The Rule Book (Rule Breakers #1) Page 24

  Was he apologizing to me? To my knowledge, no one else had been let go. And I was the only one who’d been personally screwed over.

  I stared raptly at the TV as he continued. “If it weren’t for those employees, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I’ve hurt someone I deeply care about and I can’t even begin to ask for forgiveness. I don’t think I can even forgive myself for my hasty actions.”

  He paused and looked down thoughtfully at his hands clasped atop the podium. “As the wise Abraham Lincoln once said, ‘The people when rightly and fully trusted will return the trust.’ This person gave me their trust to be a leader…and more, and I was not there in the moment of need. And because of that, I lost a truly valuable asset. A person who taught me trust is a strength, not a weakness. I should have been more vigilant before jumping to conclusions, and I assure you, that this will never happen again.” He looked directly into the camera, and his eyes held more sadness than I ever thought possible. “Thank you,” he said, more emotions running through those two words than I could name. He collected his notecards and turned to exit the stage.

  All I could do was stare as camera lights flashed on his retreating figure. He’d just apologized to me on national television. Not naming me personally, but I knew it was for me. I pressed my lips together to keep them from quivering. That was one of the nicest things he could have done. He could have easily left that out of his speech, but he didn’t.

  “Wasn’t that your dickhole boss?” my mom cut in.

  “Mom!” I put my hands on my hips. That was the last word that would have come to mind if I’d been asked to describe him right now. I didn’t know if I’d ever get a chance to talk to him again, but at least I had closure in the fact that he knew it wasn’t me, and he felt bad enough about it to publicly announce it.

  “Isn’t he one, though? He fired you without even blinking an eye.”

  “It isn’t like that. He has a company to run. He had to save his life’s dream,” I argued.

  “He should have had all his facts straight before acting so rashly.” She frowned, shutting off the TV. “That’s what a real leader does.”

  “She’s right, you know.” A familiar voice came from the doorway.

  I turned and spotted Brogan leaning against the doorframe in a pair of jeans and a fleece zip-up. My whole body froze. What was he doing here, in a hospital hundreds of miles away from his home? I had to blink a few times just to make sure I wasn’t imagining the whole thing. By the third blink, I was sure that yes, he was in fact here, and that he probably thought I had an eye twitch problem.

  “Dickhole is a great word to describe my actions.” He strode over to my mom and extended a hand. “Hi, Mrs. Taylor. I’m Brogan Dickhole Starr.”

  She shifted her gaze from me to Brogan, skepticism in her eyes. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

  “I wanted to personally apologize for my dickholery, and to meet the person who raised such a smart, business-savvy woman.”

  She turned to me and murmured, “This one’ll charm the pants right off of you.” Then she shifted her attention back to him. “I assume you also came to compensate Lainey for time lost being out of work the past couple days, and to assure her she’ll have a position ready for her return on Monday?”

  “Mom!” Who said I wanted to go back to Starr Media? Even if I really did, it wouldn’t be the same. People would look at me differently, and even if my name had been cleared, the damage to my reputation had been done. There was no coming back from that.

  A bemused expression flitted across his lips. “Are you bartering for a job on behalf of your daughter?”

  Even with IVs in her arm, Mom was still able to pull off a boy, you’re messing with the wrong woman look, complete with silent finger snaps. God, I loved this woman. “Where do you think she got her business sense from?”

  “Undoubtedly from you.” He smiled. “I’d also like to congratulate you on your final chemo treatment. Lainey’s kept me posted on your progress throughout, and I’m so glad the treatment was effective.”

  “She’s a sweetheart.” She patted my hand and gave a soft smile.

  “Yes. She is.” The heat in his expression sent a shiver through me.

  Mom cleared her throat and produced a very artificial yawn. “I’m very tired. If you guys don’t mind, I’d like to be alone for a little bit.” She gave a quick wink in my direction and then closed her eyes.

  I looked to Brogan. Did I want to talk to him alone after what had happened the other day? I did deserve an in-person apology. We walked into the hallway in silence.

  “Lainey.” The whisper in his familiar voice caressed my ear, and if I hadn’t been paying attention, I’d have passed it off as my imagination.

  Slowly, I turned to face Brogan. His hands were shoved in the pockets of his jeans, a sheepish expression set across the lips that played front and center in my dreams the last two nights.

  “What are you really doing here?”

  “I made a mistake.”

  I pursed my lips and leveled a glare at him. I may have forgiven him once, but the second time wasn’t going to be as easy. He deserved to squirm. “Just one? I’m pretty sure there were several. Which one are you referring to?”

  His frown deepened. “Yes. I screwed up a lot. I should have believed you when you said it wasn’t you.” He paused and added, “I really didn’t think it was, but I couldn’t get over the fact that I needed to abide by my own rules. And it hurt you.” He looked away, ashamed.

  “Trust isn’t exactly your strong suit.” And because of what he’d done, I wasn’t doing so great with it myself.

  “I’m working on that. I was wrong to jump to conclusions. It was a dick move, and you deserve better.” He looked around the hallway and then back at me. “I did some investigating, and you were right, it was Zelda.”

