29. Caleb
Chapter twenty-nine
There’s a spring in my step that not even the most boring business meeting could deter. I finally feel focused at work again. Every night that Lex is working, I go sit at the end of the bar. All through the night, she sneaks over to me. We talk and learn more about each other.
For the nights she doesn’t work, we text. Well beyond the hours that would see me having a good night’s sleep. But despite the lack of rest, I’ve never felt more energised and filled with ambition.
My cheeks hurt from smiling whenever I hear the little ping on my phone with a new text message.
I had to assign a different ringtone for Lex’s messages, though. I nearly had a coronary at the influx of dings on our second night of chatting. Turned out it was just Mason detailing the ways different types of alcohol stick to your skin after a woman throws her drink at you.
The stupid arse.
It’s with thoughts of Lex that the smile stays on my face as I step into the Cyprus Guild building.
The Cyprus Guild is a members-only club for the wealthy and prominent members of Heart City society. Basically, a place for anyone with over a six-figure income to boast about how much money they’re spending and earning.
My grandparents are both members, and so are my dad, Beth, and I.
It’s a good way to network, but when you live in a tropical climate, the mandatory business attire is stifling, especially in Heart City’s summer heat.
Suit jackets are non-negotiable, as is the sweat on my balls right now.
People mingle in the foyer of the heritage building while they wait to be ushered into the dining room.
I spot Grams in the centre of the room. If her pastel blue pantsuit wasn’t a beacon for attention, the booming laugh she reserves specifically for business meetings would have been enough.
A waiter greets me with a tray of various drinks. I grab a whiskey with a nod, then make my way through the room.
Beth is seated at the bar with Tenley Callahan. The way she sits comfortably in tailored leather pants and a trench coat proves just how much of a menace my baby sister is. Only a devil would be comfortable wearing that in this heat.
“Beth, you realise it’s nearly forty degrees outside?” I say, leaning in to kiss her cheek.
“Pain is beauty, big brother,” she smirks.
“Hi, Caleb.” Tenley Callahan recently became one of Heart Assets’s biggest clients, plus she’s Beth’s best friend.
I reach out to shake Tenley’s hand. “Hi, Tenley. How’s everything going?”
She picks up a champagne flute from the counter and takes a sip before nodding. “Great. Isabelle has been wonderful with the aquarium project. I’m hoping she’s still full of ideas for when we reopen the boathouse restaurant and another project I’ve got my sights on. ”
I laugh, impressed with her ambition. “And people think I’m a workaholic. What’s the next project you have lined up?”
“This beautiful old tea house along the river. The location is superb, but I think it has the potential for more.”
“Sounds like something Izzy would love,” I agree. “She’s working on Gage’s new project at the moment, but once we wrap the aquarium, she should be able to take it on.”
“Excellent.”
“I love Isabelle,” Beth says to Tenley with a wicked gleam in her eye. “I particularly love that she calls Cale, OG.” She rolls her lips together, trying to hold in her laugh.
I roll my eyes and look back at Tenley. She’s not much better, hiding her smile behind her glass.
“Is there anything more there?” Tenley says, thick with blatant curiosity.
“N—” I start, only to be cut off by Beth’s hurried rambling.
“I always wondered that too, but she told me there’s never been anything. Mainly cos he’s too old and grumpy for her.”
“What?” Too old? Too grumpy?
“I was disappointed at first. I’d love it if my brothers picked tolerable wives so I could finally have sisters, but then I found out about Lex.”
“Ooh, who’s Lex?”
“Elizabeth!”
“He’s in denial,” she not-so-subtly whispers behind her hand. Tenley’s eyes flick back and forth between us.
“I am not.”
“Yes, you are. Isabelle said you’re freaked cos you really like her, but now you work together, so she’s a no-fly zone. According to you. Personally, I think a workplace romance would be a most convenient timesaver.”
I bury my face in one hand while the other brings the whiskey to my lips. I haven’t shared with Isabelle how my relationship with Lex has developed. I’m almost too scared to put the words into existence. I’m holding what we have close. For now.
“She’s a client. There’s a lot at stake for her, and I don’t want to risk anything. But we have been getting to know each other better.”
