Only One Touch (Only One 4)

“I’m not going anywhere.” I stand my ground. “Not now, not tomorrow, not next week. Fuck, not even next month. So when you talk to your sister, you give her that message.” I turn to walk out.

“I knew you would come looking for her,” Francis says. “I even told her you would.” My hand is on the door handle, and I look back, my hand slipping as I turn back and look at him. “She gave me a message for you.” I wait, holding my breath. “She said the contract is cancelled.”

I glare at him. “Give her a message then. Terms have changed, but the contract is still the same.” I turn and walk out of his office, taking out my phone.

Me: Get me my lawyer on the phone now.

Chapter 29

Becca

“I’m not saying this out loud,” Erika says from beside me. “But I’m fucking happy to go back to wearing shoes and regular jackets.”

I laugh. “It has been freakishly cold, hasn’t it?” We’ve been in Chicago for two days and are finally headed to the airport. It’s been a rough couple of days and nights. The days pass by slowly, but the nights are the worst. Playing it over and over in my head is what gets me every single time.

The car pulls up to the private plane, and I step out and walk up the four steps as my phone rings in my pocket. I don’t rush to it like I used to, but taking the phone out, I see it’s Francis.

“Hello.” I shrug off my jacket and hand it to the attendant with a smile. “Can I have a water please?” I ask, blocking the phone.

“So he showed up here,” he says to me, and my feet lock in place. “I told you he would, and he did.”

“I don’t know why,” I say in almost a whisper and sit down. I jump when the door slams shut.

“He has a message for you,” he says, but I don’t want to hear it. I want to tell him I don’t want to hear it. My head is screaming at him not to tell me, but my mouth stays shut. “Terms have changed, but the contract is still the same.”

“What the fuck?” I whisper out.

“Are you still going to come back?” he asks.

“I’m on the plane, and I’m on my way home. I have nothing to say to him. But I’m done hiding,” I say more courageous than I feel. “I’ll text you when I land.”

I turn off the phone and look out the window. My head is swimming. Why he would show up? What more does he want from me? I grab my phone and type out his name, and I see all the messages he’s sent. Every single one is delivered and I want to say unread, but I read them all.

While I lay in bed at night and the memories were too much to bear, I would open the phone and read them. The last one he sent me was this morning.

Nico: I need to see you.

My finger rubs over the blue bubble. My head is so lost in thought that I don’t even notice when we land. I get up and when I walk out of the plane, the phone beeps again in my hand.

Manning: Call me please.

I walk down the steps and dial Manning, who answers right away, his voice going low. “Hey.”

“Hey, yourself,” I say, walking to the waiting car with the sun hitting me right away. I have to take off the puffy jacket when I get into the car.

“Where are you?” he asks, and I can hear that he’s walking.

“Just landed in Dallas,” I say. “Is everything okay?”

“Where are you going?” he asks, and I have to wonder if something is wrong.

“I’m on my way home.”

“Good. I’ll be there in an hour,” he says and disconnects. I look back at Erika, who smiles.

“It’s good to be home,” she says, and I nod, looking out the window.

The doorman opens my door, and I look back over at Erika. “Take the rest of the week off,” I say, and she just gasps.

“It’s Wednesday,” she says, and I laugh.

“I know what day it is.” Her face goes into a yeah right look. “Okay, fine, I sort of know what day it is.”

She laughs. “But we’ve been going nuts for the last three days. So go to a spa on me and rest up. Monday, we start the search of replacing you as my assistant.”

She just smiles so big, and I’m so happy for her. I walk into the building and smile at the security man. “Oh, Ms. Becca, someone was here for you last night,” he says, and I stop to look at him. “But his name wasn’t on the list.”

“Did he say who he was?” I ask, knowing that it was Nico. Who else could it have been?