The door slammed open, and Lucas was there, his eyes immediately finding her and honing in. He strode inside and gathered her close, his scent and touch so familiar and comforting they brought more tears to her eyes. Lucas was her touchstone now. Sometimes Lucas was the only thing in the world that seemed real.
“Baby, we’re getting out of here, and I swear we’ll never come back.” He buried his head in her hair, his mouth close to her ear. “I’ll quit tomorrow, and we can go wherever you like. If you want to, we can pack up and move anywhere. I have a lot of money saved up.”
It was a sweet gesture, but not really practical. Lucas had worked his ass off for his career. He couldn’t leave it all behind because she was pissed. Of course, she’d left her career behind, but that was different.
“I would greatly prefer you didn’t quit, Lucas.” Jack’s voice held a wealth of weariness.
Lucas’s arms came down, and he turned to his brother, his expression changing from tender to angry bull in an instant. “You son of a bitch! You planned this.”
Lexi put a hand on his chest. The last thing she needed was a Jack/Lucas throwdown. She was fine with fighting with her stepfather, but she couldn’t stand the thought of Lucas going toe-to-toe with his brother. Jack was the only family Lucas had. She didn’t want to be the reason Lucas lost him. Damn it. She hated being reasonable. “Stop. Let’s hear him out.”
She owed that much to Jack. The man had made the last few years infinitely more comfortable for her. He’d never turned her down when she needed a favor, and he always seemed to care. If something had changed, she wanted to know.
Reason didn’t seem to be something Lucas was interested in at this point. “We don’t have to hear him out. He’s a manipulative son of a bitch who can’t keep his goddamn fingers out of other people’s business. I know exactly what’s going on here. Do you really hate the fact that I’m with her so fucking much that you need to bring back the jerk who broke her heart?”
Jack blanched, the blood leaving his face in an instant. “Lucas, how can you even think that?”
Lucas stood tall, his shoulders thrown back. There was a blank expression on his face that told her he was feeling inconsequential. It was the same look he had when he talked to his father. “I’m not so far outside the tabloids, am I, Jack? You can’t forget how you met me. I tried to blackmail you. I was known as a drug user and a queer. I’m the black sheep of the family. Guess I’m not great son-in-law material.”
She flinched. Jack couldn’t think that, could he? When Lucas had met Jack, he’d been the darling of the tabloids. Lucas had been young and lost. His father had cut him off. Lucas had lashed out by being the baddest boy around. But Jack knew it was an act, right? Since Jack took him under his wing, Lucas had blossomed into the most responsible man she knew. Lucas was the one who took her car in for service and fixed things in her apartment. Lucas brought her lunch when she forgot it and took care of her when she was sick.
“Lucas is good for me,” she said, holding on to him.
Jack ignored her, choosing to stare at Lucas. “What the fuck are you talking about? You’re my brother. Don’t you ever fucking talk about yourself that way. You’re the black sheep? Hell, son, I’m the bastard Dad swept under the rug. You never used a drug once in your damn life. I don’t care how many tabloids you showed up on trying to get the senator’s attention. I love you, Lucas. I am proud of the man you’ve become. I would be thrilled if you would marry Lexi. I’ll open my wallet and pay for the whole damn thing. I’ll write you a blank check, but that won’t happen because you need him.”
“We do not need him. He walked out on her.” Though Lucas’s words were stubborn, she felt a bit of the fight go out of him. His shoulders relaxed slightly. Jack had said the right thing.
Jack deflated, the righteous anger leaving him like a balloon that had been popped. “Oh, brother, he left you, too. I know the whole story. He told me everything, and he didn’t leave out a single bad thing he did. He left both of you, and you haven’t been the same since.”
The room seemed to calm, and Lexi was finally able to ask the question on her mind. If she knew one thing in the world, it was that Jack Barnes loved her mother. “Why would you risk pissing off Mom?”
“First because I love my brother.” Jack’s lips pursed, and he sighed, a long, sad sound. “But mostly because you need help, baby girl, and this was the only way I knew to give it.”