Beth gapes at me. I have no clue why, she’s the one who brought it up. “So you admit it?”
“Admit what?” I ask.
“That you like a girl,” Tenley sing-songs.
I stare for a moment, not daring to speak a word as my eyes bounce between Tenley and my sister. I’m saved from answering when a waiter invites members to move to the dining room for lunch. I don’t want to say it out loud yet. It still feels so fragile, this thing developing between Lex and me.
Turning away from the girls, I try to look for Grams or Dad in the crowd so I can make sure I’m seated next to them and keep avoiding Beth’s questioning glare. It’s of no use when she brushes past me, her arm locked around Tenley’s, and says, “Deflection isn’t denial, big brother.”
***
I managed to get a seat next to my dad, finishing my whiskey as we chatted about the charity ball H&H Mining is hosting in a few weeks.
“Heart.” The gruff voice causes my eyes to close. I should have just sat next to Beth. Any inquisition of hers would be preferred to what’s sure to come next.
“Huxley,” I say, turning my head to stare daggers at the guy I wish didn’t have so much hold over me. I guess I have a little ammunition up my sleeve when it comes to him, too, but to use it could come back on Gage. So, I’ll regrettably hold my tongue.
He takes the open seat next to me, motioning for a waiter.
“Hi, James. We were just talking about Smoke and Barrel,” Dad says as he leans over me.
“Thomas,” Huxley says with a nod. “The boys and I are excited to see where the project takes us. Your daughter has done a wonderful job with the design. As has your lovely marketing manager, Isabelle,” he says to me now. “You have a way of surrounding yourself with talented women, Heart.”
This fucker better not start talking about Lex.
I offer a restrained smile. “I’m very proud of my team. And I’m very optimistic about the success of Smoke and Barrel.”
“Indeed. Especially with Alexis’s whiskey brand developing a special bottle for Gage. I was chatting to her about doing the same thing for the High Rollers.”
My teeth grind together, and my eye twitches. He calls her Alexis. Why? I’m certain it’s just to piss me off. I knew he’d do that. Find a way to bring her up and rub in the fact that he knew her first.
Well, guess what fucker? I’ve been working my way in, too. I haven’t gone a day for the last week without speaking to Lex.
“As Legacy Malt’s investor, that’s certainly something I can facilitate for my client. Help them decide if it’s a good move for their brand. Dylan is the recipe developer. He needs a bigger team and premises before taking on a project of that size, but I’m sure he’d be interested.”
“Alexis thought the same.” James smirks.
My chest burns as possession winds like fire through my veins. When is he having these conversations with her? When she’s talking to me? In the moments I don’t have her? I want all of her moments, every one. They’re mine.
I possibly also need some professional help.
“Lex was the lovely redhead from the party the other week, right?” Dad asks, rejoining the conversation .
“One and the same.” James speaks over me to Dad. “I know Alexis quite well. She’s one of the managers at my sister’s nightclub.”
You do not, arsehole.
I distinctly remember her calling him Mr Huxley at the party.
“What a small world. So she works for you and with her brother?”
“Her brother runs their family tavern down in Killara Bay. Over the last few years, he’s extended that to a small batch distillery.
And Alexis has just completed her business and marketing degree here in the city.
She has plans to move back home with her brother once the new distillery is closer to completion. ”
Panic breaks out over my skin, like the walls are closing in. She’s moving? Why hasn’t she told me this? Why the fuck does James Huxley know before I do?
Waiters interrupt any further thought as they come to deliver our meals.
“Does that bother you, Heart?” James says under his breath.
I say nothing. Anything I say, he likely wouldn’t believe.
“I noticed you’ve been into Hallucinogens quite a lot recently,” he continues, the tone of his words proving he knows he’s getting to me.
“I do hope you’re not messing with my manager’s feelings.
Alexis is a nice girl. I’m sure if she were looking, she’d want a man more capable of love than what you know of it. ”
I try to hold back. I really do.
“You mean like Anna?” I meet his eyes with a smirk of my own, feeling satisfied as I watch that hard exterior slip, just for a moment.
James looks away, clicking his tongue as he picks up the whiskey glass a waiter just put in front of him, throwing it all back in one go.
“Yeah. Guess we both can’t help wanting what we can’t have.”