by Rachel Blake
“Don’t push her too far, Rosebud,” James warned as he walked around the table and placed a kiss on the top of Prim’s head.
“Why not?” Prim threw the question at the man with so much sass, it dripped from every letter.
In an instant, her chin was caught in James’ unrelenting grasp, tipping her head back, so she had no choice but to look at him.
“Because I said so, Rosebud, and that is a good enough reason as any.”
“Yes, Sir,” Prim said the required words, but the spark of defiance still twinkled in her eyes.
“Thank you.” Releasing her chin, James gave her another kiss on top of the head, moved around the table, and was gone.
“What the fuck was that?” Embry asked her eyes wide.
“That was my fucked-up love life.”
Chapter Four
Twenty minutes. Embry had been escorted to the conference room and told to stay put twenty minutes ago. What the hell was taking so long?
Reaching the end of the room, she turned to pace back the way she’d come. If nothing else, at least the room was big enough for her to get some of her steps in for the day. Who was she kidding? She was bored out of her mind and about to go stir crazy. Shit, did they forget she was waiting for them?
With a huff, she headed for the door and had her hand on the handle when it was opened from the outside. James stood there with a disapproving look on his face.
“You were told to stay put, were you not?”
“It’s been twenty minutes. I thought you guys had forgotten I was here.”
“We didn’t forget about you, Em.” With a hand on the small of her back, James led her to the table. “The lawyer is just running behind.”
“I’m here now.”
The familiar voice had her looking toward the open door.
“Maverick?”
“Embry?” A smile split the newcomer’s face. “Holy shit, Embry Worthington.” As quickly as the smile graced his face, it melted away. “Shit, how didn’t I put two and two together before now?”
James stepped between the two of them, instantly on guard, with his arms crossed over his chest.
“The two of you know each other?”
“We went to the same high school. He was a senior when I was a freshman. He was my senior advisor for the whole first semester. Hell, he was my only friend in school.” When Embry tried to push past James to give her old friend a hug, her arm was caught in a vise grip. “James, I know him, it’s okay.”
“First off, if I step between you and a potential threat, you do not try to get around me, you stay behind me. Safety is always first,” James growled.
“He’s not a threat.” She tried to pull her arm from his grasp. “He was my only friend for a long time.”
“If you knew him, there’s a chance your father knows him. He could have sent him,” James pointed out.
“James, you did the background check on everyone in this room yourself,” Eden cut in, gliding across the room to take a seat at the head of the table. “Are you telling me you don’t trust your own work?”
“No, I just wasn’t looking for that connection,” James mumbled, his worry deflating as his grasp loosened. “But if I had missed it, one of the other men would have caught it. Sorry, Em.”
“You let them call you Em?” Maverick laughed as he came completely into the room and took a seat, setting his bag on the table.
“It isn’t like I really have a choice,” Embry shot back, a broad smile on her face. “And look how much good it did with you. What did you use to call me?”
“Which one?” A blush colored his face the second the words fell from his mouth.
“I only remember the one. Freckles,” Embry mumbled. “Did you call me something else?”
“As much as I’m dying to relive your past, I would really like to get this meeting underway, so I can move on with my day, and we can get Embry settled into her new position with the company.”
“Wait, she’s working for you?” Maverick turned concerned eyes on Eden.
“Why else would I go to such great lengths to make sure she’s protected?” Eden questioned as she slowly turned to the lawyer. “Is she too good to work here?”
“I didn’t say that,” Maverick growled, eyes narrowed.
“Then, please, do tell me what you meant.” Eden crossed her arms over her chest.
“Eden.” The grumbled warning came from James, his eyes clearly trying to convey something to her.
“You would think our roles were reversed. You the boss, me the employee.” Eden turned from him when his face went hard. “Mr. Grandgeorge, do you care to fill us in on what you have discovered?”
Shaking his head, he started talking.
“From what I can tell, it’s your standard trust fund, other than the fact she can’t access it until thirty rather than twenty-five.” Maverick pulled papers from his leather bag, passing a copy to each person at the table. “As you see there, that’s the estimated amount sitting in the account, but I suspect it to be more.”
Embry stared wide eyes at the number before her. “There’s no way this is correct.”
“Not knowing what the interest rate was when the account was started, I could be off, but I estimated on the low end, so I suspect you’ll find it to have a fair amount more when we actually get the numbers from the bank.” Maverick smiled when she looked at him, mouth still hanging open.
“More than this?” Embry looked at the row of zeros. “You mistyped, right?”
“Why were you unable to provide her with the actual amount in her account?” Eden asked, handing the papers back to the lawyer.
Maverick pressed his lips into a thin line as he nodded. “That’s where we come to an issue. Since her mother passed, her father has done his best to make sure his name is tied to everything. He even went as far as attempting to get her declared a dependent adult.”
“He what?” Eyes wide for a different reason, Embry looked at the others at the table. “He didn’t succeed, did he?”
