Page 58 of Dr. Stone (Billionaires’ Club #9)

Fucking weird as hell, the way she suddenly flipped toward me, toward Ash, and toward just about everything.

One day we’re good, the next she’s checked out.

And it wasn’t just me she walked out on; she left the cutest damn dog on the planet behind, too.

You don’t just walk away from people, and a dog like Duke, unless something deeper is going on.

But shit, if she wasn’t even talking to her best friend about it, why would she ever open up to me?

I glanced over at Duke, smiling at how he sniffed the wind once the boat started picking up speed coming out of the marina. The damn dog sucked as part of a family unit, but he was man’s best friend while sailing on a boat.

I felt my nerves tightening from all the emotions I was still carrying, but the boat was doing her job, slowly unraveling that tension, and out here on this beauty, on the water, I felt no pain.

That afternoon, I split a turkey sandwich with Duke, anchored about thirty minutes offshore, near Catalina Island—the one place I had no memories of Andie. Out here, I could escape her.

I picked a secluded spot to anchor, away from other boats and people, because the last thing I needed was this damn dog losing his mind barking at every little thing.

I tossed a chip over to my pal, watching him with amusement as he sniffed it. “It’s horrible for us, but who gives a fuck?” I said, crunching into a plain potato chip and savoring everything about the unhealthy snack.

If it weren’t for a sailboat moving in our direction like they knew me, I would’ve wondered why the dog started barking like a mother fucker.

“Duke, shut the fuck up,” I said, trying to see who was sailing directly towards me.

The closer the boat came, the more insane Duke got.

“I can’t deal with your ass right now,” I muttered, scooping Duke up and setting him in his bed below deck.

When I came back up, I blinked in disbelief. The approaching boat was Jake’s—and riding shotgun was his clown-in-crime, Collin.

Jake swung his sailboat in like he was pulling into a frat party, not thirty minutes off Catalina. Collin stood on the bow, shirtless, beer in hand, grinning like spring break came early.

“Ahoy, bitch!” Jake saluted me with a smug smile.

I squinted. “What the hell…you trade in the yacht for this midlife crisis?”

“Permission to come aboard, Captain Pathetic?” Collin bellowed, already wobbling like he was auditioning for community theater.

Before I could say no, he leapt across with the grace of a drunk gymnast. Jake followed, tossing me a line.

“You two are like herpes,” I snapped, catching it. “Unwanted, impossible to get rid of, and always showing up at the worst time.”

“Aw, see? He missed us.” Collin clapped me on the back. “That’s basically a hug in Jace-speak.”

Jake gripped my shoulder like he was either about to give me bad news—or drag me to Vegas. “We come bearing gifts.” He ducked below deck, then reappeared with Duke tucked under his arm like a football and two beers in the other hand.

“Poor dog locked up while Daddy cries into his IPA?” Jake tsked, handing me one. “You’re gonna need this. Maybe both.”

Suspicion prickled. “For what?”

Collin raised his bottle in a toast. “For Operation Fix-Your-Pathetic-Love-Life.”

I snorted. “Christ.”

Jake cracked his beer. “It’s about your girl. And the mess she didn’t tell you about.”

My pulse spiked. “What—she wants me back? Sent you two clowns as messengers?”

“Not exactly,” Jake said, calm in a way that set me on edge.

“If this was a reunion call, we’d have brought champagne,” Collin added, pointing his bottle at me. “And maybe a defibrillator for your dumb ass.”

The bottom dropped out of my gut.

Jake leaned on the rail. “Ash came home yesterday—said Andie finally cracked. Everything she’s been carrying spilled out.”

Collin nodded. “So you can let go of that whole ‘it’s all my fault’ routine. It wasn’t you.”

“Well…” Jake tilted his head. “In a way, it was.”

“Yeah, technically,” Collin agreed. “Your playboy past? Coming back to bite you.”

Jake’s tone cut sharper. “It’s not just that. There’s a bastard threatening to blow up your career with those old scandals.”

My chest seized. “Who the hell is threatening her—and me—with my past?”

Collin leaned back against the rail. “Who else? Her jealous little bitch of an ex. The same one you bought her car from.”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

The anger that surged through me nearly leveled me. Threatening her. Threatening Brandon. Using my past as ammo? The rage coiled so tight in my chest I swore my ribs would snap.

“Don’t worry,” Jake said quickly. “Jim and I are already talking to the board. From what we’ve seen, this isn’t enough to touch your license.”

“The worst I did was sleep with a patient’s twenty-five-year-old daughter—her family was practically planning the wedding,” I shot back.

Collin barked a laugh. “Damn, you really did get around.”

I ignored him. “Why the fuck wouldn’t she tell me?”

Jake’s face hardened. “Because he threatened to drag her through a brutal custody battle if she didn’t cut you off. She stayed away to protect you—and her son.”

Collin lifted his beer in a mock toast. “Now here’s the kicker. The bastard’s already digging his own grave. He got drunk and asked Hawk what it was like to screw his ‘ex-whore of a girlfriend.’”

“Oh, shit,” I said, almost smiling. “Titus doesn’t let that kind of trash slide.”

Jake smirked. “From what Jim heard, Titus stayed quiet. Which means he’s already got PIs on the guy.”

“Once Hawk’s people find even a scrap of dirt,” Collin added, “he’ll be annihilated. And that’s before he learns what this prick did to you and Andie.”

I dragged a hand over my face. “I need to talk to her.”

Jake shook his head. “She’s gone for the weekend—girls’ retreat. Ash, Avery, Nat…they’ve got her.”

“Meanwhile,” Collin said, “we’ll do what we do best—drink, eat, and map out exactly how to bury the son of a bitch.”

Jake pointed at Duke. “You guard the boats while we’re gone.”

“Yeah, about him,” I said. “He probably should come onshore with us.”

Collin snorted. “Three grown men carrying a Yorkie? Tabloids would eat us alive.”

Jake barked a laugh. “Shit, I want that headline. ‘Newest scandal: billionaires caught co-parenting a Yorkie off Catalina.’”

For once, his humor didn’t touch me. His last words hit harder than I wanted to admit: she’d taken Jonathan’s threats seriously because that’s what abuse does—it sinks hooks deep. And if he’d ever laid a hand on her? God help him.

What gutted me most wasn’t the threat. It was knowing that if she hadn’t finally cracked to Ash, she might’ve carried that fear forever.

Not anymore.

Now, all I wanted was to know exactly what he had on me—and make him regret ever saying my name.