by Lily Zante
He shot. Three clean shots, and two of them hit the target full on.
“Yay!!” Jacob jumped up and down like he’d had a sugar rush.
“What are you going to do with two identical monkeys, buddy?” Xavier asked, handing them over to him.
“They’re for the twi—” he stopped, his tiny lips suddenly going all wobbly.
She wouldn’t have thought anything of it had he not pasted his hand over his mouth, in that tell-tale way that children had. The tell-tale way that had both her and Xavier exchange knowing looks.
Savannah was pregnant with twins? She waited for Xavier to say something, but he didn’t.
“Here you go, buddy.” Xavier was cool as a cucumber, and she, taking the cue, took a hold of the other toy. “I’ll hold him for you, Jacob.” She took the oversized monkey, “otherwise you’re going to have problems walking around with it.”
He walked in front of them, leading the way, while she and Xavier followed, each of them clutching a monkey, neither saying a word.
Later that evening, he dropped her off again at her apartment, parking outside on the street in his Ferrari.
“Don’t you feel show-offy driving around in this?” she asked him. The thrill of being in this car was real. People stared when the car stopped at traffic lights, and she watched their reactions, a mixture of awe and admiration.
“No, why would I?”
“You have to be careful around here,” she said. “It’s not a safe neighborhood.”
“Then why do you live here?”
“It’s affordable.” And it left enough money over so they could eat and go out a few times a month.
He didn’t say anything, but she could tell by the frown on his forehead, that he was mulling things over. “Don’t you have anything less… showy,” she said, trying to find the right word without sounding offensive.
“I don’t do less.”
She stared at his huge watch. “Obviously.” Then she remembered that time he’d called her at Christmas. “I can show you how to do those reports, if you want.”
“Now? Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.” But she didn’t know why she felt a fluttering in her stomach. Why her pulse had started to race. Under her cool exterior, she was a hothouse of emotions, and she didn’t like being this out of control. Worse than that, she didn’t like that the reason for her insides going haywire might be the tall, hard-muscled guy walking alongside her.
In the eerie silence that clung to them like cobwebs, she considered making conversation, but what was there to say? What could she say that didn’t sound trite? And so she attempted humor as she got out her house keys.
“See, no dollar bills today.”
He didn’t look amused. “I fucking hope not.”
The way he swore, and the anger in his voice, surprised her.
“As if you’d tell me,” he added.
“Tell you what?”
“Who he was.”
She stared at him. “What difference would that make?”
His face had darkened; the skin around his eyes was tight as he stayed silent.
“You want to know?” They stopped outside her door. And she hung onto her key, not yet inserting it into the lock.
“Only if you’re ready. When you’re ready.”
The thudding in her heart turned louder. Something about the simmering rage in his voice sent a shockwave through her gut. Xavier, flirting and being lewd, she could handle, she could take him down a peg or two. Xavier being intense, and angry, over a guy who had been a dick to her—made her feel special.
She opened the door and he followed her in. Stepping away, so that her gaze could better sweep over his face, and take in the seriousness of his expression, she rubbed her forehead, and wondered why she was actually considering telling him.
Cara knew. But for some reason, the way this man was looking at her, made her want to tell him.
“How’s Cara doing?” he asked, suddenly interrupting her thought pattern.
“She’s fine. She’s at her boyfriend’s place.”
“She is?”
Was it her imagination or did his voice sound a little odd when he asked her? Or was she feeling odd because it was just her and him, and only the two of them at her apartment? She didn’t want him to think she had asked him in because of any particular reason. Guys like Xavier went from stationary to warp speed in seconds, and she didn’t want him to get the wrong idea.
But at the fairground, his body had been so close to hers, and when he had his arms around her, he’d been so close she could feel his hot breath. He’d made shivers dance along her spine. She had replayed that moment over and over on her ride home, stopping off only for a short while to take Jacob back, and even when talking to Savannah, her whole mind had been on Xavier, waiting for her in the car.
No, maybe it wasn’t a good idea to show him how to do the reports now. She felt foolish, as if she’d led him on, and then backtracked. She wasn’t going to ask him in. Because the more she thought about it the more she talked herself out of it. Because men like Xavier moved too fast, and girls like her weren’t sure.
“You know what, Laronde? “I think maybe you can show me that stuff another time.”
He was backing out, too?
She shrugged. “It’s no big a deal. Those charts are easy enough, once you get the hang of them.”
“I’m not as clever as you.”
The man who couldn’t stop boasting about his accomplishments was all of a sudden feeling insecure?
“That’s not true,” she said, trying to bolster him. “You drive a Ferrari, and have a gorgeous place in Tribeca. You and Tobias are the epitome of success.”
“Yeah, well, some people would beg to differ. Tobias mostly.”
She wondered if this was about the other day, when he’d mentioned that Tobias had been angry.
“Big brothers can be a pain in the butt, sometimes.”
He placed his hand on the back of his neck, then ruffled up the hair at the base. She noticed he did that sometimes.
