Chapter 7
Maddox
“You don’t mind if I sell you, do you honey?” Amber asks, her voice a purr. She’s raking me in with her hypnotic whiskey-hazel eyes, her long lashes not exactly fluttering but definitely batting about more than normal.
“I’m afraid I do, Amber. No part of me is up for sale, no matter how good the cause.”
She places her hands on her heart, like I’ve wounded her. “I’m so disappointed, Maddox. I thought we had a connection, you and I? Was I so very wrong?”
She’s laying on the injured Southern belle schtick now. Elijah sniggers in the background. He knows his wife’s tricks better than anyone. I swear to God he enjoys seeing the rest of us get skewered by her.
“You’re not wrong. I think the world of you. But the answer is still no, I will not be auctioned like a piece of meat.”
She grins mischievously. “Oh sugar, that’s a pity, especially when you’re such a fine piece of meat. I can’t convince you?”
Elijah laughs out loud now. It’s a joy to see them like this, it really is.
They can barely keep their hands off each other, and he’s taken more time to be with her in the last year than the rest of their lives together.
And all it took for them to reach this state of wedded bliss?
Years of misery, mutual loathing, and eventually divorce.
Some love stories just don’t run in a straight line.
“Nope. Sorry, Amber. But anything else I can do, just let me know. You do great work. I’m happy to help in any way that doesn’t involve strutting my stuff on a runway and getting bought by the highest bidder.”
She accepts this and tilts her blonde-bobbed head to one side. “Thank you, Maddox. This time, it’ll be enough if you just come along and show your support that way.”
I tell her I’ll be there. When I found out the date of the fundraiser, my heart sank. It won’t be the best or easiest of days for me. The timing couldn’t be worse. But Amber is family, and that’s that.
She goes on. “Thank you, honey. But I was also thinking that maybe at some point, you could help with catering? At an event or at the center?”
Amber has always been involved in charities, but previously, I think it was just what she felt she was expected to do.
Her and Elijah can’t have kids, and she filled her days with committees and events, never invested beyond the superficial.
Now, she’s different, all passion and fire.
She still leads dance classes at a community center in Queens, as well as running her foundation for talented kids from underprivileged backgrounds.
She’s a force of nature, changing people’s lives for the better.
As she pouts at me, hypnotizing me with those big eyes, I feel a little like one of her projects.
She knows I love cooking. She also knows I’m looking for a role to play beyond being the prodigal son who has returned from his time in the wilderness.
More than the other members of my family, maybe, she understands how important it is to have a purpose in life.
I’ve spent years getting myself clean and staying that way, and that will always be a work in progress.
I will never not be an addict. I will always have to tend to that part of myself.
But right now, I do feel the call of more, and cooking is my passion.
It’s an essential part of my future plans.
Does she know that somehow? I wouldn’t put it past her, even if I haven’t revealed my hopes and dreams to my family yet.
Elijah is looking on in interest, obviously curious. He’s tapping away on his laptop as he listens, probably buying Jupiter or something.
“How would that work?” I ask cautiously.
When you come from a family like mine, you have to tread carefully.
I want to do things my own way. Just because money is no object doesn’t mean I spend it easily.
I want to be independent. I have enough self-awareness to understand that I need to be proud of myself as an individual, not just as part of the James clan.
“I don’t know exactly, it’s just an idea.
You’re so talented in the kitchen, and maybe it’s something to think about?
Catering services? Even just teaching the odd class at my center?
A lot of people there are on fixed incomes.
It might be great for them to get some fresh ideas on how to make their money stretch further. ”
I know the irony of all this is not lost on Amber either.
The thought of me, one of the heirs to a billionaire empire, helping people come up with exciting ways to cook macaroni.
But we are what we are, and we help however we can, whether that’s through our individual talents, like Amber’s dance classes, or by fundraising.
We come from immense privilege, but my mom and dad always drummed it into us that the world owed us nothing—that it was the other way around.
We owed the world. That’s always stuck with me, and since I got clean, I’ve tried to live by it.
My family is not religious, but that has always struck me as the kind of spiritual and moral guideline I can work with.
I nod. “I’ll give it some thought.”
She pats me on the arm. “Thank you, darling. Now, about the event next week? Will you be bringing a date?”
I’m staying with these two tonight, catching up, enjoying their vibe. Appreciating their banter and the way the world feels a better place when you see what love can be like. Elijah glances up from his laptop. “You know he’s not, Amber. Give the kid a break.”
“He’s not a kid,” she shoots back. “Just because he’s your kid brother, that doesn’t mean he stays a baby for the rest of his life.”
“Exactly,” I agree with her.
“Anyway, there’s a difference between being celibate and bringing someone to an event. Just because someone doesn’t have sex, doesn’t mean they don’t have friends.”
I wonder about that. Most of the people I went to high school with are in the rear view.
Nothing like your teenage girlfriend taking her own life to take the shine off the star quarterback, especially when he plummets headfirst into a spiral of drinking and drugs in the aftermath.
I was in a dark place for years, until I shed my skin, walked out on my family, and put it all behind me.
Now I’m back. I’ve done some healing. Made some amends. Accepted some shit that once seemed unacceptable, about both Yasmin and what I did to handle that situation. I can just about look in a mirror again and not see the scumbag who stole from his own family, who lost himself.
Does this new me have friends beyond group meetings and business?
I know a lot of people. I’m interested in them, and in their lives.
I make connections easily. Have people I chat to or invite out for a quick coffee.
But real friends, ones I’d tell anything?
Not so much. There’s too fucking much to tell.
When I think about a date to Amber’s event, only one person springs to mind, and I’m not convinced she would see me as a friend.
“Maybe,” I say, drawing a surprised glance from Elijah. “I have a few people I might ask. Who else is on the guest list that I know?”
Elijah narrows his eyes as he looks at me.
Does he smell a rat? If he does, he keeps his mouth shut as Amber rattles off the guest list. “All of the family, obviously, plus partners, childcare allowing. Luisa. Sissie from the center in Queens. Some of Drake and Nathan’s clients.
Tyler has roped in some sports celebs too.
Oh, and possibly Mel’s little sister, Ashley. ”
She pauses and seems to wait for a reaction.
Ashley is cute, but I’m not interested. I remain neutral and she moves on, slightly disappointed.
“Mainly, there’ll be rich people—lots and lots of lovely rich people, who will all be bled dry by the end of the night.
” She lets out a Bond-villain style laugh, and I have no doubt they will.
“Don’t forget the Jamestech crew,” Elijah adds. “I’ve bought a table. I thought you might smother me in my sleep if I didn’t.”
“Yes. You may be right about that, honey. You need to be careful when you share a bed with me, Elijah. Who knows what can happen?”
Their eyes meet, and even I feel the heat from across the room. Wow. I suddenly feel invisible. Nothing like being celibate while your sibling eye-fucks his wife across the room.
She winks at him, breaking the spell. “Who are you bringing from work?”
Elijah reels off a list of names, but there is only one I’m listening out for. Only one I give a damn about.
“And Ellie,” he finally says. “You haven’t met her yet, baby, but I know you’re going to love her. I keep meaning to invite her out to dinner with us, or get her round to the house, but I’ve never quite found the right time. So she’ll be there too.”
I look down at my lap and hide my smile.
The world just got a little brighter.