by Nana Malone
"I'm not suggesting anything. I'm using my eyes, and they tell me you are desperate for Zia. And right now, she's got you by the balls."
He had a point.
"She does not have me by the balls."
He chuckled. "Okay, if you say so. But I see how you're watching her like you can't keep your shit together. It's clear. It's apparent. I'm just wondering if you love her or not."
"I don't love her. I barely know her. We just— fuck, I don't know."
"Yeah, we have all been there."
Every time I came to the palace, I marveled. This basketball court was set on the hillside with a backdrop of azure blue water in beautiful pristine white sand. "Jesus Christ, this is amazing."
Sebastian grinned. "Let's see if you still say that in thirty minutes after you've had Roone check you hard."
"I'm pretty sure, I can hold my own."
"What, cousin? Did you pickup basketball along the way?"
I shrugged. "I've got some skills."
Holy shit I was about to play basketball with the royal fucking family. There were a couple of other guys I didn't recognize. When I approached one of them, he smiled. "Hey, what's up? I'm Trevor. I'm usually Tristan's guard." He introduced me to two more royal guards.
Tristan. I'd seen him at the wedding too. He came over and shook my hand again. "Hey, Derrick. I haven't seen you in ages."
“Different game for you. Are you ready mate? How's your basketball?"
"Uh, let's just say professionally I’ll stick to football." Tristan played for the Argonauts, the Winston Isles’ soccer team.
I grinned. "Yeah, I hear you."
Lucas, I knew from a couple of events before the wedding. He gave me a nod, even as he watched me closely.
"Lucas."
"Are you still a dick?"
I frowned. "No?"
He lifted a brow. "That sounds like a question."
"Well, I guess that depends on what you consider dickish."
He rolled his eyes. "Whatever."
The big guy was the one who'd gotten married. Roone. He came over to shake my hand, and I took it and said, "Congratulations are in order."
"Yeah well, I feel like you shouldn't be congratulating the luckiest son of a bitch alive."
"It must have been a short honeymoon."
"Yeah, our longer one will be two months from now. Jessa had some work she had to do."
I still didn't understand how the Princess of the Winston Isles actually had a job, but whatever. It wasn't my business.
Xander and Alexi were brothers and also Derrick’s cousins. Alexi was the quiet one of the pair. Xander, well he was a character. Flashy and brash. He was easy to like.
When we started playing, I was on a team with Sebastian, Roone and Trevor. To say the game was athletic would be an understatement.
Lucas didn't like to lose. I'd learned from a little information in the car ride over here that Lucas had been all over the world, but he and Sebastian had synced up in New York. He'd also been a conman in his former life. Maybe it took one to recognize one.
You're not a conman, you were hired.
Yeah, yeah. Semantics.
Lucas, apparently, wasn't buying anything I was doing. He rode me hard. Every turn, every jump, every shot I attempted, he wasn't having any of it.
He dogged me.
Maybe he thought I was going to lose my shit. Maybe he thought I was going to let up, but when he pressed, I pressed. When I shot a jumper over his head, he whistled low. "Okay, Lebron, have you been practicing that?"
I shrugged. "I prefer Curry to Lebron."
He lifted a brow as if he respected that. "Okay, so you're not too bad."
"Same goes for you. You're okay."
He chuckled. As the game continued, I began to sweat. I enjoyed the jokes and the jest between the guys. Sebastian gave it as good as he got, and Roone always called Sebastian on his bullshit.
Lucas still blocked every chance he could.
Alexi was surprisingly sneaky. He kept fitting in tight spaces and catching rebounds. He put in the work and hustled for every ball.
Xander, unsurprisingly, talked the most shit.
Lucas has his own style of playing. He stole the ball, fought calls, and ran more than any of us. When he was called on it by Tristan, he just laughed. "Why do you guys always seem to forget that I'm a thief and a hustler?'
Both Sebastian and Roone said, "Former."