“Help? I’m fine.” She was. She was making it just fine.
Jack’s head shook. “No, you’re not. You drink too much, and you’ve utterly given up on your dreams. You’re a writer, a good one, but you haven’t written a word in years. You’re wasting your life. You’ve had three jobs in two years. I can’t stand it. I worry about it all the time. I know I’m not your father, Lexi, but I swear I love you like you were my own. If I thought rehab would fix you, I would have you hauled to a clinic.”
She huffed, utterly shocked at the accusation. Sure she’d had some trouble with jobs, but it wasn’t her fault all her bosses had been jerks. And she didn’t want to write. It wasn’t like it was a crime or something. “I am not an alcoholic.”
Her stepdad stared at her. “That’s why you’re not in rehab, but can you honestly tell me you haven’t been drinking too much? Can you tell me you aren’t using a bottle of wine to dull whatever pain you’re in?”
It was only one glass to help her sleep. That was what she’d told herself, but then one became two, and three. All so she wouldn’t dream about it at night. The nights with Lucas were easier. She didn’t want him to suspect she was drinking too much, so she curbed it. She kept it to one, but when Lucas was gone, sometimes she lost count, like the night before.
“Lexi?”
Lucas’s quiet question made her want to retreat. She stared at the floor so she didn’t have to look at Lucas.
“Damn it, Lexi.” He pulled her close.
Suddenly it was all too much. Between Jack and Lucas, she felt so small. They were in control of their lives, and she wasn’t. She was drifting. She knew it, but she couldn’t stand the thought that she was some fuckup they needed to take care of. She was such a screwup that apparently they needed to bring in yet another man to spread the load of taking care of her.
Lucas looked so hurt as she pushed him away, but she couldn’t stand to be coddled at that moment.
“Don’t. I just need some time,” she muttered, grabbing her bag. “I won’t go far. I’ll head up to the suite, but I need to be alone. And I promise not to fall into an alcoholic haze. Tell room service not to deliver. I’m sure I can’t be trusted.”
“Alexis,” Jack began in a tone that let her know he was reaching the end of his patience.
It didn’t matter. Her patience was a live, frayed wire waiting to explode. She needed to get out of here. She had zero intention of staying in The Club, but she wasn’t about to let them know that. She needed to be alone.
“I’ll talk to you in the morning. I…I have to go.” Lexi fled the dressing room like the devil was after her.
* * * *
Lucas slumped down on the small sofa and let his head fall into his hands. How had the night gone so fucking wrong? One minute it was perfect bliss, and the next it was an avalanche of their old baggage hitting him squarely in the nuts. Now Lexi had retreated. Not exactly how he’d seen their first real sexual encounter ending.
“Here, drink this.” His brother pressed a glass of Scotch in his hand.
The irony was not lost on Lucas. “Pot, meet kettle.”
He still took a swig.
Jack sat back down. “It’s not the same, and you know it. And you know she’s out of control. She has been since that goddamn car accident.”
“What do you know about that?” Lucas stared at his brother, willing him to change the subject. Jack could be a manipulative SOB when it came to his family. He often knew things about Lucas’s life and his job before Lucas knew them. It was one of the many things he admired about his brothe
r. Did Jack know something he wasn’t telling? Lexi had been adamant about not talking about what happened that night. He thought she was wrong not to talk about it, but she wouldn’t listen to reason. It would almost be a relief if Jack had found out.
Jack’s mouth became a flat line of frustration. “I know hospitals are a bitch to get information out of. I even tried bribing some people to get records. Julian could do it. He could have Taggart’s hacker get in. He could do it himself if he wanted to. You know he’s got shit on every power player in Texas, but he’s gone all ethical on me. He’d change his tune if it was Dani or Finn. But I have my suspicions.”
Lucas couldn’t confirm or deny Jack’s suspicions. He’d been sworn to silence. And he wasn’t sure Lexi could handle being confronted with the truth right now. “I never should have left her alone.”
