Chapter 56 Blocked

Chapter 56 Blocked
Lucian's POV

My fingers moved on autopilot, switching to a voice call. The screen showed "Connecting" for half a second before it cut off. Call failed. I tried again. Failed. Again. Failed.

She'd blocked me.

My thumb hovered over Ash's contact. It was past midnight. He'd be asleep. I pressed call anyway.

It rang six times before going to voicemail. I called again. Voicemail. I called a third time, then a fourth, then a fifth, each ring stretching longer than the last until finally I heard his groggy voice.

"What?" Ash mumbled. "Do you know what time it is?"

"I need your help," I said.

There was rustling on his end, footsteps, then the sound of a door sliding open. When he spoke again his voice was quieter, like he was trying not to wake someone.

"This better be good," he said. "I was actually sleeping for once."

"Briar blocked me."

Silence. Then Ash started laughing, a low chuckle that grew into full laughter that he tried to muffle.

"Oh man," he said between laughs. "Oh, this is perfect. This is absolutely perfect. The great Lucian Kincaid, blocked by a girl he likes. I need to write this down somewhere."

"Ash."

"No, seriously, this is karma. I told you to be honest with her."

I pressed my fingers against my temple where a headache was starting to form. "Do you have her phone number?"

"Maybe."

"Ash."

"Why would I give it to you?" he said, and I could hear the grin in his voice. "Briar treats me like a little brother. She actually watches my streams and leaves nice comments. Why would I betray that trust just because you messed up?"

"I didn't mess up. There was a misunderstanding."

"Right. A misunderstanding that got you blocked. That's a pretty serious misunderstanding, bro."

I heard movement on his end, footsteps going back inside, a door closing softly. When he spoke again his voice had lost some of its teasing edge.

"Look," he said. "I'm not giving you her number. Briar's going through enough without me adding to it. If she blocked you, she had a reason. Maybe you should respect that instead of trying to force your way back in."

"I just need to explain."

"Then find another way. I'm going back to sleep. And Lucian? Next time you want to call me five times in a row, maybe check the clock first."

He hung up. I sat there staring at my phone.

I didn't sleep that night. I sat on my couch watching the sky gradually lighten outside my window, drinking coffee that had gone cold hours ago. By six in the morning I'd given up on sleep entirely and headed to the office.

The pharmaceutical marketing pitch was scheduled for nine. Two companies competing for a contract to promote our new immune booster in digital ads and pharmacy partnerships. I'd read through both proposals three times already but none of it was sticking in my brain.

I made it through two more cups of black coffee before Kai found me in my office at eight thirty.

"Lucian," he said, leaning against the doorframe. "You look terrible. What happened to you?"

"Nothing."

"Right. And those eye bags are just a fashion statement?"

I glared at him. "Your fly is down."

Kai's hand flew to his zipper and his face went red when he realized I was right. He turned away quickly to fix it, muttering under his breath.

"We have a meeting in thirty minutes," I said, gathering the proposal files. "Try to look professional."

"You're one to talk," Kai shot back, but he followed me down the hallway toward the conference room.

We watched the presentations from the monitoring room, the competing teams visible on the large screen as they went through their slides. The first company started with their budget breakdown and I felt my jaw tighten.

"This budget," I said into the microphone that connected to the conference room. "You're planning to spend forty percent on influencer partnerships. Can you explain why?"

The presenter, a woman in her thirties with perfectly styled hair, smiled confidently. "Influencer marketing has proven ROI in the pharmaceutical space. We've identified key beauty and wellness bloggers who—"

"Beauty bloggers," I cut in. "For an immune booster. You want us to pay beauty bloggers to promote a medical supplement."

"They have large followings in the wellness space—"

"Our product is not a wellness trend. It's a scientifically formulated immune system enhancer. Why would we target beauty audiences when we should be focusing on health-conscious consumers and medical professionals?"

The presenter's smile faltered. She glanced at her team members, then back at the camera. "We believe the wellness and beauty markets overlap significantly—"

"Show me the data."

"I'm sorry?"

"Show me your market research that proves beauty bloggers effectively convert their audiences to pharmaceutical purchasers. Because from where I'm sitting, this looks like you're padding your numbers with easy influencer deals instead of doing actual targeted marketing."

Kai leaned over and whispered, "Boss, you're being kind of harsh."

I ignored him and continued. "Your Apex immune booster market report is from two weeks ago. We released updated data last week. Did anyone on your team bother to check for current information, or did you just recycle an old proposal and hope we wouldn't notice?"

The team in the conference room exchanged uncomfortable glances. The lead presenter opened her mouth, closed it, then said, "We can certainly incorporate the updated data—"

"This meeting is over," I said. "We'll review your revised proposal if you choose to submit one, but right now this is not competitive."

I cut the feed and sat back, rubbing my eyes. The second team was waiting in the lobby and I had to sit through another hour of this.

"Seriously," Kai said. "What's going on with you? You're never this aggressive in evaluations."

"I'm being thorough."

"You're being mean. There's a difference."

The second presentation went slightly better, but I still found myself picking apart their media buying strategy and questioning their choice of pharmacy partners. By the time we broke for a recess, both teams looked shell-shocked and Kai was giving me concerned looks.

"Coffee break," he announced, standing up and stretching. "You need to calm down before the final round."

I followed him out of the monitoring room, my head pounding from too much caffeine and too little sleep. We walked past the break room and I heard voices inside.

"Have you tried the herbal tea samples? They're really good."

"Yeah, the lavender chamomile one is amazing. Vance Botanicals sent them over as trial products."

I stopped walking. Kai noticed and backtracked, raising an eyebrow. "What's up?"

I pushed open the break room door without answering. Two women from the marketing team were standing by the counter where several small boxes of tea were arranged. The packaging was simple but elegant, each box labeled with Vance Botanicals' logo and a handwritten note about the blend inside.

I walked over to the counter and picked up one of the boxes. Honey Lemon Grass. The ingredients were listed in Briar's precise handwriting.

"Oh, Mr. Kincaid," one of the women said, looking startled. "We were just trying the samples. They're really good. Do you want one?"

"Where did these come from?"

"The front desk said they were dropped off yesterday. There's a note."

She handed me a small card. I recognized Briar's handwriting immediately.

Thank you for considering Vance Botanicals. We hope you enjoy these samples of our new herbal tea line. - Briar Vance

I stared at the card, at the way she'd signed her full name formally like we were strangers.

"Mr. Kincaid? Are you okay?"

Before I could respond, Kai reached past me and grabbed the honey lemon grass box. "Come on, boss, you need something better than that burnt coffee you've been drinking all morning." He was already tearing open a packet, shoving a cup into my hands, pouring hot water. "Here. Try it."

The two women exchanged glances and quietly slipped out, leaving us alone. I held the cup and watched the steam rise, smelling herbs that were bright and clean and somehow exactly like Briar, efficient and carefully crafted and trying so hard to be perfect.

I took a sip. It was good. Really good. The lemon was bright without being sour, the honey subtle, the grassiness of the herbs grounding everything together.

"The herbalist who formulated this knows what they're doing," I said quietly.

Kai leaned against the counter, grinning as he sipped his own cup. "See? Vance Botanicals makes quality stuff. You know, next time you see Briar, you could give her some pointers on packaging and marketing. Bet she'd appreciate the feedback from someone in the industry."

Something dimmed inside me. I looked away, setting the cup down carefully on the counter. "I don't even have the chance to talk to her anymore," I said quietly.