Page 18 of Mutual Obsession (Rivals of Blackthorn #2)

S ince watching Jake and Indie drive off together on their date, my day has gone from bad to worse. They hadn’t even left the car park when Marcus went into full boss-mode and demanded to see me in his office. I dragged my feet, my tail hanging between my legs as I walked behind him.

I didn’t need him to bollock me to know I was in the wrong, but that will not stop Marcus. I walk so slowly, by the time I get in, Marcus is already seated behind his desk, with an unreadable expression on his face. I close the door and take a seat opposite him.

His expression quickly turns to disappointment, and my heart sinks. I feel like a child whose parents say they’re disappointed in them rather than telling them off—it’s so much worse than facing his wrath.

The silence between us is deafening, but I keep quiet as I don’t have anything to say that will help the situation. After a couple of really long minutes, Marcus lets out a sigh and gives in first.

“What the hell were you thinking?” he growls, shaking his head disapprovingly.

“I don’t—” Before I can even finish, Marcus cuts me off.

“I’ll tell you… You weren’t thinking. Do I need to remind you of who Jacob Santoro is? Or what the consequences of hitting a rival leader could be?”

“He’s—” His fierce glare silences me, making it clear he doesn’t really want me to answer him.

“If Jake decides to pull rank on this, we could be in some real shit. You work for me, and your actions reflect on the Morellis as a whole. You hitting the leader of our rival family could be seen as a breach of the treaty. It could start a fucking war. Did you even think about that?” he seethes, dragging his hands through his hair and down his face.

His words sit heavily on my chest, because in reality, I didn’t think about any of that. What happened between me and Jacob was entirely personal, and I didn’t stop to think of the professional ramifications.

Unfortunately, although my head acknowledges that I was perhaps a little in the wrong, the anger and pent up frustration that’s sizzling through my body is preventing my brain from communicating with the rest of me. So instead of responding rationally, I snap at my best friend.

“Jacob has no fucking right to make something that was clearly personal into a fucking professional thing. Pulling rank was a dick move on his behalf,” I shout, my knee jiggling up and down as I struggle to stay still.

Marcus’ eyes widen almost comically as he shakes his head in disbelief.

“You need to take the rest of the day off. Spend the time surgically removing your head from up your arse, and try to locate your personality while you’re at it.

Come back to work tomorrow as your usual self, or we’ll have a fucking problem,” he growls.

I try to respond, but he holds his hand up to silence me, and because I don’t have a death wish, I do as I’m told. He pulls his phone from his pocket and begins sending a message. After a few seconds, it beeps, and he turns his attention back to me.

“Leo will be here in a few minutes to take over. Get the hell out of here and sort yourself out.”

I can tell by the tone he uses, and the way he gestures to the door, that there’s no point arguing. Besides, he’s not in the wrong here. I crossed a line. I haven’t been behaving like my usual, rational self, and as a result, I’m not focusing on my job the way I should be.

If one of my men was acting the way I am, I’d tear him a new arsehole. I’d also kick him to the bottom of the hierarchy, to teach him about respect, and he’d have to work his way back up again.

Despite knowing all this, the anger boiling in my blood has become all-consuming, and now I have the addition of jealousy too, which is an emotion I’m not very familiar with.

In all honesty, I’ve got so much going through my head, it’s messing with me, and I need to sort it out before I do something even worse than today that I can’t come back from.

I leave Marcus’ office without a word, walking into the bar aimlessly, as I contemplate what I’m going to do for the day. Although Marcus gave me rather graphic instructions that I won’t be following, I need to do something that will help me clear my head.

Despite it being morning, I make my way behind the bar and grab myself a Whiskey and Coke. I’m not usually one to day drink, but I’m hoping it will help. As I slide onto one of the bar stools, nursing the drink I’ve yet to take a sip of, I contemplate all the places I can go to clear my head.

My first thought is the gym, but I know I won’t be welcome there, as Marcus will definitely see it as work. I should feel a bit embarrassed that I can’t think of any other place where I want to go on my day off.

I pull out my phone, hoping it will give me some divine inspiration. As soon as I see my lock-screen picture, I smile, knowing exactly what I’m going to do. I scroll through my contacts until I get to Courtney’s name, and send her a text.

