BULL (The Buck Boys Heroes Book 1)

by Deborah Bladon

  My hands jump to the center of my chest. “I know.”

  She takes a sip of the tea and nods her head. That’s her silent approval that it’s exactly the way she likes.

  I settle back into my chair and ask the question I’ve been dreading. “How is dad taking this?”

  She sets the mug down carefully on the table. “I didn’t tell him. I came here to talk to you first.”

  A sigh of relief escapes me. “Let me tell him, Mom.”

  “I think that’s best.” She nods. “I think you and your husband should tell him together.”

  I like that idea.

  “We will.”

  She scrubs a hand over her face. “There’s something else, Trina. I’m sorry for this, but…”

  “What is it?” I interrupt her, suddenly feeling the knot reforming in my stomach.

  Her eyes close briefly. “I didn’t know what was happening. I had no idea what was going on, so when Mr. Abdon told me you were married, I told him he was wrong.”

  I listen intently, hoping that’s as far as their discussion went.

  She shakes her head. “I told him that there’s no way any daughter of mine would marry a man without telling her family.”

  Dread drops over me. “What did he say, Mom?”

  “He didn’t know what to say.” She shrugs. “I told him that you weren’t at all fond of your boss. I said that the last time I saw you that you didn’t have any wedding rings on and never mentioned a husband. I told him we had lunch at your apartment together that day.”

  I drop my gaze to my lap.

  “He asked where we had lunch and I told him here.” She sighs. “I said your apartment is on West Forty-Third Street, and I came here with sandwiches after I went to the library. He wanted to know what day that was. I told him. It seemed very important to him, Trina, so I told him.”

  I can’t be angry with her. My mom is the most honest person I’ve ever known.

  “I’m sorry,” she apologizes. “He left the bakery in tears, Trina. He was very upset.”

  I reach across the table to take her hand in mine. “It’s okay, Mom. It’s all going to be okay.”

  I say that even though I know nothing is okay. The lie that Graham and I concocted to make Mr. Abdon’s dying wish a reality may actually break his already fragile heart.

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Trina

  I curse under my breath as the call goes directly to Graham’s voicemail again.

  “Please, Graham, please.” I try to calm my voice, but it’s useless. “This is an emergency. You have to call me now.”

  That’s the third time I’ve tried to call him in the past five minutes.

  The first time was when I said goodbye to my mom on the sidewalk outside of my building.

  I got her into a taxi that I flagged down and then pressed the button on my phone to connect me with Graham.

  Tears fell as I left him a voicemail message.

  Then I checked his calendar on my phone. He’s in a meeting with one of the district managers for Abdons.

  He told me that he was going to meet up with him for a drink, but he didn’t say where.

  Dammit, I wish I knew which bar he was in.

  Frustrated but determined to handle this catastrophe, I edge forward on the backseat of the Uber I’m in.

  “We’re almost there.” The woman behind the wheel smiles at my reflection in the rearview mirror. “You seem anxious to get to where we’re going.”

  “You have no idea,” I whisper.

  “Maybe I do,” she bounces back at me. “I can see you’re a bundle of nerves. I’m all ears if you need to talk.”

  I manage a soft smile even though my world is currently crumbling around me. “I appreciate that. I really do, but I’m all right.”

  She nods. “Whatever it is, it’s going to work out.”

  I wish I had her confidence.

  I need to face Mr. Abdon alone.

  Taking a deep breath, I close my eyes and make a silent wish that Graham will call me back before I step foot in the penthouse. I need him to help me find the right words to tell the most important man in his life why we’ve been lying to his face for weeks.

  Lloyd is waiting in the foyer when the elevator doors slide open.

  I can tell that he’s been crying.

  His eyes are red, his cheeks ruddy, and his shirtsleeves are rolled up to his elbows. I’ve rarely seen him without a suit jacket on.

  “Trina.” My name escapes him in a muted tone.

