Anderson shook his head. “Don’t you dare take all the blame. I’m at fault too. And Tobias, he’ll get over it. Don’t worry about him.”
Anderson may as well have been talking to a brick wall though, because I wasn’t in the mood to be comforted. I just wanted to get out of the building and put the whole miserable night behind me.
“Goodbye, Anderson,” I said, and rushed passed him. Just as he had chased after my brother, he began chasing after me. But I didn’t look back, and I ignored the stares I got as I rushed through the ballroom and toward the exit.
“Joanna!” Anderson yelled.
But I hopped into the car that was waiting for me without looking back.
CHAPTER 21
Anderson
I got to work early Monday morning, determined to catch Joanna when she entered the building and insisted that the two of us approach Tobias together and get him to see reason. From the moment she ran out of the gala and hopped into the cab, I had been trying to call her repeatedly. But she wouldn’t accept any of my calls. She wouldn’t even answer any of my texts…
And neither would Tobias, for that matter.
I never knew how much losing both of them would impact my life until I was faced with the reality of it happening. The Gentry family had been in my life for decades, and I had taken for granted how important they were to me. Now, with neither Tobias or Joanna speaking to me, it felt like my whole world had been shifted completely upside down, and if things stayed this way for much longer, I didn’t know how I was going to possibly carry on. A deep depression was starting to come over me, something I had never felt before in all my life. I could hardly even bring myself to get out of bed.
When my alarm clock went off Monday morning, I’d just lied there, letting it screech, unable to muster the energy to turn it off. I only turned it off when I heard the angry thumping from the tenant below me who had undoubtedly taken a broom to bang on her ceiling to send me a message. I already felt like shit, so by no means did I want to hear Ms. Ryan’s angry mouth, or find out that she’d complained to the landlord about me over a damned alarm clock.
When I finally managed to sit up in bed, I instantly reached for my phone—hoping that I had a message from Joanna, or even Tobias. But of course, I’d had no such luck. Besides, I had barely slept to begin with; if either of them had tried to contact me, I would have known immediately.
With a sigh, I figured that I was just going to have to talk to them in person when I got to work. That thought alone was the only thing that encouraged me to get out of bed. I was determined to get them both together in the office so that we could all talk like the rational adults we were supposed to be.
I forced myself through my morning routine, showering, dressing, eating a bagel, and getting to the office, determined to accomplish my task. Yet when I got to work that morning, I quickly learned that I was in for a rude awakening.
Joanna never showed up.
Tobias did though.
“Tobias!” I said, seeing him walk down the hall to his office. But he didn’t even bother to turn around, as if he was deaf to my voice.
“Come on, Tobias. Don’t be like that. Let’s talk about this,” I said, but still got no response. “Really? Are you honestly going to give me the silent treatment? Aren’t we too old for this, man? Tobias! Tobias! I’m your best friend in the world, and you’re going to treat me like this?”
“Were,” he said quietly, although he still wouldn’t look at me. “You were my best friend in the world. I don’t know who the hell you are now. My best friend wouldn’t treat my sister like one of his sleazy conquests, in the middle of our firm’s gala, no less.”
“I’m not treating her like a conquest! Come on, now! You should know that I have too much respect for Joanna to do something like that.”
“Oh yeah? I bet you respected the hell out of her in that closet.”
“Look, we were being stupid. I know that. But I swear, it’s not what you think.”
“Get the hell out of my way, Anderson. Go do your work and just get out of my sight.” With that, he turned and I knew that I had essentially been dismissed. I watched him storm off and disappear behind his office door with a slam.
“Shit,” I muttered, turning around and seeing several employees passing by, giving me scolding glances as if they’d never heard an expletive before. “What the hell are you guys looking at?” I said, agitated. “Are you done with your reports?”
“Ah…N-no,” one of the stuttered. “They’re not due until the end of the week though, right?”
“Doesn’t mean you have to wait that long to finish,” I fussed. “So stop looking at me and get to work.”
“Y-yes, Mr. Anderson.”
I watched them hurry away, feeling mildly guilty for bullyi
ng them for no reason. But I couldn’t help myself. When I felt bad, I tended to act bad. It was a habit that I had yet managed to get control over.
I glanced back to the door Tobias had disappeared behind, tempted to bang on it until he opened up and heard me out.