Page 183 of Theirs to Desire (Club M: Boxed Set)

ERIC

“ Y ou look like hell,” Xavier shouts over the noise of the blades. “Not enough sleep, or something else?”

“Both.”

We’re in Xavier’s helicopter, on our way to Washington DC. We’re going to confront Kevin Hughes, and we intend to get a name out of him. One way or the other, I’m going to find out who wants to ruin Xavier Leforte today.

“Want to talk about it?”

Yell about it, more accurately. I contemplate Xavier’s question. After Dixie left, Hunter and I had sat in his mother’s kitchen. Neither of us had said anything—what was there to say? She’s allowed to end our arrangement anytime she wants. That was our deal going in.

“We’re not sleeping together anymore.”

“Who got scared?”

I give him a sideways glance. “You don’t think this thing just ran its course?”

“I was at Hunter’s last night, remember?”

I lean back with a sigh. My head hurts, my heart feels like it’s been attacked by a battering ram, and I’m left raw and aching.

Cici was bad—this is so much worse. “She did.” I shut my eyes so I don’t have to see his expression of sympathy.

“I don’t know what happened. One moment, we were fooling around, and the next moment—bam. ”

“Why don’t you ask her?”

“She didn’t exactly stick around for twenty questions.”

“So? Have you lost your cell phone? Is she not taking your calls?”

My throat tightens. “It’s not that easy. You wouldn’t understand.”

“Really?” His voice is dry. “Let me see. Rafe and I keep flying to Bangkok every second week because the woman we’ve been hopelessly in love with for the last sixteen years lives there.

Half the time, she doesn’t want to see us.

She keeps putting herself in dangerous situations, and I think it’s because she doesn’t care if she lives or dies.

I’ve neglected my business. Somebody is actively trying to ruin me.

Everyone on my senior team has been working flat out for months, all because of my inattention, and even so, if Layla needed me, I’d drop everything for her.

I’d do it all over again. Tell me again how things aren’t easy. Tell me again how I won’t understand.”

“Touché.” I grimace. “I don’t know, Xavier.

After the way things ended with Cici, I made myself a promise.

No more. Dixie doesn’t want to be with us.

I’m not going to beg. Sure, I want to. Right now, I want to beg and grovel and plead.

But even if I succeed, what happens a year down the line?

Every time things get difficult, she’ll want out.

” I stare into the distance. “Society is set up for couples. It’s hard to go against the grain.

I can’t ask her to make that sacrifice. She has to want it on her own. ”

“Have you told her how you feel?”

Isn’t it obvious how I feel? Isn’t it obvious what I want? She ran before I could say the words, but she knows. Of course she knows.

The helicopter starts its descent into DC. “Drop it,” I tell him. “We’re here. You have other things to worry about. Keep your eyes on the prize.”

We take a cab to Zephyrus’s headquarters. Kevin Hughes is in his office. He looks up when we walk in, and the instant he sees us there, his shoulders slump. He knows he’s been caught.

Xavier’s expression is neutral as he lays out the evidence against him. “I want to know two things, Kevin,” he says, his voice deceptively mild. “I want to know who asked you to frame me. And I want to know why you agreed.”

“Or what?” Hughes blusters.

Really? Buddy, you’re in one hell of a hole. Stop digging.

Xavier’s expression hardens. “Or you’ll find out what it means to choose to be my enemy.”

He doesn’t raise his voice—he doesn’t need to. Hughes caves. “People kept quitting. We couldn’t retain our customers. I increased prices, but that was only a temporary measure. Zephyrus was in trouble. Every time I tried to make a deal, that stupid bitch raised an objection.”

He’s talking about Dixie. I clench my hands into fists to keep myself from punching him in the face. It’s obvious Hughes is looking for someone—anyone—to blame, but the only person responsible for this mess is him.

Xavier waits in silence for him to continue.

“Then I was approached by someone in Capitol Hill,” Hughes says. They offered me a massive contract, nearly twenty percent of our revenue, if I did one thing.”

I know the contract he’s talking about—it’s with the US Army. “You idiot,” I snap. “You did this to shore up your revenue numbers? To make yourself look good? What do you think will happen to your sorry ass if Xavier goes to jail?”

“Spare me your concern,” he retorts. “This is the United States of America. Billionaires don’t go to jail. Worst case, he’ll spend a month in some white-collar prison while his army of lawyers gets him out.”

Xavier leans forward. “I want a name. Who approached you?”

Hughes’ expression stays defiant. “Theodore Downing.”

The name doesn’t mean anything to me, but one look at my friend’s face and I know it does to Xavier.

“You’re fired,” Xavier tells Hughes. “Security will walk you out of the building. And Hughes, one last piece of advice. A warning, if you will. If you ever come near me, my company, my family, and my friends, I will make you regret it.”

Xavier hasn’t said a word in almost an hour. “Are you okay?” I ask him on the flight back.

“I will be.”

“Who’s Ted Downing?”

“He’s a Senator,” he replies. “He sits on the Armed Services Committee. Eighteen months ago, his son Raymond got a little too rough with a prostitute in Bangkok. She died. Layla found out. I had to act before she took matters into her own hands.”

“What did you do?”

“I wanted to catch him in something shady, and so I allowed Raymond to join Club M. He’s long fancied himself a dominant.

” Xavier almost spits that last word out.

“Fiona used to be his submissive. I got her involved. He almost knifed her.” His face twists.

“I shouldn’t have brought her into it. I’ll carry that regret to my grave. ”

He’ll do it again though. Because it’s Layla.

If Dixie were in danger, I would stop at nothing to eliminate the threat.

“Raymond Downing is in prison and will be there for a long time,” he continues. “The Senator wanted him in a low-security prison. I made sure that didn’t happen.” His expression hardens. “He came after me. He will regret it.”

“And Dixie?”

He flashes me a sidelong glance. “Why do you care?” he asks. “You’re done, you told me. You’re not going to try to fight for her. This isn’t really your problem any longer.”

I stare at him until he relents. “Okay, fine,” he says. “Dixie is honest, and she’s ethical, and I trust her. The job is hers if she wants it.” He levels a glare at me. “Don’t tell her just yet. I need to wrap up a few loose ends first.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t.” After all, after the way she ran this morning, it’s unlikely that she’s going to want to talk to me again.