The Bet

by Lily Zante

  “You signed a deal with Chad Hennessy?”

  “Yes.”

  “And did you know that Matthias is a partner in that company?”

  He didn’t have any goddamn idea. “I didn’t know.” And even if he had, even though he knew that his brother and Matthias had parted company, how the hell was he supposed to know that they had done so bitterly? “Chad never mentioned Matthias,” he replied, anger swirling in his gut like bile.

  “If you’d done your fucking due diligence, you would have known.” Tobias’s voice was brittle and hard, like glass.

  “Why does it matter?” His brother could be a real ass, and Xavier hated his bullying tactics, and this, what he was doing now, barging in here like a raging bull, with his uncontrollable anger, was one of those episodes.

  Tobias Stone might be a golden child in their parent’s eyes, a loving father-figure to Jacob, and a knight in shining armor for Savannah, but to him, his brother had been someone to be admired, and be afraid of, at the same time.

  There was a side to Tobias many didn’t see. It was a side only a younger brother would know about, and Xavier was fed up with this bullshit.

  “Don’t come here,” he warned, his voice inching up slowly. “Don’t come here barking at me, when you never had the time or decency to tell me what your problem with Matthias is. I’ve asked you plenty of times.” The silence from Tobias gave him the guts to continue. “I didn’t know about Matthias, and he never came to the meetings. His name was never mentioned, but why is it such a problem for you?”

  “Because the guy is a fucking moron, and the worst thing you could have done was to go into business with him.”

  “I don’t understand why you’re getting so worked up over this. I would have thought that news of a baby on the way might have calmed you down, but you’re the same as ever. Who do you think you are?”

  “An astute businessman, which is why I run a fucking hedge fund and you don’t.”

  Un-fucking-believable.

  “There you go again.” He clasped his hands and cradled the back of his head. What more was there to say? Except, “I am going into business with Hennessy.”

  “And Hennessy’s company is part-owned by Rust. How the fuck do you think he’s got the manufacturing infrastructure in China?”

  So, what? “That manufacturing infrastructure is vital for me.”

  “What are you making now? Butt plugs?”

  Asshole.

  But he didn’t have the stomach to tell him about the snooker and pool tables because he would only laugh. He glared at his brother. What did Tobias expect him to do? Bail out of the deal just because he’d had a bust-up with his colleague?

  “What did he do? What did Rust do to you that has you all riled up like you want to split his head open?”

  “Forget it.”

  Xavier threw his hands into the air. “There you go again!” This was typical of Tobias. “I’m not telepathic.” He’d given him a chance to explain, and once again his brother had bailed out.

  “If you intend to run a successful company,” Tobias said, giving him a look that made him want to shrink inside, “You need to do more in-depth analysis into a company before you dive into bed with them. You need to spend more time doing better background checks on companies—more time than you’d normally spend on picking up girls at the bar.”

  Tobias stormed towards the door, slamming it hard behind him.

  ~ ~ ~

  “It’s not so bad, is it, Dad? Once you’re out of the house. It’s nice.” Her father walked alongside her. “It’s not so bad,” he agreed, after a while.

  “Whenever you feel you’re not in the mood to do anything, you should at least force yourself to come out and go for a walk in the woods.”

  “It’s better when you’re around, Izzy.”

  “I know, Dad, I know. But I have to go back soon.”

  “Can’t you stay another week?”

  “I’ll try and come back sooner next time.”

  He fell silent again.

  Two hours. She had managed to convince her father to come out for two hours, today. It had been the longest of their daily walks. But at least she had managed to persuade him to get out.

  The tricky part was convincing him to do this when she was back at college, and she was returning a few days before the New Year. Two weeks at home had been enough, but it had also sapped her. It had eaten into her reserve of energy, talking to her father, trying to bolster his spirits. Doing what her mother should have been doing. Sometimes she wondered who the parent was.

  She needed the internship, and she needed good grades at the end of the summer term. Another week here would leave her too jaded to return to college, and she needed every ounce of energy to deal with the exams that would hit a few weeks after the new term started.

  At least once the next few months were done with, spring would be on the way. Things always looked better in the spring.

  They came out of the forest, walking silently back towards their home, when her cell phone rang. Something fluttered deep within her belly when she saw Xavier’s name on the caller ID.

  “It’s a friend, Dad,” she said, “You go ahead, and I’ll catch up.” She fell back, and answered the call. “Hey,” she said, still walking, but at a slower pace.

  “I’m not disturbing you, am I?”

  “I’m out for a walk with my dad.”

  “How is he?”

  “Sad that I’m leaving soon.”

  “When?”

  “The day after tomorrow.”

  “How sad is sad?”

  She sighed. “Sad enough that I feel like I should stay a few more days.”

  He made an empathetic noise at the back of his throat.

  “But I can’t stay on another week,” she explained. “I have to get back into study mode. It’s an important semester.”

  “You’re back on Thursday then?”

  “On Thursday.” She wondered why he’d called her, and knew it wasn’t to ask her about the general state of her time back home. “Did I mess up something?”

  “Mess up?”

  “On a report or something?” That was why he’d called, wasn’t it?

