Chapter 12
TWELVE
SOPHIE
“Don’t move. We need to talk.”
My finger lowered from pointing at my brother while he stood in my kitchen, and I joined Abbi in the living room. She was on the couch, watching a show on my tablet. I set a container of roasted seaweed snacks next to her on the end table and kissed her forehead.
“I put your snack next to your water. Do you need anything else, baby?”
She didn’t answer, her concentration unbreakable when it came to her favorite shows.
A hurricane could blow through my condo at any moment, and my daughter wouldn’t glance up from the screen.
Therefore, she wouldn’t hear the conversation I was about to have with Hayden.
So, I returned to the kitchen and grabbed the glass of wine I’d poured before Hayden came over, facing him from the other side of the island.
“Why the hell didn’t you tell me you were working with Colson?” I finally took a sip, which ended up being several swallows.
He slowly blinked his beautiful green eyes—a color I was always jealous of—like he was flabbergasted by my question. “Why would I tell you?”
“Because I know him.”
He leaned toward me, his arms on the counter, assessing my expression. “How was I supposed to know that?”
Since we had been kids, Hayden had the ability to know what I was thinking. Even though we hadn’t lived together since I had been eighteen, which was fifteen years ago, that hadn’t changed.
“Didn’t Troy tell you that when he referred Colson?”
“No.”
My brother didn’t lie. Not to me, not to anyone.
“You’re saying Troy didn’t mention anything about my relationship with the Westons, specifically Colson?” I waited. “Not even a whisper about our history?”
“Wouldn’t that break some HIPAA law or something?”
“That’s medical, not law. But, yes, there are confidentiality agreements in place, of course.”
“Which proves my point.” He rubbed his hand down the side of his beard, the same sound I heard from Colson whenever he did a similar movement. “Troy couldn’t tell me. But Colson did.”
My heart was pounding so hard that I drained more of the wine and replied, “What did Colson say?”
He laughed, shaking his head. “No.”
“He said no?” My face tilted.
“I’m saying no. I’m not getting in the middle of this.” He leaned up off the counter. “You want to know what Colson said, you ask him. There’s obviously some beef between you two. That couldn’t have been more obvious at my office, and I refuse to get involved.”
My hand hit the countertop. “You’re kidding me, right?”
“He’s my client, Soph. The dude is going to be spending millions with me. I’m not jeopardizing that by telling you anything.”
“How would he know you told me?”
He rubbed his thumb over his bottom lip, smiling as he gazed at me. “Because you have an extremely difficult time holding things in.”
“I didn’t explode in your office. I barely said anything.”
“Oh, you said a million fucking words. They all just came from your eyes instead of your mouth. You were glaring at the man like you were trying to set him on fire.”
My brain quickly brought me back to this morning, reminding me of the range of emotions I had felt when I walked to the doorway of Hayden’s office and saw my enemy standing next to my brother. Out of all places, Colson was here, in my town, with my family.
“I was.”
“Why?”
I drank more wine. That was the answer to everything right now.
How the hell could I tell Hayden why I was furious with Colson?
That, after everything we’d gone through work-wise, I somehow found myself in a private room with him at Lush, where he teased me for hours, leaving me completely unsatisfied.
To make matters worse, he rubbed our negotiations in my face, like that was the reason he had tortured me.
My brother and I were close, but that was crossing a line.
I needed to pivot.
And just as I was about to, he said, “Look at me, Sophie.”
I was reluctant but caved.
“Is there something I need to know that you’re not telling me?”
“No.”
“So, you’re confirming I don’t need to kill that man?” He let out a ragged breath. “I don’t care that he’s my client. If he did something to you, that changes everything.” His palms pressed against the counter again. “I’ll wring his fucking neck.” He bared his teeth.
Hayden had protected me since he had been big enough to walk and rear back his fist. When it came to me, he only needed to get a whiff of turmoil, and he immediately reacted.
I could understand why he worried about Colson; everything I should have said at his office and didn’t, along with the way I quickly left—both so out of character for me—had fueled my brother’s assumption.
But Hayden didn’t need to step in. I could handle Colson myself, which meant avoiding him at all costs.
“You don’t need to kill him.” I continued to hold my glass near my lips.
He was silent while he stared at me, but I could tell his brain was anything but.
“I need to know something. Is the animosity between you two strictly work-related? Or does it go deeper?” His eyes narrowed.
