Kylie
“I hate to say it, but it’s time to go back,” Ben says the next morning. His chest is warm and his words reverberate through me. “That is if you’re still sure you need to work today.”
I don’t want to. God, I don’t want to, but this is where the daughter proves she learned from her mother’s mistakes. “I have to.”
“I need time to recuperate anyway.” He reaches down and squeezes my ass affectionately, and despite myself I laugh. It’s so easy with him. Now. Nothing stays that way.
“How do you feel?” He gently brushes my hair off my cheek so he can see my face.
“Good.”
“No regrets?”
“None. You?”
“Would you tell me if you did?”
“Probably not.”
“You don’t have to protect yourself from me, Kylie.”
I stiffen against him. “Do you know what happens in the ring when you lower your hands? Someone takes a shot. Someone always does. I choose to keep my arms up. Bob and weave. Relax and you get pummeled.”
“Who punched you?”
“It’s a metaphor.”
“So who did the damage?”
“No one has for a long time.”
“Because . . .”
“Because I learned the hard way that someone you trust the most can hit you the hardest.”
“Tell me.”
His arms are so warm. The scent of him is intoxicating. I don’t stand a chance against him right now. I’ve let him in and I can’t shove him out now. I don’t want to.
“Michael William Romans. He grew up a few doors down from us. He and I were a lot alike. Instead of going to the pool and lying around, we ran a lemonade stand. We bought candy at the store in bulk and sold it on the playground at a profit. Then in high school we got serious about our futures. We had our sights set on Ivy League schools.”
“I’m sure your mom had a big network for you to make inroads.”
“My mother didn’t believe in handouts, even to her children. She was going to pay for school but my opportunities from there were up to me to find. So I set out to. And Michael Romans was going to be my partner in it all.”
“Were you an item?”
“I foolishly thought he was my first love. I wasn’t his. I wasn’t really anything to him. The signs were there, but I was blind to them. People see what they want, and I saw a good guy.”
“He was a dog?”
“More like a wolf in sheep’s clothing. We designed a learning program together. It was designed to help kids with dyslexia. Michael’s brother was dyslexic, and we partnered with a specialist for the curriculum. We combined multiple strategies and techniques so our program was more comprehensive and effective than anything on the market. It was meant to be a passion project that we’d eventually monetize.”
“That’s a lot of programing work.”
“He was the whiz with that stuff. A lot like you.”
“I’m sure that’s where our commonalities end.”
“We launched, and it was a huge hit. I was running business strategy, marketing, and finding advertisers to invest. But he designed it. He put his fingerprints all over the technology side and in the end, without me knowing, he cut me out.”
“You’re telling me you didn’t have an iron-clad contract? I don’t believe it.”
“I was nineteen. I’d known him since we were children. I loved him. Like I said the right hook that knocks you out can come from where you least expect it.”
“What did you do? Did you fight it?”
“I dropped out of college, went back home to live and basically did the equivalent of hiding under my bedroom covers for the next month. It wasn’t until my mother kicked me the hell out that I had to face reality. That moment changed me. It wrecked me.”
“You’re the furthest thing from wrecked.”
“I never saw it coming. He went on to make a million off that program and the ones that followed. I had helped him come up with the idea, network it, and build interested clients. Without hesitation when the money started coming in, he dropped me.”
“Where is he now?”
“How should I know?”
“Because I don’t’ believe for a second you don’t keep him on your radar.”
Ben is right. Michael is someone I’ve kept in my peripheral vision at all times. I need to know what he is doing and how well he’s doing it. How else can I be sure I’m doing better than he is? And I’m certainly doing that.
“He’s living in Boca, divorced. A couple kids to a couple different women he doesn’t get along with. Burning bridges is still his specialty.”
“He sounds like an absolute shithead. You’re lucky you figured that out when you did.”
I prop myself up on my elbow so I can see him full on. “I am lucky. I learned to defend myself early.”
“You can trust me, Kylie.”
“That’s what he said.”
Ben looks tentative to speak and I know I’m putting him through the ringer. He’s done nothing to deserve this scrutiny. Every move he’s made has been the right one, yet he’s being punished for the crimes of those who came before him. Knowing it’s wrong isn’t enough to stop me, though.
“Kylie, you’re going to be all right. At some point you’re going to see that not everyone will take a shot at you—not even if you leave yourself wide open for it.”
“I’m not going to change, Ben.” It’s not that I don’t believe him. I hope he’s right. I wish that’s how the world works.
“I was raised by four strong women. You don’t have to change. The right person never requires that.”
I rest my head back on his chest and wish I could stay there forever. No business waiting for me. No history taunting me about falling down the same hole my mother did. In his arms I feel like I can be more than my accomplishments.
Love almost seems possible.
I force myself to slide away from him and stand beside the bed. “I need to get back.”
He nods but looks disappointed.
I totally get it—I hate this side of me too.