Page 49 of Handling the CEO

“What? They did what? Hell! I haven’t been ‘collaborating’ with anyone and I did not take the software. I just cleared the local drives as there is still someone giving them information! I will be back tomorrow, but can you please stop accusing me without talking to me!” I yell over the phone.

“I would have talked to you if you would have answered your fucking phone!” he yells back. “What do you want me to think—they had pictures of him at your house! He was touching you! And now you are all the way across the country?”

“Jon, calm down. I can’t talk to you while you’re like this.” I take a breath. “Look, I am sorry about your job, but I think it’s all related. I need to get something from here, then I will be right back. Please, trust me on this. Nothing is going on between Richard and me, it’s the same as with the reporter and whatever other shit they have been trying to pull, twisting everything. My driver is just pulling in now. I am taking the plane back at midnight. I will be home by 6 am. Just… just hold on, OK, caveman?” I ask softly at the end.

“I... I don’t know Avril,” he whispers into the phone. “I don’t know anymore, and I can’t talk to you like this when you are miles away.”

He cuts the call abruptly, and it comes off as getting punched in the gut, his last words so low, the hurt in his voice traveling through the air and hitting me straight on. I wipe tears from my eyes as I get out of the car and shoot a text to my sister.

Luckily, Nathan waits for me outside his house and notices me being upset.

“Hey warrior princess, long time no see. Come in, let’s find you those tapes, huh? Are you OK? Have you have been crying? How is our boy? Left him a couple of voicemails, but I haven’t heard back from him.”

“Man,” I correct automatically and smile, remembering our first conversation. “He doesn’t like to be called a boy.”

“Ha, well, speak for yourself. I am two months older than him, so I can call him whatever I want. So, what’s up? You got lucky I was in Vegas and could get here so fast—if I were in Monaco or the Philippines…”

“I don’t know the whole thing, Nate, but as I said on the phone, Tae’s custody arrangement may depend on what we see on the videos. It doesn’t look good if they just show what they tried to blackmail me with. Please try Jon again,” I ask as I sit down on his sofa, take my jacket off and sigh, leaning against the cushions. “We didn’t end our call just now on the best of terms. I am under the impression that they are trying to manipulate him, and I am not there to explain.”

“Uh, will do, princess. I’ve put the box of all the old hard drives in my office, you can go check it out in a minute, but first let me get you a drink. Not to sound insensitive but… you look like shit.”

He grins at me, then brings me a cup of coffee, which I warm my hands against.

“Thanks, Nathan, I truly appreciate all of this—coming all the way to meet me at your holiday home, the coffee, all of it—not the ‘you look like shit’ bit. When I called you earlier today after seeing the video, I had hoped you knew something to clarify exactly has happened, but I am even more impressed you had the videos.”

“Yeah, I keep them for a long time, you never know! Is Jon not having the best of days, eh?”

“I am genuinely worried about him. They kicked him out of his job and tried to make it like I have cheated on him and stolen the software we had.”

“They did what? Fucking hell—Mike didn’t stop them?”

“I don’t know, he didn’t say. Maybe I need to call him back,” I wonder, feeling more and more anxious about the whole thing.

“Do you want to look through the tapes first? By the way, princess—the man is gone for you; you know that right?”

“I hope so, I am definitely gone for him,” I confess, needing to say that out loud to someone. “When I return to Kerrington, I’ll show him that I am not what they make me out to be.”

“Umm… he does know why you are here, right? You didn’t just tell him you’re in Colorado and left it at that? Can’t blame a guy for being a tad upset if his girlfriend just goes away with not so much of an explanation the day he gets fired, right?” Nate’s blue eyes are piercing me with concern.

Oh.

“Oh—I am an idiot! I was just trying to fix things…”

“Yeah, ‘oh’! Gosh, how did you two find each other? A spilled coffee meet-cute? You are both idiots! Him for not recognizing what he had immediately, and you for taking him for granted.”

“Umm, technically there was a coffee spill involved,” I admit, and Nate mumbles, “Of course there was,” with his slight Irish accent. “But you are right, I should have explained better what is going on. It’s just that on the phone earlier, I was shocked to hear about the whole thing, and I didn’t find my words.”

I pick up my smartphone to call him, but he doesn’t respond. Shit!

I try again and still nothing, so all I can do is send him a message and hope it’s enough, obviously not including a reference to drugs in a text string.

I am at Nathan’s in Aspen. Richard was at my house trying to blackmail me with an old video of yours, so I am here to find some recordings from back then. I will tell you all about it tomorrow. Please wait for me.

I almost write ‘I love you’ at the end but stop myself. I want to tell him that when I am in his arms, encompassed by his manly smell and running my hands through his hair looking him in the eyes, not in a ‘whatsup’ text.

“Come on, best friend, time to go do some digging.” I put the coffee mug down with fake confidence. “Let’s see these videos and save our boy.”

Jon

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