“No, he didn’t. He fucked himself with that one by making you get a degree, then a job.” Maverick pulled another paper out. “However, he found another way of getting what he wants.”
“He’s suing me?” Embry questioned as her fist bounced off the table. The amount of the lawsuit caught her eye. “For two million dollars? You don’t think there’s that much in the account, do you?”
“With the amount it started off with, I highly doubt it, unless he knows something we don’t know.” Maverick leaned into the table. “Here’s the thing. I don’t believe he’ll win unless he has a judge in his pocket, but I can eliminate that possibility with relative ease. However, that isn’t the only possible reason he could have for trying to sue you.”
“To gain access to her,” James stated.
“Exactly, and I don’t believe he’s the only threat.” Maverick met the other man’s eyes. “That’s where you come in. I can represent her and handle things while we’re in the courtroom, but I can’t be with her all the time.”
“Done.” James jotted notes down on the papers in front of him.
“Wait,” Embry’s call for them to stop went unanswered.
“She’ll be working here during the day and at the apartment with Prim at night. The only time we really need to worry about her is during travel and when they’re sleeping,” James continued.
“I would feel better about this whole thing if we had a man on her, even when she was with Prim,” Eden put in.
“Guys.” They didn’t even look at her, talking like she wasn’t even in the room.
“Have you started the paperwork to get the amount in the trust sent to her?” Eden asked.
“Yeah, but he has it wrapped in so much red tape at this point, I’m not sure how long it will take.” Maverick pulled out another bunch of papers, not even bothering to give a copy to Embry this time.
She was done. Sick of it, Embry stood from the table and walked to the door.
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“Grab me a water, too, please,” Eden called over her shoulder, not bothering to look up.
Eyeing the rolling cart to her left for only a few seconds, she turned the handle and walked from the room. Their chatter didn’t even pause as she closed the door behind her.
Stopping the first person to walk by she asked for directions, “Excuse me, can you tell me where Eden’s office is? She asked me to wait for her there.”
It was a lie, she ran the risk of getting herself in trouble when they finally realized she was gone, but she was sick of being talked about like she wasn’t even in the room. She’d had to deal with it with her father, she wasn’t allowing that to happen again.
“Yeah, it’s right down this hall.” The woman walked her to the corner and pointed. “It’s the last one on the right.”
“Thank you.” Eden started down the hall, the prints lining the walls catching her eye. The first was a silhouette of a woman, her curly hair flowing down her back, her arms out wide, and the star-speckled sky in the background. It was beautiful. Looking around, she saw all of them seemed to be of the same woman in various areas and backdrops. They were photographs of a person blacked out like a secret only the photographer got to know, a sad secret to keep.
She took her time getting to the office, choosing to examine all the photos as if they would give her some sort of hint who the mystery woman was. Of course, they did nothing but make her heart go out to both the silhouette and photographer.
Finally, at the door she’d been looking for, she took a deep breath. Was she really going to do this? Was she really going to invade the personal space of her new boss?
Yeah, she was. Grasping the knob, she gave a little shutter when it opened. She was half expecting it to be locked, with the other half, the part that contained her self-preservation, hoping it would be locked.
Pushing the door open, she walked inside and took in the large space. Two full walls of windows, the city stretched out before them, caught her eye. They were only on the twelfth floor, but the view was still one that would easily distract a person.
After a few minutes, she turned her back to the view, and her eyes landed on the paintings. They were vivid works of art, but it wasn’t the color that had her moving closer. It was the way the artist had the ropes the women were bound in, jumping from the canvas as if you could reach out and touch the bindings. She jumped when, instead of her hand meeting textured canvas, it met the coarse rope. It was a painting, but the rope was very much real, having been added after the piece had dried.
Four of the pieces graced the walls—depicting women in various positions, tied in ropes of various colors, and all just as provocative as the last without being lewd. They were stunning.
Finally getting her fill of the painting, she turned to the oversized desk. Here came the hard part. Did she respectfully sit in the chair on this side of the desk or make her way around the desk and sit behind it? Either would deliver the message she needed to send, but the former was slightly less likely to be interpreted as blatant disrespect.
Settling on self-preservation, she sat in the chair positioned in front of the desk and waited. Thirty minutes—that was how long it took for them to find her.
“I swear to God, Embry Grace, you scared the shit out of me. What the fuck were you thinking? Trying to get your ass paddled?”
Looking over her shoulder, she grimaced the slightest bit. He wasn’t who she’d expected to find her.
“One time, Mav, one time, and fifteen years later, you’re still not letting me live it down.”
“Really, that’s all you have to say for yourself?” He took up a position in front of her, his ass resting on the edge of the desk, his arms crossed over his chest.
A memory from the last time she saw the very same disapproving look he wore flashed across her mind’s eye, causing her ass to clench. “What else would you like me to say, I clearly don’t get a say in my own future.”
“Of course, you do.”
“Could have fooled me. That last set of papers you handed out, the ones about all the red tape, you didn’t even bother giving me a copy.”
“So, that’s what this is? A temper tantrum?”