Jack shook his head. “You can’t be with her twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. I meant what I said. I would love for you and Lexi to get married, but I don’t think it can work unless you two deal with Aidan.”
He took another drink. Now that he was calm, he knew his brother had his best interests at heart. Of course, Jack didn’t always go about serving those interests in the way he would prefer. “Is that why you brought him back?”
Jack’s lips quirked up slightly. “I didn’t go looking for him. He came to me. He’d been discharged from the Army.”
Lucas had to take a long, deep breath. Aidan had gone into the Army? He’d obviously seen some combat. God, he couldn’t imagine fun-loving, creative, playful Aidan with a gun in his hand. Aidan had always been very alpha male, but he’d preferred his music over anything else. Why had he done that?
Guilt gnawed at Lucas because deep down he knew the reason. Aidan had escaped. He’d needed to prove he was still a “man” after the night he’d spent with Lucas. That one night seemed to have ruined a lot of lives.
“I think you need to talk to him,” Jack said slowly, as though he wanted the words to permeate Lucas’s thick brain.
He nodded. He did need to talk to Aidan. Lexi could probably use some closure, too. “I get that, but don’t you think that maybe Leo’s office would have been a better place for a therapy session?”
Now his brother smiled outright. “Hell, no. I think, in this case, a scene was the only way to go. Did Aidan fuck up? He wasn’t supposed to tell you who he was until you were comfortable with him again.”
“He has a scar over his left eye. His mask slipped.”
“Yeah, it’s the little things that trip you up.”
“I’m still pissed at you.” Hearing Jack say he was all right with him marrying Lexi went a long way to mending the fence, but they still had some problems. “You should have told me.”
“Yeah, because then you would have been totally reasonable about it. Neither one of you has said his name in years, and yet he’s always there between you. I could plead his case for him, but in the end, you need to talk to him.” Jack leaned forward, his face serious in the low light. “Look at me, Lucas. I love you, brother, and I love Lexi. I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t think it was important. I wouldn’t allow him close to my family again unless I was damn certain that boy had changed. I believe in him. You need to make that decision for yourself, though. But you think about it. I believe in you, too. I’m a damn good judge of character, and I don’t hand out second chances like they were candy. I gave you a second chance, and I’ve never regretted it. I never will. You talk to him, and maybe you can come to the same conclusion that I did.”
“What’s that?”
Jack leaned in. “That life is far too short to waste on grudges. Love does not come along often. When it does, you can’t throw it away because it isn’t perfect.”
Lucas felt his fists clench. “That was what Aidan did.”
“I know. He knows. Don’t make his mistake,” Jack said. “You and Lexi are an awful lot like me and Sam. You two are halves of a whole. I knew it the minute I saw you two together. You’re too alike. Just like me and Sam. If Abigail hadn’t come along, we would have gone on, but we wouldn’t have been complete. We wouldn’t have found the love that was always there. Abby made that possible. I believe Aidan can do that for you and Lexi. Tell me something. Was he selfish tonight? Did he use the two of you?”
“No. He brought us together.” But he could have. Aidan could have ordered them to pleasure him, and they would have. He and Lexi had both been under his spell from the moment he took charge. He’d called Lucas his partner when he didn’t have to. Lucas had signed up to bottom for him. Aidan could have shoved him to the side and taken Lexi for himself. Yet, he’d given Lucas his fantasy.
“He loves you.” Jack’s tone was quiet, almost tender.
“He told Lexi he loved her, too. He left her.” Lucas didn’t like the way he was already softening. Already, he felt the need to talk to Aidan. Why couldn’t he be a ruthless bastard? Why couldn’t he be cold? Aidan had walked out on them, but was Lucas able to turn away without a second thought? Fuck no. He was sitting here, wondering what had happened and how Aidan had felt when he’d been injured. Had he been alone? Had he been scared?
Fuck.
“Talk to him.” Jack stood, and he held out his hand, pulling Lucas up and enveloping him in the type of bone-cracking, backslapping bear hug he’d missed for the first twenty-three years of his life. Lucas gave in. He couldn’t withhold his affection from the man who had given him his new life. Without Jackson Barnes, he wouldn’t have become a lawyer. He wouldn’t have met Lexi. He wouldn’t be a man.
