Page 88 of Torrid Love
“Then spare me the lecture,” I throw in his face.
“You know what differentiates us?”
“No, but I’m sure you’re going to tell me.”
“You’re right,” he flashes me a mocking grin. “I’m a lost cause. I’m getting up there in age and with each passing year, I’m more and more jaded. Maybe if I had rescued a pretty girl in high school, there would still be hope for me,” he lets out a laugh. “All I’m saying is you’re in a different boat. You have someone like Dom in your life. You already trust her—implicitly. And you love her deeply––”
“As a––”
“I know, I know, as a friend.” He allows for a pregnant pause. “I don’t even have that with a woman. Never have.” Another pause. “Dom is determined, smart, gorgeous and loyal to a fault. And she’s always been yours, Rod.” I open my mouth to rebut, the expression on his face convinces me otherwise. “So now, the question is––especially after Saturday night––do you think she’s worth going after? It’s that simple, little brother.”
“I couldn’t have said it better. Decide,” Loki repeats. “Once you do, everything else will fall into place.”
They make it sound so easy.
CHAPTER 20
Dominika
“I swear to God I’m going to end up cross-eyed,” I complain.
I rotate my head in an effort to dislodge the kink in my neck from hours of pouring myself wholeheartedly into my work. It’s to no avail. My whole upper body aches.
“Thanks a lot, Auburn Sorrel for being completely clueless.”
Loki practically assaulted me yesterday morning in between takes to beg me to fix Auburn’s mistakes. Given the complexity of the video, I knew I would have my work cut out for me. I didn’t expect it to be this bad. Auburn screwed up monumentally. Translation, it’ll take me a couple of weeks before I present the band with a kick ass music video. I guess I can’t complain too much because Loki promised me a generous bonus. Since Joel and his band will be bouncing around from one interview to another for the next two days, the timing couldn’t be better.
I need a break.
I look at the time on my iMac and decide I need to put something in my stomach before I pass out.
“Lunchtime!”
One of the advantages of having my head wrapped in my work like this is there’s no room for Rod Wolfe. This consuming busyness allows me to cast him from my thoughts. It also prevents me from replaying my conversation with Joel. On one hand, his offer is tempting, on the other, it’s so life changing, I don’t know if I have the guts to take him up on it. And of course, the idea of being away from Rod for six months doesn’t weigh into my indecision.
Right.
I ready myself to get up from my chair, when my phone rings. I pick up immediately.
“Hey, Marissa!”
“Hi, Dominika! I hope I’m not catching you at a bad time,” she says.
Marissa Feiffer is Rod’s executive assistant.
“Actually, you’re preventing me from jumping behind the wheels of my car to track down Auburn through the city and strangle him with my bare hands. He’s a poor excuse for a video editor. Even his skills as a director are lamentable.”
“That bad?”
“I had better skills at fourteen.”
“Yikes.”
“I may even have to reshoot parts of it. Thank God there are hours and hours of footage I can hopefully salvage something from or else it would cost Rod and Loki a fortune in production.”
“Well, that’s why the bosses keep raving about you. You’re their secret weapon,” she laughs.
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