“Do you have a big pain-in-the-ass brother?” he asked.
“No. I have a younger brother, though, and he’s told me often enough that I’m a pain in the butt.” But, she wasn’t the one who had to live in the shadows of an older, so blatantly successful, superstar brother. She’d seen the way everyone had swarmed around Tobias at the wedding, and at his birthday party. She had a feeling that even if it hadn’t been his birthday or his wedding, people still would have flocked to Tobias, somehow drawn to him. There was something magnetic about success, wealth, and power, the trifecta which many coveted, but few possessed.
It made her feel for Xavier.
“What was it about?” she asked, her voice a whisper. “The disagreement between you both?”
They were still hovering around in the hallway, neither having taken a step towards the couch or the kitchen. She didn’t want to move, and was hesitant to suggest that he sit down, for fear that he might decide to leave altogether, call it a night and tell her he’d speak to her tomorrow.
She was alone, and she didn’t want him to go.
“Nothing of any significance and nothing that is worth talking about.”
He lifted his head, and gave her the kind of forced smile that was so put so fabricated it looked like it needed scaffolding to keep it in place. She always rooted for the underdog and right now, even though she didn’t have all the facts, Xavier seemed like the biggest underdog of them all.
“Do you want to talk about it? Talking helps.”
“Nothing much to say. He was in a foul mood when he showed up.”
“Why was he mad?”
She listened while Xavier explained the exchange between the brothers, and about Tobias being angry about his former friend and confidante, someone called Matthias Rust.
“What happened with Matthias?”
“They had a falling out.”
“Over what?”
&nb
sp; “I have no idea, and each time I try to ask him, I don’t get a proper answer. I’ve asked him plenty of times.”
“That’s not fair, him taking it out on you like that. If you don’t know what Matthias did, it’s hardly your fault.”
“He’s going through some major life changes, what with getting married, and the baby. I don’t know about the deal with Hennessy now. It might take a while before I can get started on that deal. So I won’t be able to give you extra hours.”
“I’ve got enough to keep me busy.”
“What Jacob almost let slip, I haven’t been told anything, but I can guarantee that Tobias wouldn’t want that news getting out.”
“I can keep a secret.” In that moment she saw that no matter what, this guy still looked up to his brother, would still protect him, and defend him.
“Did you tell him how you felt?”
“No. When Tobias gets that mad, I kind of let him roll with it. There’s no point.”
“Maybe he needs to hear that you’ve grown up, and that you have feelings too.”
He seemed to consider her words. “I don’t have the time for his drama.”
She had to admit, despite her initial preconceived ideas about Tobias, he hadn’t come across to her as being bad tempered. But people were complicated creatures, and this reconfirmed to her the belief that people behaved so differently with different people.
“People treat you the way you expect them to, Stone,” she said, using the name that drew a line between them and that kept things at bay.
“Really, Laronde?”
“Really.” She eyed him, and then said, “Thanks for today.”
“Good luck with exam week,” he said, stepping away from her door.
Chapter 33
He was going to confront Tobias, despite being all too aware of his brother’s wrath, and his avoidance of discussing anything to do with Matthias.
Xavier stepped out of the elevator on the 21st floor of Stone Enterprises and found Vivian, Tobias’s PA, sitting at her desk with her eyes focused on the computer screen. Not wanting to interrupt her, he waited for her to look up at him. In the past he would have usually flirted with PAs, but today he was checking for any messages from Izzy.
As usual, there were none. He’d emailed her once a few days ago, to let him know when she wanted more work. He understood her worry over finances, and wanted that to be one worry less for her.
But so far, she hadn’t replied.
Vivian looked up. “Can I help?”
He smiled. “Is Tobias available?”
She didn’t even flinch, or check a diary, or look at anything online. “He is, but he’s got a meeting in 20 minutes.” She seemed to know his daily schedule off by heart.
“Is he in a good mood?”
The way she opened her perfectly painted lips and said nothing, told him ‘no’.
“Wish me luck.”
She gave him the kind of smile that he was used to. He knocked once, and heard nothing. Impatient, he knocked again, and this time opened the door a fraction, sticking his head through the gap to find Tobias on the phone.
Ooops.
For a moment, he considered the wisdom of what Izzy had told him. What worked for one person wouldn’t necessarily work for another. Maybe he could backtrack and talk about something else.
His brother lifted his face and looked at him. Angry eyes blazed into his and the tell-tale crease in the middle of his forehead signaled Tobias’s already pissed off mood.
It was too late to turn around and leave.
“I’ll be home early. Don’t worry, babe.”
Babe?
Who the hell was he talking to?
“Love you,” Tobias said, in a voice what was as sweet as sugar, before slamming the phone down. “What do you want?” he asked.
Strange how much of a Jekyll and Hyde character this man could be.
“Is it safe to come in?” Xavier attempted humor, and slowly opened the door wider, but didn’t step inside.
“I’ve got a meeting in 10. Make it quick.”
