Chapter 1

Bonnie

I stepped out of the shower with a towel wrapped around my torso. It pinched my skin, sticking to my body like saran wrap, and I might as well have been an ancient mummy ensconced in a pyramid tomb. I felt dazed, my mind fraught with conflicting emotions, like I was having an out of body experience. This couldn’t be happening to me. I had definitely seen better weeks.

My cellphone rang, tripping me out of my dream-like state. I crashed back into reality with a jolt. Unknown number.

“Bonnie Calhoun,” I barked into the phone, wedging it between my ear and my right shoulder.

“It’s Nell. Do you seriously not have my new number saved?” My best friend Nell sounded like she’d just taken a bite of pizza and was in the middle of chewing it.

“It’s your new number. No, I haven’t had the time,” I said as I rolled my eyes, yanking my closet door open to look for something to wear.

“Haven’t had the time? It literally takes two seconds to do.” Nell was still chewing, and her voice was muffled as she spoke. It was putting me on edge for some inexplicable reason.

“Oh God! Will you please just stop eating while you’re on the phone, Nell?” I said, pulling out the dress closest to hand. A chiffon floral summer dress with spaghetti straps. I’d have to go bra-less for this one.

“How long has it been since you got laid? Jesus!” I could hear the smile in Nell’s voice as she spoke. She’d have her answer if she saw me now, with my exhausted eyes and skinny arms. I had always been skinny, but now I looked like I hadn’t eaten for a couple of days.

“Don’t even bring that up. I can’t even… right now,” I stood in front of my full-length mirror, staring at myself with the phone still wedged between my ear and shoulder. I was using my hands to hold the towel together.

“You sound stressed,” Nell said, sarcastically.

“It’s happening, and you won’t believe who came forward with an offer,” I explained distractedly, still staring at myself. My normally bright blue eyes looked worried, my long blond hair fell in a limp damp bunch around my shoulders. A trim was long overdue, but I didn’t have the brain space to think about that right now.

“What do you mean it’s happening? You mean you’re selling the company?” I had finally managed to pique Nell’s interest and her voice had suddenly reached a high-pitched decibel. I breathed in deeply, I didn’t want to have to say the actual words. I didn’t want to have to acknowledge that this was all real.

“Yeah. We can’t handle the losses anymore,” I said, turning away from the mirror. I couldn’t bear to look at myself as I spoke about it. My life and blood… the sweat and tears I had put into building the company from scratch. Nobody except my mom, and maybe Nell, had believed that I could do it. That a twenty-three-year-old fresh graduate could start a tech firm and be successful. And all those fuckers were right. Now I was the one left begging with open hands for a big-shot company to come along and buy it so that I could pay off the loans and the money I owed the banks. At least this way, I wouldn’t lose everything.

“Who is it?” Nell asked, snapping me out of my self-pity.

“Who is what?” I asked, not understanding the question.

“You said I wouldn’t believe who’s made an offer. So, who is it?” she said again.

I had to breathe in, prepare myself for saying the words. “Preston and Son,” I said in a near-whisper, trying to trick my brain into thinking that I hadn’t said the words. Fool.

Nell gave a loud laugh of disbelief, the kind of laugh that would have escaped my lips, too, if I was in her position.

“Preston and Son? You mean, Nash Preston’s family? Are you kidding me?” Nell just about screamed into the phone. She wasn’t buying it. Just like I didn’t buy it when I saw the email six days ago. The very reason why I re-read it like a hundred times.

“Not kidding. Not something I would kid about, and get this, Nash Preston has finally taken over,” I said, walking over to the bed, where I had flung the dress earlier. I really needed to get dressed and out of the house if I was going to make it to the dinner my employees had organized. Well, soon to be ex-employees.

“He has? I thought he had given up his inheritance or something.” Nell had finally calmed down, but there was still a strain in her voice. She was still in disbelief.

“Well, his father is probably set to retire, and my guess is that he’s trying to get his son to take over. I don’t know, Nell, and I frankly don’t care.” I was irritable again, and I jerked the towel off my body and it fell on the floor in a heap at my ankles. “All I know is, Nash is the big boss over there now, and he wants to acquire my company. My baby!” I was pouting as I said the last two words. For the past six days, since I received the email from Nash Preston’s assistant, I had begun focusing all my negative energy on him.