  “Mr. Abdon,” I say quietly, sure that I’ve lost the privilege of calling him Lloyd.

  He approaches me with uneven steps, so I instinctively reach out a hand to help steady him. Surprisingly, he takes it in his.

  “You look the way I feel,” he says, studying me. “I take it you spoke with your mother?”

  “She came to see me,” I admit.

  “So it’s true?” he asks with sorrow edging his tone. “Your mom had no idea you were married? You’ve been hiding that from your family?”

  I nod. “They didn’t know.”

  “Why not?” he spits the question out. “Why on earth would you keep that from them?”

  I wish I had an easy answer that would spare him pain, but I don’t. “It’s hard to explain, sir.”

  “What about Graham?” he asks with a perked brow. “Can he offer me an explanation? He’s ignoring my calls.”

  “He’s not,” I stress both words. “He’s in a meeting, sir. It’s an important meeting.”

  “I should have realized what Graham was up to.” He drops his gaze to the floor. “A couple of weeks ago, Eugene mentioned what a breath of fresh air you are. He said he hadn’t known you very long, but I didn’t think to ask when he first met you.”

  I don’t offer up those details, hoping he’ll skip past them.

  “Had you been in this building before the day you and Graham picked me up from the airport?”

  As guilt grips me, I look him in the eye. “That was my first time. I’d never been here before then.”

  “I’m sorry that you got caught up in this.” He exhales sharply. “I thought Graham had changed. All of these years, and I thought he’d stopped with the lying and the games. I was wrong. I was so wrong.”

  “Sir,” I whisper. “Let me try and explain.”

  “You have nothing to explain,” he cuts in before I can get another word in. “I know that Graham put you up to this. He must think this marriage will secure his position as the future owner of Abdons. I suppose it shouldn’t surprise me. Why did I think he was a better man now than that kid I met so long ago?”

  I want to ask about the day they met, but I can’t. This isn’t the time.

  “It’s not what you think.” I stop to mentally form my next sentence. I want to word this correctly so that Mr. Abdon understands that we may have started out trying to make his wish a reality, but somewhere along the way, it became all too real.

  I’m Graham’s wife. I feel it in my bones.

  “It’s exactly as I think,” he snaps, then shakes his head. “I’m sorry, Trina. I worked so hard to help Bull. I dropped the charges. I spoke to his foster parents. They were thrilled when I told them I wanted to send him to The Buchanan School so he could clean up his act. Frankly, they were relieved that he’d be in a boarding school. I paid for college. I even gave him a job working for me. Ironically, I was very close to signing the company over to him, but not now. I will never hand my life’s work to him after this.”

  “What charges?” I question. “I don’t understand.”

  “He still hasn’t told you?” he asks before he chuckles sarcastically. “Of course, he hasn’t. He never had any intention of telling you. This wasn’t a real marriage at all, was it?”

  That stings more than it should. He’s right about the fact that I know nothing about Graham’s past.

  “Am I safe to assume that you don’t know how we met?” He lifts his chin. “He didn’t tell you abou
t that either, did he?”

  I shake my head.

  “I kept pushing him to tell you, but why would he? You’re not really his wife.”

  I fight back tears.

  “Allow me to fill in the blanks for you.” His arms cross his chest. “He broke into our flagship store when he was fifteen. The security company called me before they called the police. I lived nearby at the time, so I got to the store before they did.”

  I stare at him, stunned into silence.

  “I walked in to find a messy-haired kid with a bull tattoo on his arm and twelve of my watches in his hands and his pockets.”

  My hand jumps to cover my mouth.

  “He had been through ten foster homes by that point.” He leans closer to me. “Ten. He kept doing things that would get him kicked out. He was fighting, stealing, causing trouble with anyone he could. Sela and I stepped up and helped him. We got him into the most exclusive private school in the state for boys. We saw him through to his college graduation.”

  “I didn’t know.”

