I’m positive my father is somehow behind getting the bank to close Ralley’s line of credit. I just can’t prove it. He probably used Caden for information on how to get between Lily and I. But as usual, he’s covered his tracks well. I’ve tried everything, threatening to pull my business with the bank and blacklist them with all my clients, yet everyone still denies my father was involved. But I can smell his handy work a mile away. It was a double win for both Caden and my father. Joe Ralley called off the sale and Lily won’t speak to me. Joe and I had a long talk the other day. On some level, I think he may even believe I had nothing to do with the bank, but it doesn’t matter. He’d work until he was ninety if that’s what it took to find a partner to make Lily happy.

Heavy clouds hang low in the sky as I make my way to Ralley’s. It’s been four days since I saw her. Four days since the sun has crossed the horizon, four days without seeing her smile, four days of darkness. This morning I woke up and it hit me. Like running into a wall of bricks full steam ahead. I’m absolutely, positively in love with this woman. And I’m totally f**ked.

I’ve been putting in way too many hours training at the gym, hoping she would walk through the door. I fell asleep with my knuckles on ice last night again. My body is physically exhausted, yet I keep going back for her. Swinging the heavy front door open to the gym, I expect to see Joe at the front desk again, my heart races when I see Lily’s face instead.

She’s on the phone, looking down as she writes in the scheduling book when I walk in, so I have a chance to see her before she sees me. It looks like the last few days hasn’t been easy on her either. Beneath her eyes is dark, her lids puffy and swollen, like she’s spent time crying recently. I deserve a giant right hook to the gut for having anything to do with making her feel that way. Selfishly, it gives me hope that she’s obviously having difficulty coping too.

Feeling eyes on her, she looks up at me with her big blue eyes, for a second I think I see longing and possibility, but the softness drains quickly as she forces her gaze back down. She rises from her chair behind the front desk and I think she may try to walk away from me. No way I’m not talking to her now that she’s finally in front of me again. I walk to the counter quickly.

“Lily.” She freezes in her tracks, although her head doesn’t turn to look at me. I’ll be damned if I’m not going to try my hardest. “Look at me.” She does.

“What do you want, Jax?” Her voice is filled with sadness she tries to disguise as annoyance.

“I want to talk to you.”

“I’m busy.”

“When then?”

“I don’t have anything more to say.”

“Well I do. You can just listen.”

“I don’t think…,” she’s interrupted by a voice that makes my blood pressure rapidly rise. Fucking Caden.

“She has nothing to say to you.” He folds his arms over his chest.

“Mind your f**king business,” I seethe.

He grins. “Why don’t we leave it up to Lily.” He looks to Lily then back to me. His attention is locked on me, even though his words are directed at Lily. “You have anything you want to say to this joker?”

Lily looks up at me, her face filled with sadness. “No,” she says, her voice laced with sorrow.

“Leave,” Caden growls.

I look at Caden and then back to Lily. “Is that really what you want?”

She says nothing for a full minute, then nods without looking up. With a sadistic smile, Caden waves goodbye before I walk out the door.

Chapter 28

Jax

Every chair around the massive dark mahogany conference room table is filled. Floor to ceiling windows light the otherwise dark room, the last of the associates drones on while flashing slides on a PowerPoint presentation detailing all the potential deals he’s working on. Peeling my gaze from the window overlooking bustling D.C., I look up seeing the presenter for the first time. He’s full of himself. Young, nice enough looking, a suit that costs more than a week’s salary, practically salivating at the thought of the commission he’ll make if he’s able to piece together the deals he’s got in the pipeline.

He catches me staring, it throws his rhythm off, but I don’t look away. He pulls at his collar slightly, trying to be discreet, but I can see him starting to squirm. For some reason watching his money driven ass pisses me off, even though I should be happy since I’ll earn a hefty commission with each deal he closes.

“Does anyone have any questions?” The associate looks around the room avoiding contact with me.

“Yes,” I clear my throat and speak loudly. “How many hours a week do you work, Mr.…,” I struggle to remember his name.

“Garrison.”

“Excuse me?”

“My last name…it’s Garrison,” he clarifies.

“Is that the answer to the question I asked you?” Angrily, I counter, staring directly at him.

“No. But…”

“Do you have an answer then?” Losing patience, I interrupt.

“I don’t know. Maybe eighty hours a week?”

“Why?”

“I’m sorry, Sir,” he stammers. “I don’t understand the question.”

“Are you an idiot?”

“Jax,” Brady, my CEO and sometimes best friend interrupts.

“What? I asked him a simple f**king question and he couldn’t answer it. So he must be an idiot.”

“Garrison, why don’t we take a five minute break,” Brady suggests staring in my direction.

“Don’t bother. Go on without me.” I stand abruptly, the chair I was sitting in falls over. I don’t bother to pick it up as I storm out of the conference room, slamming the door behind me so hard the walls vibrate with the strength of my fury.

***

“Righteousness doesn’t suit you,” Brady says as he enters my office a little while later. He walks to the credenza that acts as a makeshift bar, lifts a crystal glass and pours two fingers of fifty-year-old scotch to match the glass I already have in my hand. Only it’s my second.

Ignoring him, I continue to sit behind my desk, staring out the window, lost in my own self-pity. Brady parks himself across the modern, sleek glass desk and waits patiently sipping his drink.

“So you want to talk about it? Or should I get another associate for you to berate for no apparent reason?” he asks flatly.