Lucas laughed. "Okay, okay, former. But honestly, I used to steal things. Stealing from you chumps is easy."
I laughed. "Oh my God, you guys are intense."
Sebastian clapped me on the back. "See? This is what it's like to have family. Maybe you should stop being a stranger."
Fuck. I'd like to. He was all right. Even Lucas felt like family.
Sure. Just not yours.
When we were done, my muscles ached. And that worry and trepidation I had about my time coming to an end eased some. I had to go back to my life. I couldn't stay. I couldn't live this life as if it was mine to have. But still, I couldn't help wishing for it. I liked these people. Even Lucas. I liked being here, I liked the island, I liked the water.
Most of all, you like Zia.
Yeah, I did like her. The problem was, I was lying to her through my teeth. I wanted my fucking life back. I want to tell her who I really was and have her still want me. I needed her to know.
You can't tell her.
I had signed a contract, a full-on NDA. I'd cheated a little with the Theo thing, but when she found out, either way, she was going to hate me.
It didn't matter. I still wanted her.
You should have thought of that before. Liking her could get you killed. Liking her could get her killed.
I didn't know what was going to happen, but falling for her was most certainly going to get my heart broken. Let alone what it was going to do to her when she found out the truth.
Twenty-Three
Theo…
My phone rang, and I answered on the first ring. But since my mind was still on the conversation with Zia that morning, I was in a fuck of a mood. "What?"
"Okay, dickhead, who shit in your chocolate pudding?"
I relaxed marginally when I heard his voice. "Sorry. Just a long a fucking day."
"I called earlier, but you didn’t pick up."
"Yeah. I was in a meeting. How’s Mom?"
"She’s good man. Her color is better than when we left, and she’s eating. I think the CBD stuff you got for her is working. Or it might be the pot I snuck her.”
“You gave my mother pot?” I pinched the bridge of my nose.
“Relax. It’s sanctioned for medical use. But I got her to my guy with the best grade stuff.”
“Jesus, Kyle.”
“Relax. I’ve got this. She’s good. You gonna worry that I’m scoring pot for your mom or be happy that she’s eating?”
“I’m not opposed to pot. Clearly you remember college, but for my mother?”
He chuckled. “Well, you should see her high. It’s hilarious. She’s a giggler.”
“Christ.” I might kill him when I got back.
“You all right man? You don't seem like yourself."
I automatically glanced around to make sure no one else could hear me. I shook my head. "I don't know. I feel like, I don't know, like I'm him. Or I'm not. I don't know. It's all fucked."
"I’ve been saying, maybe it's time to pull back and come home?"
"How am I suppose to pull back, Kyle? These fuckers know where my mother lives. You think I can just go back? It’s hitting home that I can’t just slide back into my life. Exactly where am I supposed to go? How am I supposed to hide?" There was no going back to my life until I found Arlington.
There was a beat of silence. "I don't know. But maybe hiding in plain sight is the thing. Once you’re injected back into your life, they’ll have to leave you alone. I hear it in your voice, dude. You’re underwater. What bad thing happens if you just walk
away? Even better, if you just stroll up to the king and tell him everything?"
Kyle had known me longer than anyone. I wanted to tell him he didn't know what he was talking about, but obviously, he did. He could see I was struggling.
"The king? That would likely mean jail time. I don’t want to be locked up abroad, Kyle. With Arlington missing, this looks bad. Really bad. Every avenue, every option, seems like a dead end. I'm not just frustrated; I'm angry at myself, at you, at—"
He gave a humorless laugh. "What are you angry at me for?"
Fuck. “Forget it.”
“No, dude, you said it, I’m not gonna forget it. Out with it.”
I ran a hand through my hair. "I'm not even really angry with you. Mostly, I'm just pissed at myself. Because while you wanted this to happen, while you thought this was a good idea, I still had to be the one to say yes. And like an idiot, I said yes when I never should have. This being in someone else's skin is too much. I'm not this person."
