been the full package of everything he didn’t want in a relationship. He should have seen it sooner and left her alone. He’d been off his game. Still angry about waking up alone in his hotel suite and angrier about bailing out Maretti Oil. He’d delayed his trip to Hong Kong and gone to the Keys instead. He’d wanted to get his head straight first, but he was surrounded by water that had once soothed him for the same reason he now wanted to drain the Gulf of Mexico dry.
“Aren’t you tired of all this serial monogamy? It’s not like you don’t know who you want, Nic. You’ve known for the last four years. Now that I’ve seen her I get—”
“Two words. Severance. Package.”
“Oh, good,” Pam shot back. “I've been meaning to ask for a raise.”
He covered his eyes with his hand and pressed his fingers and thumb into his temples. He would never fire her. They both knew it. She ran his companies like a well-oiled machine and she was one of the few people in the world Nic trusted. They'd met each other in the principal’s office in seventh grade. Nic for beating up the school bully and Pam for making her English teacher cry. They'd been friends ever since. Now she made sure he could avoid Houston and people as much as possible. No one got to him without going through Pam.
But Lizzie was not something Nic was prepared to discuss with Pam. He wasn’t ready to discuss Lizzie with anyone. He wouldn’t know where to start.
Pam broke the brief silence first. “No more beauty queens, Nic. They don’t take rejection well.”
“Fine, send her something pretty. A bracelet.”
Pam sighed. “That’s been taken care of. I had a bracelet and tangerine roses on standby after your second dinner date.”
“Tangerine is pretty specific.”
“She’d already started pinning wedding place settings and bridesmaids’ dresses.”
Nic’s brain shut off at bridesmaids. “If you’re going to stalk my girlfriends’ social media, you could at least give me a heads-up before they flake out on me.”
She laughed. “You don’t need a heads-up. Your anti-commitment radar works fine on its own and honestly, your heart wasn’t in it this time.”
“My heart is never in it. That’s the point.”
“I’ll take care of Marcy but you need to call Angie. Her last phone call was hysterical. Apparently, Rogan is going to Miami and he’s not alone this time.”
“What?” Nic choked on the word. “Not alone? What the hell does that mean?”
“I’m not sure. She was crying. None of it made sense. Maybe you should go to the grand opening after all.”
Nic groaned and wiped his hand across his face. “Fine, I’ll drive in tomorrow.”
“You need to call her,” Pam insisted. “This was not her usual melodrama. Something is wrong.”
He ended the call only to have the Rolling Stones start singing “Angie” on his phone. He’d forgotten to change the ringtone again. His sister had programmed it in months ago as a joke. She thought it was funny, but it was getting old. He was always so relieved when their conversations ended he forgot to change the ringtone back.
As soon as the call connected, there was a gulp, a sniff and a ragged intake of air.
“Don’t cry, I’m coming to Miami. Now, tell me what’s going on.”
She choked on a sob. “We got into a huge fight and I…”
Angie lost the battle with her tears. They were authentic sinus-blocking tears of a devastated woman with a broken heart.
Nic closed his eyes, wishing he could make all this go away. “Do you want to tell me what the fight was about?”
“It’s always the same thing. He spends all his time with his friends. If it’s not Stefan and Jen, it’s Lizzie…”
“Lizzie?” he echoed, his mental clamp creaking as he refused to let images of long lustrous curls form in his mind. “For the last time, Rogan is not cheating on you with Lizzie. She’s like his sister.”
“She’s here in Miami with him and trust me, I know you
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