Chapter 12: Chapter 12

PRESLEY

Sonny

I’m sorry. I had a situation when I got home and lost track of time.

Presley read the message again. She put her phone on silent and laid it face down.

It was long after midnight, and she was curled up in bed, unable to face her humiliation as the feeling of unworthiness washed over her body. She wasn’t good enough for Santino to want to come back over for—let alone pick up the phone to cancel.

She knew after an hour had passed that he wasn’t coming back. Her worry had changed to resignation after he didn’t respond to her text messages. She was so thankful she didn’t sleep with him. She would have been devastated to be a one-night stand. It wasn’t her thing.

The silver lining was that Tally had called from the resort in Mexico. The client was asking if Presley could come tomorrow. It was short notice, but the owner was ahead of schedule and wanted to start his campaign a month early.

The timing couldn’t have been better. She jumped at the chance to get out of town for a few days and spend some time with her best friend. It would be nice to get away from everyone and everything for a bit.

She finally drifted off to sleep and felt like she had just closed her eyes when her alarm went off.

She rolled out of bed with a groan and was glad she had packed last night.

Her reflection caught her attention while she was getting ready, and she stopped, taking a good look at herself and the scars on her face. Santino’s rejection had stung more than she had thought, and her recovering self-esteem had taken a hit. She squared her shoulders in the mirror.

Regardless of how she had felt last night, she was determined to move forward. She reminded herself that she was better than the awful things Abel had made her believe and deserved to be happy with someone who really cared for her. Pushing Santino from her mind, she continued getting ready.

The car that the resort was sending to pick her up would be at her house in less than an hour. She rushed through her morning routine and got dressed, double-checking that she had everything. She had just finished pulling her car into the garage when a limo pulled up.

The drive to the airport was quick and quiet at that time in the morning. She was taken through the private gate where a small jet was waiting. She smiled at the attendant who brought her a cup of coffee as she pulled out her computer.

Thoughts of yesterday morning with Santino rose as she sipped the steaming mug. She pulled out her phone and tapped a quick message to him before turning it off and tucking it away.

SANTINO

Santino tossed and turned the few hours he lay in bed. He was angry at the shitshow his father had left him and furious at himself for not paying more attention to the time. He felt like shit over completely blowing Presley off.

He couldn’t have fucked up any harder if he tried. He grabbed his phone and checked to see, if by chance, she had messaged him back. He wasn’t surprised to find that she hadn’t.

He desperately wanted to fix this. He lay there as the morning sun crept across his bedroom floor until his phone went off. He shot up, heart pounding, and his breath caught when he saw it was from her.

Presley

Thanks for letting me know. Good luck with your situation.

~Good luck with your situation~? That sounded like a brush-off. He groaned and scrubbed his face, deciding he’d better get his ass over there and apologize.

He jumped out of bed and into the shower, rushing through getting ready. His detail scrambled to follow him as he raced out of the house. His car wove in and out of traffic, and what should have been a twenty-minute drive took thirteen minutes, including a stop at a florist.

He frowned as he pulled up and didn’t see her car in the driveway. He grabbed the flowers and rushed up the steps to the front door.

He knocked lightly and waited. There were no lights on in the house, and he wondered if she was still in bed.

He knocked again, this time a bit louder. He turned around at the sound of a vehicle pulling up, thinking it might have been her, but it was only his bodyguards, flustered over his abrupt exit. He turned back, reaching over and hitting the doorbell.

“Press, please open up. I’m so fucking sorry. Yesterday was a mess.”

He was met with silence. His team watched as he continued to bang on the door.

“Press, please. I fucked up. I’m sorry. Can you open up and let me beg for your forgiveness face-to-face?”

“Sonny?”

He spun around at hearing his name to find Ted and Dan, standing on their porch in their pajamas with coffee cups held in their hands. Both men looked at him with sour faces.

“Hello. Where’s Presley? She won’t answer.” He was starting to panic.

“You must have fucked up bad or you would know that she left early this morning to see her client in Mexico.”

“She told you, didn’t she?” he sighed and thumped the bouquet against his leg.

“She did, big guy.” Dan sipped his coffee as he turned his nose up at him.

“When will she come back?” Santino asked.

“Soon,” Ted snapped.

“Like two days soon?” Santino was getting irritated.

“Like if she wanted you to know, she would have told you,” Dan said.

“Look, guys, I know I messed up,” Santino pleaded. “I want to apologize to her as soon as possible.”

“A text should suffice,” Ted mumbled.

“Okay, how about this,” Santino grumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You two can let me have it and then tell me how to fix it.”

“You’re an asshole,” Dan snapped. “We liked you. We were rooting for you. It took her a long time to feel confident in herself again, and you went and took the wind out of her sails.”

