Naughty or Nice

by Rachael Stewart

  Yes. No interruptions...no nothing now. This is all about us.

  Our lips meet, soft, savouring, sampling. It’s blissfully sweet. A moment’s reacquaintance before all hell breaks loose with the sweet invasion of his tongue. My insides soar and his hands turn rough, pulling me against him as my grip over his tie tightens.

  ‘I’ve missed you,’ he says against my lips, his hands raking up and down over me.

  ‘I’ve missed you too.’

  He groans at my words, his fingers hooking under the hem of my dress, his palms on my skin, hot and urgent as he forces my dress up. It’s at my hips when he lifts me, swinging me onto the desk, his mouth not once releasing me, his tongue delving deeper, driving me to fever pitch.

  I wrap my legs around him, breaking our kiss long enough to take hold of his zipper, to ease it down. He’s so hard as I draw him out, and my body contracts on a ripple of lustful heat.

  ‘What the actual fuck?’

  We freeze. Our heads turn to the door—

  Nate!

  His seething form fills the doorway.

  Fuck.

  I shove Lucas back, leaving him to yank his zipper up as I launch to my feet.

  My brother looks as if he’s about to commit murder.

  ‘I fucking knew it.’ He strides forward, slamming the door shut behind him, his fist raised. ‘You son of a bitch.’

  I watch in horror as he swings for Lucas, and then I throw myself forward.

  I see a brief second of panic in my brother’s face before his fist collides with my face. And then all I feel is pain—acute, throbbing pain—and my ears ring.

  I’m on my knees, shaking my head, trying to focus, to get a handle on what’s happening.

  I can hear scuffling above me.

  ‘See what you made me do!’

  My brother is shouting, shoving Lucas back. I try to tell them to stop but I can’t make my mouth work.

  ‘I didn’t make you do anything,’ Lucas says. ‘Now back off so I can check she’s okay.’

  ‘You’ve touched her enough, you sick fuck—taking your revenge out on someone too stupid to see it.’

  I know what’s going to happen even before Lucas’s fist makes perfect contact with my brother’s jaw, and inside I die.

  This is wrong.

  All wrong.

  I don’t want to believe it’s happening.

  Nate drops to the floor as Lucas rushes to my side and tries to lift me. No. I shake him off. Tears that I hadn’t known I was shedding sting my cheeks.

  ‘Don’t touch me.’

  I can’t even look at him. Either of them.

  It’s a mess. A complete and utter mess.

  ‘Get out,’ I say, struggling to my knees. My lip smarts...it feels too big for my face. ‘Both of you.’

  The command is muffled and my cheeks flame in shame, pain, anger.

  ‘But, Eva...’ Lucas says softly, his hands hovering over me, not touching, but still there.

  I shake my head again, putting the force that I can’t give to my voice into action. I turn away from him. ‘Get out.’

  ‘Sis, come on.’

  ‘Out! Out! Out!’

  I stare at them both, my body rigid, and I almost lose it all over again when neither moves. I can’t cope with the concern on Lucas’s face, the anger and the swelling already building on Nate’s, the throbbing pain radiating through my own. It’s a real-life nightmare.

  Lucas lets go of a ragged breath. ‘Okay.’ He looks at Nate, his disgust, his hatred, clear as day, and then he shakes his head and makes for the door.

  ‘And don’t fucking come back!’ my brother throws at him.

  I want to shout, to tell him to shut up, but I’m frozen in their hate.

  Lucas looks to me for something—anything—but I’m trance-like.

  And then he’s gone.

  ‘Good riddance,’ Nate mutters, rubbing at his jaw.

  Slowly, I turn, taking him in. Replaying it all. ‘Stupid’ was what he called me. Stupid. After everything I’ve done for him these last few years. Everything he did to bring this raining down on us.

  ‘Stupid...?’

  My voice trembles over the simple word. White-hot anger laces every syllable.

  He looks to me now, his eyes landing on my lip. ‘Shit, Eva—I’m so sorry.’