  “No. No. That’s not why I’m calling.”

  “Oh.” It pleased her, to hear his voice again. And it was strange because there had been times during these past few weeks when she had often thought about him, and wondered what he was up to. There had been times when she had been tempted to call him, on the pretense of asking a work-related question, but she had stopped herself. That night at the bar, she had opened up to him in a way that was unlike her. Maybe it was that he seemed, nice, for a change, and had surprised her. He seemed to be listening, and she was just plain fed up of her mother dumping on her all the time. Maybe he’d just caught her at an unguarded time.

  But she had thought about that evening more times than not.

  So, this was nice, him calling her.

  He coughed lightly. “I—uh—wondered how things were going for you,” he cleared his throat again, “being at home, and all. Just out of curiosity.”

  “Just out of curiosity,” she repeated.

  “And I—uh wanted to ask you something about how you did those charts. You know, the 3D bar charts.”

  “The ones I did for Hennessy’s report?”

  “Yeah, those.”

  “They’re simple enough,” she said, “You just need to select the rows and—”

  “It can wait,” he said. “It’s selecting those rows and columns that’s fiddly. But there’s no rush.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “I’m sure.”

  “I’ll show you when I get back.”

  “Looking forward to it.”

  Me, too. “How was your Christmas?” she asked.

  “Not as bad as I expected.”

  “You were expecting it to be bad?”

  “You’ve met my mother, haven’t you?”

  “Briefly.”r />
  “Then you’ll understand.”

  She giggled.

  “But it wasn’t so bad. We spent it at Tobias and Savannah’s.”

  “Awww. Nice. I heard the news about Savannah being pregnant.” Cara had been the one who’d told her when it broke in the press. She had called Savannah and congratulated her.

  “It’s exciting.”

  “Jacob must have been happy.”

  “It doesn’t take much to make that kid happy.”

  She smiled. Jacob would make an awesome older brother.

  “How was your Christmas?

  “Relaxing. Nice to be back home for a change. Nice to have lots of home-cooked food.”

  “I was thinking of maybe taking Jacob to the funfair, sometime next week. It’s been a while since we’ve—I’ve—spent a whole day with him. And I was thinking maybe we could go out again.”

  “He’d like it, I’m sure.”

  “I meant that you could come along too. It’s not a date or anything, but it’s been a while since we both took him out, and it would be nice.”

  “Did you miss his birthday or something?”

  “No. His birthday was last month. The kid’s 7 going on 17.”

  Izzy laughed. “He’s a sensible little boy.”

  “Tobias was over earlier.”

  “At yours?”

  “Yeah. He—” he paused. “He was angry.”

  “Angry?” She wondered why Xavier was telling her.

  “Some business deal he wasn’t too happy about.”

  “Was he angry with you?” She couldn’t imagine Tobias being angry, not now that she had seen the way he’d been on the island around the time of his wedding.

  “Yes, he was pretty pissed.”

  It sounded as if he wasn’t sure about telling her, as if he’d wanted to, but now couldn’t. “Was it something you did?”

  “Why would you think it’s something I did?”

  She held her breath, surprised by his anger. “I’m just assuming, based on what you told me.”

  “My brother isn’t an angel, and he isn’t always right, and I wish people wouldn’t always assume I’m the one in the wrong.”

  She didn’t want to get into a bickering argument with him. “I’m sorry, I’m just trying to help.”

  “I shouldn’t have said anything.”

  But he had, and he’d told her, and that amounted to something.

  “Sibling disagreements blow over, given enough time,” she said, trying to say something helpful.

  “It got me thinking,” he said, dismissing her advice completely, “that a trip to the fairground might be nice, get Jacob out of the house and all that. Treat him to something. I’m almost an uncle, maybe I ought to do uncle-like things.”

  “Uncle-like things. That’s an interesting way of putting it.” He didn’t want to talk about it. She understood.

  “Would you like to join us? I need to check with Savannah first—because that kid has a busier social life than I do—but what about next weekend?”

  Next weekend would be the weekend before her exams. She could manage a couple of hours. It might do her good. “I’d like that.”

  Chapter 32

  It was a few days into the New Year that she met Jacob and Xavier at Bryant Park, refusing Xavier’s offer to pick her up along the way because she and Cara had gone into town for brunch.

  “Izzy!” Jacob came running towards her as soon as he saw her. He gave her a big, tight hug—as tight and as big as his little arms would allow.

  “Hey, Jacob. It’s been a while.”

  “Xavier said he had an awesome surprise for me!”

  She looked at Xavier, and nodded.

  “He means you,” Xavier explained. “Not the fairground.”

  “I’m the surprise?” she asked, laughing.

  “I didn’t tell him you were coming.”

  It had been almost a month since she’d last seen him, and it was as if she was seeing him for the first time again. She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t excited to see him. She’d felt like a teenager leaving home for a date, trying on a few outfits, jeans with different tops while Cara had waited in the living room telling her to hurry the hell up because she was starving.

  The quiet, gentle thrill inside her re-ignited when her eyes locked with Xavier’s. All of a sudden, that feeling of irritation she often had when he was around, was no longer there.

