“Always am when it comes to what’s mine.”
My father rubbed the side of his mouth before saying, “I thought that once too. Don’t make the same mistakes I did. This city is a good place to find yourself and lose yourself all at once,” he whispered almost to himself more than me. He looked down at a picture on his desk, one I knew was of my mother.
“She’s still waiting for you whenever you’re ready to give up this life, Dad,” I mumbled.
He grunted, and I left him to his own thoughts because I had my own thoughts to sift through that day. I had to come up with a plan to cut ties with Frank, fulfill his requests, and protect the damn spitfire that had me wrapped around her finger.
Chicago held so many memories, but I found comfort in knowing I was doing the same thing as my father. I was able to hide from my true self, the one that felt fucking pain every time I saw a glimpse of a woman who looked like Aubrey or a magazine that captured her hanging out with Jay or Roman.
People either go to the big city to be a star or to disappear into the masses. No one cares what anyone else does there unless they are doing something phenomenal. The beauty of the cityscape is that a person can either change it by creating their own empire or get lost in it without anyone noticing they ever existed.
I accomplished both of those things by moving there.
My cell rang, and I scrubbed my hands down my face as I glanced at the screen.
Isabel.
Because the damn woman couldn’t give me a second to breathe once I was back. I ignored it, knowing I needed a good night’s sleep and barked at my driver to take me home.
That night, I dreamt of Aubrey wrapped around me, in her neutral-colored clothes and all.
Going to see Frank in prison the next morning would make the headlines. I knew when I saw two SUVs following. They’d snap a picture and build a story on anything they could right now. With the app set to launch in just a few weeks, anything was more than nothing to them.
“Want me to lose them, boss?” My driver asked.
“No use, really. Others will be waiting when we get there.”
My phone rang, and I saw that Isabel was calling again.
My driver chuckled to himself.
I shot him a look and he outright laughed at me. Probably the only man who would. “I told you to call her last night, boss.”
“Shut the fuck up,” I said as I pushed the privacy window button.
“Isabel, I’m busy,” I answered.
“You’re on your way to that god-awful prison. You can’t be that busy.”
“News already?”
“Yup. They’ve got your SUV on live TV. Now that leaves me to clean up the PR mess before your launch, and honestly, we don’t have time for this shit, Jax.”
“This shit is what I pay you to make time for.”
“Then maybe you should answer your phone when I call so you can prepare me for making time for it.”
I sighed. “Isabel, I’m not in the mood. You know what I’m doing. What do you want?”
“Well, I want a call when you’re back in town, Jax.” She sounded a little hurt but I’d become immune to people feeling hurt when they worked for me. “We could have gotten dinner or something.”
“Like you said, I have this launch coming up. I don’t need to remind you that it is a multimillion-dollar launch that needs my time and attention more than you need it at dinner.”
“I’ve never wasted your time, have I?”
I smiled. “No, you haven’t. Yet. You are a pain in my ass though.”
“Sweet talk from the boss,” she purred. “I love it. Does my boss want to scratch an itch tonight with me? I haven’t been fucked since you’ve been gone.”