Page 98 of Brutal
Why indeed. As soon as Irene was off to work, I’d done some research, and somehow, I’d ended up back here.
Not somehow. Very purposefully, because the thought of Drake trying to manage his own life and failing miserably didn’t fill me with any sense of schadenfreude.
It just made me miss him.
Yeah, that’s probably not a “small” dose of Stockholm Syndrome I’ve got.
“I’m just not a quitter, I guess,” I answer. “And I don’t want to see Drake’s life implode on him.”
I hear footsteps coming from his bedroom, and he appears in a pair of sweatpants. He’s still toweling off his hair, and his chest is wet. He’s out of breath, too, like he couldn’t get through the shower fast enough.
Like he couldn’t get to me fast enough.
I don’t know what to make of that.
“Mimi,” he says, coming straight to me. He drops the towel on the floor, which makes Hunter purse his lips in disapproval, but Drake only has eyes for me.
To my utter shock, he gets to his knees in front of me.
“Uh. Hi,” I say, awkwardly. “I hear things aren’t going so well. Only took a day of me being gone, huh.”
“Less than a day, actually,” he mumbles. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I kicked you out, I’m sorry for what I did to you, I’m just sorry.”
Unlike that day at the yacht, he actually sounds like he means it.
My chest warms, and I struggle to keep my face neutral.
“Okay.” I answer, reaching out to stroke his cheek. “Do you want to fix things?”
Drake lets out a shaky breath. “I don’t—” His voice catches. “I don’t know how.”
Chase and Hunter are still sitting behind him. Hunter has his eyes closed like he wishes he weren’t here, but Chase is watching us with keen interest.
“It’s not going to be easy,” I say. “I don’t mean whatever’s going on at work. I mean your life. Because you must know you’ve been self-medicating and avoiding doing anything to address the actual problems, right?”
He stares at me, his mouth slightly open like he can’t believe I actually called him out on it.
Really, it’s a wonder I haven’t done it sooner.
Groaning, he shuts his mouth and closes his eyes for a moment. His voice is despondent bordering on desperate as he asks, “And if I do that, you’ll stay?”
I purse my lips, fighting the irritation inside me. “If I don’t stay, you won’t do it?”
Hunter suddenly gets up and goes out to the patio, although Chase stays behind, still eagerly listening.
Drake scowls at me. “What reason do I have if you don’t stay?” he retorts, getting up. “Only Chase and Hunter give a damn what happens to me. Everyone else in New Bristol would love to see me fall on my ass.”
“So you’ll give those assholes what they want.” I stand up too, glaring at him. “You’re so eager to give up on yourself that you’ll give all those people the satisfaction of seeing you fail?”
He glares right back. “It’s too fucking late. The board meeting is tonight.” He clues in on the fact that I have no idea what I’m talking about a second later and adds, “They’re kicking me off the board. No more CEO position for Drake Brutal. No more anything.”
Chase coughs loudly. “It’s not actually too late, which is what Hunter and I have been trying to say. Until the board has actually voted, nothing is set in stone—and even then, we would have legal recourse…” He trails off when we both stare at him. “Or I could just go join Hunter on the patio.” He gets up to do that, finally giving me and Drake some privacy.
Drake watches him go, then turns back to me. “I found out my secretary has been working against me with some of the higher-ups in the company last night,” he says slowly, looking like a wounded puppy instead of the outraged madman he had the night before. “She tried to make it so I missed the board meeting. She even rescheduled it to a later date just for Hunter and Chase so they wouldn’t be there either.”
“That sucks,” I say honestly, and I’m reminded of something. “Maybe those are the same people I overheard at the party. There was something about an announcement?”
He looks blank. “What announcement?” He shakes his head, gritting his teeth. “Fuck. I need to go through some emails that she apparently deleted,” he says darkly. “Fucking snake.” His brows furrow, then he says, “Wait. What did you overhear? Why didn’t you tell me?”