Page 66 of Toxic Kiss

“There is no need to get pissy with me. It’s not like I follow everything the band is doing. I had no idea,” he says, and I can hear the annoyance in his voice.

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I walk over to the large window that overlooks the parking lot and try for a reasonable and calm tone. I’m not sure I’m going to be able to pull off either.

“I sent you a text.”

“You did?” There’s a long pause. “Oh, so you did. But still, is that any reason to be such a bitch? I finally have a day off work and want to talk to my fiancée, and you act like this?”

“I’m very tired and not in a great mood. Can we talk later?”

“Forget it, I’ve got things to do.”

“But you just said you have the day off,” I say, and feel like I’m suddenly being gaslit and emotionally manipulated. I’ve had my fair share of both for years and don’t appreciate it.

“Yeah, well, now I’m busy. Talk to you later.”

Click.

Oh no, he didn’t just hang up on me like a child throwing a tantrum.

I call back, but it just rings.

“Son of a bitch,” I grumble and put the phone away.

I can only deal with one of the men in my life at a time, and right now it’s my father’s turn. My head is aching, and my skin feels like it has hornets buzzing under it as I march for the cafeteria.

My father is off in a corner with Declan, sipping coffee, smiling, and eating. I may kill him just for looking happy. That is the kind of mood I’m in. But as soon as my dad spots me coming, his face lights up, and the anger begins to fade.

He jumps and takes two strides to meet me, drawing me into a bone-crushing hug. That’s it, the last of my fear, anger, and everything else evaporates. He is warm and wearing the same cologne that he has since I was a little girl. My dad is home in a hug.

“There’s my Rock Star. You look incredible. I’ve missed you so much,” he says, pulling back and beaming at me.

“Hey, Dad.”

Despite being in my twenties, I feel like that little girl who sat on her father’s knee, in his massive office, pretending to sign rock stars and win awards all over again.

“Sit with us. Declan was just telling me what an incredible job you’ve been doing.”

My eyes flick to Declan.

Really?

“I’m trying, but I haven’t had much time to come up with more strategies to promote them yet.”

“Nonsense. Since you took over all the accounts, the pages have grown, and downloads are up. Die For Me, is trending for the top five right now.”

My gaze flicks between Declan and my father.

“Like overnight?”

“Well, not overnight, but what happened at the concert has certainly helped,” he says, taking a sip of his coffee.

“Wait…are the two of you happy that Cy collapsed on stage?”

They share a look that I don’t like.

“Tell me.”

“No, of course not. Cyrus’s health is the most important thing, but he really couldn’t have planned that any better. The concert was over. We can easily claim exhaustion even if he has relapsed. Cyrus reaching for you as you ran onto the stage…genius. Those videos are trending so fast we can’t even keep up with how quickly they are hitting multi-million views.”