Dancing on Waves, page 12
“I’ll see you later, Marie,” Lucas said and made his way to the door. “I’ve got a, uh, a meeting. Good to see you.”
I stared at him, begging him to save me from my mother. He shrugged his shoulders and rushed out of the office. I was going to kill him later. A friend didn’t leave a friend behind.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming home?” Mom asked. “You know how worried I’ve been.”
“I needed to focus on work,” I replied.
It took about two seconds for her to turn on the waterworks. She could have won numerous Oscars with her talents. She could cry on demand. “I don’t know what’s happening,” she wailed. “My children have turned on me. All I’ve done is take care of you, and this is how you repay me! Collin is ruining our family, and you’re standing by and letting it happen! I don’t understand. You were both raised better than this!”
I noticed a small crowd gathering outside my office. I calmly closed the door and turned to face my mother. Her theatrics were legendary. I wasn’t interested in putting on a free show.
“Why would you abandon me?” she sobbed. “Oh, Ethan, it’s so horrible!”
“Yes, it is,” I agreed.
“Don’t be blasé,” she pouted. “This is serious. I’ve already had a couple of withdrawals from the gala. What am I going to do if my name is on the blacklist? What will I do?”
“I don’t know,” I said with a sigh. “I’ve heard if they aren’t your friends in the hard times, they were never really your friends at all.”
“Don’t be smart. I really don’t understand how you can treat this like it’s a joke. This is serious. We’re about to be ruined.”
“I’m focused on saving a billion-dollar company, Mother,” I shot back. “I’m trying to keep the lights on and save the jobs of hundreds of people. I don’t have time for the sideshow.”
She frowned at me. “I was at the salon, and I saw Debra and Connie. They wouldn’t talk to me. The nail girl messed up my nails.”
“Oh. The horror. Will you survive?”
She stomped her foot. The waterworks dried up, and one of the perfectly painted nails was pointed at my face. “I will not tolerate this abhorrent behavior. I’m going to tell your father.”
I rolled my eyes and watched her storm out of my office. She slammed the door behind her for good measure. I was so glad I came home.
Chapter Nineteen
Ava
She was going to stand me up. I wasn’t surprised. Jenny did what Jenny wanted when she wanted. She’d always been selfish and self-centered. I sipped my coffee while I waited. I was going to give her another fifteen minutes. If she didn’t show, I would leave. I could go home knowing I tried. She kept calling me to help her, but when I tried to do just that, she was too busy to talk to me. I was not interested in her silly games. I had my own problems, like trying to figure out if Ethan had grown tired of me and was ready to ship me home. I was not about to sit in a hotel and wait for him every night. That was not how this thing was going to go.
A blast of cold air hit me when the door to the shop opened. I looked up and saw Jenny with a tall, lanky guy. At first, I didn’t recognize him. I took a second look and was saddened to see it was my ex-boyfriend, Ryan. Time had not been kind to him. Although it probably wasn’t the time that had eaten away at him. It was the drugs.
I put up my hand to wave them over. Because she and I were both hunted, I was keeping my mediocre disguise on. My beanie was pulled low, and I was wearing glasses with clear lenses. I didn’t know how much of a disguise it was, but it was a dark, dreary day. Sunglasses were out of the question if I actually wanted to see where I was going.
Jenny pulled out a chair and flopped down. Ryan sat beside her. I was really surprised by his appearance. He looked gaunt. There were deep purple circles under his eyes. He looked like I had after my accident. It was hard to believe the man in front of me had once been a healthy athlete. He was a shadow of his old self. I knew the two of them had remained friends after I broke up with him. I didn’t care they were together now. There was zero jealousy.
“Hi,” I said with a soft smile. “Do you guys want coffee? My treat.”
“Because we’re poor addicts,” Jenny said harshly.
“No, because I invited you here,” I replied. “Yes or no? I’m not going to force you to drink coffee.”
“I’ll take a latte,” Ryan said.
Jenny scoffed. “Yeah, whatever, me too.”
I got up and ordered the drinks. I glanced over at the table and felt sorry for the two of them. They’d had the world at their fingertips, and they blew it. Drugs were evil. I hated what it did to them. They had both been beautiful, lively people. They were husks of themselves now. They had nothing. If they didn’t change soon, they wouldn’t even have futures.
I carried the drinks back to the table and sat down. “So glad you could show up,” Jenny said. “I mean, why come back now?”
“You don’t get to be mad at me for moving away,” I said.
“I can be mad at you for abandoning me,” she replied. “You always thought you were better than me. Than all of us. Like you are some super awesome person because you live in Hawaii and have a job. You just got up and walked away when things got bad.”
“Things weren’t a cakewalk for me,” I said. “You know that.”
“Because Dad died,” she scoffed. “I get it. You did all you could to make sure I felt guilty about that.”
“You had Mom. You had the house and everything else. You weren’t destitute.”
“You washed your hands of me,” she said. “When Mom died, you didn’t come back.”
“I went to the funeral,” I reminded her. I honestly didn’t know if she remembered I had been there. She’d been high at the time. All the time.
