Page 28 of Bargain With The Boss (Crescent Cove: The Moguls #2)

Xavier

The ice descended before I could process it.

Plan B.

Another woman taking the choice away from me.

Like Sarah.

The name echoed in my head and chased me to the elevators. It opened and Claire as well as another blonde were inside. They both were wearing tennis gear.

“Xavier.”

“Hi.”

She frowned. “What’s wrong.”

I shook my head.

“Something’s wrong. Did you two have a fight?”

I backed up and headed for the sign saying stairs.

“Xavier!” She called out and followed me.

I slammed through the door and down the stairs. All the while, I kept hearing Sydney’s voice in my head.

I’m sorry.

But was she?

She’d lied. Again and again—we could have handled it like adults. Instead, she just assumed she could fix it with that?

My chest ached and I pushed down the pain.

“Lock it down,” I said out loud. Maybe then I’d really believe it.

My life with Sarah had been a lifetime ago and still the shock of what she’d done stayed.

It was her choice—in my head I knew that.

But knowing that she didn’t believe in us enough to tell me she’d been pregnant was hard enough.

But that she’d had an abortion without telling me had ripped me in two.

As if she could just go on with our relationship without letting me know had destroyed me for too many years to count.

Bringing a baby into this world was a huge undertaking and we were so young when she’d gotten pregnant. She’d probably made the right choice, but the fact that she’d lied to me about it was what did the most damage.

And Syd had done the same.

There had been two people in that bed. The ripped condom was enough of a fear, but it was on me that I didn’t use another condom after that.

I truly didn’t think about doing so when she’d told me she was protected.

Stupid on my part, but that first night had sealed the deal.

I’d been shocked and she’d lied right to my face. No hesitation.

I got to the front doors of the Earl and didn’t remember the walk. Getting my car from the valet was a lesson in patience. I had no idea where my damn ticket was. I didn’t even remember getting one.

But finally I got it sorted and on the road. Again, I didn’t remember much of the drive. But the familiar coastline of Crescent Cove finally let me take my first full breath once more.

She’d lied.

I wouldn’t be able to forget that.

I stopped at my house and washed off the road and...Sydney.

As I scrubbed my skin, memories of her wrapped around me solidified the pain. And the mistake of her.

From the very beginning, I should have stayed away from her. She’d pushed at something in me I’d never felt for any woman.

Something that could have grown into...

I pushed away the word.

Instead, I got dressed and went into the finance office. I buried myself in the work that was always waiting for me. Instead of shirking the extra work for my father’s expansion, I embraced it.

Drowned in it.

I ignored the two texts from Sydney.

Only answered Gavin on important matters of business. Putting him off that work at Hastings Financial was insane.

It was. There was no lie there, but I was hiding. My father’s thrilled emails told me I was going way above and beyond, but each time I stopped I saw her face.

Sydney’s eyes like molten gold. Warm and full of happiness. The usual banked emotion had been unleashed for a few short hours. Dancing with me. Wrapped around me, skin to sin.

Her voice trembling around my name when I?—

Fuck.

I pushed it back and dived deeper into the portfolios that came my way. Tripling money for our high moneyed clients. I’d even hopped on a few of them myself to bring more capital in for Gavin’s project.

For the Terrace.

When the permits landed in my email, I’d paused over her name.

She’d gotten them, just as she said she would. At least in that way, she’d come through.

On the fourth day, my group chat blew up.

Jude:

Meet at the Terrace at noon.

Gavin:

No excuses. Take a damn lunch, X

Jude:

we need to make some decisions

Gavin:

About a lot of things

see you then

My stomach twisted. Decisions about what?

It had to be details on the build, that was all. Jude couldn’t know we’d crashed and burned.

She’d made sure of that.

I’d made sure of that.

I grabbed my keys for the Shadow, shrugging out of my suit jacket and shirt.

“Thank God.”

I looked up to see Devon in the doorway.

“Thank God what?” I pulled a Loki shirt out of my desk drawer. I was feeling pretty villainous about now. If there was another problem with this build I was going to go nuclear on anyone in the vicinity.

The permits were fine.

There wasn’t going to be anything wrong with the site.

It was probably just an intervention with my business partners. I’d only been MIA a few days—it wasn’t a big deal.

“You haven’t left for FHK in days, sir.”