  He moves towards me and I raise my hand to stop him. ‘Sorry for hitting me or for referring to me as stupid?’

  I know that’s what made Lucas snap—he was coming to my defence. It should make me happy. Instead I’m terrified. Terrified of the hatred that filled the room, the hatred between the two people I love. My worst fear coming to fruition.

  He shakes his head and looks to the floor, appearing more like a teenager than the thirty-one-year-old he’s supposed to be.

  ‘I flipped out. I’m sorry. Seeing you, my little sister...’ He raises his eyes to me, his shoulders bunching. ‘And him...like that. I mean, for fuck’s sake, Eva, you were about to let him screw you over your desk. Him.’

  I’m still and controlled as I say, ‘Who I sleep with is none of your business.’

  ‘It is when it’s him, and you know it.’

  ‘Bollocks, Nate. You were the one who went behind his back and totally stuffed the company—him included.’

  He stares at me, wide-eyed.

  ‘Yes, he told me. He didn’t want to. He said I should come to you, make you explain.’ My smile is bitter, tight. ‘Would you have admitted it if I had, though?’

  ‘Eva—’

  He breaks off and I wonder if he’s going to lie some more. I can’t bear it if he does.

  ‘Look... I made a bad decision, okay? I know that, and I’ve regretted it ever since, but has he told you the whole story?’

  My eyes narrow, a sudden chill making my skin prickle. I wrap my arms around my middle and remind myself that I trust Lucas. I do.

  ‘What else is there?’

  ‘He could have saved us, Eva—the whole business. He’d been investing for years on the side. How do you think he got so huge so quickly? He’d been stockpiling money...building up his own funds.’

  I swallow. ‘Stealing from the company?’

  Nate snorts. ‘As if! Lucas would never sink that low.’

  Relief swamps me and my knees weaken. I plant my hands on the desk. The swell of nausea sudden and disorientating. ‘Then what?’

  ‘Don’t you see? He was already loaded when the company lost it all.’

  ‘When you lost it all.’

  ‘Whatever...’ he blurts, brushing off my point. ‘I pleaded with him to reinvest. To take his private money and pump it in so we could get back on our feet, keep going, keep working together. We were supposed to be a team.’

  I laugh—I can’t help it. ‘Don’t you see the irony in that?’

  His eyes flicker, pained, vulnerable, and I know he does.

  ‘But he was like my brother, Eva, and I begged him—fucking begged him.’ His voice shakes over the confession. ‘And do you know what he said?’

  His eyes stare at me accusingly. As if he’s seeing Lucas, not me.

  ‘No. Fucking no. Can you believe it? After all our family had done for him...all the money Dad had ploughed into the business from the start... He’d be nothing without us—nothing.’

  ‘But you betrayed him, and then you lied about it to us all. How could he trust you after that?’

  He shakes his head at me. ‘You don’t get it! I even offered to hand over enough shares to give him the majority, put him fully in the driving seat—that should have negated his trust issues. But did he care? Did he fuck.’

  He forks his hands through his hair and starts to pace.

  ‘I didn’t know what to do. The look in Dad’s eye when I told him...the disappointm
ent... I couldn’t stomach it.’

  ‘So you threw Lucas under the bus instead?’

  My tone is low, my eyes unforgiving as I watch him flounder. I can see the anger giving way to guilt, remorse, and it’s what I’m hoping for.

  ‘It was our company, our baby, and he gave up on it—we lost it all.’

  ‘You lost it all.’

  He looks at me, almost desperate. ‘Will you drop the whole “you”, “we” shit? What does it matter when it was one and the same company?’

  ‘It makes a world of difference, Nate, and you know it.’

  My jaw is throbbing like mad, and it hurts to speak, but I can’t let this slide. If Lucas and I are to see a way through this I have to make my family acknowledge that they wronged him. And it needs to start with Nate.

  ‘Just admit it.’

  ‘Why? Because you want to get your end away—?’