“She was so worried at first too, and then she decided that you were just politely trying to give her a hint—like a coward,” Ted said.

“Ouch.” Santino wasn’t sure he was prepared to take any more snark. “I deserve that. There was some family drama I had to take care of when I got home, and I lost track of time.”

“We love her, and we are very protective of her,” Ted growled. “We are not going to apologize about that. She has been through enough.”

“She texted me. I just want to apologize and beg her to give me a second chance.” Santino felt like a complete dick already, and this conversation was doing little to help.

“Of course she did. Just like if she was home, she would have opened the door for you and heard you out even though you don’t deserve it,” Ted snapped. “She’s a good person, and she would never intentionally hurt someone.”

Santino groaned in frustration. “How do I fix this?”

“Give us one good reason. You leave her standing in the street after dinner. You show up the next morning all apologies, and then do the same shit again. She’s not a doormat, Santino. I wouldn’t blame her if she never saw you again.”

Dan placed his hand on Ted’s shoulder, giving him a concerned glance.

“Calm down, honey.”

Santino held his hands up in surrender. “Okay, okay, you guys win for now, but I’ll be back. She deserves an apology in person.”

“We liked you, dickhead.” Ted stomped back into the house, leaving Dan standing there.

The other man watched his husband leave and turned back to Santino.

“I’m sorry, he’s very upset. He adores Presley, and after what she went through… He doesn’t think any man is worthy of her. You could have at least texted her back.”

“Shit was such a mess yesterday. My dad died recently, and I took over the family business. Not everyone in the family is happy about it, and things aren’t as…handled as I had thought. My dad kept a lot of secrets, apparently.”

Dan looked surprised and was about to say something when a shrill, angry shout ripped through the quiet morning.

“You son of a bitch!”

Santino turned and watched as the blonde amazon came storming outside. “Oh shit…”

“You have some nerve showing your handsome fucking face in this neighborhood!” Florence’s voice screeched as she marched toward Santino.

His security closed in, hands disappearing beneath jackets. Santino motioned for them to stand down.

“It’s too late to run.” Dan smirked at him. “With those giraffe legs, she’d catch you before you got to your car.”

Florence stopped in front of Santino, scowling at him with her hands on her hips. It wasn’t often he could see eye-to-eye with a woman, but the towering showgirl didn’t even have to tilt her chin up to glare at him.

“You asshole! Standing our girl up! Well, jokes on you. She already moved on! Yeah, she ran away to Mexico for a man named Rodrigo Est… Esp… Rodrigo something who will worship the ground she walks on!” She poked him in the chest with her red nail.

“He knows she went for work, Flo,” Dan whispered behind his coffee mug.

Florence waved her hand in the air. “Whatever! You’re a dick. Why are you even here?”

“To apologize,” Santino admitted quickly. “I know I screwed up. I didn’t mean to.”

They all turned at the sound of a car speeding down the street and pulling up to an abrupt stop in front of the house. Elio threw the door open, and a look of relief flooded his face. He motioned toward the security guys.

“These fucking guys said you were getting cornered.” He gestured at the neighbors. “I wasn’t expecting this.”

Florence’s attitude shifted immediately as she smiled at Elio. “Look at you, coming in here ready to save his ass.” Florence slid next to him. “Good morning, hunk of love.”

“Good morning, hot stuff.” Elio flashed her a smile, and she swooned. “What’s going on and why are we standing in Presley’s driveway?”

“She left to go to Mexico for work,” Santino mumbled.

“Did you apologize?” Elio glanced at Santino.

“No. She texted me, and I thought she was home,” he said, lifting the bouquet. “I wanted to do it in person.”

“Well, asshole, you thought wrong. Did you think she was going to sit around and wait for you any more than she did yesterday?” Florence snapped.

“Yeah, dickhead. Even though that’s incredibly sweet,” Dan muttered.

“Okay, okay,” Elio chided as he patted Florence’s arm. “Let’s quit beating up on Sonny. Presley can do it when she gets home.”

“Will you put these in the house for me, please, Flo?” Santino asked, holding out the bouquet.

“Yes, but you don’t deserve it.” She snatched the flowers out of Santino’s hand.

“Fine, I’m leaving. I’ll check back every day till she gets home.”

Santino walked away defeated. He heard Elio explaining as he opened his car door.

“I know everyone is pissed at him, but he had every intention of coming back here yesterday. I’ve never seen him look forward to seeing a woman so much,” Elio said. “His dad died two weeks ago, and he’s trying to keep a lot of shit together. Trust me, he can’t feel any worse about standing Presley up than he does right now.”

“Two weeks ago? Wow,” Dan said, a little shocked.

Flo groaned as Santino started to get into his car.

“She’ll be back on Friday, asshole,” she shouted before striding back toward her house.