“You’re weak,” she spat. “You’ve got this self-righteous air about you. Mom said you got it from Dad. Like he was a hero for staying poor his whole life.”
There was no point rehashing every single one of our old arguments. “What’s going on with your case?” I asked her.
She glared at me. “Are you asking because you care or because you want to report back to your boyfriend? Funny, after all your lecturing about the evils of being rich, you picked the richest guy in the state to hook up with. I guess money isn’t so evil after all, is it?”
“I’m asking because I want to know,” I said and ignored the shit about Ethan.
“I can’t believe you’re hooking up with him,” she sneered. “You betrayed me.”
“I didn’t betray you,” I said. “I met Ethan before I knew you were involved in any of this.”
“You’ve picked his side.” She shrugged. “I don’t even know why I’m talking to you.”
“Because I’m your sister and you need help,” I replied.
“You would know that because you’re on the inside,” she said. “You know they are setting me up. How could you turn your back on your own family?”
“I don’t know the whole story,” I said. “You’re free to tell me.”
“Yeah, right.” She snorted. “You’re trying to trip me up. You want to tell Ethan so he can help Collin. They are saying I did this.”
I was dying to ask if she had done it. I didn’t because I was afraid to know the answer. “Did you hire a lawyer?” I asked.
“How could I?” she asked. For the first time since talking to her, I heard the crack in her voice. She was scared. I hated that she was scared. We weren’t close. Hell, I wasn’t even sure we liked each other, but I didn’t want to see anyone scared and hurt. She was fighting Goliath. I didn’t know if she deserved to be charged with a crime, but she deserved a fighting chance.
“Did you talk to Clark?” I asked.
She gave me a dirty look. “He won’t talk to me.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s an asshole,” she shot back.
“Agreed,” Ryan chimed in.
“You were once close to him,” I reminded her.
“That was a long time ago,” she said. “He won’t even take my calls. Security won’t let me in the house. He’s cut me off.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you are,” she said with a sneer. She looked to Ryan. “I told you this was a waste of time. She’s not going to do anything.”
“I’m not sure what you expect me to do,” I told her. “I don’t have the money for a retainer. Depending on how bad this gets, you might need a lot more if there is a trial. I don’t have the money. I’m still paying the bills from Dad’s care.”
“Way to rub it in my face,” she said.
“Jenny, check the attitude.” I knew she was stressed, but she was pissing me off.
“You have to talk to Clark,” she blurted out.
“What? Why?”
“Because he won’t give me any money,” she said. “He thinks I’m going to use it to buy drugs. I did talk to him a couple of weeks ago. When I told him why I needed it, he got pissed. He said I was a junkie loser, and I was never going to amount to anything. He said he refused to support my habit. He doesn’t believe me.”
“How much money has he been giving you?” I asked.
She shrugged. “Not much.”
I blew out another breath. “I haven’t talked to him in years. I’m not his favorite person. I doubt he’ll take my calls either.”
“You have to try,” she begged. “I have no other chance. I’m screwed. The Mitchell family is going to bury me. You’re sleeping with the enemy.”
I looked at Ryan. “What about you?” I asked.
“What about me?”
“Can you loan her the money?” I asked him, knowing his family was loaded.
“I don’t have any money,” he said with a laugh.
I shook my head with disappointment and sadness. “Your parents cut you off, too?”
“Yep.” He nodded proudly. “I wouldn’t do what they told me to. They cut me off.”
“He wouldn’t go to rehab,” Jenny laughed. “Again.”
She didn’t need to say any more. It was the same story with Jenny and Collin, from what Ethan told me. It was a family’s worst nightmare. The addicts never understood what it was like for the people that loved them. I’d lived it with Jenny. Over and over we’d begged her to get help. It never worked.
“I see,” I said.
“Just call him,” Jenny said. “He’ll talk to you.”
“I think you’re overestimating my relationship with him,” I said. “Remember, he wasn’t all thrilled with me when I left.”
“I’m asking you to do one thing,” she said. “It’s not like you’ve done anything else for me. It’s one little thing. It’s literally the least you can do.”
She was pissing me off and insulting me. The urge to get up and walk out was strong. It was her mess. Not mine. She was blaming me for her bad decisions. It was nothing new. “I will call him,” I said with reluctance. “I’m not making any promises. I don’t remember our last conversation, but he wasn’t nice.”
“Fuck him,” she growled.
“Where are you staying?” I asked gently.
“Like you care,” she shot back.
“We’re crashing at a friend’s place,” Ryan answered. “She can’t go to her apartment. The reporters are there. We heard someone was looking for her.”
“Like who?”
“Probably a cop,” Jenny said.
“Is there a warrant for your arrest?” I asked.
Jenny shrugged. “I don’t know.”
My eyes widened. “You don’t know?”
“We should go,” Ryan said.
“Jenny, wait,” I said and reached for her hand. “You need to talk to the police. Don’t hide. It’s only going to make it worse.”
“Like you know anything,” she said and got up from the table. “I’m not an idiot. I’m not trying to run from the law. I know you don’t think much of me, but I’m a little smarter than that.”
“I don’t think you’re an idiot,” I said. “I just want you to be careful.”
