Chapter 39
“You know, even though you left, you still helped me get through my recovery,” Aiden told Zoe as his fingers trailed up and down her bare back. It was a Saturday afternoon and Zoe was lying naked on her stomach in Aiden’s bedroom. She had reached over and grabbed up one of the reports from the pile they still had to skim through for aliases Diane had given them. Aiden was reclined against his pillows, playing with Zoe’s unruly hair.
They hadn’t told anyone that they’d gotten back together. Their secrecy didn’t matter. Anyone who cared could see it easily enough without being told. Mason and Amelia smirked whenever Zoe looked at them and exchanged significant glances at one another but those were becoming increasingly heated as well and gave Zoe a reason to smirk right back. Aiden hadn’t told his grandmother or Jack but his younger brother had given him a playful pat on the back when Aiden backed out of attending one of Jack’s baseball games because Zoe was coming over to work on their new investigation. Gram had kissed his cheek and told him there was leftover shepherd’s pie in the fridge (he’d found a box of condoms mixed in with his laundry when he went to tidy his room later and was glad Gram and Jack weren’t there to see the stunning shade of red he adopted at the discovery).
“Hm?” Zoe asked, looking up from the page and yawning. “What’d you say?”
“I said, even though you were gone, you still helped me with my recovery. After my accident.”
“How so?” Her brow furrowed. She felt the familiar pang of guilt at the thought of what she’d done but it wasn’t as sharp as it used to be and it didn’t last as long. Not with his fingers tickling her bare skin like that.
“The thought of you, remembering what it was like to be with you, it reminded me there were things worth fighting for. Those were some of the first things to come back. The sense of betrayal and anger came later but that only made me more determined to get back to myself. When I got mad, I wanted to show you what you were missing,” he laughed and the bed shook until she was laughing too.
“I am sorry you know. And no, I’m not going to stop saying it,” she added quickly before he could scold her again. “I don’t have the best track record when it comes to dealing with things.”
“I kind of knew that going into this,” he admitted. “After the boating accident, you pulled away from me. It makes sense you did it again when your dad died. And from what Jack has told me – repeatedly – when I first woke up and was confused, I wasn’t exactly myself. You needed me as much as I needed you. I wasn’t there for you either.”
She snorted. “Not like you had much choice in the matter. Don’t try to say this stuff to make me better. It’s not going to happen right away and I’m okay with that.” She put the report aside and rolled over so she could pull herself up into a sitting position, pulling the sheet up with her to cover her breasts. “It’s not up to you to make me feel better about what I did. I’m the one who’s supposed to be making it up to you, remember.”
“You don’t have to—” She interrupted him with a kiss.
“I say I do,” she whispered against his lips as she pulled back. He followed her mouth with his and kissed her again, pressing her back into the pillows when he felt her smile against him and pull him down on top of her.
****
“I’m sorry I didn’t to call you sooner but I wanted to wait until Aiden and I had finished going through the names you gave us.”
“Don’t worry about it, Zoe. You work on this at your own pace and just let me know if there’s anything I can do to help along the way.”
“Well, the FBI didn’t have any of those names in the records or notes they gave to us and when we did general searches for them, nothing promising turned up.”
“I was afraid they’d be another dead end. I just wish I knew where else he had money stashed or if he had property somewhere. Of course, given what he promised me, he couldn’t exactly tell me without basically admitted he’d broken his word.”
“Looks like we’ll have to wait and see if the police find anything to do with Aiden’s car.”
“You haven’t reached out to Lucas again, have you?”
“No. It didn’t seem like a good idea once I roped Aiden into helping. Lucas got rather jealous of Aiden before everything happened with Uncle David. I doubt that will have changed.”
“You and Aiden have found your way back to one another?”
“Well… I mean… we’re working together again… And—”
“Lucas was jealous? He’s seen you and Aiden together?”
“We weren’t really together when he saw us – well, we were on our way to maybe – but then Aiden had his accident the same morning my dad… But I had already put an end to things with Lucas, once and for all, so he had no right to be jealous—”
“Since when has jealousy ever had anything to do with rationality?”
“Good point. But none of that matters. Aiden and I are together now and I didn’t think it would be a good idea to open up a can of worms with Lucas over it. Though, I suppose it’s something he’ll have to get used to eventually. It’s not like we’ll never run into each other around town.”
“How long after Lucas saw the two of you together was Aiden’s accident?”
“A couple of days, maybe. I’m not sure. Why?”
“No reason.”
“Are you still there?”
“Yes, I’m still here. I was just… thinking. Have you had any luck with the names I gave you? Do you need more?”
“We had one lead but the guy was killed around the time the FBI showed up. As for the rest… the FBI don’t have the names from what they gave us but we can’t find any of them either. It’s been kind of a dead end. I know you’re doing what you can – what you’re comfortable with – but… I was wondering if you’d… reconsider coming forward and working with the FBI directly? I don’t have a lot of confidence in them, but they do have more resources than we do.”
“I… I’ll think about it.”