Kyle sighed. "What makes you think you're not him? You've been doing a good enough job so far. Better than he ever did."
" I can pretend to be him. But I'm starting to become him. Don't you get it? I'm not just acting. I am him. I'm running his company, staying in his house, eating his food. I have taken on his personality. The more I do it, the less I feel like me. I’m doing shit I would never do. Hurting people. Look, we were supposed to go home soon. This was all supposed to be work. Something is very, very wrong. I haven't been able to talk to him since I got this job. It's like he vanished off the face of the earth."
"Yeah,, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that…"
"What?"
"That phone number he gave you, it's never been active. As in, it was never turned on."
I frowned. "The fuck?"
"When you call, what happens?"
"It says ‘out of service area.’ I just figured he was out of range or something."
He shook his head. "It was never turned on. He bought it a week before you took over. Activated but never once accessed."
Fuck. I rubbed my temples in frustration.
“You’ve done everything you needed to. You can walk away in a week. None of this has to affect you. None of this has to touch you. On your turf they won’t touch you."
I shook my head even though I knew he couldn’t see me. "I started this. I have to finish it."
"Theo, look at yourself. I doubt you’ve had any real sleep in over a week. You're testy. Exhausted. I mean, you've taken on this merger like it's real. Like it's your actual merger of your company not someone else's. You are not him. None of this is your job. You don't have to take on any of the shit that you don't want. You don’t have to be what everyone needs all the time. You owe these people nothing."
"That's easy for you to say."
"Maybe, but at the same time, I know you. I get it. It’s tempting. You get a do over. You can run any company you want. You were on that track. You were headed that way, and then things changed. I mean, if you walked away, maybe all of this reminds you of that?"
"No. Maybe. I don't know. I just know that I don't like who I'm becoming. I'm keeping secrets. I'm lying. I just want to tell the goddamn truth." Mostly I wanted to tell the truth to one person.
"Or maybe you want to tell a certain brunette who you are."
I frowned. "She’ll hate me." She already does. “It’s a moot point.”
"Well, man, you can't pretend she's not a factor."
"She's not a factor." She couldn’t be. I didn’t get the happy ending and get the girl.
"That's not even anywhere near the truth. She's absolutely a factor. In case you don't know it, you’re in love with her."
Fuck. "I’m not." I couldn’t be.
"I think it's fucking great. For the last two years, you've just been focused on the company. You haven't done anything for yourself, working these nutso eighty-hour weeks, they were going to put you in an early grave. You have feelings for her and you can’t even be yourself. I think that's fucking with you. Because you don't know if she’d want Theo."
He was right. I knew he was right. There was no getting around it. I'd bought into my own bullshit, and now it was coming to bite me in the ass.
I had someone I wanted to care about, actually care about. I couldn't tell her who I was because she thought I was someone else. In a matter of a week, I'd have all the money I needed to have the life I wanted. I could take care of my mother and move my company forward with Kyle, but I wanted to stay.
I had to get myself back. Which meant I was going to have to leave. I was going to have to walk away from this, from Zia, from the Winston Isles, from the new relationships, from everything.
This wasn't my life. Eventually, the real Derrick Arlington was going to come back, and he was going to want his life back. And Zia was going to leave because she was going to find out who I really was. I might look like him, but I had a completely different lifestyle, and well, I'd lied to her. Was lying to her. And would continuously do so until this was over. So that didn’t make me a great candidate for a boyfriend.
"I'm in way over my head, aren't I?"
"You know you need to walk away.”
“Yeah, I know.”
Question was, could I?
Twenty-Four
Theo…
"Mr. Arlington, did you want me to get pastries for your meeting?"
I’d just finished my run. My ankles had started to act up, so I finished earlier than planned. Olivia had followed me into my office as I marched in to take a shower.
"What meeting?"