I rubbed my lips together before I let out a loud breath, my head falling back as my lungs deflated.
“Jesus Christ, Sophie.”
When I looked at him again, I said, “If I’m not allowed to ask questions about the conversation you had with Colson about me, then you’re not allowed to ask any questions either.”
“Answer me.”
“No, you answer me! Tell me what Colson said about me!”
He grabbed my glass of wine and swallowed what was left. “I get the impression that whatever happened between you two is really going to piss me off.”
“I feel the same way about the talk you two had.”
He chuckled. “There’s no winning with you …”
I smirked. “There never has been.”
At the very least, I flew to Fort Lauderdale once a quarter. If work permitted, I came more often, and in those cases, my visits were monthly. No matter how long I lived in LA, my family was in Florida, and that made it home.
Before I had become a partner, I contemplated moving back, especially being a single parent since the presence of family would be tremendously helpful with Abbi.
But my new title had made LA permanent for the foreseeable future, my salary giving me the freedom to travel east whenever I wanted, and Abbi’s age came with a lot of flexibility.
When I had first started going back and forth, I stayed with my brother.
He accepted no other scenario. But as Abbi got older, I wanted her to have a space that made her as comfortable as my house in LA.
Even though Hayden would have said yes, I didn’t have it in me to pink-out one of his bedrooms. To load it with toys and stuffed animals.
To keep clothes and cosmetics there when he lived such a bachelor lifestyle.
So, last year, I purchased a condo in a high-rise on the water. A three-bedroom that gave Abbi plenty of her own space, along with an office so I could work remotely.
But our living arrangement was the only thing that changed whenever I came into town. Everything else, like who I saw and spent time with, stayed the same.
Without fail, night one was an evening dedicated to just Hayden and Abbi. They went on a date, wherever that happened to be, and she stayed at his house. She needed male energy in her life. A father figure. Someone, besides me, she could rely on.
Hayden was everything to her.
And while the two of them went off and did their thing, I had dinner with the rest of my family, a group that consisted of Jones, Callum, Talon, and Leo. If Troy was in town, he’d come too.
Aside from Hayden, we all had different last names. We weren’t technically related; we didn’t share blood. But our bond was unbreakable, and nothing—not distance, not life—could change that.
Talon and Leo—yacht brokers, like my brother—were out of town with clients. So, for this evening, Jones and Callum had joined me for dinner.
Jonesy’s face was the most famous since it was plastered all over Florida.
Companies paid him to wear their logo, to endorse their products online, and to appear in commercials.
From the age of nine, when I met him, all he ever wanted was to race boats.
As soon as he hit eighteen, he made that happen.
Now, he held every title and record in the world.
He was tracing his finger around the rim of his old-fashioned, positioned across the table from me, smiling. “I heard things got a little spicy at the office today.”
There was a tiny space between his front teeth that was adorable. I appreciated that, when he had gotten rich and famous, he never corrected it or got veneers.
“Who told you that?” I asked. “Because they obviously lied. There was zero spice at all.”
His dark auburn locks looked like a deep brown until they grew longer and the red really came through. “Everyone.”
Everyone meant Hayden and Callum since the other two were away.
“Like I told Hayden”—I rolled my eyes—“I barely said anything.”
Callum laughed. “Come on, Soph. I could only see your profile from where I was sitting at my desk, and even I could tell that the way you were looking at Colson could have scorched the walls.”
There were no secrets in this family. I was reminded of that every time I breathed.
I looked into Callum’s light-brown eyes, a color that reminded me of a teddy bear. “I’m sure my brother asked you two to feed me drinks to get me to confess.” I pushed away my dirty martini. “It’s not going to happen.”
“Which means there’s something. Spill it,” Jones ordered.
I released several deep exhales. “I represented the opposition in a legal matter. That’s what went down, and that’s all I’m obligated to discuss.”
“No fancy lawyer talk at this table.” Callum’s hand went to my shoulder. His grip didn’t lighten because I was a woman. He always treated me like I was one of the guys—they all did. “You two hooked up, didn’t you?”
I groaned. “A part of me just died, hearing you use those words.”
He laughed. “We’re not your brother. We can talk about these things. We talk about them with you.”
“Shit, you’ve heard about the last I don’t know how many women I’ve been with.” Jonesy nodded at me.
