30
DARCY
I’d never been to California. I found myself surprised by how much of the landscape resembled a desert. In my mind, the state was an oasis of perfect weather and people pumped full of plastic wearing expensive clothes. Ever since we landed, I got the impression it was more like a few very small islands of perfection surrounded by not-so-perfect. I guessed that wasn’t so far off from how my life felt at the moment.
On the one hand, I had these beautiful glimmers of hope and excitement to reach for. I had my time with Dominic, which was only seeming to feel more important and amazing with each passing day. I had the vision of what I could be forThe Squawker–the ace writer who puts out a brand-solidifying piece every week. I even had the tempting vision of the day my dad finally admitted what I was doing mattered, even if it wasn’t his exact goal for my future. It was all right there, so close I could almost reach out and grab it. Except just beyond all of those goals was ruin and misery.
There was Dominic’s dad in the picture like black waters rising and lapping at the shores of my little islands of hope. There was my own insecurity and inability to believe I was worthy enough for a man to commit to because I hadn’t really done anything worth doing yet. My dad’s constant pressure to “be something” was so grilled into me that I just couldn’t picture why someone like Dominic would make any sort of sacrifice to be with me. What more could I be to him than some sort of fuck toy–a fun distraction?
I rubbed my eyes and groaned. I was in the hotel Gregor Lockwood had put us up in. It was top of the line, of course, with excessively large rooms for every employee and a whole floor just for members ofThe Squawker.I dropped my bags off beside the bed a few minutes ago after the flight. We’d all been sent First Class while Dominic and the bosses flew private.
My communication with Dominic had been sparse at best. We’d spent the entire weekend together, then his father showed up on Monday, and aside from a few clipped texts that he was busy and would talk when he could, I had next to nothing. Now it was the weekend again and last week already felt like ages ago. It felt so long ago that I was second guessing if any of it had really happened.
There was a knock at my door. I stretched, rolled out my neck, and padded to the door. I expected the hotel staff to be there and was wondering if it was something I was going to have to tip them for. When I opened the door, Dominic let himself in the room before I had a chance to react and closed it behind himself.
“Oh,” I gasped. My heart was already pounding and my vagina had already smashed the “break in case of emergency” glass that apparently allowed me to get wet in fractions of a second.
“I don’t have long,” he said. He looked so painfully good. I wanted to reach up and take him in my arms, even to just hold him. But all I did was stand there stupidly, staring with my mouth hanging open. “I’m in a room on the floor up from here. Room 2C. Here’s one of my keycards.” He handed me a gold, shiny card that felt heavier than the one I had for my room.”
“Why are you giving me this?” I asked.
“Because tonight, I have a meeting with the old man and some of his partners in the conference room by the lobby. I’m going to be tied up with shit he has planned for us until after his speech tomorrow. When that’s all over, I want you to come see me. We need to talk and figure out how we want to move forward.”
I swallowed hard.Talk.Right. Talking made sense. My horny ass had been picturing him saying something more like, “I need you on my bed, naked, and ready to die of excessive orgasms.” But talking made a little more practical sense.
“What about our interview?” I asked. I wasn’t sure where the question came from, but I’d been spending more time picking at the interview piece I’d been writing. Little by little, it was taking shape and I was actually starting to get excited for people to read it. I knew I needed more, though. Dominic had been holding back on me, and I wanted the last few puzzle pieces.
“Darcy… I’m not going to fire you. We can forget the interview. Nobody will want to read about me.”
“Beg to differ. We made a deal, and I still want my interviews until the piece is finished.”
He lowered his eyes, then nodded. “Alright. We can talk more after the convention tomorrow. About everything.”
My throat clicked with a swallow. I didn’t know why, but those last two words sent a chill through me. “Okay. See you then.”
Dominic looked like he was about to kiss me, but he ended up putting the side of his fist against the door frame, almost regretfully. He backed away, then left.
I felt like I could breathe again once he was gone. I flopped down on the hotel bed, lying on top of the comforter and staring at the ceiling. What did Dominic want to talk about? What was “everything”? And why the hell were the water bottles in the room ten dollars?
* * *
I stirredmy cereal and watched the milk slowly turn chocolatey brown. I was in a large carpeted room strewn with circular tables. This morning, everyone fromThe Squawkerhad walked from the hotel to this place. Employees guided us past people setting up for some sort of gun show to our right and led us back through a circular hallway to a room full of catered breakfast food on silver platters.
Elizabeth had a little bit of everything piled on her plate until I could hardly see her face. Farhad took about five servings of scrambled eggs, and Polly was poking at a bowl of fruit.
“This is so weird,” I said.
“Yeah, no shit,” Farhad agreed. “What is he going to talk about? Business strategy?”
“I looked it up,” Elizabeth said. She pulled out her phone and turned it to face us. There was video of Gregor standing on stage with one of those headset mics gesturing and speaking enthusiastically. The camera panned to a few dozen people dressed in business casual clothes–probably his employees. They were all watching with pained expressions.
I grinned as she tucked the phone back in her bag. “So it’s like some kind of motivational speech? That’s not so bad. I was worried he was going to try to get us to join his MLM and start selling anti-aging cream or something.”
Polly chuckled. “Yeah, I’ve heard about these things. It’s like his buy-in. He wants his employees to worship him, and Gregor seems to think this all makes him appear larger-than-life, I guess.”
“The eggsaregood,” Farhad said as he shoveled more into his mouth.
“Yeah this food is bomb a.f.” Elizabeth had a little mini sausage in each hand and bit the top off both, grinning. “If Gregor Lockwood wants to fly me out for his little dick stroking contests, I’m game as long as he keeps feeding me like this. Did you know room service was covered last night? I had like three cheesecakes on my bed.”