  “He had no one until we came along.” He shakes his head. “Absolutely no one, and this is how he repays me. He pulls the wool over my eyes. He makes a nice young woman like you go along with his charade. He made a fool out of me.”

  “Sir, please.” I take a step toward him.

  “His mother left him on a subway train when he was six.” He shakes his head. “I felt sorry for him. Sela did too. No father and his mother abandoned him. His grandmother wanted nothing to do with him. We thought we could help him get on the right path.”

  My heart aches in my chest for the boy Graham once was, a boy who had no one to turn to. He had no family. No one to love him the way my parents have always loved me.

  The only person who cared enough to help him is livid at the moment, and it’s in my power to change that.

  I can give this to Graham. I can help him salvage the family he does have.

  “None of this was Graham’s idea.” I swallow past the lump in my throat. “I’m the one who suggested we get married, sir.”

  His brow furrows. “You?”

  I take a breath to steady myself. “He let it slip that you haven’t been well and that you thought we’d make a great couple, so I told Graham we should get married.”

  “Graham went along with this?” he asks skeptically. “You came up with the plan to tell me you two were dating and then engaged and married? Are you even legally wed to each other, or is that another lie?”

  “We were married at the courthouse,” I confess. “Graham told me that he couldn’t lie to you about being married if we weren’t. He said you were the best man he’s ever known, sir.”

  I see the tension in his shoulders slip away as he contemplates everything I’m saying. “Is there a prenup? Did Graham consider that? I hope to hell he thought of that.”

  “I signed one,” I say quickly. “Graham loves you, sir. He would never intentionally hurt you.”

  “What about you?” His finger flies in the air toward me. “What are you getting out of this? You must be benefiting in some way?”

  This is it. This is where I sacrifice myself to save my husband. “I negotiated a one and a half million dollar payout in exchange for three months of marriage.”

  He rakes a hand through his hair. “I can’t believe this.”

  I watch as his gaze falls to my left hand. I tug my wedding rings off, suddenly feeling unworthy of both rings but especially guilty of wearing the ring he gave his late wife.

  I shove both rings at him. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Abdon.”

  He takes the rings in his palm. “Bull went along with this to make me happy? He did that for me? It’s not about the company?”

  The tide has changed. I see it in the way he’s looking at me. Graham will be spared his pain. It’s a burden I can carry for the man I love.

  “He did it for you,” I whisper. “All he wanted was to make you happy.”

  “It might be best if Graham and I had some time alone when he comes home.” He glances behind me at the elevator. “I’m sure you understand, Miss Shaw.”

  That cuts through me. I’m no longer Mrs. Locke in his eyes.

  “I’ll go home,” I say because that’s what my apartment is.

  I don’t belong here anymore.

  “Goodbye, Trina.” He doesn’t make a move toward me.

  “Goodbye, Mr. Abdon. I hope you know just how deeply Graham loves and admires you.”

  His response is a curt nod, so I turn, press the call button, and step onto the elevator that will take me back to the life I had before I married the man of my dreams.

  Chapter Fifty

  Graham

  Fear.

  That’s all I feel when I finally glance at my phone after my meeting.

  I silenced it because Kay was on a texting spree. She’s sure that the design she’s currently working on is just as great as the one Lloyd chose for the spring campaign.

  She’s wrong.

  Her latest creation is too big of a leap back in time.

  I told her that when I replied to her first text message. She took it as a pun and kept pressing me to sign off on including this latest design in the spring launch too.

  It’s not going to happen.

  I’ll tell her as much when I have more time, but from the number of text messages and voicemails waiting for me, something isn’t right.

  I count three voicemails from Trina along with a few texts asking me to call her right away. There are a couple of voicemails from Lloyd too, but the one text that sends fear coursing through me is from Eugene.

  It’s the last message to arrive, and it’s ominous.

  Eugene: Mr. Abdon was taken to Lennox Hill Hospital by ambulance. It’s urgent! Urgent, sir!

