Turning my face away and closing my eyes to shut out Ethan’s words, I held my breath, trying to keep the tears at bay. I’d spent the last two years trying to change. Trying to be better, different, while hiding the hurt from those who loved me most. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d surfed. The thought made me pull my pendant from under my white button-down shirt, my thumb instinctively rubbing it.
“You’re going to rub the gold off that thing,” Luke said with a smile, dipping his head down to look into my eyes when I turned to look back at him.
I rolled my eyes at his words. He’d been saying that since Dad gave me the simple gold necklace with a pendant of an ocean wave back in high school. The wave was raised, and Luke made fun of me for years when he saw me rubbing it, saying I’d smooth it out one day. Or invoke a genie, an idea I certainly enjoyed thinking about all through high school. Neither of us would ever admit how many times we’d seen Will Smith’s version ofAladdin.
I inhaled loudly and shook my head. “I’ll find someone else. I can’t work with that man. You know what he did to me.”
Nodding solemnly, he said, “Yeah, I do. Although you never really gave the guy a chance to explain, if I remember right. And I’m really sorry, Leyla. He signed the contract last night. HR hasall his paperwork. It’s done.” I felt as if a judge had slammed the gavel down hard, sentencing me to life in prison.
Dramatic, I know, but I couldn’t help it.
Leaning back in my chair, I grumbled, “I can’t believe this is happening to me. Andnow,of all times. Yeah, I’m busy and working through stuff. There’s always something pressing down on me here, but it’s not just the position. It’s the other things.”
My best friend knew I meant the ugly breakup with Ethan that had left me brokenhearted, or maybe just broken.
“And yes, youdoknow what Nick did to me in school. I honestly thought I was going to fail after all my hard work, not to mention being humiliated at a plagiarism accusation.”
“I can’t say it any other way. I’m so sorry. Knowing this will cause you even more stress has my stomach in knots. I really thought I was helping when I stepped in. With his credentials and experience at Solara Labs, you won’t have to babysit him. And Kimberly will be directly over him, so you probably won’t have to see him much at all. He’s on a three-month probation, like every other hire. If, at that time, you feel it’s an impossible situation, or if he pulls any of that stuff like back in college, I’ll terminate him myself.”
“Kimberly has a lot on her plate right now. I’m not sure she can juggle all her COO duties and this, to be honest. We’re growing so rapidly that we can’t get enough people in place to keep up. I mean, it’s a good problem to have, but…”
Just then, Jaz, my assistant and friend, knocked on the glass door, and I waved her in, ready for this conversation to be over. She had a huge cup of her famous thick, black coffee in her hand, and I knew what was about to happen when Luke smiled like a Cheshire cat.
“I keep telling you to calm down with the coffee, Jaz. You know the way you drink it is going to age you quickly,” he said to his former assistant.
His mouth twitched as he tried to hold back a laugh, and her dark eyes widened. She had turned forty on her last birthday and was a tiny bit touchy about it for some reason.
Why this man kept poking the bear, I didn’t know. He teased her about her caffeine addiction and made age jokes just to see her explode. She was from Belize and as fiery as they came.
The barrage of insults in Spanish spewed out like a fountain. My high school Spanish kicked in, but I only caught a few things. Something about shaving his eyebrows while he slept. I could get behind that after what he’d done. I chuckled and welcomed the momentary reprieve from my darkened mood.
Jaz’s scolding ended as quickly as it started and she took a deep breath, smoothing down her skirt. Ignoring her tormentor, she asked me, “What did he do? You looked upset when I came in.”
“He hired my college rival,” I mumbled, rubbing my temple as the words felt like ash in my mouth.
“The guy that almost got you kicked out?” she asked, her mouth gaping open, hands on her hips.
I pointed wildly at her. “See. EvenJazknows about Nick.”
Luke rolled his eyes and stood to leave. “Leyla, I’ll handle this. Three months. That’s it. If you want him gone after that, I’ll find a reason to let him go, and he’ll be history. I’ve got a meeting now, but we can talk again later.”
I waved my hand like I was shooing away a fly as Jaz looked him up and down with disgust. “I’m here if you need to talk,” she said as she followed Luke out the door, closing it with a soft click.
I couldn’t believe this was happening.
Nikolas Demir was back in my life.
CHAPTER THREE
Nikolas
Nine years earlier UC San Diego
I shookmy head and scowled at my dorm mate, Marvin. He had enough empty junk food wrappers on his side of our shared room to start a vending machine. The man ran on Snickers and Doritos. Not to mention his feet stunk. Or at least I thought that’s what the constant smell was.
“Dude, Nick, myman, why do you look like you’re going to a wedding?” he said through a haze of Cheetos dust. I scowled at the radioactive orange that colored his fingers.
“This is SoCal, not Milan.” He laughed at his own joke, but it didn’t land like he wanted if he’d meant to insult me. I’d heard so much worse over the years. He heard my slight Turkish accent and assumed I was from Italy, even though I corrected him often.