“No, it’s a statement. Tell me, how long did it take you to realize I was gone?” She watched his eyes move to the side. “I see your tell hasn’t changed.”
“And your bratty attitude toward me hasn’t changed any either, Angel.”
Embry’s features instantly softened. “How in the hell did I forget you called me that?”
“Probably because you hated it back then.”
“I didn’t want to be an angel. Angels got walked all over, beaten down. I needed to be stronger than that.”
“Why didn’t you tell me he was hitting you?” Maverick asked, his eyes drilling into hers.
“Mostly embarrassment. I thought it was the way everyone’s parents were, but when I finally learned it wasn’t normal, I didn’t want to be the odd one out. I didn’t want to be pitied.”
“I would have helped you.”
An obnoxious snort of laughter filled the room.
“Mav, you were a scrawny, eighteen-year-old kid who weighed maybe a hundred and fifty pounds, soaking wet.” She allowed her eyes to roam his body. “Although I can see that’s no longer the case.”
“I would have protected you.”
“You would have tried, which is why I couldn’t tell you, even though I wanted to.”
“Bullheaded little girl.”
Embry smiled. “She was, wasn’t she?”
“Still is. You worried us, Angel.”
“You cut me out of that meeting long before you realized I’d left.”
“You’re right, and I shouldn’t have. I’m sorry. Can you agree you shouldn’t have run?”
“No, I’m pretty sure I was within my rights to leave.” Embry crossed her arms over her chest, not really sure why she was choosing to dig in her heels.
“Embry.”
The single word was a warning, but she chose to ignore it.
“How long did it take to figure out I was gone? How long did you sit there, not realizing I’d even left the room?”
He looked at his lap. “This was the first place I looked when we noticed you were gone. One of the girls pointed me in the right direction.”
“At least you have the decency to look sheepish.”
“I already said I was sorry. Don’t push your luck.”
“I don’t answer to you.”
“No, but you do answer to us.”
Embry cringed at the sound of Eden’s voice. “Hi, Eden. James.”
“Oh, so you aren’t going to turn that attitude on me as you did him? Well, that hardly seems fair, does it, Mr. Grandgeorge?”
Maverick held her eyes for a few seconds before looking over her head. “We’re old friends, Eden. She’s comfortable with me.”
“I’ve known you long enough to know better than that.” Eden stepped behind her desk as Maverick moved to sit in the seat beside Embry.
James took up a position at the end of the big piece of furniture, the smirk he was fighting, contradicting the arms he had crossed over his chest.
“Are you going to tell us why you left after you were told you went nowhere on your own?”
“You already know why.” Embry’s eyes dropped when his brow moved. “Sir.”
“I really didn’t expect her to step up to the plate and start challenging everything so quickly,” Eden sighed.
“And I didn’t expect to be cut from conversations about my future. Left to fetch the water like a-a waterboy.” The stumble over her words and the horrible reference had laughter bubbling into her chest.
“I mean, they are known for getting water.” Maverick didn’t even try to hide his laugh, choosing instead to allow the full belly laughter to escape without restraint.
Soon everyone was laughing. Their arms wrapped around their bellies, eyes filled with tears, the kind of laughter tha
t was good for the soul.
Embry sobered first and watched as the three of them gathered themselves again. In the short time she had known them, she had come to realize a few things. James was quick to smile, but there was something in the way he and Eden laughed together that was so unhindered as if it was natural for the two of them to do it together. But they were still missing someone. The voice in the back of her head had her heart twisting the slightest bit for Prim.
“They’re her, aren’t they?” The question fell from her mouth without thought, the sudden realization of the truth too much to restrain.
“Em,” James spoke softly but didn’t deny it. Instead, he held her eyes.
“I’m right, aren’t I? All of them, the ones in the hall, those.” She pointed to the paintings she had admired such a short while ago.
“They are.” Eden didn’t even filch as she turned to admire the art. “All of them, but she doesn’t know, and it will be kept that way.”
“How could she not know? It’s so clear.” Em looked at the others.
“To someone from the outside looking in, yes, but to the woman who believes herself a convenient fuck, not so much.” Eden’s eyes collided with hers. “And you are not going to tell her. You have to promise me, Embry. She has to come to this conclusion on her own, no one can push her to this.”
Mouth slightly agape, Embry turned to James.
“She’s kidding, right? Has she never seen the way Prim looks at her? The way the woman literally worships at her feet? Hell, do they even talk to each other?”
“Angel.”
Dramatically, Embry threw her head back. “I didn’t miss the way you used to growl at me, Mav.”
“Liar,” Eden threw back, the easy smile she wore a direct contrast to the faraway look in her eye. “I’m sorry you felt excluded from the meeting. It wasn’t our intention. We’ve just been through so many of these, we sometimes forget that there is another person involved. Also, good choice not sitting in my chair.”
“How did you know I thought about it?”
“Cameras.” James pointed to the small mounted device in the corner.
Nodding her head, Embry turned to Maverick.
