Page 76 of Thirst For Me
I swallow. “Very sensible.”
“Therapeutic,” she agrees.
Then she laughs, snorting into her hand.
I laugh. I laugh so fucking hard, my eyes tear up.
She drops her hand and laughs out loud, her pretty voice floating away over the water.
“Anyway,” she says as she calms down, wiping the tears from her eyes, “I had to getsomepleasure out of it. That stupid blunder cost me everything.”
My smile fades. “What?”
She sighs. “It’s not about the stupid meme. That was just a prank from a thirteen-year-old. Embarrassing, but I’ll get over it. The worst part was Kyle dumped me like yesterday’s trash after that call. And his parents snatched back their investment. They all dumped me. And life as I knew it fell apart overnight. That clumsy mistake put my business in serious jeopardy.”
I digest this. “Sierra. Christ. That is so not okay.”
“I know,” she says, so lightly I have to wonder.Doesshe know? “But what am I gonna do about it? The relationship is over, and with each day that passes I understand better what a good thing that is.”
“Okay. But what about your business?”
She eyes me. “Oh, I’m sure you’d love it if I still had some wealthy investor to help me set up shop far, far away from here ...”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“It’s fine. I’ll figure it out. And this whole thing ... The dildo, the meme, my boyfriend breaking up with me and diving into bed with his beautiful best friend—”
“Wait. What the hell?”
“—it’s all justsostupid compared to what you’ve been through.”
But it’s not.
“No, I get it,” I tell her. “Your whole life plan fell apart overnight. That’s no joke.” No way am I telling her about Jennabandoning me at the altar. But I do get it in more ways than she could possibly know.
Unfortunately, I also understandherposition better now.
Even respect her more as a rival.
One who maybe deserves to be here and have a fighting chance to keep this building, almost as much as I do?
I also feel some of my will to fight her slipping away, which is fucking bad.
So why am I doing this?
I don’t know. It just feels right as the words come out of my mouth. “Quite frankly, Sierra Daniels, I’m fucking shocked you’d let some asshole who doesn’t even respect you interfere with your life.”
She cocks her head. “But you’re so good at interfering with my life.”
“I meant your ex,” I growl.
She smiles. “I know, Mason.”
I’m not letting her brush this off as a joke. This part is for real.
“And I do respect you,” I tell her. “I respected you enough as a stranger to take care of you when you were drunk. And I respect you enough now to tell you that you should’ve stood up for yourself. Your ex should’ve stood up for you, too. If you gave that situation half the pushback you’ve given me over this building, your doubters would cower and scurry back into the shadows. And maybe your ex’s parents still would’ve invested.”
Her smile is gone. “You don’t know them, Mason. And really, it’s a blessing. I couldn’t have gone into business with people like that.”