  The door swings open—no knock, no nothing—and in strides my father.

  Jesus, could this day get any better?

  ‘Eva, what the hell is—?’

  He breaks off, his eyes landing on me—or more specifically on my flaming lip—and his skin pales as the door closes behind him.

  ‘What happened?’

  He softens his stride as he walks towards me, his eyes narrowing over the damage.

  ‘Did Lucas—?’

  My entire body flares as I back away from him. ‘Don’t you dare accuse Lucas of this.’

  ‘Then who?’

  ‘Why don’t you look to your son—the guy who’s to blame for this whole goddamn mess?’

  He looks from me to Nate for the first time and his cheeks flood red. ‘You struck your sister?’

  ‘He was aiming for Lucas,’ I rush out. ‘I just got in the way.’

  ‘And that?’ He points to the swelling on Nate’s jaw.

  ‘Lucas—coming to my defence.’

  He shakes his head, disbelieving. ‘Is this really what we’ve come to? Fist fights in the office?’

  ‘Don’t you dare get high and mighty, Dad,’ I say to him. ‘You’re not innocent in all of this either.’

  He frowns with surprise. ‘What does that mean?’

  ‘All this hatred towards a man who did nothing wrong, Dad—nothing. You should’ve known—you should’ve seen through Nate’s lies and sorted this mess out long ago, before Lucas lost everything.’

  ‘The man is loaded, Eva,’ Nate scoffs. ‘He hardly lost everything.’

  ‘He lost us, Nate—us. The only real family he’s ever known. How the hell can’t you see that?’

  He stares, dumbstruck, then looks from me to Dad, as if our father will say something to ease the sting of my words. But instead he takes a shaky breath and suddenly seems to age before me. I can see my words sinking in, can feel the weight of them in the air.

  Nate gives an awkward laugh. ‘Oh, come on—the guy is doing fine. He always lands on his feet. Turns out he never needed us—not really. The man’s invincible...’

  He says the words but there’s no power behind them.

  ‘That’s not true, son.’

  My father’s soft-spoken remark stuns me.

  ‘Eva’s right.’

  ‘But...come on...look at him. He’s loaded—a billionaire. What do we have that he could possibly think he’s missing out on?’

  I flip. ‘Are you for real? You should be running after him, begging his forgiveness.’

  ‘Like hell!’ he erupts, staring at us both in disbelief. ‘He bailed on me.’

  ‘You know what?’ I say. ‘I used to think it was the shock of Lucas going that left you so broken, always coming to me for help, advice, support. Now I realise he’d probably been covering for you for years—and I ended up doing the same.’

  ‘Hey, easy, honey...’

  Dad steps forward, wanting to calm me, but I’m on a roll now. Five years of watching over Nate, coming to a head.

  ‘Don’t “easy” me. We were the closest thing to family he had and we turned our backs on him.’

  ‘He turned his back on us first.’

  It’s Nate who speaks, and I want to swing for him, but my legs are like lead, keeping me rooted, and instead I twist on the spot to glare at him.

  ‘It’s true, isn’t it? It wasn’t the first time you’d messed up?’

  Nate hunches forward, back in teenage mode, but his downcast eyes are admission enough.

  My hands soar to the air as I fling them towards him and look to Dad. ‘You see?’

  ‘Yes, honey, I see. But this isn’t helping. Why don’t you just take up Janus Industries’ offer and then we’ll see what we can do about addressing the past—it’s a separate issue.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Rosalie’s offer,’ he says, focusing on the work, the business, and making my head spin at the change in focus. ‘Your brother called me—told me she’d been in touch to say you’d rejected her offer, that you’d decided on Waring—’

  ‘Yes, I decided, Dad! No one else. Christ, is that why you’re both here? To tell me what to do?’

  ‘Not tell you, just—’

  ‘Get out.’

  ‘Evangeline, take a breath...calm down.’

  ‘Don’t speak to me like I’m a child, Dad.’

  ‘I’m—’

  ‘Go.’

