Billionaire Best Friend [Complete]

8. Gracie

"Gracelynn, you know it's rude to keep me waiting all day."

I pushed past my mother's comment and replied with, "I was working. I wasn't ignoring you, just busy."

I imagined the eye roll she would've given me if she were standing in front of me. "You're still working at that radio show with Rosie?"

"It's not a radio show. It's a podcast, a successful one at that."

"Well," she huffed out, "If you want to waste your talents in some media room for your cousin, so be it. Don't come complaining to me when it all falls out from under your feet, and you regret securing yourself a better position at a company with more substance."

I clenched my jaw at her outward insults at her niece and my talents. How was it so easy for her to steamroll right past all the hard work it took for us to get to where we were?

It was no problem at all for her because she wasn't present. She popped up here and there when she wanted to, and when that happened, it was more for herself than for me.

I steered the conversation back to her, if only to save myself from screaming at the top of my lungs on the city's busy street. "How are you? How is Ted? Anything new happening for you guys?"

Ted was her second husband and the farthest thing from a stepfather as one could get. Though it wasn't very surprising considering her lack of presence. When she was still married to dad, she had to be there, but now that she was out of Jersey and living in some small suburb in Arizona, her priorities were much different.

But I knew how she operated, so when she told me that Ted had a two-week excursion his boss roped him into, I knew the reason for the call.

A shiver creeped into the collar of my jacket and slithered down to my lower back when she said, "I was thinking I could come for a visit. It'd be nice to finally meet this Jason you talk about, and it's been too long."

My breakup with Jason was too fresh, and instead of telling her what had happened, I coughed out my surprise. "You want to come to Pennsylvania?"

"Why not? Ted will be gone, and I'll have nothing to do. Can't I come see my daughter while he's off working?"

Aaand cue the guilt trip. I hated how they still worked on me after all this time. How one call from her without seeing her in almost nine months drove that knife deep into the center of my chest and had me agreeing.

"That sounds like a great idea." The words were bitter on my tongue but by that point, I realized I already dug the hole. What would it have hurt to just climb right in and close my eyes? "What day were you thinking of flying in? I can have the spare room ready for you."

"I'll message you the details on Ted's days off." Her tone stiffened as she added, "Providing you're actually going to respond in a timely manner."

I swallowed hard. "I will absolutely keep a close eye on my phone."

"Good. I'll get it to you tomorrow at the lastest. Oh, Ted's coming through the door as we speak. We'll talk soon."

I gave her a weak, "Perfect," before she dropped the call and walked the last block back to my apartment with this unsettled feeling in my gut. When I rounded the hallway and saw Jason's suit-clad body leaning against my door, I knew it was only going to get worse.

Straightening my spine and pushing the conversation with my mother to the deep recesses of my mind, I held my chin high and told myself I wouldn't let him get the best of me. It was my apartment we were at, and I wouldn't let him have me Rolling out of it like he had me doing in his.