “So next week, I can—”

“No,
tonight
,” Ryke almost growls out the word. He’s nervous about her winning before then. I am too, but he cares more deeply for Daisy. His concern is a higher wattage than mine.

“Tonight?” she repeats, her mouth dropping. “Ryke, this is a
charity
event.”

I cut in, “I’m going to write a check, so it’ll make up for whatever happens.” I know that’s not the right thing to say. Daisy looks petrified, her eyes widening at the thought of hurting people. She’s not going to, but in her mind, maybe that’s what she sees.

Ryke cups her face, and she stares only at him. “Dais, we’re not asking you to humiliate yourself or anyone around you. Just throw out this fucking etiquette book your mother gave you, and do what you feel.”

She blinks back tears. It’s hard to watch, but I can’t turn away either. “Maybe…next week,” she hesitates.

“No.” Ryke pulls her into his body, with both hands on her cheeks. “Today, tomorrow—be wild, Calloway.”

She inhales strongly. “What if that’s not who I am?”

“Then be who you are, sweetheart,” Ryke says passionately. “But don’t change for them.”

Daisy fingers his business suit, and I think she’s going to comment on it. Maybe that fight is a sore one because she doesn’t mention the change he’s made for the company. Though, she stands on the tips of her toes to kiss his shaven jaw. He tenses, and then she lands on her feet. “Don’t stop me,” she tells us, and she actually smiles, her eyes twinkling deviously.

“I rarely do,” Ryke reminds her.

 She blows out a breath like she’s embracing something inside of her that she’s locked away these past months. And then she begins walking backwards towards the ballroom door. Her grin grows as she plants a playful gaze on Ryke.

I have no idea what she’s about to do, to be honest. I just hope it’s enough to persuade the board that she’s too reckless to be a CEO. That she’s still young.

She pushes through the doors, and we’re close behind. In the packed conference room, Daisy wags her brows at us, and then spins towards the groups of boisterous people, no one on stage right now.

She does one cartwheel, and her skirt flies up to her waist. Revealing underwear that says…I roll my eyes. But the similar underwear reminds me of Lily.

Beside the chocolate fountain, Lil holds a stick with a banana. A smile overtakes me. It’s an old trick of ours. Act like you’re contemplating dipping a piece of food into the fountain, when you’re just killing time.

I peel my gaze off her and onto my brother. He’s trying to suppress a rare smile of his own, completely infatuated with Daisy. She’s on the fourth cartwheel and gathered more attention from people. When she does a handstand, people watch her. A few board members shake their head in disapproval.

I LOVE RYKE MEADOWS
is upside down.

I catch a few people snapping photos with their camera phones. That was expected.

“Your name is on her ass,” I state blankly.

“I’m so fucking in love with her,” is all he says. And I believe every word.

When she drops her feet, she takes a small bow, and a couple guys clap. Probably for showing her ass. I shoot them a look, but that doesn’t stop them from ogling Daisy. It irritates me, but that feeling vanishes the moment Daisy locks eyes with my brother.

The moment she
runs
straight out of the ballroom with the biggest, brightest smile. She’s a ball of light that Ryke is going to catch up to. I can see it in his eyes.

And he’s off behind her.

I head to the window that overlooks the street, and I feel a presence slide next to me. Chocolate banana in hand, Lily presses her nose close to the glass. “What are we looking at?”

“Your sister, my brother,” I tell her.

I wait for them to exit onto the street. It’s something Daisy would do. And maybe three minutes pass before a platinum-blonde girl sprints out of the hotel and into the parking lot. She removes her shirt and her skirt as she races forward. We’re only on the third floor, so I make out her overpowering smile.

It’s like watching someone break free.

And my brother—he runs after her. I know everyone thinks he chased Daisy to stop her. They were nodding in approval about it as he left, but he’s not.

As soon as he falls in line with Daisy, he runs by her side.

“They’re going to last,” Lily says with a hopeful nod.

Yeah. They just might.
I tear my attention off the window and onto her. She’s pulled out her cell and concentrates on typing. “What’re you doing, Lil?”