  I take off down the sidewalk in the direction of the hospital as I call Trina. It rings through to voicemail, but I disconnect before leaving a message. Instead, I call up the messages she left me.

  I listen to one and then the other two.

  I hear the panic in her voice as she pleads with me to call her.

  Next, I listen to one of the voicemails Lloyd left me.

  “Graham,” he says my name followed by an unmistakable sob. “Where are you? I need you to come home.”

  “Fuck,” I mutter before I try Trina’s number again.

  She doesn’t answer.

  She must be at the hospital with Lloyd.

  It’s too soon. It’s too fucking soon for me to lose him.

  I glance at the street to see an available cab. I dart onto the street, racing toward it. I dodge around a delivery truck. The guy behind the wheel blares the horn right before he tells me to wake the fuck up.

  I wish to hell I was asleep and in the middle of a nightmare, but I’m not.

  I hop into the cab and tell the driver to get me to Lennox Hill as fast as he can. I only hope I make it there in time.

  “Mr. Abdon couldn’t catch his breath,” Eugene explains. “I called an ambulance immediately.”

  “You did the right thing,” I reassure him.

  I was shocked to see him standing near the reception desk in the emergency department when I sprinted in here, but the man takes his job seriously. He must have felt the need to trail the ambulance in case he could help Trina in some way.

  I ran right past Eugene in search of information about Lloyd, but the woman working the desk told me to sit tight.

  How the fuck do you sit tight when you’re facing the death of someone you love?

  “He fell ill right after Mrs. Locke left.”

  My head snaps in Eugene’s direction. “Left? She’s not in the examination room with him?”

  “No, sir.” He shakes his head. “She ran out of the building in tears. Less than five minutes later I got the call from Mr. Abdon that he was feeling dizzy and having trouble breathing.”

  What the fuck is going on?

  “Trina didn’t say anything to you about what was wrong?” I press on, “
Why was she crying?”

  “I’m not sure.” He shrugs. “She arrived home in a rideshare, I think. I called out to her, but she raced toward the elevator and boarded it quickly. Ten minutes later, she was back in the lobby in tears. Then she left and ran down the sidewalk before I could catch her.”

  “Excuse me?” A man’s voice cuts into our conversation.

  I turn to see a nurse next to me. “Yes? What is it? You have news?”

  “The doctor is still examining Mr. Abdon, but we have his possessions.” He shoves a small zip-top plastic bag toward Eugene. “You came in with him, right? I can leave these with you.”

  I snatch the bag from him. “I’m the closest thing he has to family.”

  The nurse nods. “As soon as Dr. Fuller is done his examination, he’ll be out to speak with you.”

  Nodding, I swallow. “Thank you.”

  “Is there anything I can get you while we wait?” Eugene asks.

  “You can go back to your post.” I glance at him. “I can handle it from here.”

  “The incident with Mr. Abdon happened in the middle of a shift change. Roger is on duty now.” He straightens the lapels of his jacket. “If it’s all right with you, I’d like to stay, sir. No one should wait for news in a hospital alone.”

  I nod. “I appreciate that.”

  He pats my shoulder. “I’m going to give my wife a quick call to let her know where I am.”

  As he wanders off, I drop my gaze to the plastic bag in my hands.

  The watch that is always on Lloyd’s wrist is there, as is his wedding ring. His wallet takes up most of the space in the bag, but I do a double take when I turn it over.

  At the bottom of the bag are two rings. One is the diamond engagement ring I gave my wife. The other is the wedding band I slid on her finger before I kissed her for the very first time.

  Why did Lloyd have these?

  With a shaking hand, I tug my phone out of my pocket and try Trina’s number again.

  As soon as it rings through to voicemail, I clear my throat. “Trina, call me.”

  I hang up, leaving it at that because what the fuck else am I going to say? I feel like I lost the only woman I’ve ever loved, and the man who saved my life is fighting for his. I don’t know how the hell to change any of it.