Page 97 of Brutal
Some tech whiz I am.
I should know better than to keep the same passcode for everything, but to be fair, I got drunk too many times to remember new ones and I’d had to go back to the old one.
“Caroline tried to feed me some bullshit about not having a choice,” I say instead of trying to defend myself and only making it worse. “So yeah, there were others involved. And, um…” I wrack my brain, trying to remember who the fuckwad in the bathroom had mentioned. “George. Fucking George. Probably Oliver, too. Maybe Patrick.”
“I thought Patrick was your friend,” Chase says.
I snort. “Yeah. Until I told him he couldn’t fuck Mimi. Then he decided to be a bitter little bitch and cut me off from everything and probably join this fucking conspiracy because he can’t get laid on his own.”
“I never liked Patrick.” Chase glances at Hunter. “What are you thinking?”
Hunter shakes his head. “Drake needs to shape up. We go to the board meeting, but I don’t like our chances if George Browning got involved. He’s friends with at least half the board and could easily sway another chunk of them. The ones he can’t sway are…” Hunter points between himself and Chase. “I could call up my father, but the only way he’d get involved is if we gave him an even larger share, potentially even a position at the company.”
Hunter’s father is a professional Senior Executive—which means he’s always jumping from business to business, managing them for a year or two before going off to another one, miraculously before the business he’d been managing plummets in value. I’d once floated the idea of his father doing it on purpose, but Hunter countered that his father was just too stupid to manage a business successfully, but smart enough to see when to flee.
“I already told you, I’m losing the fucking company anyway. Why are you being so stubborn?” I ask them. My head is throbbing, and I just want them to fuck off instead of trying to make me think.
Chase pats my thigh. “Turns out, we’re your fucking friends, even if you decided to wallow in a pity party after I hooked up with May.”
“Oh, fuck you,” I mutter.
“Leave him,” Hunter says coldly. Hah, like he ever shows any emotion anyway. “He doesn’t want our help, so it’s not our problem.”
Chase’s brows furrow. “Uh, Hunter… We agreed…”
I should feel triumphant, but all I feel is this profound, deep rejection. “Yeah, Chase. Just leave because I’m a lost cause anyway.”
“Before we go, do you want us to let Margarita in?” Hunter asks.
“What?” I ask, my aching head not processing. “Mimosa’s not here. The fuck are you talking about?”
He holds up my phone, which is showing me the feed from the elevator security camera. Mimosa is on her way up.
She came back.
CHAPTER 25
Mimosa
I’m surprised my elevator key card still works.
I’m more surprised that it’s Chase who greets me at the elevator.
“Is Drake here?” I ask, peering past him.
“Yep.” Chase gives me a once over. “He was convinced you’d ditched him.”
I roll my eyes and clutch my bag tighter. “He’s convinced of a lot of stupid things.”
From further into the condo, I hear somebody snort. It’s Drake’s other friend, Hunter, who doesn’t look happy to be there.
Chase shakes his head and motions for me to walk past him. “He’s in the shower. I think he didn’t want you to see him as he was.”
“Hungover and filthy,” Hunter clarifies, like I couldn’t have figured that part out.
“Why are you two here?” I ask, sitting down in the lone armchair—and carefully keeping my legs pressed together. I haven’t forgotten the weird exam Hunter gave me.
“Just a little crisis at his work.” Chase rubs his brow and goes to join Hunter. “We’re going to prevent him from losing his business… Which you couldn’t know about, so why are you back?”