“You will? What’s ch—… Never mind. I’m… I’ve got to go now. But you’ll call me – or I’ll call you – in a day or two. Agent Boon said they should have something on the car soon.”
“You call me as soon as you hear about it, all right? I want to know what they find.”
“About Aiden’s accident? Okay, I will but you’ll think about what you said? About talking to the FBI?”
****
“Lucas?”
“Mom? You… you called back,” he was surprised and while he’d been half-hoping she would, she couldn’t have picked a worse time to call.
He lowered his binoculars. His car was parked outside the realty office where one of his mother’s former neighbors worked. There were only two or three of the people he’d met so far in his search whom he thought might still be in touch with his mother and he’d been watching each of them in turn to find something he might be able to use as leverage to get them to give up her location or contact information. He stole a quick glance down at the number on his screen. When he tried calling her back on the number, no one had answered but it hadn’t gone to a machine either. A search had told him the number belonged to a payphone in Philadelphia (he hadn’t thought there could be too many of those machines left but had to admit the city was too large to search without a better lead and she could have just been passing through). This number was probably another payphone but depending on where it was located, he might be able to start piecing together a location for her.
“Of course I called again. Listen, honey, I have to ask you if you’ve seen Zoe?”
He had been doing a good job of distracting himself from thinking about Zoe. He’d heard she was back – her appointment to president of Dunmore Corp had been all over the local news. Though he’d told himself he was fine without her, that he didn’t want to get back together with her anymore, he felt the familiar twinge of longing and need that came with the mention of her name. For so
long it had been as easy as picking up the phone and even after Vegas when she was furious with him, she hadn’t felt so… far away. But a distance had crept up and he’d thought he was making progress with her until that… that… He took a deep breath to calm himself.
“No. I haven’t seen her since she came back. She wasn’t too thrilled with me the last time we saw each other and after everything Dad did… Why do you ask?”
“I just think it would be better for both of you if you left her alone. The poor girl has been through a lot and she doesn’t need you getting involved. You lost that right after what you did to her in Vegas.”
Lucas’s brow furrowed in confusion as it suddenly occurred to him to wonder, why is she bringing up Zoe? “How do you know about Vegas? And Mom, why are you – have you seen Zoe? Have you talked to her?”
He fought the impulse to throw the binoculars out the window. His mother had talked to Zoe. That was all there was to it. She had been in touch with his ex-girlfriend – a woman who had humiliated him – and she wouldn’t even take the time to talk to her own son in person, wouldn’t tell him where she was…
“I know about Vegas because I was there. I’ve… watched you… seen you from time to time since your father got custody of you. I didn’t want him in my life anymore so I pushed for full custody or none at all. But I couldn’t go without seeing you entirely so I kept tabs on you and was there more than you knew.”
“But Vegas… That was…” He couldn’t complete the thought as another forced its way through. Had Zoe been the one to tell his mother he’d been looking for her? No. She couldn’t have. She didn’t know. He hadn’t seen her since she came back. But still, a small pang of suspicion had taken root in his side and it was growing quickly. She’d played him for a fool before. Why not now? When they’d been seeing each other, she’d gone out with what’s-his-name and made out with him where anyone and everyone could see. If he hadn’t taken care of him when the opportunity presented itself…
“Have you talked to Zoe?” he asked again, his anger seeping into his voice. “Have you seen her?”
No, she couldn’t know where Diane was. If Zoe knew where his mother was, she would have turned her over to the police or the FBI. They’d been looking for Diane too and Zoe would do anything to get to David and have him sent away for her father’s death. But Zoe might have a way of contacting her.
Lucas was fuming and hadn’t been listening to his mother’s reply. He forced himself to focus but realized that the humming in his ear wasn’t her voice but the dial tone. Had the time on the call run out on her end? Or had she hung up on him?
He tossed the binoculars and his cell phone onto the seat beside him and started the car up again. He didn’t need to watch this woman anymore. Zoe had the answers he was looking for. As tempting as driving straight to her house and confronting her was, he heard his father’s voice in the back of his mind warning him to be careful about this and think it through. Don’t do anything stupid.
Chapter 40
“I’m going to tell her today,” Mason assured Amelia. She would have believed him more if he weren’t pacing a hole in the carpet of his tiny office.
“You should,” she reiterated, doing her best not to smile at his nervousness. “She will laugh at the notion, I promise. You know that she and Aiden are together. There is no way that she will do or say anything about it to your father during the conference call tomorrow. You simply need to tell her that he had made the suggestion and tell him that she is seeing someone else and either ask them both to avoid bringing it up or hope that they do not.” She gave him an encouraging smile and when he caught sight of it, he stopped pacing.
The glance between them lingered until both looked away, flushing deeply. He didn’t know why it had been so necessary for him to call her down for a pep talk like this. Zoe was his best friend and he knew that she would understand everything but for some reason he was still reluctant to approach her with his father’s absurd wish. He knew that part of it was the fact that she hadn’t officially told him about her and Aiden. Normally he would have no trouble calling her out on her secrecy but he didn’t want her to turn around and begin grilling him regarding his plans for Amelia.