  I tilted my head at him. “Glad to hear that MIT education did you some good.”

  His tongue ran nervously over his top lip, and he shifted his weight side to side as he looked at me. “I talked to my dad and realized what he had offered you. I can’t believe you turned him down.”

  “Really? Then you don’t know me at all,” I spat. “How could I hurt you?”

  “You mean the way I hurt you?”

  “Yeah.” Exactly. Because just when I’d thought we took the next step in our relationship, we took five hundred steps back.

  “It was a mistake that we worked together. I should have fired you from the start.”

  I gaped at him, words momentarily escaping the confines of my brain. What? “That…is not what I was expecting to hear. Did you really just come all the way down to Portland just to tell me this? If so, you can go now.” I turned away. What a jerk.

  “Just hear me out,” he said.

  I faced him reluctantly, but didn’t say anything.

  “I’m glad I didn’t, because you have taught me so much, but it’s too distracting. I missed the compromising position Zelda put us in, where I would have caught it otherwise. I’m usually on top of the security. The first time there was a glitch with one of your accounts, I should have been more vigilant. But I wasn’t, and I don’t mean this is your fault in any way, but I was distracted by you.”

  I shook my head, not understanding what he was getting at. Was he still blaming me but in a different way? “Are you expecting an apology? Because it’s not happening.”

  “Absolutely not. You’ve made me feel things I never have before.” He grabbed my hand and ran his thumb over my knuckles. I’d give anything to melt into his touch, but I pulled my hand away. He’d hurt me. And I would not be a doormat he could step on whenever it suited him.

  “Everything about you is good for me. You make me a better man. I miss you hogging the couch. And stealing the covers at night. And the way you pretend to be annoyed by Bruce but actually love him. I love everything about you, Lainey, and can’t imagine spending another moment without you.”

  These words were too little too
late.

  “That’s a sweet sentiment, Brogan, but actions speak louder than words. You don’t trust me. This is what broke up my parents and broke up yours. How can we build a relationship on something so broken? You’d rather stick to a set of rules than follow your heart. Every time something goes wrong you bail. It isn’t right. You’ve done it to me twice, now. I refuse to live that way, always worried that if I make the wrong move, you’re out.”

  “No more bailing, I promise you. Screw the rules,” his shout echoed through the hallway and the intensity in his gaze was startling. “The difference between me and you versus our parents is that I want to work on us. I want to try to be better. And that was the worst mistake of my life. Letting you go. Please, trust me. Give me a chance.”

  I shook my head. My heart tugged in my chest, but he’d been this earnest before, and the same thing had happened again. I wanted to believe him, so badly. And after meeting his father, hell, no wonder he was so screwed up. I could forgive him. With what my mom put up with, she was living proof that people can forgive. But I wasn’t sure I could trust him again.

  “So what is it you want exactly?”

  “You,” he said. “With me.”

  “What do you mean? I can’t just move back up to Seattle without any job prospects. Obviously I’m not going back to work with you.”

  “No. You’re not,” he agreed.

  Okay, I wasn’t quite expecting that. A little voice in the back of my mind hoped that he would ask me back, just so I could have the chance to say no. “Right. Well, I’m going to go back and spend time with my mom.” I hitched my finger toward her room down the hall.

  He touched my arm before I could walk away. “Lainey, I’m just so sorry.”

  “I forgive you, Brogan, but I don’t know if we can come back from this. Not after what happened.” At least Brogan’s dad would be prosecuted for his actions, along with Zelda. Maybe he was the one that had paid the medical bills. It made sense. He’d screwed me over and wanted to make things right. “Although you can tell your dad that it was nice he finally grew a conscience.”

  Brogan shook his head, his brows pinched together. “What are you talking about?”

  “Paying my mom’s medical bills.” Who knew someone so corrupt could actually grow a pair?

  He cleared his throat and scuffed his foot along the linoleum floor. “He didn’t pay your bills.”

  “But…” How could I not see it before? Of course. It all made sense now. The reason he showed up to the hospital, the apology. It was Brogan.

  He nodded. “Yeah.”

  “Why?”

  “I love you, Lainey. I saw what you gave up. You did that for me, and I will be forever grateful. I don’t want to live my life by a damn rule book anymore. I want you and only you.”

  I didn’t know how to respond to his words. They filled my heart and tore it to shreds at the same time. “I can’t let you pay for that. It’s too much. Once I get the money, I will pay you back.”

  “Not happening,” he said.

  Hot tears burned at the back of my throat. He’d just given me the biggest gift I could never accept. Financial freedom meant everything, but I couldn’t let him take the burden. “It might take a while, but I promise to return every penny.”

  “Consider it a bonus for helping find a corporate spy. Who knows how much worse it would have gotten if you hadn’t told me.”

  “I can’t. It feels weird. Like you gave me money for hurting me.” I looked him in the eye. I wanted him to see what he’d done.

  “No. That isn’t it at all, Lainey. Really. I mean, I do feel guilty for what I did. But I paid your mom’s hospital bills because my family wronged you. What my dad did—there aren’t words.” He shoved a hand through his hair. “You and your mom are good people. You’re what’s right with the world. Me paying the bill was saying thank-you for showing me that. If you pay me back—I don’t want your money.”