  ‘Look, sis...’ Nate tries.

  ‘Don’t you “sis” me.’ I round on him. ‘Until you can bring yourself to apologise to Lucas I don’t want to speak to you.’

  ‘Come off it—we’ve a family dinner tonight.’

  I laugh over him. ‘Tell Mum I can’t make it.’

  ‘Eva—?’

  Now it’s Dad who speaks.

  ‘What? You’d rather I came and explained the fat lip to her?’

  They both flinch.

  ‘No, I didn’t think so... I could always lie, I suppose. It seems we’re awfully good at that. Did you really believe the tale Nate spun, Dad?’

  They look at one another, their open shame enough of an answer.

  ‘How could you take away the only real family he ever knew?’

  I shake my head. I still can’t understand it. I just know I need them gone.

  ‘I’ll tell Mum I’m sick.’

  ‘Eva—’

  My dad reaches for me but I back away. The last thing I need is a hug right now—not from him. I need Lucas.

  My rejection seems to do the trick and together they walk out. My brother is pulling the door closed when he stops.

  ‘What?’ I blurt.

  ‘For what it’s worth,’ he says, looking at his hand on the handle and then back to me, ‘I am sorry. I know I’ve done wrong, but I never wanted you caught in the middle like this.’

  And then he’s gone.

  A heavy silence descends and I’m immobilised. Then I start to shiver. Delayed shock, I suppose. I touch my lip and realise I need ice on it before it truly does balloon and I have to avoid both Mum and all meetings well into next year.

  I lift my phone and call Clare. She doesn’t hesitate at my random request. My guess is that, having seen Nate, she has a fair idea what I want it for. She probably thinks I lamped him.

  If only.

  I drop into my chair and hug my middle, trying to ease the shakes.

  I need to call Lucas, but I need to have this under control first.

  * * *

  I go straight to my apartment. I don’t call into the office on the way. I’m in no mood to see anything but the bottom of a whisky bottle.

  She kicked me out. Me.

  Yeah, I totally get that she’s upset—but, Christ, she needed to be taken care of, not left alone with that bastard.

  I pour a double and take both the bottle and the glass into the living room, dropping onto the
sofa and yanking my tie loose. The memory comes of her taking hold of it earlier, the look of passion and joy in her face...

  My hand tightens around the glass and I throw back a mouthful, needing its burn.

  Seeing her brother like that, hearing him speak about her like he did, the venom in his voice when he spoke to me.

  Fuck.

  I hunch forward, my elbows on my knees as I stare down into the amber liquid. It’s never going to work. So long as they’re around her, we will never work.

  The way she looked between us both, her confusion, her torment... Who does she care about more? It all played out on her face as plain as day. I’m losing her. I can feel it. And my stomach twists, an ice-cold sweat prickling over my skin.

  But we have a business arrangement. She told me that much. It’s my one hope to keep her.

  Hardly.

  She can easily work directly with Maylene and the team in Singapore—she’ll expect to. No CEO is going to get involved in the day-to-day. She won’t need to interact with me. There’ll be no contact.

  Christ.

  I need to think. Fast.

  I know she wants the money to buy her family out of her business. She won’t be able to do it immediately—she’ll need income first.

  But if she had the money it would be Bye-bye, Beaumonts...

  Bye-bye, Beaumonts, and Hello, Waring?

  I neck the remainder of my glass and toss the idea around.

  I’ll make it a condition of the contract. She uses my upfront investment to buy them out and bring me in.

  She doesn’t have to choose anything on a personal level. It’s perfect.

  Better than any fist to the face, Nate.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  AT LEAST TWO hours have gone by since Nate and my father left and I’m hiding out in my office, waiting for the last employee to leave before I venture out. It was bad enough seeing Clare’s face when she saw the state of me—I couldn’t stand the entire floor gossiping. I’ve never been so thankful for the small en suite bathroom I have adjacent to my office.

  And the mini-fridge.

  I take out a cold beer and pop it open, wincing as I press it to my lips.