Chapter 22

Billy

Alice had been casually texting him on his burner phone for the past few days, but he hadn’t replied. He knew she was simply looking for a connection, a caring word or two. It had taken everything he had to avoid answering her. Things had gone too far already. Reaching out to her now would just make things more confusing for her when the shit hit the fan, and the truth was, connecting with her would only serve to weaken his own resolve. Walking away from her had proven to be one of the hardest things he had ever done.

He had spent the last two days at the office, sorting through the work that had piled up on his desk. Although he tried to focus and re-assimilate into his old life, he just couldn’t get his bearings. He was choking behind all that metal and glass.

It had been even worse at home. The past two nights were unbearable. No matter how hard he tried he had been unable to relax, pacing around like a prisoner in solitary confinement. Despite his attempt to distract himself with the internet, books, and even television, he couldn’t prevent his mind from drifting back to the ranch. He missed Alice terribly, and little Amy too.

It took everything he had not to hop into that beater of a truck and drive the three and half hours north-west to her ranch, and into her arms. He sure as hell hadn’t trusted himself not to reply to her texts so he crushed that damn cell phone in the blender.

When he woke up Saturday morning he was still anxious. The thought of spending the entire day cooped up in his penthouse held no appeal whatsoever, but he had nowhere to go but to the office. After more than two months away, no one was excited to see him, catch up on old times, or get a drink with him. Not one soul had missed him.

James was in the office when he arrived, which was no surprise to William. The man preferred being at the office to spending time with his family, commonly working every day but Sunday. They hadn’t really talked about Alice or the ranch since his return on Thursday. He wasn’t sure whether he was avoiding James, or if James was trying to give him some space. Either way, they hadn’t addressed the elephant in the room.

He wasn’t in his office more than five minutes when James strolled in as though he hadn’t a care in the world. William gestured for him to sit down.

“How long do you think it will take for her to realize you’re not coming back?” James asked, wasting no time getting to the point.

William sat back in his chair, regarding his partner. He wasn’t surprised that he hadn’t offered any small talk or pleasantries, but it annoyed him nevertheless. James raised his brow and shrugged, his impatience showing.

“I’m not sure. I doubt it will take long. She’s pretty bright. If she doesn’t get a text or a phone call soon, I’m sure she will start putting two and two together,” William offered smugly.

“How bright can she be, really? She allowed a virtual stranger to take her money without doing any research or getting any references. She practically pulled down her panties and asked to be fucked up the ass,” James offered uncouthly, chuckling under his breath.

William felt the anger rising in his chest, but held his temper, clenching his jaw tightly.

“Truthfully, I can’t believe how naive she was. When you first brought the plan to me I thought you were nuts, but you really pulled it off, buddy,” James continued, clueless to William’s irritation.

“Anyway, I think we should give it a week. I’ll make contact next Friday with our offer. By then she should be ready to play ball,” James advised casually. “I know you said you wanted to pad the offer, but I don’t think we need to, William. She’ll probably accept even less than our last offer at this point. I mean honestly, you can probably see things more clearly now that you have put some distance between the two of you, right?” James pressed.

William wanted to punch him in the face, but instead he leaned forward in his chair, looking him straight in the eye.

“No,” William stated firmly. “I haven’t changed my mind. She gets the sixty thousand back plus the money she invested, and you will match our last offer, plus an additional hundred grand.”

He sat back in his chair, refusing to break eye contact. James shifted nervously, an incredulous look on his face. William knew it would piss him off, but he didn’t give a rat’s ass.

“Are you fucking mad?” James blurted, his cheeks turning a lovely shade of crimson. “That makes no fiscal sense whatsoever.”

William sighed deeply. Maybe James was right, but they needed to atone for what they had done to Alice, and this was the only way he could think of to do it. He would never see her again, and would never be able to ask her for forgiveness.

“Do it,” he said with finality. “Or I’m gone.”

James stared him down, but William didn’t budge.

“Yeah, ok,” he finally agreed, “but you need to pull yourself together, William. I don’t know where your head is at, but you need to get it back in the game. We have a business to run. No woman is worth this bullshit.”

William nodded sardonically at his friend. Clearly, he didn’t know Alice.