  “I don’t know,” I said. This was all too much to process.

  He huffed out a sigh, and I could tell he was starting to lose his patience. “How about this. I have another proposition.” His eyes searched mine. “I’m taking over a new social media company in Seattle, helping them rebuild their infrastructure. I can’t oversee them all the time, since I will still be dealing with the mess at Starr Media. I need someone I can trust. I’d like to extend the invitation of employment. We could say that the medical bills were an early signing bonus.”

  A job. Where I wouldn’t have to walk dogs or fetch coffee. One without grinchy Jackson and a carnivorous elevator. A real marketing job. I looked at him, still skeptical. “Why not put Jackson on the job?”

  “He’s going to stay with me at Starr.”

  I nodded. This would be huge. I wouldn’t get an opportunity like this for years to come with other companies, not with the current state of the market. “What would the position be?”

  “Marketing manager. You could put those MBA skills to good use at the company.”

  Inner Lainey was dropping it like it was hot. Lainey that Brogan could see remained cold and aloof. “I’d need some time to think about it.”

  His frown told me he’d expected a different answer.

  He put his hands on my shoulders, and those chocolate brown eyes pierced straight through my soul. “Please, Lainey,” he pleaded. “I miss you so much. I made a mistake, but hell, I’m human. Is there any way you’ll forgive me? Please just consider taking the job.”

  I frowned. “I’ll think about it,” I said again. As I turned to walk away, my chest ached. It hurt to breathe.

  “Your mom is right, you know.” His voice was quiet, but it carried in the empty hallway.

  I swallowed past the lump in my throat and turned to face him. “How so?”

  “I couldn’t even dream of finding someone like you in this lifetime or the next. You’re smart, and kind, and everything I could ever ask for in a partner—both in and out of the boardroom. You showed me what love is, and no matter what you decide, I will be forever grateful for that Lainey. It hurts like hell that I broke your trust, because you are my heart. I can’t live without you.”

  My wall crumbled into dust. He was everything I could ever want in a man. He didn’t complete me, because hell, I was complete to begin with, but he was the perfect complement, one that I’d be hard pressed to find in someone else.

  I let out an exaggerated sigh and put my hands on my hips. “What are the starting wages?”

  His expression turned hopeful. “What?”

  “For the marketing position.” I tried to act bored, like I’d seen on the law shows when people bargained for more money, even if a grin twitched at my lips.

  His dimples made an appearance. “I’m sure it can be negotiated.”

  “I want at least ten thousand higher,” I said, completely serious. “Make it twenty.”

  “But you don’t even know the wage yet.”

  “I know. But I’ve been on a shoe-buying hiatus for six months and plan to make up for lost time. Plus, there’s the issue of the clothes ruined by Bruce.”

  “You drive a hard bargain, Taylor, but I think I can manage that.”

  I smiled. “I’ll have my people call your people.”

  He crossed his arms over his chest and rocked back on his heels. “Does this mean it’s a yes?”

  “Under one condition.” I held up a finger. “As long as I get to abolish the garlic rule at the company.” I smirked.

  “That can be negotiated.” He swooped me into his arms and pulled me close. His brown eyes melted the rest of my resolve, and when he leaned down to kiss me, I met his lips with hope for the future, hope for us, swelling in my chest.

  “I love you, Lainey.”

  “I love you, too, Brogan.”

  Epilogue

  Lainey Taylor Rule of Life #467

  An office with a view trumps a cubicle any day of the week.

  Six months later…

  “Power looks good
on you, Taylor.”

  I smiled and stared out at the panoramic view of the Seattle skyline. As marketing manager, I had my very own office, and my very own assistant. Sure, the office wasn’t a corner one, but my eight by ten window wasn’t too shabby. It even came with remote control blinds, which I may have been playing with all morning. Mom was coming to visit next week. She’d finished her radiation and was in complete remission.

  Brogan walked up to my desk and smiled. “I designed a new employee manual, and I’m going to implement it this week. Would you mind skimming over it and seeing what you think?” He clutched the leather-bound book in his hand.

  “Sure. Does this mean I have the power to delete any of the rules I deem arbitrary?”

  His lips tipped up in the corner, and he slid the manual across my desk. “Don’t let it go to your head. Wouldn’t want to have to report you to the CEO.”

  “What is he going to do about it?” I drummed my fingers along the surface of the table and raised a brow.

  “I say let the punishment fit the crime.” He pointed down to the book. “Will you just read the last page? That’s where I made the most changes.” He tugged at the knot of his tie and swallowed hard, uncharacteristically nervous.

  I shrugged, not understanding why this last page of rules was so important it couldn’t have been emailed to me. “Sure.”

  He looked at me expectantly.

  “Oh. You mean now?”

  He nodded. “Yes.”

  “Okay,” I said slowly, still not understanding why this was so important it couldn’t wait until after our dinner date tonight.

  I flipped open the book to the last page and started to scan down the rules. I could tell a lot had been changed because the book had shrunk by at least an inch.

  My breath caught in my throat when I saw the first one was about me. As I read the second one, my pulse beat rapidly against my temples, and I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face.