“I know, Devon. I had things to deal with here.”

“And that’s why you’ve slept on the couch for the last three nights?”

Because I’d worked until I was too blurry not to sleep. Because the thought of going home to my king-sized bed alone was enough to make me insane, which threw me back into work mode.

“I’ve done it before, it’ll happen again.”

“Are you sure everything is fine, sir?”

I tugged the black and green T-shirt over my head. “Everything is one hundred, Dev.”

He gave me a bland look. “One hundred?”

“Aces. Perfect. Life is a dream.” I patted his arm on my way by.

“Sir, talk to your friends.”

I ignored the words as I strode through the main office.

Instead of avoiding my staff, I answered a few questions.

When I couldn’t push off the trip to the lake any longer, I headed downstairs to the garage.

Part of me wanted to jump on my motorcycle and head out of town, but thoughts of Sydney would just follow me.

I’d been trying to outrun them for days now.

I didn’t even know what to say to her. She didn’t owe me anything—even telling me that she was going to take that fucking pill.

That was the problem.

She didn’t owe me anything and God, I wished she thought better of us—of me.

I snapped on my helmet and hit the throttle on my bike. The kick of it dented the ice that had been sitting in my chest for days. The holiday was fast approaching, and I’d normally be planning or attending a party on the lake.

Sydney had been in my life a few short weeks and I’d allowed myself to get sidetracked far too easily.

I had to keep my eye on the prize.

I hit the bend and caught sight of Lakeview Terrace. Well, more like the shoreline.

The building was little more than a shell.

The workers had come in and framed out the expansion for the old gallery and from where I was, I could see how much better the footprint of the delicatessen would be.

Instead of a simple end unit, I could see the finesse of Gavin’s blueprints coming to life.

I slowed as I climbed the shredded lip of the blacktop that led to the worksite.

It had been chewed up with all the trucks coming in and out.

I knew the blacktop would be one of the last things we did, but it didn’t make my ass hurt any less as I rolled through the parking lot to where Gavin’s beast of a work truck was parked.

Jude’s SUV was lined up beside it as well as a smaller car in an improbable teal.

Jude and Sydney were huddled together by the weather beaten picnic table. The red maple was in its full glory, thick glossy leaves filling in as spring made way to summer.

My fingers were so tight on the handlebars, they ached when I let them fall to my lap.

I had to face her eventually.

It wasn’t like she was going to disappear. She was part of FHK whether I liked it or not.

“Finally.” Jude stood.

“I said I’d be here.” I glanced at Syd who was slipping out of the bench seat.

She was wearing white sneakers instead of her heels and a sundress with little purple flowers.

Her red hair was scraped back in a simple ponytail and instead of her usual brown sunglasses, she wore mirrored aviators that hid her gaze.

Even pissed at her, my feet drew me up the hill toward her.

“Aren’t you supposed to be on your paternity leave?”

Jude grunted. “Yes. But you’ve been acting like a little bitch so here I am.”

Sydney stiffened, then linked her fingers in front of her and looked down at the ground.

“I’ve just been busy at the other office.”

“You sure that’s the only reason?”

“What else could it be?”

Jude crossed his arms over his chest. “I know I threw you and Sydney together without checking with you. That was my mistake.”

Did Sydney go to him?

But Sydney threw a startled look at Jude, telling me she probably hadn’t been in on this conversation ahead of time.

Gavin came up the hill in a suit. His deep red tie was dripping from his pocket, but the rest of his three piece suit was crisp other than two buttons undone at his neck.

“Hey, X. Thanks for coming.”

“Is this an intervention or something?”

“Do you need one?”

“Sober as a nun.”

Sydney shot me a look.

Not as chaste as a nun, however.

She knew that all too well.

“Personally, the nuns I knew could drink me under the table.” Gavin rocked back on his heels with a grin. “But no, we’re not here to put you through the grinder.” He stepped back and waved us to follow. “All of you need to stop looking so dour. This is a good day.”

“You made it sound so damn ominous in the group text.”

“Think that’s more about you than us.” Gavin skidded down the bottom of the hill and kept the momentum to cross the crumbling parking lot.

So much damn work to do, but at least we actually were allowed to build—fucking finally.

