29. Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Dallas
“ W hat the fuck were you thinking, dumbass?”
“So, dickhead is out then? We’re back to Dumbass Dallas now, huh?”
I pull out my phone and open up the group chat.
“What the fuck are you doing, Dallas?”
I hold up my pointer finger in Sawyer’s direction. “Hold, please. Just . . . got to . . . there.”
Me:
FYI dickhead is out dumbass is back in.
“Okay, please, continue,” I say as his phone vibrates on the desk in front of him. He picks it up and no doubt reads my message.
“Really?” he chides.
I roll my eyes, spreading my legs in my chair and relaxing backward. Might as well be comfortable for this lecture.
“Dallas, what are you doing?”
I look around the room, slightly confused.
“Uh? Getting comfortable. Figured this was going to take a bit. Anyone ever tell you you can be a bit long-winded?”
“I mean with fucking Blaire, you idiot! How could you do this? I thought you hated her!”
“Oh, I definitely did. Some days I still do.” And wasn’t that the truth. That woman drives me batshit crazy on her good days. But I know in my heart I’m a goner for her. There won’t be anyone else after her.
“I don’t want to get into this with you, Sawyer. She didn’t want anyone to know. So you all are going to keep your mouths shut until I figure out what’s between us.” I hope to fuck she wants the same thing I do. I’d move her ass into my house tonight if she’d let me, marry her in the morning and fuck her senseless that evening. But she’s about as flighty as a stray fucking cat. I have to tread at her pace. I have to slowly infect her the way she has me, if I haven’t already.
“I don’t think you understand how fucked-up this is. You’re her goddamn boss, Dallas! She could sue us. You were fucking on the grounds! Do I even want to ask how long this has been going on?”
“Since the wedding,” I deadpan.
His eyes shoot up at me, widening before squinting into slits.
“ My fucking wedding? That was almost two months ago!”
“Have we been to any other weddings?” I ask, truly puzzled. His brain has gone to straight mush. I’ve heard of pregnant women getting “pregnancy brain” but do the fathers get it? His face morphs from irritation to anger, his cheeks reddening and his hands curling into fists around the expensive office chair he loves so much.
“Hey, hey, watch the chair! You don’t want to leave marks on her!” I chastise.
“Fuck the chair! Why aren’t you taking this seriously, Dallas?” he says as he closes his eyes and tries to keep himself calm. I applaud his effort. “She’s our employee. You’re fucking a subordinate.”
“Hey, now that’s not true. We work with each other, CEO. You said so yourself, remember? Blaire and I work with each other, not her for me. Remember? That’s what you said.” My patronizing hits his limit, because the next thing I know, he’s launched himself from his seat as his body tackles mine, flipping my chair backward.
“You’re so fucking irresponsible! We haven’t even been running the company a year!”
I grapple with him, trying to dislodge myself from his arm wrapped around my neck. I toss my leg around his torso, flipping us to the side and spinning out of his hold.
“Is that what you’re worried about? How this is going to make you look?”
He gets a shot into my ribs and I can’t hold back the wince. I try to get his hands locked down to hold him in place, but he’s wanting a fight. He bucks me off, flipping us again. I put up my arms, trying to block the blow to the face that I know is coming. He gets one in, his fist connecting with the same cheek that’s still got a light bruise from Reid’s stinger, the hard punch knocking my head to the side.
“Fuck!” I yell, keeping my forearms up to block the onslaught.
“For fuck’s sake, get them off each other,” Liam’s voice breaks through the current ringing in my ears.
“Why the hell are you two always talking with your fists? Can’t we ever just have a normal fucking meeting?” Carter this time, annoyed as usual, and taking a seat in one of the chairs.
Liam pulls Sawyer off me and looks me over.
I stand, righting my clothes and pulling a water from Sawyer’s mini fridge before putting the chair back in place and having a seat, catching my breath. I hold the cold water bottle up to my cheek.
“Sawyer, what the fuck man?” Liam asks.
“You saw everything I did!”
“So, you want to beat his ass for having what looked like consensual sex?”
“At the distillery!” Sawyer yells.
“Psh. Like you haven’t fucked Ivy ten ways from Sunday in this place,” I quip, never having quite learned how to keep my mouth shut when I need to.
Sawyer stands then and moves to come at me again. Liam gets between us, holding his hands extended outward to each of us like he’s holding back feral animals.
“Don’t you fucking talk about her like that. Next time you do, I’ll break your fucking jaw. You got me?” Sawyer hisses in my direction.
“Loud and fucking clear, captain!” I say as I give him a lazy salute.
“He’s not wrong though, Sawyer. None of us can be hypocrites about this,” Carter adds.
“You fucking employees, too, Carter?”
We all look at him and he just shrugs.
Sawyer throws his head back, exasperated. I take a deep breath and try to settle this.
“Look, we were keeping this to ourselves while we figured things out. You obviously weren’t supposed to find out like that, and Blaire is mortified. I’d like to wrap this up so I can go check on her.”
“And if this goes south? Then what? We lose Blaire?” Sawyer asks, genuinely concerned.