He was going to have to talk to Aidan.
“You’re an asshole,” he said as he finally pulled away.
Jack grinned. “You know, I get that a lot. Good luck, Lucas. I’m heading home. I have to talk to Abby before she hears the story from someone else. I might be sleeping in the barn for a week or two. If you need anything, please call. At least Sam will still be able to answer the phone. There are a lot of nice things about sharing a woman. One of us is usually in good with the wife. Good night, brother.”
The door closed behind Jack. Lucas picked up his shirt and shrugged into it. He couldn’t help but look in the mirror. He could still see hints of that scared, desperate boy who had first walked into this club all those years before. He had walked in, determined to blackmail his brother, but what he’d found was something like salvation. Was that how Aidan had felt when he walked through the doors?
Jack was right. If anyone understood the value of a second chance, it was Lucas Cameron. But he was going to make damn sure Aidan O’Malley deserved one.
Chapter Seven
Aidan toyed with the beer in front of him. He knew he should be packing and getting ready to go home. He had his answer, but he sat at the bar, unable to force himself to leave. He heard people whispering all around him. It didn’t matter. He’d fucked everything up, again.
Leo had tried to talk to him. He’d growled enough that Leo had finally given up. The last thing Aidan wanted was a coaching session.
What exactly had he thought would happen? Had he thought they would be okay with him walking back into their lives? And he hadn’t exactly walked. He’d ordered and spanked his way back in. He’d deceived his way back in. But, damn it, it had seemed like the only way to do it. If he didn’t know deep in his heart that he was the best thing in the world for them, he would sacrifice and walk away. He’d been half afraid he’d look them back up and find they were married and happy without him.
He wasn’t going to give up. Deception hadn’t worked. He didn’t like to think of it that way. He liked to think of it as easing back in. Well, easing back in had blown up in his face. He needed a new plan because this was the most important thing in his life. He wasn’t about to give up now.
His cell phone vibrated. He pulled it out, half hoping it was Lexi calling to scream at him. He’d listen to her. He would let her rage at him because he wanted to hear her voice. He would have let Lucas beat on him just to feel his hands a
gain. Aidan groaned as he saw the number. His brother.
“What?”
There was a momentary pause. “Well, ain’t that typical. You leave me with all the work and then act like I’m the one in trouble.”
And it was exactly like his brother to try to turn everything around. “Look, Bo, I’ve already talked to Dwight. He said you were busy causing trouble.”
“What? Motherfucker. He ain’t even here, Aidan. He left the ranch early this afternoon.”
That wasn’t what Dwight had said. Bo wasn’t exactly known for his honesty. “Where did he go?”
His brother huffed over the phone. “I don’t know. It’s not like he tells me anything. He’s a fucking asshole.”
Bo pretty much thought everyone was a fucking asshole. Aidan felt unaccountably tired. “Was there something you wanted, Bo?”
“There are a lot of things I want, but I’m not getting them, am I? I called because I thought you should know something, but now I think you deserve everything you have coming your way. Go to hell.”
The connection was cut with a brutal click. Aidan let the phone fall from his hands, not caring when it fell to the floor. It didn’t matter. If it rang again, it would be one more person who wanted to tell him what a failure he was.
Aidan closed his eyes and shut out the world. Music, sad and sweet, flowed through his brain. Just because he couldn’t play anymore didn’t mean he didn’t write in his head. He heard a single guitar, plucking gently, the sound as lonely as he felt.
He could see the song in his head, but none of it mattered since the people he’d wanted to play for were gone.
“How about some water, Bill? I think I can handle this particular confrontation without liquor.”
He opened his eyes, turning because he knew the sound of that voice, deep and always with a hint of sarcasm, like the owner never took the world too seriously. It was deceptive, that voice, because he happened to know that Lucas Cameron took everything he loved with an almost worshipful reverence. Lucas Cameron knew how to love.
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