“Too late.” She smirked.
“It was good to see you, Ava,” Ryan said. “You’re looking good.”
Jenny pushed him before walking out. I missed my sister. I missed the days when we were young and played together on the beach. When I was young, I always thought we would be best friends forever. Then life happened. I wished we could be friends again. She was the only family I had. I just wasn’t sure we would ever be able to be close again. If she did go to prison, she would be pissed at me. Obviously, it wasn’t my fault, but from our conversation, I knew she would blame me.
I dreaded doing it, but I had to call my stepfather. Was he my stepfather still? My mother was dead. We had no connection. He never had liked me. I was too willful. I didn’t bend to his will. He wanted the perfect princesses. I was never going to fit into that mold.
Chapter Twenty
Ethan
My eyes hurt. My back hurt. I forgot how painful it could be to sit for eight hours a day. It had been a long time since I’d put in a full day at the office. I got up and stretched to work out the kinks. It was dark outside. It was strange to see so many lights. I couldn’t even see the stars. I missed the moon and stars over the water.
I realized I had not talked to Ava all day. She was probably feeling abandoned. I grabbed my phone and saw there were a couple of messages. I had put it on silent and forgotten to turn it back on. “Dammit.”
The first was a message from Ava letting me know she was going for a walk. The second was another message from Ava saying she was going to visit her stepfather. That concerned me. She had told me a little about him. He was not a good man. I knew who he was. I didn’t know him well, but we ran in the same social circles. He didn’t have a great reputation.
I texted her back, knowing she was probably already on the way. I felt like a jerk for not seeing her message earlier. I would have offered to go with her. At the very least, I would have tried to talk her out of going. She didn’t tell me what was going on, but I was going to assume it had to do with Jenny. I looked back at the paperwork on my desk. It could wait. I was going to try and catch Ava at the hotel and go with her to meet her stepdad.
I grabbed my things and was about to leave when my office door was thrust open. It startled me. Collin was standing in the doorway looking disheveled. “Collin, please come in,” I said dryly.
“What the hell are you doing?” he asked.
“I’m working, Collin. This is what grownups do.”
“Fuck you,” he shot back.
I rolled my eyes and closed the door behind him. My staff knew my family to an extent. They knew they could be a little eccentric. Today, they were getting a real show. “What do you want, Collin?”
“What did you tell Mom?” he asked.
“I didn’t tell her anything,” I said calmly.
“She’s freaking out again,” he said. “She said she came to see you. I just got that woman calmed down and now you got her all freaked out again.”
“I didn’t say anything. She came in here much like you just did. She was hysterical.”
“Because she’s pissed you’re not helping!” He rubbed his hands over his face. He was sporting a five o’clock shadow and bloodshot eyes. He didn’t seem to be under the influence, but I honestly couldn’t say for sure. He’d been on drugs for so long it was more the normal than the abnormal. His baseline was the typical intoxication level for most people.
“I am taking care of the company,” I said. “That’s my responsibility.”
“Oh, and the other stuff is my fault,” he scoffed.
“Uh, yeah, it is. I didn’t tell you to pop pills or snort whatever shit you snorted.”
“You think you’re so much better than I am,” he said. “You didn’t have to work like I did. You had the company handed to you.”
“You have had everything handed to you,” I reminded him. “You haven’t had to work a day in your life, and you live like a rock star.”
“And that’s why you’re so happy I’m in this situation now,” he said. “You’ve always been jealous of me. You have always wanted what I had.”
“Trust me, that is not true,” I said with disgust. “You’ve had everything everyone else has had.”
“You told me before it wasn’t fair I got to live my life while you had to work,” he said. “Don’t act like you’re not jealous.”
“You’re right.” I nodded. “It isn’t fair that I work my ass off for the family and you go around fucking up left and right. You do nothing but screw up, and we all get to clean up your messes.”
“You’re such an asshole,” he hissed. “I knew it. You’re jealous.”
I shook my head. “Whatever. I’m on my way out. I’ve got shit to deal with.”
“That’s right, do what you do best,” he said with a sneer. “Run away.”
“Collin, you do realize I didn’t create this problem. You did. You’re the one that got involved with drugs and partying. You are the one that fucked up. I’ve spent every minute of my life since the day you were born trying to protect you. I have bent over backwards trying to make sure you were okay. I couldn’t even go away for four years to the Navy without having to run back and save you. I’m done!” I threw up my hands and shook my head. “I don’t know what you expect from me. Do you really think it’s okay for you to keep screwing up with all of us cleaning up after you? This is your problem! For once in your life, you have to take care of something on your own. I can’t help you!”
He was looking at me with an expression of sadness and anger. He collapsed into the chair and buried his face in his hands. “Ethan, I’m in deep shit here,” he groaned. “I need help. I didn’t do this. They are looking for a fall guy, and I think they are going to put it on me. I think our fucking grandfather is the one urging them to make it happen.”
“You think Grandpa is trying to get you put away?” I asked. “I talked to him last night. He made it pretty clear he wanted you out of the mess. He ordered me to make it disappear, because I have a magic wand and all that.”
