Page 22 of Bourbon Wishes (Wine Country Alphas #3)

Bastian

" I 'm so mad at you!" Haven yells, flinging a pen at my head as soon as I stumble into the winery, feeling like the goddamn world just imploded around me. "You were supposed to talk to her."

I sink into a chair, my legs numb. Is Constance coming back? Christ, she has to come back, right? The thought that she might not is terrifying.

"Bastian?" Haven says, her tone softer this time.

"She left," I mutter, scrubbing my hands down my face. "I…Christ, I fucked up and she left."

"What the fuck?" Jax stomps into the lobby from his office, scowling down at me. "What do you mean she left? Is she coming back?"

"I don't know."

Haven gasps.

Jax growls a curse.

"Fix it," Haven demands, stomping around the side of her desk to jab me in the chest with her finger. "I don't care what you have to do, but you have to fix it, Bastian."

"You think I don't know that?" I growl, glaring at her. "I can't fucking breathe without her."

My cousin's expression softens. "Then why are you still sitting here?"

It's a good question. Why the fuck am I sitting here?

I should be going after her. I should be begging on my knees for her to come back if that's what I have to do.

If the social media manager position means that much to her, she can have it.

I'll quit if that's what it takes to ensure I'm no longer her boss.

Whatever I have to do to get her back here.

Just…I have to get her back here. There is no other option. Not one I can live with, anyway.

"I need to talk to your dads and Uncle Trevor," I mumble, wishing like hell I'd talked to them before I came to meet Constance.

We wouldn't be in this position if I hadn't been so damn impatient to get to her, to get inside of her.

But she asked me to meet her behind the winery, and that's what I was thinking about.

Getting inside her is all I'm ever thinking about anymore.

I figured I could make love to her and then iron out the rest of the details while she was in LA with her brother.

Clearly not because she drove away with tears rolling down her cheeks, and I'm not sure if she intends to come back.

Jax yanks his phone out of his pocket, stabbing the screen with enough force to let me know he's furious right now.

I'm guessing everyone else will be too when they find out that she's gone.

I'm not the only one who loves her, and I'm not the only one who needs her around here.

Everyone has fallen head over heels for her.

It's fucking impossible not to love her.

She's so full of life and passionate. She doesn't ever take any shit from anyone, and she meets everyone exactly where they are. That's rare here, real damn rare.

People always want shit from us. They always expect shit from us.

Not Constance. She just accepts each of us for who we are.

It doesn't matter if I'm an asshole or if Jax is an idiot or if we argue all fucking day long.

She just goes with it, never asking us to be anything different or change a goddamn thing.

The phone rings twice before Uncle Eli's voice rumbles down the line. "What do you need, son? I'm trying to get your mom naked."

"Stop telling our children that, Eli Goodson!" Aunt Audrey shouts in the background.

"Jesus Christ," Jax mutters, grimacing down at the phone in his hands. "I agree with her. Stop telling me that shit."

Uncle Eli just laughs in response. "You called me. If you don't want the truth, stop interrupting my plans. What do you want?"

Jax cuts his eyes at me, his expression severe. "I've got Bastian here. He needs to talk to you. It's urgent."

"I already heard," Uncle Eli says. "Miriam called Nathan, who called me. And Audrey and I already talked about it. He has our blessing, but if he doesn't put a ring on her finger, he's getting a boot up his ass."

"He can hear you," Jax says.

"Good. If you don't put a ring on her finger, I'm putting a boot up your ass," Uncle Eli repeats to me.

"That's the plan."

"Smart man." Uncle Eli pauses. "I already talked to Nate. He has no objections."

"Then that just leaves Uncle Trevor."

"He won't object either," Uncle Eli says. "Lucy adores Constance, and Trevor and Gracie love Lucy. If giving her your share of the winery means Lucy is happy, they're happy."

"Good, then there's nothing stopping you from fixing this," Haven says, scowling at me.

