At Any Price

Page 106

“Hey Mia,” Heath said. His tone sounded like he was forcing himself to be casual. I turned and glanced up at him before snapping the door open and walking inside, not bothering to close it behind me.

“Mia…” he began and I dropped my backpack on the kitchen chair and turned to him, arms folded. “I guess this means he told you about the e-mail, huh?”

I tilted my head at him. “What do you want, Heath?”

He blinked at my abrupt manner. “I—I wanted to see if you were okay. ”

“You mean you wanted to see if I survived the blast of that bombshell you decided to drop right in the middle of our trip?”

His face crumpled with concern. “Mia…I’m sorry, okay? I thought I was acting for the best. ”

“For whose best? Mine? Or your conscience?”

He paused and changed stance from one leg to the other. “I take it he was pissed. He never replied to me. ”

I clenched my teeth and walked over to the box I’d packed up earlier. Grabbing a roll of packing tape out of my backpack, I began to seal it up. “Yep. He was pissed. But it doesn’t matter now. It’s over. ”

Heath watched me for a long moment and I grabbed a marker and wrote Adam’s name on the side of the box.

“I’m sorry, Mia,” he repeated, folding his hands over his chest.

I shook my head. “Don’t be. It’s how I’d planned it all along. ”

“What happened over there?”

I clenched my teeth. “Don’t want to talk about it. ”

“Okay. ” He shot a wary look at me before nodding to the package. “You want me to drop that off for you?”

“He’s still out of town. You won’t get your tour of the place. ”

His face clouded. “He sent you home alone?”

I shrugged. “He still had business in the Caribbean. I had to get back to work. ”

“I don’t give a shit about a tour. You aren’t all right, Mia. ”

I jerked a hand at him and his eyes widened. “I’m. Fine. ”

He held up a hand in surrender. “Okay. Okay. You’re fine. But I’d still like to drop that off for you, or at least drive you over?”

I sighed. I could use the moral support to go into the building, even if I knew Adam wasn’t there. I hadn’t even had the courage to log on to the game since I’d been home.

Heath told me I should unseal the box or it would never make it past security, so I grabbed a kitchen knife and slit it open again. It was early afternoon when we hit the road, our truce unspoken. I hadn’t accepted his apology but ultimately I knew—even if he didn’t—that the differences between Adam and me had not been Heath’s doing.

Heath asked me about the details of the commencement ceremony, and told me he’d make plans to be there and sit with my mom. As we drove, my frosted heart that wanted to cling to the resentment began to thaw.

Fifteen minutes later, we exited the 405 freeway and drove down one of the broad, perfectly planned streets that the city of Irvine was known for. Heath turned in to an industrial park that housed the campus of Draco Multimedia Entertainment.

We approached the central building in the complex. It was designed like a modern day castle with intricate turrets of mirrored glass lined in steel. The mirrors caught the early afternoon sunlight and the entire building gleamed as if it were the fabled seat of Camelot. So, the knight protector spent his brooding days inside a castle. Why did that not surprise me?

We entered a huge lobby with a circular information desk. Everything inside was chrome and granite and bright as the daylight outside, thanks to all the windows. Heath and I gaped in awe. There were displays and artwork from the various games produced by the company everywhere and I couldn’t decide where to look first.

In fact, I was so gap-jawed looking at an exact one-quarter replica of “The Mistress’s Lair”—a three-dimensional model of an ice palace—that I forgot to address the guy at security.

“Oh! I’m dropping off a package for Mr. Drake. ” The security dude looked unimpressed.

I opened the flap and he made a quick search of the contents, then wrote my name on a temporary badge and instructed me to drop the package off at his assistant’s desk. Then he called back to the desk to let the assistant know that I was coming.

I nodded and shrugged. “Okay. ”

Heath was still gazing out over the mezzanine at even more elaborate game displays downstairs. “Oh for God’s sake, go down and look, then. I’m sorry you didn’t get your tour. ”