I make it out safely, holding on just long enough to slip off one soaking-wet pump. Rock pebbles dig into my feet as I walk to the bench where my phone lies.
Seven missed calls and ten texts from Sutton.
An hour has passed at most, but from her most recent text mentioning“the clusterfuck of a showcase that was,”it doesn’t seem the event went as planned. Something about a spark and a CEO who walked off stage in the thick of it all.
“Here you go.”
I look up to find Nate holding out my other shoe, a goose feather stuck to the red velvet.
The action tugs at my heartstrings. He may have very well sabotaged me earlier today, but after everything I put him through, you’d think he’d have that same animosity directed toward me.
Apparently not. He’s still got the decency to watch out for me.
My gaze draws up to his tired green eyes as I retrieve the shoe. Our fingers brush against each other as I do so, a jolt of electricity running up my nerves at the contact.
In the movies, this would be the kind of thing that bonds two people together. And while that’s the last thing I would want, my gut tells me our paths will cross again.
One way or another.
CHAPTER 4
NATE
There’s a doll out there stuffed with my hair and some guy poking at it as though he’s God.
It’s the only plausible explanation for the slew of unfortunate events that have occurred in a matter of hours.
Not days, not months, not weeks.
Just a few horrible, life-changinghours.
Everything going wrong at the event you’ve been planning for months.Check.
Reuniting with the pretty girl who blamed you for ruining her lab notebook and made it clear she wouldn’t forget the incident anytime soon.Check.
Falling into a fountain because said girl decided to provoke some wild goose.Triple check.
And for the heck of it, I’d throw a few cherries on top of that one.
None of the above experiences were on my checklist for the year, but for the sake of my sanity, and my last brain cell trying to wrap my head around it all, I’d like to put yesterday behindme. Preferably, act like it never happened and start fresh. But that isn’t possible when my company’s integrity hangs in the balance.
The plane is back at our manufacturing headquarters in Texas, thanks to a little invention called a ferry. And now all Archer Aviation needs is a sensible and valid explanation for whatever went down as quickly as humanly possible.
The sooner we get to the bottom of this and make that information public, the better off we’ll be.
Well, I hope so, at least.
Nothing is ever guaranteed.
The phone on my desk buzzes to life, and I hit the answer button without a second thought.
I’ve counted, and this is precisely the twenty-second time Melanie has called me this morning. Each regarding a different problem she’s encountered—with the media, the investigation team, and how she wishes I’d gone back on stage. It’s all been shit news so far, but this call will be different.
I can feel it.
“The deal is off.”
I recoil at the masculine voice on the other end of the line, brows furrowing at the Caller ID.