I think about his question for a moment. I can’t imagine seeing her and not being able to touch her, take care of her, talk to her. She loves her job more than anything, and even if this ended badly, which I hope to fuck it doesn’t, I couldn’t take this from her. It means too much to her. She’s worked too hard.
“You won’t. You have my word. If shit goes south, I won’t let that happen. Even if I have to work from home, work nights, do whatever I need to do so that she’s comfortable to stay. I will.”
All three of my brother’s heads snap back in unison.
“You really care about her.” Not a question.
Liam’s right. I do.
Instead of going straight to Blaire’s office to check on her, I decide to give her some space and take a run downtown for some of her favorites first. By the time I return, I hope that she’s simmered down enough to have a calm conversation without her running away and shutting me out.
“Knock, knock,” I say as I open Blaire’s office door and walk in, closing it softly behind me.
“Haven’t you done enough damage today?” she asks from behind her desk, her head laying on her crossed arms over her laptop.
“I deserve that, but now I’m here for some damage control. Chocolate croissant?”
She peeks up at me from her position on the desk, eyes squinting, “Bean Haven?”
I scoff, “As if I’d go anywhere else.”
Moving to the front of her desk, I set down her black coffee and pastry and take a seat in one of her chairs. Rather than wait for her to sit up and talk, I make the first move.
“I’m sorry. I told you that no one would find out until we were ready, and I failed you. But, I’m not mad about it.”
She sits up quickly, her eyes narrowing at me, so I put up my hands defensively.
“I don’t want to hide anymore. I don’t want to keep you a secret. I know that makes me a selfish bastard. For the first time in my life, I have something that’s just for me. You make me happy, Blaire. Being your man makes me proud and I’m sorry if you still aren’t ready for us to be open about that with everyone and I’ll do whatever you need to make sure you’re comfortable, but I can’t go back into hiding. I’m sorry how it happened though.”
I say my piece and wait. Her eyes haven’t left mine and I can’t read her expression at all.
“You don’t want to keep me hidden?” Her words are slightly vulnerable.
“Fuck no, baby.”
“This isn’t a good look for me.”
“Then let’s make it look good. Tell me what you need from me and it’s yours.”
“You really mean that?”
“I do. I told my brothers that you didn’t want anyone to find out and to keep their mouths shut about it. No one knows but the five of us. And probably Ivy because Sawyer can’t keep anything from her. I don’t want to hide anymore, but if you still need time, I’ll give it to you.”
“No more fooling around at work. I feel so stupid. We were bound to get caught.”
“You aren’t stupid. We’re just crazed when we’re together. I’ve already imagined taking you sixteen different ways since I’ve been in your office.”
She laughs and I can finally take a deep breath, some of the pressure and worry in my chest lifting.
“You’re not what I expected.”
“Yeah, well that sure as shit makes two of us, princess.”
She stands and walks over to where I’m sitting, and I open my arms for her to sit on my lap. She complies, and I wrap her tightly in a hug, resting my cheek on her head. Her sweet, jasmine scent wafts around me and I inhale deeply.
“It’ll be okay, I promise.”
“You can’t promise those types of things. But I trust you anyway.”
Her words hit their mark. If I give her anything in this life, being a safe place she trusts is the most important.
I sit with her while she sips on her hot coffee and picks at her croissant before I have to leave her to start my day, already way behind schedule, and after being gone for three days, I have to play catch-up.
I pass Liam in the hallway on the way to my office and he nods at me, following me into the room and closing the door behind him.
“She alright?”
“Mortified, but she’s the strongest woman I’ve ever met.”
“Well shit, that’s sayin’ something considering the last six months.”
“How’s Han, everything okay?”
He runs his hand nervously through his hair and paces the length of my office.
“Still trying to process how I’m going to break it to her that her boyfriend slash ex-boyfriend slash baby daddy is a cheating, piece of shit with a live-in girlfriend and another baby on the way. Oh, and he’s most definitely not going to marry you so plan on losing your family’s business that you love so much.”
“Shit. Yeah. So, advice?”
“Please.”
“I wouldn’t say it like that.”
“Well, no shit, Sherlock. Thanks for helping.”
“Like I said before, you know Hannah better than anyone in the world, and you literally were the first person to see Charlie when she delivered her on the kitchen floor. No one knows better how to help them through this than you do.”
“Shit sucks, man.”
“Trust me, I get it. Just be there for her. It’s all you can do. Give her a safe shoulder to lean on, something you’ve been doing for twenty years already.”
“Thanks, brother. I got shit to do but I’ll see you Sunday.”
“Sounds good.”
I wonder what Blaire will decide to do and if she’ll make a decision before then. I’d love nothing more than to walk into Sunday dinner holding her hand. Being able to enjoy her at my parents’ house surrounded by my family would make me so happy. I just wish I knew if she felt remotely the same as I do, or if she still views us as fuck buddies. After the morning we had together before I left for Mount Baker, I thought I felt the shift. I knew I was in love with her, but she was there with me, fully participating, and I know she felt everything I did.
She had to.
Right?