Page 31 of The Temptation (Executive Suite Secrets #4)

SIMON MILLER

Shit. Shit. Shit.

Pierce’s parents were gone. Home to Boston.

Now he had no reason to pretend to be dating me. No reason to be nice to me. No reason to even keep up the facade of friendship. I wouldn’t be surprised if I called him right now and he refused to answer the phone. Probably wouldn’t even text me.

Sure, we’d finally had sex, and it had been fucking amazing, but I knew this man better than I knew myself. He was going to backslide. He was going to run and hide from me. And I was out of ideas of how to win him.

I needed help, and there was only one person I could think of who might be able to come up with a solution to my problem.

I banged on the door with my fist a second time and started to pace away when the door was flung open. Liam’s eyes widened and his mouth fell open.

“Simon!”

“Is Rome here?” I knew it was an odd question considering I was standing on Rome’s doorstep, but Liam was practically living with his boyfriend now.

It was hard to grab Liam without Rome attached to him.

If I couldn’t catch Rome out of the house, I was going to drag Liam out for some coffee or a drink somewhere we could talk in private.

“No, he actually ran over to a neighbor to deliver some olive oil. What?—”

“Great. I’m in a real mess, and I desperately need your help.

” I charged into the house, pulling off my gloves and scarf.

“Pierce’s parents left town today, so there is no reason for us to pretend to be dating any longer.

However, I haven’t gotten him to give up the fake bullshit and date me for real. ”

“Wait. I?—”

Liam tried to interject, but I couldn’t stop the words from tumbling off my tongue as I paced down the hallway toward the living room. “We’ve had sex, and let me tell you, it was fucking amazing. Five stars. Highly recommend. Want to do it all the time. But I…”

All the words I needed to say became lodged in my throat as I stopped on the threshold of Rome’s living room. Liam was right. Rome wasn’t at home. However, Sebastian, Declan, Parker, and Byron were seated in there, staring at me like I’d just announced that I was an alien from outer space.

Or stated that Pierce and I were fucking.

Liam slowly walked up beside me, gripping forehead so that his palm nearly covered his face. “I was trying to tell you that the others stopped by for drinks and trivia,” Liam mumbled.

The silence stretched for a beat as I scrambled to pull my panicking brain cells into some kind of order.

Parker launched to his feet and pointed at Byron across the coffee table from him. “Ha! I told you! Pay up!” He thrust his hand out, palm up, at the slender man while everyone turned their attention to the two of them.

Byron groaned and dug his wallet out of his pocket. “I can’t believe you called that right,” Byron grumbled while pulling a ten-dollar bill out and putting it on Parker’s palm. “I was sure it was an old childhood feud, not attraction.”

“I’m confused. You knew that Pierce and Simon were fucking?” Declan asked, sounding incredibly calm.

“No, sweetie.” Parker dropped into his seat on the large footrest they were sharing and kissed his cheek as he folded up the bill. “I suspected it based on how they acted around each other.”

“How long have you had this bet going?” Liam demanded.

Byron shrugged, but it was Parker who answered. “We set it up the night of Sebastian’s dinner party. The first time I met everyone.”

Declan let out a groan, but he still wrapped his arm around Parker’s back, pulling his fiancé in closer.

Rome chose that exact moment to walk in. He greeted me and then seemed to freeze as he took in the strange vibe of the room.

“Something happened. What’d I miss?”

Liam growled and dropped his hand to his side. “Pierce and Simon are sleeping together. Simon needs help convincing Pierce to move from fake dating to real dating.”

Rome blinked and swiftly swung about to face the room. “Parker! You were right!”

Parker cackled until Declan tugged on his arm.

“Why did you discuss your thoughts with Byron and Rome but not me?” the stoic blond inquired with the slightest pout in his voice.

Parker’s grin softened, and he leaned into Declan. “Because you and Sebastian have this ridiculously overprotective attitude toward Simon. It’s like you still don’t realize he’s an adult and he can make his own decisions about his life. He’s not your baby brother.”

Thank God for Parker.

“Whoa.” Sebastian exhaled. He shook his head, and I tensed until he flashed me a crooked smile. “Sorry, Simon. Never meant to be so shortsighted with you. Of course, you’re an adult, and you have the right to date whomever you want.”

“Yeah, but Pierce?” Rome teased. “You can do so much better.”

“Or at least someone less complicated,” Liam added.

I released a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding and smirked. “The heart wants what it wants.”

“So very true,” Sebastian agreed, snagging Byron’s hand.

“When you walked in, you were saying something about Pierce and dating,” Byron said. He motioned with his free hand for me to come into the room. “Sit and tell us what problems you’re having. Maybe we can help.”

And just like that, the giant guilty weight that had sat on my chest for so long was lifted.

Liam took my coat while Rome hurried off to fetch me a drink. Within a couple of minutes, I was seated in the living room, catching them up on what had happened between Pierce and me so far.

As soon as I was done, Byron turned to his boyfriend. “What do you think? I don’t know Pierce all that well.”

“I’d say it’s fairly clear that Pierce is half in love with Simon already,” Sebastian replied.

Rome snorted. “More like three-quarters.”

“Pierce was never big on lots of flings and one-night stands,” Sebastian continued. “If he’s sleeping with you, this is more than sex to him.”