The truth was, he didn’t know what he wanted from his friendship with Amelia. It wasn’t something he’d been looking for and what it was now was great but he could feel more was there if he was willing to push for it. At the same time, he’d gleaned enough of what she’d just been through with John to know that she probably didn’t want any kind of romantic relationship for a while and he certainly didn’t want to be another man pushing her for something she didn’t want. But how do you know if you don’t try, he could hear Zoe telling him the way he had told her however many times before.
“I should uh… I should go find Zoe,” he said, snapping out of his reverie and grabbing the folder off his desk with the proposal for the merger. He and Amelia moved around one another with an ease that came from each being hyperaware of the other. She wished him luck but said it so quietly she couldn’t be sure he’d heard it. As he vanished, she leaned against the edge of his desk with a sigh.
She had teased and hinted to get Zoe to tell her about Aiden but as soon as Amelia could see the confession on the tip of her friend’s tongue, a question about Mason hit her instead. “Do you want me to get him to ask you out?”
Amelia had grown flustered and Zoe had backed down but the question had done its job and Amelia had avoided bringing up how it seemed Zoe and Aiden were making up for lost time in their newly renewed relationship. Or maybe it was Zoe trying to set her up with Mason… Zoe could have been staying over at Aiden’s the previous Saturday night… but she could have just been keeping out of the way so Mason and Amelia could spend time alone together themselves. Unsure if or when to expect Zoe home, Amelia and Mason had ordered pizza and spent the evening chatting and watching movies from Zoe’s collection, staying up until the early hours of the morning laughing and talking. It had been… friendly. That was all. It was the kind of thing that friends do. And that was all she and Mason were and it was all they would be. She needed to focus on herself. But if he makes you happy, how is that not focusing on yourself? Amelia could hear Zoe point out with a singsong lilt to her voice that went along with the smug and knowing smile Zoe wore whenever she caught Mason and Amelia so much as looking at one another.
Mason had been gone long enough. She could safely begin her own trek back to her station a short way from Zoe’s office without worrying about sharing an elevator with Mason and increasing what on her part was nerves. There were moments when it was so easy to be around him and all it took was a look for her to break out in a nervous sweat and her stomach to twist.
The door to Zoe’s office was closed when Mason reached it. He couldn’t hear much in the way of voices on the other side but knowing some of the details of her first tryst with Aiden, he thought it prudent to knock and loudly announce his presence before waiting until Zoe opened the door. It proved a wise decision. Zoe’s blouse was only partially buttoned and Aiden was hastily tucking his shirt back into his pants and smoothing down his hair.
“Mason,” she said a little breathlessly. “We were just… um… What brings you here?”
“I wanted to speak with you about the conference call regarding the merger,” he said pushing into the room and tactfully taking one of the chairs in front of Zoe’s desk leaving Aiden cross-legged and leaning forward on the rumpled sofa. Mason glanced over to Aiden who reached carefully for a folder that had been on the floor.
He rose from his perch strategically positioning the folder and remarking, “I should let you two get to it then,” as he made his way for the door.
“I’ll give you a call when we’re through with this and we can get back to searching the names of that list I’d found,” Zoe called to him as he nodded on his way out of her office.
Mason gave Zoe a meaningful look but she ignored it. “So you’re fina
lly ready to tell me where things stand with this merger then.”
Mason felt the heat in his face and deflated a bit. “There are… several things about the merger that I have… been holding back on… a little.”
“Oh,” Zoe said with eyes narrowed. She leaned back in her chair becoming aware of just how unkempt she was but only making minor adjustments that could be passed off as simply fidgeting, brushing stray hair out of her face and back into place, adjusting the sleeves of her blouse. She left the buttons as they were, knowing it was a constant temptation for Mason to make a comment on her relationship with Aiden. For some reason, she didn’t want to announce it to the world; she would rather get caught in it and was by now completely sure both Mason and Amelia were aware of the state of things.
“The company that your father was looking to merge with… is… actually my father’s company. Hamilton Group,” he said quickly.
“Oh,” she repeated but with a higher pitch and higher eyebrows. “That’s… that should be… wonderful. Why did you think you had to—” Mason watched as she remembered a series of conversations and jokes they’d made just before graduation the previous spring. “Wait… This isn’t… Your father wanted you to… You’re not saying…”
Mason couldn’t speak, only nod.
“Did my father know about this? You led me to believe that it was something both your father and… No, my father would never—”
“You’re right,” Mason interrupted as he saw Zoe growing redder. “He wouldn’t. He didn’t. My father, tactless wonder that he is, brought it up trying to make it sound like a joke at first to see how your father would react but he couldn’t really get a read on him and kept pushing it and pushing it…”
“How much about our friendship did you tell him about?” she asked with mild disgust. “Did your father know that we dated for like a minute? Is that why he thinks that suggesting something like this is okay?”
“I swear, he didn’t make the connection that it was you until after I pointed it out,” Mason said with his hands up defensively. “He seemed to think that would make it easier for me to get you to agree to the idea.”
Promised Box Set Page 39
