Not only is she not replying, the messages don’t even show as delivered. Between that and immediately getting her voicemail, I know she has her phone off.
I stare out the window of the cab, watching the city go by and the hundreds of people wandering down the sidewalks going about their day as usual, while mine has completely imploded.
When I walked out of the hotel this morning, I was on cloud nine with her scent still on me and the taste of her still lingering on my tongue. The night was perfection. Finally being able to have Reagan Preston had me on top of the world. I dared to allow myself to dream about the possibilities, but now everything is ruined.
The cab comes to a stop in front of the garage, and I pull my keys out and push the remote button to open the door for the driver to pull inside.
“That will be $13.25,” he says as he pulls inside and the door closes behind us.
I pull out a twenty and hand it to him when the cab comes to a stop and resist the urge to slam the door after I climb out. I’m so angry I should’ve gone to Carl’s and punched his lights out just to get some of my frustration out.
I’m inside the elevator before the cab clears the garage door, and I slump against the wall when I’m finally alone. “Fuck.” I close my eyes and kick the panel behind me with the back of my heel.
When the doors open and I turn the corner to my unit, Carl is standing outside my door. He’s pacing back and forth, talking on the phone with one arm waving wildly.
“Motherfucker,” I seethe and start to go at him with my fist halfway through the air.
He weaves, dipping down to avoid my fist, and drops his phone. “Wait!”
My hand stops inches from him, and it takes everything in me not to follow through or at least kick him while he’s down.
“We have a major problem,” he says, leaning over to pick up the phone with one hand and protecting his face with the other. “I gotta call you back.” He shoves the phone in his pocket and straightens his suit as he stands.
“I don’t need to hear your bullshit, Carl.” I push him to the side and pull out my key. “You no longer work for me. So I have a problem…you don’t.”
He steps to the side, glaring at me as I unlock the door. “You need me, Jude. The Preston camp is fighting back.”
“Let them,” I tell him, my voice louder than usual.
Carl peers around me and checks the hallway before trying to block the doorway. “You don’t understand.”
“I don’t need to.”
I have one foot inside when he blurts, “Garrett Salizar.”
I freeze at the mention of the asshole’s name. We fought together, we’re brothers in arms, but when I was awarded the medal, he was the only person in my squad to complain. He tried to get the other members who fought at my side that day to speak out against me, but he didn’t have any support. He felt he should’ve received the medal instead of me.
“Fuck him,” I tell Carl while I’m closing the door.
He sticks his foot in the doorway. “His face is on every major news channel, even CNN and Fox News.”
“No one’s going to believe his lies, Carl.”
“Oh, but they are,” he says with a shitty, sly smile. “Your story is bigger than the Preston one now. Stan’s story is not the headliner anymore—you are.”
“Fucking hell,” I groan and drag my hands through my hair. I’m completely torn. Part of me is happy Reagan is no longer the object of public fodder, but the thought that Salizar is getting his fifteen minutes of glory and dragging my name through the mud has my anger level near nuclear.
Carl takes the chance to slip inside my apartment. “You need to schedule a press conference as soon as possible to shut down his lies.” He closes the door and heads straight for my bar. “Want one?” he asks without looking at me.
I walk to the windows that line the wall facing the Chicago skyline and wonder how everything got so fucked up in such a short amount of time. “Not at ten in the morning.”
“Suit yourself.”
I’m so lost in thought I barely hear Carl’s footsteps behind me before the television turns on.
“Mr. Salizar, Amy Crofton from theChicago Star, my question for you is—why did you wait so long to speak out against Mr. Titan?”
I don’t turn around, and I keep my eyes pinned on the buildings in the distance.