My hopes soared from the jagged pit they had fallen into, but they immediately crashed into a ceiling as Declan opened his mouth.

“Except Pierce is the type of person to sabotage his own happiness over guilt or a sense of duty.”

I groaned and dropped my face into my hands, my elbows resting on my knees. “Sawyer,” I snarled, my voice muffled.

“Yes, your brother,” Rome murmured.

“The asshole has been dead for more than a decade, and he’s still finding ways to fuck with me.” My head popped up, and I looked closely at Sebastian, Declan, and Rome. “Is there anything you can tell me about that day? Please, anything. No matter how bad it might be.”

I held my breath, waiting as the trio of men exchanged silent glances. I was worried they were trying to protect me or preserve some perfect image of Sawyer, but the secrets weren’t helping me or Pierce.

“No,” Declan stated.

Before I could beg him, Sebastian sighed. “Truly, Simon, we don’t know anything that might help. It was the middle of the day, and we decided to go swimming.”

“It had been fucking hot,” Rome added. “We were going to swim for a while. At sunset, we were going to toss some steaks on the grill and start drinking. It was the last day of freedom prior to the arrival of you and your parents. None of us had drunk alcohol yet.”

I nodded. I remembered overhearing a conversation between my parents that the coroner had found zero alcohol or drugs in Sawyer’s system. My father had even sounded surprised. Sawyer had been twenty-one and reckless. My parents had likely assumed he’d been drunk when he dove off those rocks.

“Rome, Dec, and I went down to the lake first. Sawyer and Pierce stayed behind to pack the cooler with ice and drinks.”

“They took a long time. Longer than you would have expected.” Declan turned to stare at Rome. “You even said you were going to check on them.”

Rome grunted. “Yeah, but Sawyer appeared a second later with the cooler. We teased him, and he muttered something about Pierce being a slow-ass.”

“What about Pierce? Where was he?” I demanded.

Sebastian shifted on the couch to gaze at me. “He followed Sawyer, but it was several minutes later, and even then he didn’t get in the water. He sat on the end of the dock with a bottle of water.”

“Did they seem off? Upset? Worried?” I pressed. Most of this I’d heard years ago, but I was sure I’d missed something since I’d been consumed with grief over losing my brother.

“Sawyer seemed pissed, or maybe annoyed,” Sebastian answered. “I asked him about it, but he brushed me off. Pierce was…” His voice trailed off, but I couldn’t tell whether it was due to being unable to remember or unwilling to say.

“Pale,” Declan cut in. “I remember thinking he looked pale, like he was sick.”

“Honestly, I thought he looked upset,” Rome admitted.

“I just figured he and Sawyer had just had another argument. They were always bickering about something. Sawyer would blow up about something stupid, and Pierce would sulk, giving Sawyer the cold shoulder until Sawyer apologized. It was their thing.”

“Except that time, Sawyer didn’t have the chance to apologize.”

Because he had died diving off the rocks into the lake.

“Do you think Pierce feels guilty about having an argument with Sawyer right before he died?” Byron asked.

“Maybe he blames himself for Sawyer’s death,” Parker suggested.

“That’s insane,” Rome gasped. “Sawyer’s death was an accident.

He jumped off the rocks in the wrong spot and hit his head.

End of story.” He winced and looked at me.

“Sorry.” I waved him off, and Rome continued.

“Pierce wasn’t even in the water at the time.

He was sitting on the boat dock. Said something like his head hurt. How could he blame himself?”

With Pierce, I had a feeling he would find a way.

“Maybe he feels guilty about their last argument and never having the chance to make up,” Liam offered.

That made sense to me.

The only problem was that no one besides Pierce could tell us what they’d talked about.

“After the initial police investigation, Pierce has never willingly talked about that day,” Sebastian stated.

“And we’ve all tried to get him to talk,” Rome murmured.

A sigh slipped out of my soul, and I closed my eyes. Whatever was keeping us apart was undoubtedly tied to their final conversation, but Pierce refused to say one word about it.

“What am I supposed to do?” I whispered, my voice thick with emotion. What hopes I’d had minutes ago had fallen apart.

Seconds ticked by and no one spoke. It was so quiet, I began to fear they’d all sneaked out of the room when I closed my eyes.

“Get him to talk about it,” Liam stated firmly. “Rome and I had that big blowup as kids. No matter how close we got as adults, it was window dressing until we dealt with what happened back then.”

Rome leaned over and wrapped his arms around Liam’s waist. “I dreaded talking about that day because I was sure I’d lose Liam again.”

Liam turned his head toward Rome and stole a kiss. “Same, but it was worth it.”

Could Pierce be afraid of scaring me off if he came clean about his fight with Sawyer?

They were right. If Pierce and I were to have any shot at an actual relationship, I had to get him to talk about the day my brother died.

“Simon, if you want us there to help you…” Sebastian offered, but I was already shaking my head.

If Pierce hadn’t talked about it with them during the past decade, he wasn’t likely to do it now.

Besides, Pierce was an intensely private person.

Exposing his inner pain and trauma to all these people, even if they were his closest friends, seemed unlikely.

“I’ll think of a way to talk to him about it.”

Even if I had to tie him down and threaten him with sexy torture, I would get the truth out of him at last.