I held up my hand, not needing another play-by-play—I had enough of those almost daily.
“It’s different.” I wrapped that same hand around my stomach.
“And also, you’re not my brother? I’ve literally bathed you.
” I was looking at Callum now, who was three years younger than me.
“And there are only a few spots on your body that I haven’t doused in medicine and wrapped in bandages over the years,” I said to Jones.
“Telling you anything is equivalent to telling Hayden … but nice try.”
I decided I needed the martini more than I’d realized and lifted it off the table, holding it near my chest as I leaned back in my chair.
Jones slapped Callum’s arm, like he’d finally caught me. “Oh, she has something to tell.”
“No.” I downed my entire glass in one gulp. We hadn’t even ordered appetizers yet. “Hear me out when I say this: there’s nothing to discuss.”
“You know, you never talk to us about dudes.” Callum sipped his gin and tonic. “Why?”
“Because there aren’t any in my life. Ever.”
Which had been my reasoning for getting a membership at Lush.
I wasn’t interested in hookup apps. I didn’t have time to go out and meet men.
I was a full-time lawyer and a full-time mother, and those were my priorities.
But I made it a point to sneak away to Lush a couple of times a year to get lost in pleasure.
Because I needed it.
And because I deserved it.
“Hmm, do we believe that, Callum?”
The smile on Jones’s face was sending me over the edge, so I glanced behind me, toward the bar, to check for our waitress, desperately needing a refill.
“Funny … speak of the devil …” Callum replied.
My ears perked up like a dog’s, but I continued visually hunting for our server.
“Over here, buddy,” Callum added.
Buddy? Who is he talking to?
I turned toward the table, my eyes immediately locking with Colson’s as he headed for us.
No. No. Nooo.
This wasn’t happening.
I was seeing things.
I blinked a few times.
Fuck.
He was still there and getting closer.
My arm unraveled from my stomach, and I squeezed Callum’s leg—probably a little too hard. “Did you invite him?”
His face was like the grimace emoji. “Your brother sorta did.”
My teeth clenched. “Hayden did what?”
“He felt bad he couldn’t take Colson out to dinner tonight since he was going to be with Abbi, so he asked us to entertain him.”
My head was shaking way too hard. “Hayden didn’t tell me that.”
“Do you blame him?” Jonesy’s grin was spreading to his bright blue eyes. “He knew you’d chew his face off.”
“I’m going to do a lot more than that,” I promised.
Callum put his glass in front of me. “To hold you over until we get you a refill.”
Instead of taking the drink, I began to stand from my chair and said, “I’m leaving.”
“No, you’re not,” they said simultaneously.
Callum’s hand returned to my shoulder to keep me from fully getting up.
“There’s no reason to leave if the case is settled, which I’ve heard it is.” Jonesy spoke with an amount of confidence that should be illegal. “Unless you’d like to stop denying something happened and tell us the truth.”
A glance at Callum told me they were loving every second of this.
I needed to prove them wrong.
I needed to be unaffected.
Colson meant nothing to me. We would have drinks, dinner, and then I could wipe the satisfaction from Jones’s and Callum’s faces when they saw I wasn’t fazed by Colson’s presence.
So, I settled back down in my chair. “You’re right. There’s no reason to leave. The case has been settled.” A point Colson had reminded me of when he left me at Lush, half tied up and feral.
I avoided Colson’s gaze as he stopped in front of the only vacant chair, which was right next to me. The nearness sent me his cologne, that irresistible combo of amber and black tea. I forced my eyes to stay open when all they wanted was to close as I took another deep inhale of him.
This was going to be agony.
“Good evening. Thanks for letting me join.”
Only when I felt his stare on me did I gaze up, instantly realizing it was a mistake. His eyes did things—unmentionable things.
“Sophie … nice to see you.”
I attempted to breathe, but it was no use. My lungs didn’t want to fill. “Colson …”
“When I heard you were coming to dinner, I knew I had to be here. Sorry I’m late. I had to call and say good night to my daughter.”
That shouldn’t be sexy … but it was.
I sucked in my bottom lip, my tongue pushing it against my teeth until the pain was too much. “You just had to be here?”
Colson took a seat and smiled. “I wouldn’t miss an opportunity to spend time with my favorite attorney”—he glanced at the guys—“besides Troy.” His eyes returned to me. “I want nothing more than to be here.”
Asshole.