MILES

Are you free to meet for lunch? I have an unexpected day off.

COURTNEY

Are you buying?

MILES

Of course.

COURTNEY

Then I’m in. Where?

MILES

Nachos? In about an hour?

COURTNEY

Sounds good. See you then.

With a plan for the day taking shape, I swallow a large gulp of my drink, savouring the burn as it travels down my throat. I barely let the alcohol settle before I take another, letting the warmth flood my system.

The restaurant where I’m meeting Courtney is only about half an hour away, so I have some time to kill before I leave. As I plan to drive, I decide not to have another drink, scrolling through social media on my phone instead. That numbs my brain more than any alcohol can.

Before I know it, I’m sliding into a booth in our favourite Mexican restaurant, waiting for my sister to join me. I order another Whiskey and Coke for myself while I wait.

My drink arrives just as Courtney slides into the booth opposite me, a smile on her face as she greets the server who just brought my drink. She orders a Diet Coke, and takes the menu she’s given, even though we always order the same thing every time we’re here.

As soon as the server has left, Courtney turns her piercing blue eyes on me, and I hate the way her smile quickly turns into a frown. “You look like shit. Are you okay?”

I roll my eyes at her eloquent assessment, and before I can think of the best way to respond, the server returns with Court’s drink, and we both place our order. As soon as the server’s gone, a heavy silence fills the air around us as Courtney waits for my response.

When I say nothing, she shakes her head and tuts at me. “What is going on, Miles? Why aren’t you at work?”

Her intense glare, and the way she’s not backing down, lets me know she won’t drop this.

She will keep chipping away until I speak to her.

Despite looking sweet and innocent, my little sister can be incredibly feisty, and has a take no shit attitude that, as her brother, I’m very proud of—unless she uses it on me.

I let out a sigh as I admit, “Dee’s back.”

Court’s eyes widen, and I can tell she wasn’t expecting me to say that. “After all these years? Why?”

I shrug my shoulders. “I don’t know.”

“I was only a kid when you got with her, but I saw how much her leaving hurt you. You tried to hide it, with everything else that was going on, but I saw. I imagine her coming back has dragged all those feelings back up,” she admits, and I can’t help but smile.

My little sister may be nine years younger than me, but she’s more mature than her age.

Part of me is a little sad about that, as she had to grow up much quicker than she should have, just to survive.

I wish she could have had more time to be a kid, but it’s made her into an incredibly smart, strong, young woman.

“Honestly, I’m struggling to know how to feel about it all.”

Court gives me a sad smile, like she understands, but still wants to know more. “When did she come back?”

“A few weeks ago. She got a job at Caged. We were on a night out for Chloe’s birthday, and I looked up to order a drink, only to see the face that’s haunted me for years,” I admit.

“Must be hard,” Court adds.

That’s a fucking understatement.

“She’s different, and not just because she’s older. Her hair is blonde, where she was brunette before, and she goes by Indie now. She’s obviously lying, and it’s driving me crazy trying to think why,” I tell her, trying not to think about the girl as I talk about her.

“Lots of people change their hair, but the name thing is odd. Did you ask her about it?”

I wince, not really sure how to answer that without looking like a complete knob.

“Not really. To say I took her reappearance badly would be an understatement.”

She then points to my face. “I’m assuming the cut on your lip and swollen nose fits in with that statement somehow?”

At the mention of the cut, I reach up with my thumb and press against it, hissing when it stings. I don’t even remember cleaning the blood off my face, but I must have done it before leaving the club.

I’m lucky he caught more of my lip when he went for my nose, as any closer may have broken my nose, or given me black eyes. A cut lip is much easier to deal with and explain away, though I’m sure I’ll have more bruises by tomorrow.

I let out a huff that makes Court smile. “I caught Jacob and Indie meeting up to go on a date, and I saw red. I said some things that I probably shouldn’t have, and Jacob punched me.”

Courtney throws her head back and laughs, and I glower at her, clenching my hands into fists, to try and control my fraying nerves. She catches sight of my movement and places her hand over her mouth, trying to stifle her laughter.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh.”

“Yeah, it really looks that way,” I grumble, my lip pushed out into a pout that I’m very much not proud of.