Page 59 of True Honey (The Hornets Nest #4)

SHORE

I t had been a week.

A week of dancing around Drew trying to pretend like I wasn’t waiting on her every word.

She was all smiles, all the time and I couldn’t tell if I should be worried or happy about it.

Not a single one of them seemed real. She kept checking out on me and was bright but distant.

Like a light I couldn’t reach no matter how much ground I covered.

It was frustrating but if she thought it was going to be enough to make me give up.

She was wrong. I could be stubborn if I wanted to be, especially about her.

I climbed off the bike, fixing the crinkles in my suit and brushing my fingers through my hair, my eyes turning up to the high-rise in downtown Lorette.

My head was beating so fast in my chest it felt like it was in my throat and before even leaving the house I had sweat through two shirts.

Today marked the day I either pulled off the most idiotic plan, or failed miserably.

I could only hope that the countless dinners, outings and horrible conversations had done enough.

Preston would have gone straight back to his dad with gossip about Drew from the weekend in New York, cementing that even when the shareholders weren’t paying attention we were very much in love.

Well, I was in love.

Drew was terrified.

Everything was tangled up too tightly to know what was real and what had been fake in my mind. The day I met her marked a challenge that I never expected to be so difficult. But every single knot we managed to undo proved that we were still very much tied together.

My phone rang in my pocket and I groaned.

Harbor Correctional

I picked it up only because if I didn’t he would continue to call through the entire meeting and I couldn’t have my phone vibrating in my pocket while I was attempting to lie my way into a fortune.

It went through the usual speech and I clicked one to accept the call and charges, “What?”

“You haven’t been answering my calls,” Charles said from the other end of the static filled call.

“Honestly after what you said to Arlo I don’t give a shit what you have to say, Dad.” I led with honesty. If my testimony was as good as the prosecution believed it was, nothing I said now mattered. He was screwed.

“Just like your mother, always so touchy.” Charles clicked.

“What do you want?” I emphasized every word, sick of his games, sick of his stalling.

“At least one of my sons cares how I’m doing in here,” he sneered and I stopped dead in my tracks outside the building.

“What did you say to him?” I barked.

“Oh now he’s listening,” Charles sneered, “good. If you think I didn’t know what you were doing, sneaking around, building a case against me with the enemy.

You’re just as stupid as your mother too and you didn’t learn anything.

You cannot keep me here, Silas. I didn’t do a damn thing wrong, all I did was fuck another woman. Infidelity is not a crime.”

“On top of extortion, bribery, fraud, tax evasion.” I added tightly, my heart pounding in my chest. What had he said to Josh, and why had Josh gone there without telling me. Fuck . Everything was falling apart and we had come so far to keep it together.

“I’m not involved in any of that,” Charles denied, just like he had been for the last four months.

“What did you say to Josh?” I demanded.

“We had a good father and son talk,” Charles snipped, but I could tell he was trying to get under my skin with every word.

“Joshua doesn’t blame me for anything, said his mother's vices were her own and that he wanted a chance to get to know his father. Told him I was ready to repent, to be the father he always needed.”

“Hah!” I pulled the phone away from my ear, laughing wildly. “You dumb shit,” I snapped, “what did you promise him?”

Charles went silent.

“Mm,” I hummed, “did you tell him that you have money stashed away, that you’d take care of him.

Make up for all those years of leaving him in that fucking drug den with his abusive mother to be raped?

” I growled through the phone, getting dirty looks from the people around me moving about their days.

“You think that after all of that abuse, being sold around for drugs because you weren’t man enough to own up to your adultery, he was on your side?

Are you fucking dense?” I scoffed, running a hand through my hair.

It felt amazing to blow up on him finally, so close to the finish line I’d done everything properly down to the very last second. Nothing would save him now. I hoped he rotted in that concrete box.

“He went there because the prosecution needed you to confess about more hidden offshore accounts and you, being the stupidest man in Harbor. Played right into their hands.” I smiled widely, knowing he’d screwed himself royally.

“It’s almost poetic that you signed your own death warrant because you couldn’t get over yourself! ”

The silence was glorious.

“Yeah, Dad, you were so busy thinking you’d won this fight, that you were too smart to ever lose it.