“Tweeting,” she says and then flashes me the screen:
I’m Crazy for Raisy.

I mock wince and shield my eyes. “Christ, Lil, you blinded me with Team Raisin.”

“
Raisy
,” she corrects me with squinted eyes. She’s so fucking adorable.

“
Raisin
.” I drop my hand and draw her body to mine. “It’s my favorite ship name. Let it be.”

Her jaw unhinges. “Your favorite—” I cover her mouth.

“Not my top favorite.” And my lips brush her ear. I can’t stop smiling. Not anymore. “My absolutely, without a doubt, favorite…” I pause with a breath. “…is
ours
.” Then I kiss her.

I kiss her like I need her soul tangled with mine.

She kisses back like it’s happened already for years.

I almost forget about the last couple of steps I have to take with Hale Co. I almost forget about someday soon needing to beat my brother. But the unwritten future still lingers in the back of my mind.

{ 51 }

LILY CALLOWAY

“You did what?” Lo gapes at Connor, and my eyes threaten to pop out of my head.

We’re surrounded by bottles of Ziff, stacked in pyramids on tables. September gusts of wind threaten to knock them over, but many Fizzle employees stand guard. A one-hundred-and-fifty-foot, terrifyingly tall cliff towers behind us: all gray rock and green foliage. Ryke stands at the base with Daisy and my dad before the media and public appear to kick-start the Ziff event.

However, my attention remains strictly on Connor, who cradles Jane while she naps. It’s not his daughter that’s alarmed me either. It’s the words he just uttered.

“Whaa…” I actually begin to say aloud.

“I know,” Rose says, crossing her arms. “I already yelled at him for not bringing me along.” She purses her lips like that’s his greatest offense.

No. That’s beside the point.

“Next time, I’ll tag you in, darling.” Connor uses his free hand to comb Rose’s hair onto one shoulder, and then he kisses her bare neck lightly. It’s a regal, effortless kiss that has Rose
almost
flushing.

“Good.” She raises her chin.

My mouth is on the floor. Or rather, the earthy ground. Are Lo and I the sane, mature ones here? The world is really upside-down.

“You’re both officially insane,” Lo beats me to that comment. “We agreed not to confront the teenagers or their parents.”

Connor’s brows pinch in this conceited fashion. “By history alone, I’m the most qualified to reason with their parents.”

“We should’ve
talked
about it,” Lo snaps. “This affects everyone, Connor.”

Connor’s jaw muscles tic, a single sign of his true emotions. “No offense, but I didn’t feel the need to ask for your permission or for Ryke’s when my wife and my daughter were shot with a water-gun on our front porch.”

“Fruit punch, not water,” Rose corrects him. “And they owe me a new fucking dress.” I didn’t see it happen. Yesterday, Rose was alone with Jane, switching out the welcome mat to a fall-themed one. She had Jane in her arms when the teenagers sprayed her with fruit punch.

I kinda wish I saw Connor’s reaction when he returned from work and learned about the ordeal. But maybe this was it. He was livid enough to storm over to the house and confront their parents.

“I said a water-gun. I didn’t say that water was filled in it,” Connor retorts.

Rose whips her head to him. “One detail, Richard. You were wrong about one
small
detail.”

“If that were true, I’d agree with you,” he says smoothly, his lips beginning to rise. “But it’s not, Rose.” Normally I love a good flirt-fight, but the nerd stars need to cool it right now because we’re still partially in the dark about the teenagers and parents.

Rose sighs heavily and glances at Jane in his arms. “I pray that your narcissism isn’t seeping into our daughter.”

“Narcissism can’t
seep
. It’s not tangible, and who are you praying to, darling?”

“Any god that will tell me why I procreated with you.”

He grins fully, a blinding million-dollar one. “Because I love you just as you love me.”

Rose presses her lips together, but she shifts closer to him. “That wasn’t meant for you to prove that you’re a god, Richard.”

He laughs into a brighter smile and then he kisses her forehead.