We followed him down. Sydney stumbled on a rock in the hill, and I immediately reached for her. She gripped my arm and leaned against me for a moment, before stepping away. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” My voice was little more than gravel.

Jude glanced at me with a frown.

I skipped down the hill the rest of the way, with Jude and Sydney right behind me.

Gavin stopped at his truck and flipped down the tailgate. A burlap lump sat in the center of the truck in a box full of bubble wrap.

“What is that?” Sydney’s asked from behind me.

I stepped aside so she had a better view. “No idea.”

Jude dipped his hands into his pockets, a smile flirting with his lips.

“Care to let us in on the joke?” I asked.

Jude shook his head. “Just wait a minute.”

I sighed folded my arms again.

Gavin flipped the burlap back to reveal a stone.

My heart kicked. “Is that…”

“It only seemed right that we were all here for this momentous occasion. The project that started it all for us.” He turned the stone around to show FHK engraved into the smooth surface along with the current year.

“We finally got the go ahead to do the stonework for Lakeview Terrace. We don’t generally take the time or the expense to make a cornerstone, but this building is different.”

“It’s where we started. Where we’re going to continue to build off of.” Gavin’s voice roughened before he cleared his throat. “I didn’t think I’d ever have brothers, but you two have become that for me. And now with Sydney on our team we’re finally getting some traction on this damn property.”

Sydney backed away from us. “I shouldn’t be here for this.”

Jude turned to her. “Of course you should. You’re a major reason we’re actually moving forward for the first time in three years.”

She shook her head. “No. This is for you guys.” She rushed off as Jude frowned after her.

“I don’t understand her sometimes.”

I glanced to where she was struggling up the hill to the walking path. Everything inside of me was screaming to follow after her. To make sure she was all right. To drag her back here and make her see that Jude wanted her here.

God help me, I wanted her here.

Even after the lies.

But I fisted my hands under my arms.

Gavin pulled the box forward. “I keep trying to get through to her. She’s become invaluable in a few short weeks.”

Jude sighed. “She’s hard to get close to. I used Owen to get her out here last year, but it was only an excuse to get her away from our mother. I hoped that when she saw Crescent Cove she’d fall in love with it like I did. But she went back anyway.”

“Pretty sure it was Maddie you fell for, pal.” Gavin slapped his arm.

“And it was a big reason she didn’t think you needed her, Jude.” I dropped my arms.

“What? Where would she get that idea?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Owen, Maddie, then news of a baby the day she got into town? Then you guys went right into bringing the Hamiltons to dinner. Where would she feel welcome?”

Jude turned to me. “Did she tell you that?”

“Not in so many words, but ever since you found out about your real father she’s been left to deal with the aftermath. I don’t know exactly what’s happening in Seattle, but she feels pulled in two.”

“Shit.” Jude drilled his fingers through his hair. “Bringing her here was supposed to be a good thing.”

“You brought her here for you—not her. At least from her point of view.”

“That wasn’t my intention.” He laced his fingers behind his head. “She wouldn’t think that.”

“You sure about that?”

“Now I’m not.” He paced away, then back. “She’s my sister. Of course I want her here with me.”

“Did you make room for her? I mean really make room. Not just distracted moments.”

Jude cracked his knuckles. “I meant to. Everything got crazy with Nessa coming.”

“There were months before the baby, Jude.” I said it quietly. “I get that Maddie took over your life, but she’s not the only one who was counting on you.”

“Fuck.”

“Go on after her.” Gavin pushed the box back into the bed of the truck. “We can do this later.”

“Sorry, man. I can’t let her go off like that. Not when it was my fault.”

“It’ll wait.” Gavin hopped down. “Go talk to her.”

Jude nodded and jogged across the parking lot to the hill.

“So, when are you going to tell Jude you’re in love with his sister?”

“Hell.”

Gavin snickered. “Another one bites the dust.”

“If only it was that easy.”

And she didn’t lie to me about something so huge.

“Go on. This has been a cluster. We’ll do it another day.”

“Sorry, G. This was a great idea though.” I slapped his arm. “Such a thoughtful guy.”

“Shut up.” He was wrapping up the cornerstone carefully.

This place meant something, and I needed to keep my eye on that prize.

I headed up the hill after Jude and Sydney.

I was catching feelings, but I couldn’t shake the thought that she lied to me about this—what else was she lying about?