"Fixing it? What'd you do?"

"He asked me to list her position before he even talked to her. Now, she's on her way to LA, and he doesn't know if she's coming back."

I scowl at Haven. Why the fuck does everyone in my family have to meddle.

"What the fuck?" Uncle Eli growls. "Have you lost your goddamn mind, son?"

"Clearly," Haven sniffs.

"I fucked up," I mutter, hauling myself to my feet.

I don't need them to beat me over the head with that fact.

I'm already doing enough of that myself.

And truthfully, it isn't fucking helping.

Because the worst goddamn thing I can think of is her not coming back…

and right now, that's all I can think about.

She has to come back. Christ, she has to.

M y house feels dead without her. There are little pieces of her scattered all over the place—her shoes in the foyer, her book on the coffee table, her girly shit all over the bathroom. But seeing it all burns like a motherfucker.

I don't know what to do with myself when she won't answer my calls. They go straight to voicemail. So I stroll out onto the porch, trying to escape her smell. It doesn't really help.

I need to know she's okay. I need her to talk to me.

Hell, I need to know she's coming back.

I don't want to be here while she's in LA, probably crying over me. I want to be wherever she is. Since the day she started, I've wanted to be where she is. My skin crawls when I'm not near her.

She thinks I'm a controlling asshole, and maybe I am.

But the truth is…I never had any with her.

I've been losing control since the first damn time she smiled at me.

And I've wanted her just as off-balanced and out of sorts.

I've wanted her just as feral and desperate.

I never wanted to control her. I just wanted to be the one thing she couldn't live without.

My phone rings, ripping through the silence.

I snatch it up, answering without even looking at it, praying it's her.

"Constance, baby?"

"You son of a bitch," an unfamiliar voice growls. "You fucked my sister and then fired her?"

Fuck.

"Caleb," I sigh, bouncing my head against a post. Of course Constance told her brother what happened. He probably wants to rip my goddamn throat out right now.

"Answer the question, you asshole."

"That's not what happened," I say.

"She certainly thinks it is."

"She's got it all wrong." I squeeze my eyes closed, pinching the bridge of my nose. "I'm in love with your sister, man."

He snorts like he doesn't believe me, which just pisses me off.

"She's the best thing that ever happened to me or this vineyard," I growl. "I fucked up today, but that doesn't change how I feel about her. She's the reason I breathe."

"And you're the reason she sounded like her heart was breaking," he snaps back at me. "So excuse the fuck outta me for not believing you."

"You talked to her." I swallow hard. "Is she…fuck. Is she okay?"

"What do you think?"

I think I'm in hell without her, that's what I think.

And I think maybe she's in hell without me right now, too.

She needs me. Maybe she's pissed. Maybe she thinks she wants space…

but it isn't what she needs. I know her.

She needs me right now. She needs me to put everything back in order and ensure she knows that she isn't losing everything.

"I'm coming to get her," I warn Caleb, pushing away from the post. "I'm bringing her back."

"You can try. But Constance isn't going a damn place she doesn't want to go," he says.

"She wants to be here."

"We'll see."

"Goddammit," I growl, furious when he hangs up on me. I'm in the process of redialing when a text message comes through. It's an address.

Fuck.

He's actually going to let me see her.

Either that, or he's sending me on a wild goose chase.

B y the time I pull up outside of the address Caleb texted me—a sprawling mansion in Beverly Hills—it's after midnight.

I'm anxious as hell to talk to Constance.

I also know I only have one shot to get this right.

I thought about that the whole damn drive…

about what I stand to lose if I can't convince her to come back to Santa Maria where she belongs.

Frankly, I'm sweating goddamn bullets when I step out of my truck.

A shadow moves on the massive porch, separating from a column.

"Jesus," I mutter as the man I assume is her brother starts down the wide steps to meet me. He's a goddamn bearded, tattooed giant. And he does not look happy to see me.