But guess what? You hurt the two most important people in my life, and I may have gotten a lot from Mom but I learned how to lie, cheat and screw from you and I used every single one of those things to make sure the only repenting you’ll ever do is in an eight by eight cell. ”

“Son,” he huffed.

“Ah, nope.” I stopped him, my jaw grinding together at the sound of him calling me that. “It’s Doctor Shore to you from here on out, and I’m not your fucking son.” I didn’t even give him the chance to respond before I hung up and dialed Josh’s number.

“Are you okay?” I asked the second the call connected.

“What?” He sounded confused, “I’m walking into practice. ”

“Why did you go to see him?” I asked and heard him sigh.

“Because they needed me to do it and I’m not a baby, I’m fine,” he said.

“You shouldn’t have had to do that, he’s a piece of shit—”

“I know, and everything he says is bullshit. Silas, listen… going there meant keeping him behind bars and you’ve done enough for all of us the last couple months to make sure that happened.

You’re allowed to let people take care of you, it was literally the least I could do.

” Josh’s voice resonated through the phone, full of conviction.

“I had a meeting with Riona right after, got it out. I swear I’m okay. ”

He said it and I actually believed him. Thank God for Riona.

“Did he call you?” was the next question out of his mouth.

“Yeah, to brag that you were his new favorite…” I sighed. “No more visits.”

“Promise.” He said quickly. “I uh…gotta go, Coach is screaming.” He sounded confused.

“Yeah, yeah. Sorry. Go.” I let him hang up and took a breath, looking around at the busy street, just trying to compose myself before coming face to face with the other massive problem in my life. One down, two to go.

Board members.

Drew Courtney.

Grandpa stood in the main lobby talking to one of his friends with a smile on his face and his good mood gave me hope that today would go over well.

“There he is!” Grandpa shook my hand, giving me a pat on the back. “What no coffee?”

“Came on the bike,” I said, my voice tense.

“Time to learn a new party trick,” Grandpa teased with a loud laugh.

I nodded. “How's the energy up there?”

“I can’t promise anything but you’ve done good.” He offered. “Everyone is waiting, you ready?”

"Don't have much of a choice," I joked, following him over to the elevator.

“Soon you’ll have control of everything boy, how does it feel?” Grandpa asked, waiting for the doors to open. I went to answer but he coughed loudly into his handkerchief and worry gripped me. It wouldn’t be long before he was gone and everything would be on my shoulders. It felt suffocating.

“Great,” I lied as the elevator dinged open.

“Silas!” August’s voice pulled my attention around to the front doors.

What the hell?

Arlo marched in behind him, “he was coming with or without me.” He said when I opened my mouth to ask.

“She’s going to run,” he said, out of breath. My eyes flickered from August to Arlo who looked as confused as I felt.

“No,” I said, “everything is good, Auggie. It’s fine.” I assured him, trying not to make a scene in the lobby. But August wasn’t having it.

“It’s not okay!” He said a little louder, “I’ve seen it a hundred times, I know when she’s going to run and it’s happening.” He pushed. It broke my heart how scared he looked.

“She went to work today,” I tried reasoning.

“She stopped singing!” August fought. “And she’s packing, she thinks she’s sneaky but I know it, Silas. You have to do something!”

Arlo shrugged, “he busted in before practice Si.” I swallowed tightly. I couldn’t let her run, she had to know she was safe here. She wasn’t going to run… was she?

“This is my fault,” I huffed. I told her I loved her and she’s scared. I caused this.

I rubbed my hands over my face.

“Silas,” Grandpa’s voice was low and demanding. “There are people waiting for you.”

Very important people. He didn’t have to say it.

I understood the weight of the two decisions.

Losing Harbor versus losing everything. I couldn’t lose her.

Nothing else mattered because when she was with me, everything was alright.

I didn’t need money or control to save Harbor, to provide for my family.

I looked at August and could see Drew in him, right down to the worry that racked through his body.

It wasn’t just about us anymore, I wasn’t willing to lose either of them.

They were everything. I swore under my breath and stepped toward Arlo and August.

“Don’t be daft, boy,” Grandpa snapped. “Get on this elevator. ”

“I’m sorry,” I turned to him, sincerely sorry for everything before backing away and having them both follow.

“Time to make a fool of yourself.” Arlo clapped my shoulder as we flooded out the front doors.