“You sound mad. You are mad. But be honest, would you be this mad if anyone else was buying the company? Are you just mad at Nash? Does this have to do with what happened in college?” Nell asked.

I gritted my teeth. I didn’t want to hear it, and didn’t want to be reminded of that night.

“No. This has nothing to do with that!” I was pleading now, hoping she wouldn’t continue this train of thought.

“Are you sure? This has nothing to do with how hot you were for him? You should have just gone for it, Bonnie.” Nell sounded motherly, but that was the least motherly advice she could give me. Gone for it? Nash Preston? Hot, smart, sexy, popular, rich Nash Preston? I wasn’t a cheerleader, and I wasn’t a sorority girl for starters. And secondly, I wasn’t a trust fund baby and my family didn’t frequent country clubs.

“I can’t believe that is what you’re thinking about right now, Nell!” I was angrier with myself than her. She’d hit a nerve. I hadn’t been able to hide my feelings for Nash in college from her.

“Okay, Bonnie, just calm down. I know it’s hard, but someone was going to acquire it anyway. Isn’t it better that he’s actually an acquaintance?” Nell tried to be reasonable, but I wasn’t having any of it.

“I would hardly call Nash Preston an acquaintance, Nell,” I snapped, pacing around on the carpet, completely naked. “They’re just up there, in their ivory towers, bulldozing small companies like mine to the ground. This is not a friendly deal. It’s a business deal.”

“Exactly. So, treat it like one, instead of losing your mind over who is paying for it.” Nell was trying different angles to calm me down. I rolled my eyes, quickening the pace of my footsteps like I was actually going somewhere.

“I can’t. I’m just ashamed, Nell. I’m so ashamed that I have to sell to him. We were competitors in college. But I always won. I always got the better grade. And now he’s winning; he’s buying my company. The one I thought would be a huge success. He’s probably in his private jet laughing his ass off,” I said, running my fingers through my hair. It was still quite damp, and I wondered if I would have the time to blow-dry it before I left. Not if I continued talking to Nell, I wouldn’t. But, on the other hand, I really wanted to vent.

“All right. So, he’s the enemy,” she said.

“Yes. We hate him,” I offered.

“We hate him,” Nell repeated after me. She was willing to say anything to just calm me down, my ever-faithful best friend.

“So… when is it all happening?” she asked, after a second or two of silence. I wondered if she was afraid that I had hung up on her, or collapsed to a heap on the floor.

“Tomorrow. Well, we’re meeting tomorrow to discuss the terms. And, I suppose if my business partner agrees, and everything goes according to plan, it’s a done deal…” I said, my voice drowning in a sudden gush of tears that I tried to force back down my throat.

“Tomorrow,” Nell finished the sentence for me.

I didn’t have to respond to that for her to get the gravity of the situation. We had fallen into silence again. She was taking a minute or two to recuperate and figure out what choice words of encouragement she was going to offer to me while my life as I knew it seemed to be crashing down around me.

My hair was air drying itself, but I really wasn’t concerned anymore. What I looked like for the office party that evening was the least of my concerns.

“Why didn’t you call me, Bon?” Nell asked. I knew she felt sorry for me, because she always reserved that nickname in times when she had no other means of consoling me. Her voice had dropped considerably, and she seemed like she was going to break into tears. I could feel my own lips quivering. When was the last time I’d cried? I hadn’t gotten to this place by crying or being weak.

Suddenly the doorbell rang. Saved by the bell! Neither of us would have to cry now.

“Someone’s at the door, Nell. I think it’s the courier,” I said, pulling a silk robe off the back of the bedroom door.

“All right. Yeah, maybe we can meet up tomorrow? I’ll call you after my shift,” she said, as I tied the robe’s cord around my waist. I was rushing to get the door. Anything to get away from this conversation. I would throw a fit, get red in the face any day… rather than cry!

“Yes, call me. Bye,” I said, hanging up on Nell before she could say another word.

I yanked the front door of my apartment open, expecting to find the courier guy on the other side.

I wasn’t expecting the enemy, Nash Preston.