"Your eleven o'clock. Some of the board members are here, your father, Brian Cohen... Would you like pastries? You usually tell me, and the meeting is ordinarily on the schedule before the day, but I didn't notice it until this morning. But I can still get pastries from the place downstairs in a hurry. It's on the main calendar of the conference rooms. Not your personal calendar."
I lifted a brow. "Eleven, you say?"
She nodded. "Should I get pastries? I wasn't sure."
I shook my head. "No Olivia, don't worry about it. Is Zia at her desk?"
"I sent her to go make coffee. Let's hope she at least gets that right. That girl, she's such a mess." Then she shut her mouth abruptly. "I'm so sorry sir. I know that you and she are—" She shut up.
I lifted my brow. "She and I are what?"
"I'm sorry sir. It's not a secret that you're dating her, but as an assistant, she's not great."
I nodded slowly. "That's all, Olivia, thank you."
She scowled and scurried away, closing the door behind her. I checked the time. Those motherfuckers were trying to perform a coup d’etat behind my back.
That's how coups work. You're not allowed to know until it’s too late.
I had ten minutes to shower and get down there and find out what the fuck those motherfuckers were planning.
I didn't so much think I needed a bodyguard as I needed someone to hold me back. Just what the fuck were they doing, and why wasn't I included?
I’d never showered so quickly in my life. In five minutes, I was showered and dressed casually. Not in a suit. I wore a long-sleeved shirt shoved in a more casual pair of slacks. My hair was still wet, but I combed it back. Yes, I knew the look was kind of fuck-boy, but it was the farthest I could get from my supposed old man, I guess.
When I opened my office door, Zia stood and was ready with her laptop and her phone. "Everything okay?" Her gaze searched mine, and there was a level of warmth there, but not like before.
Not like when she trusted me. Not like when she wanted me. Which was fine, because that's not what this was about at all. She followed behind me without saying anything, but when we stepped in the elevator with just the two of us heading down, she frowned. "Is something broken? Is someone trying to kill you? A little insight would be terrific."
"No one is trying to kill me. At least not yet. But give it ten minutes."
Oh shit. She pulled ou
t her phone and sent a quick text to Trace and Jax, who were downstairs in the van. "I'll need backup inside the building."
"Are you calling off the merger? I should probably have more guns."
My gaze slid over her trim frame. Another pencil skirt. Jesus Christ, this one had a kind of flutter-skirt thing at mid-thigh, so when she walked, the fabric swirled around her a little bit. Where was she even hiding that gun?
When the elevator dinged, I stepped aside and let her out first. Her perfume wafted into my nostrils, trying to distract me. I followed, and sure enough, in the large conference room sat Derrick’s father, Brian Cohen, and six other board members who presumably might still be sympathetic to my father.
I gave them a broad smile. "Gentlemen. What, no ladies? Ugh, tsk, tsk. We really should work on our gender equality."
My father sputtered. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, it looks like you're having a board meeting without me, so I figured I'd join you since this is my company now."
Brian stood up. "Okay, everyone, calm down. Take a breath. We're just having a friendly meeting with some board members over some concerns that they were communicating."
"I would be delighted to answer any questions they may have."
I sat next to Timothy Arlington’s chair and smiled at him. "I'm pretty sure this seat is for the CEO, right?"
He shoved down a bit. "Why, you piece of shit."
"Tsk, tsk, Dad. Not in front of our investors."
I took the seat he vacated and met each of their eyes. "I understand you have some concerns. I would be more than happy to answer any questions you have in my office.”
Brian tried to interrupt again. "Well, yes, but since you're really busy, we figured we'd take that off your plate."
I gave him a smile that was all teeth. "Next time someone has a question about something the CEO should know, make sure you call me."
Behind me, Zia took notes, grabbing for a spare chair to put her recorder on. Olivia had turned on the recording feature of the conference room as well. I could have just listened in, but I wanted the full show. And I wanted to make Derrick’s father squirm.