  “Are you babysitting me again?” Jacob asked as they walked towards the fairground.

  She wasn’t sure what to reply to that because Savannah hadn’t mentioned anything.

  “Izzy’s having a day out,” Xavier explained. “She’s got exams, and this is her break. So, she’s not babysitting you today, kid. I am.”

  “Exams?” Jacob asked her, earnestly.

  “Yes. A whole week of them.”

  “I would hate that.”

  “I do,” she agreed.

  “That’s why we’re going to make sure she has a good time,” said Xavier, taking her by surprise. She wondered why he was being so nice. Things seemed different between them, now. There was no more hate-hate, no quips, no sarcasm.

  For the next few hours they wandered around, going on the rides Jacob wanted, sometimes the three of them, and at other times she and Xavier took turns. They bought hotdogs, and candy floss, and hot chocolate and Xavier refused to let her pay.

  “My treat,” he told her each time she pulled out her purse.

  They followed Jacob to the fairground shooting range, and saw him staring at one of the big cuddly Monkeys that was hanging on display. It was a poor rip-off of Mickey Mouse, but he seemed in awe of it, and squealed with delight when Xavier took a shot and won it.

  “Can we get that one, too?” Jacob asked, pointing to another identical toy next to it. Izzy thought it odd, on two counts. Firstly that Jacob would ask for anything, and secondly that he would ask for a toy that was identical to the one he already had.

  “Another one, buddy?” Even Xavier seemed surprised.

  “I’ve got spending money.” Jacob pulled some coins out of his coat pocket.

  Xavier shook his head. “I’ve got this, kid.” He peered in her direction. “How about we let Izzy take this go?”

  “Me?” She shook her head. “No. No thanks. Not me. I can't shoot to save my life.” She was no good at these things, had never tried before, but knew without a doubt she would be useless.

  “Relax,” he said, slanting a look at her. “It's not a real gun.”

  Jacob chimed in. “Have a go, Izzy!”

  “Oh, you guys. Can’t you let it go?” She hated all things gun related, even fake guns at a fairground rifle range, even with toy targets.

  “I know women don’t have the hand to eye coordination for these things,” Xavier remarked, casually.

  “I’ll do it.” She moved forward, and took a hold of the gun. It would be later that night, as she lay in bed, going over the evening’s events and unable to sleep, that she would realize it had been Xavier’s way of prompting her. He seemed to know exactly what buttons to press.

  She closed her left eye, and took aim, then pulled the trigger. And missed by a long shot.

  “Try again!” Jacob’s voice urged her. She still had two turns left, and aimed again, trying to laser in on the moving target. She shot, and missed widely again.

  It wasn’t a big deal, but Xavier was watching, and she didn’t want to look like a total fool at this. Annoyed at herself, she took aim, and shot blindly, and completely missed again.

  “Told you,” she heard Xavier say, “Women aren’t too good at this.”

  Fuming, because she had been so useless, she glared back at him.

  “Another go?” Xavier asked, making her heart thump harder, faster. It was either anger, or something else, something that threw her and made it even harder for her to concentrate.

  “She’ll have another turn.” Xavier slipped another bill to the man behind the kiosk.

 
; “C’mon Izzy. You can do this!” Jacob’s encouragement didn’t help. She flinched; just as she raised her arm and focused her gaze at the target, she felt Xavier’s arm on hers. Her body stilled, and she felt her insides beginning to heat up.

  “Like this,” he said, adjusting her arms. His breath tickled her ears, and her concentration flew out of the window. “Move your head like this.” His chest lightly grazed her back—or was she imagining it? Her winter coat was so thick, surely she wouldn’t be able to feel anything?

  And yet she did.

  His presence, his cologne, his warm breath. These things permeated her senses.

  It’s not possible, she told herself, to feel these things, not in the cold and darkness around her.

  Yet she felt something.

  “Try again,” he said, and stepped back.

  “It’s only a toy gun, guys,” she managed to say, managed to infuse it with a who-the-hell-cares attitude that would cover over her lapse in concentration. She turned to Xavier. “Relax, dude. It’s not real.”

  “It feels real enough to me.” His eyes were dark, darker than the blue they normally were. What did he mean? What was he talking about? The fairground? The target? Or them? Was he feeling what she was?

  Jacob broke the spell. “C’mon Izzy!”

  She turned her head and aimed, and this time got nearer than before. Then, because her focus was off, because she was too busy thinking of the man behind her instead of the target in front of her, she fired wildly and missed. She pulled the trigger again, and missed, and then, because she wanted this over with, she took the next shot without even focusing and totally missed it.

  “Nice try.”

  “Not again—” she started. She wouldn’t be able to concentrate. Not now, with the feel of his arms on hers. She was glad he couldn’t see her face, because she could feel heat creeping along her cheeks, even though they were out in the January cold. She didn't need him to know that he was having an effect on her.

  But Xavier hadn’t meant for her to take the next go. He hadn’t even looked her way. “Want that one, buddy?” He pointed to the large monkey, confirming with Jacob who nodded eagerly.