"Are you Bastian?" he growls, his blue eyes narrowed on my face.

"I fucking hope you're her brother," I mutter, eyeing him sideways.

"What are you going to do about it if I'm not?" he taunts, smirking at me. "Maybe I'm the guy her brother brought to meet her since her dick of a boss made her cry."

My hands clench into tight fists. "I will rip your fucking arms off and beat you with them." He may have thirty pounds and a few inches on me, but I grew up on a vineyard. It's hard work from sunup to sundown, 365 days a year. And I don't intend to fight fair.

"You wish you could," he scoffs, looking me up and down. "She would fall for a dick in a suit."

Yeah, this is definitely her brother. There's too much animosity coming my way for him to be anyone else. And as a motherfucker with two sisters, I know damn well that shit only comes from a brother pissed that some asshole made his sister cry.

"Where is she, Caleb?"

"Not your business. I haven't decided to let you see her yet." He looks me up and down again, his arms crossed over his barrel chest. "You owe me answers. If I like what you have to say, then you get to see her."

Fuck me.

"Fine," I growl. "What do you want to know?"

"Why the fuck did you fire her?"

"I didn't fire her. Jesus Christ." I tug at strands of my hair, frustrated. "I would never fire her, but she's stressed the fuck out about me being her boss. I knew she'd never fall for me if that situation continued, so I handled it."

"By firing her."

I growl wordlessly, seriously contemplating how pissed she'd be if I hit him.

Knowing her, she'd set my truck on fire, probably with me in it, so I decide not to hit him.

Yet, anyway. "Do you have any idea how smart your sister is?

" I ask instead. "Her talents are wasted running our social media channel when her real skill is people.

Everyone loves her. It's impossible not to love her if you know her.

We need that. I need that," I say. "So I planned to let her create a marketing department.

She'll have her own team, make her own decisions. And she won't have a boss."

He cocks his head to the side. "How the fuck do you think that'll work? It's still your family's company."

"Not if she owns it."

"What?"

"I'm signing over my shares of the winery to her.

The land stays in the family, but we're allowed to do whatever the hell we want with the winery and the restaurant.

Part of it is now hers. Or it will be as soon as she signs the papers," I mutter.

"Since I'll no longer own any part of the winery, she won't answer to anyone but her damn self. "

He stares at me for a long moment and then mutters a curse. "You're giving her a winery just so you can keep sleeping with her. You are not making me want to hit you any less."

"Fuck no," I snarl. "I'm giving her what she deserves so she knows she always has a job, regardless of whether she's sleeping with me or not.

I want my ring on her finger. But if she decides that isn't what she wants—and I pray to God that isn't what she decides—it'll still be hers.

The vineyard will still be her home." I rake a shaking hand through my hair.

"I'll sign it all over to her if that's what it takes to convince her. "

"To convince me of what?"

I spin toward the door, my heart in my throat when I see her standing on the porch, her arms wrapped around herself and her eyes wide in her pale face. She's so fucking beautiful. Even though it's obvious she's been crying, she's still perfect.

"Constance." I take a step toward her, stumbling. Fucking shaking like an addict in the throes of DT staring at a bottle.

Caleb steps up in front of me, blocking my path.

"Move or I'll move you," I warn him, not kidding. She's right there within reach, and he's the thing standing in my way. Yeah, I'll move him. Maybe I'll regret it afterward, but right now? He needs to get the hell out of my way.

"Make her cry again, and I'll rip your balls out through your throat," he says, pitching his voice so it doesn't carry to her. "Break her heart, and they'll never find your body."

I jerk my chin in a nod, silently letting him know I hear him.

I get it. Shit, I've issued the same threat once before myself—to Arwen's husband.

And I meant that shit all the way to my soul, just like he means it now.

But I swear on everything that's holy, if he doesn't get out of my goddamn way and let me get to my girl, I'm going through him.

Luckily, it doesn't come to that.

He gets out of my damn way.