Vivian had told him he had 20 minutes, but he decided not to question that. “Are you still mad at me?” he asked, walking towards Tobias’s desk.
“You’re so easy to pull the wool over,” Tobias commented, sitting back in his leather chair.
“I don’t follow.”
“You do understand, don’t you, that the only reason you got funding from Hennessy is because Matthias wanted a way in.”
“A way into what?”
“To get to me.”
Jeez. Fuck. No. “Bullshit,” he spat the word out, disgusted, and annoyed by Tobias’s tendency to think something was about him.
“It’s the truth.” Tobias replied, calmly.
“Chad injecting cash into my new venture isn’t about you. For fuck’s sake, Tobias, not everything is about you.”
“That’s because you’re still not clever enough to read between the lines.”
There he went again, lauding himself up. “What happened between you two? Why would Matthias need to go through me to get to you?”
And get to him for what?
Hennessy’s company investing in him had been one of the few good things to happen to him for a while, and he wasn’t going to sit here and let Tobias think the deal was about him.
When Tobias said nothing, his anger exploded. “I’m getting fed up of you having a go at me for something I knew nothing about,” he said, slowly. “And what pisses me off even more, is that you’re still being vague, and I’m still none the wiser as to what went down between you both. I’m not surprised he pissed you off. It’s not difficult to piss you off, Tobias.”
Tobias’s mouth tightened, the usual tell that indicated he hadn’t liked what he’d heard. “You’re not the easiest of people to be around. You can be one of the biggest pains in the butt. People do things for you because they’re scared of you. Let me guess, Matthias overstepped his mark. He went over your head and signed off on a deal you didn’t approve of?”
Tobias glared at him, and still said nothing, which infuriated him further.
“If I’ve told you that Matthias is no longer with the company, that should have been enough for you to butt out.”
“But I’ve signed the deal. I need his investment—or rather his company’s investment, because this isn’t about him or me or Hennessy, but about how we can do business together. It’s not personal.”
His brother’s deadly gaze could have burned a hole through his skin.
“I made the mistake of thinking you had a wise head on those shoulders,” said Tobias, “That despite your desire to show off and brag about what a hotshot you are, that there were some real,” he tapped his head with two fingers, “brain cells up here.”
“That’s right, go back to being your usual condescending self, Tobias.” He looked at his watch. “You think what I do is so inferior? You think because I don’t have a big glass building, because I don’t have a ‘legitimate’ business,” he air-quoted the ‘legitimate’, “you think I’m a loser? That’s your opinion, and you’re entitled to it. You can think what you want. It doesn’t matter.”
“Go to hell.”
“You’re telling me to go to hell instead of explaining why Matthias has pissed you off so much?” This was typical of him. “I don’t know what’s going on with you but this can’t go on. You’re bringing a new life into the world. You should be happy. Not like this.”
He got up and stormed out.
His fingers reached for his cell phone on the elevator down, the temptation to call Izzy was strong.
He was tempted to have a cup of coffee. Tempted to talk. If there was someone right now in his life who understood more about him, it was Izzy.
But, he put his cell phone away. It was her week of exams, and he wasn’t going to contact her.
Chapter 34
“Don’t worry about it. Not everyone wants a math nerd.” But Cara’s words did nothing to c
omfort her. “And you kill it in all your other subjects.”
She huffed out a disappointed breath, the full weight of her exam results bearing down on her. 60% wasn’t enough to secure an internship with one of the bigger companies, which was exactly what she’d hoped to secure for the long summer break. Math wasn’t her strong suit, but damn it, she was trying. She just couldn’t afford to get extra tuition like most of her other friends did.
Cara put her arm around her shoulders and squeezed hard. “It’s only a small exam. You’re allowed to have a few bad grades. It’s not the end of the world.”
“It’s not a small exam,” she muttered, looking around at the happy faces of students as they walked past her. Why were people looking so happy? “It matters. For the internships, it matters.”
“Not as much as you think it does.”
She knew Cara was trying to cheer her up, but nothing was going to do it. Nothing.
“Come on. Let’s go to the cafeteria and get some cheesecake. Everything looks better after cheesecake.”
But she didn’t feel up to it. Nobody else felt this pressure, but she did. She knew too well what failure looked like, knew what it had done to her father, and she was determined never to be in that situation. Ever.
Getting 60% in math might not be a failure in Cara’s eyes, but it was in hers.
“You go. I’d rather go home.” She didn’t want to hang around the campus any longer.
“And do what? Eat a whole tub of ice-cream all by yourself?”
“We don’t have a full—”
“I know. I was joking. I was trying to make you laugh. Remember laughter? It’s that thing you do, you last did it when you came back from the fairground.”
She smiled. It had been a good day.
“Please let me go home.” She wasn’t in the mood to be around happy people. Please let me be.
“Ok.” Cara gave her another bear hug. “But if you change your mind.”
I won’t.
But as she started to walk down the steps to the subway, she decided to make good on the thing that had been bugging her for days.
