His Wicked Games: A Billionaire Romance (The Cunningham Family #1) Page 10

The first thing I do when I get back to my room is check my phone.

  There’s a new message.

  I take a deep breath and press the voicemail button before I have the chance to lose my nerve. I know without even looking at my missed calls that the message is from Garrett.

  “Hey, Lils. Got your message. Give me a call back when you can.” His voice is casual, as if my calling him was perfectly ordinary—as if I haven't spent the last several months actively ignoring his attempts to contact me. There’s no anger in his voice, but there’s no pleasure, either. His tone gives no indication of what he thinks of my request. I’m instantly suspicious. For all I know, he wants me to call him so he can laugh in my face.

  But I'm not going to let myself take the coward's way out any longer. This isn't about me or my pride. It's about the Center. Before I can talk myself out of it, I click the button to call Garrett.

  This time he picks up on the first ring.

  “Hey,” he says.

  My stomach twists at the sound of his voice, and it's all I can do not to hang up on him.

  I take a deep breath. “Hey. Did you get my message?”

  I immediately want to smack myself. Of course he got my message.

  “I know it's a lot to ask,” I say quickly. “And I know you have no reason to help me, but I just wanted to…ask. You know how much the Center means to my dad. If you saw him, you'd see what this has done to him. We're trying everything we can. I'm desperate…” I cut myself off when I realize my rambling has twisted itself into begging.

  “You'd have to be pretty desperate to call me,” Garrett says after a moment. I still can’t tell if he’s pissed.

  “I just thought—well, you seemed to care a lot for the Center back when you worked with us,” I say carefully. “I know things didn't end well between us, but I thought you might still have some affection toward the Center.”

  For a minute, he doesn't respond.

  “I do,” he says finally. “You know I do, Lils. I have a deep respect for the work you and your dad do.”

  I'm standing next to the fireplace, and I reach out and run my finger along one of the carved stone vines.

  “Well?” I say softly. “Will you help us?”

  Garrett sighs. “I don't know, Lils. What happens if I do? Will you start talking to me again? Or will you cut me out of your life again once you get what you want?”

  “That's not fair,” I argue.

  “Isn't it? You've refused to talk to me for months. You're only friendly now because you need something.”

  “What was I supposed to do all this time?” I say. “I needed the space to get over you. Our relationship was… honestly, it was fucked up. And then Lauren—”

  “I've told you a million times, Lils. Lauren was a mistake.” He lets out a heavy breath. “I know I can't expect you to just come running back to me, but I think I deserve some common courtesy here.”

  “You don't deserve anything,” I whisper. Hearing his voice again, listening to him say her name, having to defend our breakup after all this time—it’s too much. It just brings up all those old memories again. I thought I could handle this, but now I’m not so sure.

  “Forget it,” I say. “I don’t need your help after all.”

  “Lils,” he says, his exasperation clear in his voice. “There’s no reason to—”

  “No. Forget I ever called.”

  Before he can respond to me, I hang up and throw the phone down on the nightstand.

  Ugh. I flop down on the bed and close my eyes. This is all a fucking mess. I should have let my dad talk to Garrett. Now I've gone and blown it.

  I knew talking to Garrett would be difficult, but I told myself I'd suck it up for the sake of the Center. Why couldn't I just tell him what he wanted to hear? Instead I let my anger get in the way, and the Center was still screwed.

  I still remember those last, horrible months we were together. I was desperately afraid that Garrett was slipping away from me, and I was torturing myself trying to keep him happy and interested. The day I caught him, I was planning on making his favorite dinner as a surprise. I ducked out of work early so I could get everything ready, and instead I walked in on him with Lauren, a fellow journalist who he’d always insisted was just a “friend.”

  Even now my stomach twists at the memory. To be honest, it’s not even him that I’m pissed at. It’s the fact that I gave up so much of myself—and became such a pathetic, sniveling mess there at the end—that really makes me angry. I never told my dad the truth about our breakup. It was too humiliating.

  Never again.

  A knock at the door snaps me out of my thoughts.

  “Lily?” Calder says. “Is everything all right?”

  Damn it. I completely forgot about changing. I haul myself off the bed and avoid looking back at the wet patch I probably left on the comforter.

  “Just a minute!” I say. I run into the closet and pull the damp dress over my head. Fortunately, Louisa seems to have no shortage of cute clothes in here. I find a short black skirt and a green top, and I pull them both on quickly. Again, there’s not much to do with my damp hair, so I pull it into another loose bun and try not to look at myself in the mirror as I go back out. Why do I care what I look like, anyway?

  Honestly, though, I have far more important things on my mind. My conversation with Garrett left me feeling hopeless and sick to my stomach. I threw away a valuable opportunity because I couldn’t get past my own twisted emotions. I didn’t realize how much I was relying on his help until that course of action slipped completely out of the window.

  And then there’s Calder. It’s pretty clear he doesn’t want to make good on his father’s pledge, but I don’t have the luxury of giving up on him just yet. If I’m going to convince him to give us the money his father promised, I’m going to have to step up my game. I might just have to get creative, that's all.

  Just get creative, I repeat to myself.

  An image of his naked body pops into my mind, and my body responds almost immediately. I can think of a few ways I might try to convince him.

  The prospect is both terrifying and strangely exciting.