Chapter 36
Clayton
I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.
It went beyond the fact that the police were unable to locate Reginald.
They’d track him down soon, and this nightmare would play out in front of the world.
So far, we’d kept it under wraps, but I doubt we’d be able to do that when an arrest was made.
This feeling, the one sitting like lead in my chest had to do with the fact that Reese wasn’t answering. I glanced down at my phone on the seat next to me. Nothing. Not a text, not a missed call. Something wasn’t right.
“Clay?” Lachlain snapped at me. We were on our way to Gage’s grandfather’s office, but my head wasn’t in the car or even on the business at hand. “What the hell is wrong?”
“Reese hasn’t responded.”
My brother rolled his eyes. “Maybe she’s busy.” He shrugged it off, something I was unable to do as easily. “Or Grandmother went over and they’re out somewhere.” When he looked across the back seat, a twinkle shone in his eyes. “Though I do like seeing you so frazzled. It’s refreshing actually.”
The company comes first. It was the mantra I’d repeated in my head for years, but it sounded hollow now.
Without Reese, I’d be hollow, and I never even told her.
Not in so many words. The weeks ahead would be a maelstrom of interviews and meetings and trying to save what should never have been in jeopardy to begin with.
I couldn’t begin to ask Reese to stay in New York for all of it, but I could prepare her.
I could tell her this wasn’t done between us.
To do that, I needed to talk to her.
Hitting the intercom button, I spoke to our driver. “Claude, make a quick stop at my apartment.” Luckily, we were only a few blocks away. I’d check in and settle the thoughts racing through my mind.
“Seriously?”
I didn’t even bother to return Lachlain’s stare, but from the corner of my eyes I saw when his shocked expression morphed into a smile.
“Love looks good on you, brother. It’s a slightly paranoid look, but good, nonetheless. I’m happy for you.”
I wanted to say more, but somehow Claude had defied the laws of city traffic and had already pulled up in front of my building.
Where Reese stood outside.
With her bags.
We hadn’t even come to a full stop before I had the door opened and I jumped out. “Reese,” I shouted.
She stiffened at the sound of her name. Oh, I didn’t like that. My instincts roared to life. I knew something was wrong.
My long strides ate up the ground between us, dodging a steady flow of pedestrians. “What’s going on? Where are you going?” My heart seized when she paled and stepped back, taking her out of reach.
Color quickly suffused her cheeks. “I’m going home. You know, the place that’s meant the most to me, that I love. Provided I still have one, of course.”
“What the hell are you talking about? Why wouldn’t you have one?
” Nothing was making sense. I prided myself on being calm and strategic in any business crisis to come my way.
I was neither at the moment, but then again, my relationship with Reese wasn’t about business.
It was about us, about what we could build together one day, even if she didn’t know it yet.
Her eyes narrowed and it reminded me of the day I showed up in Henley Falls. She didn’t want me around then, and it sure as hell appeared she didn’t want me around now. “I saw the contract, Clay. The one you signed with Reg.”
What the fuck? “Reginald was here? My stepfather came to see you?” At her nod, I added, “When? When was he here?” Fire flashed through my veins seconds later at the thought of him anywhere near Reese. “Are you okay? He didn’t hurt you, did he?”
“Physically?” She waved a hand like it was the most ludicrous thing I could have said. “Of course not. I’m not above throwing down if I have to.”
I breathed a sigh of relief, and then her choice of words hit me. Physically. Which meant emotionally she was not fine at all.
“Can we talk?” I reached out for her again, a move she easily managed to evade.
I didn’t care that we were doing this in the middle of the day on a Manhattan sidewalk.
The onlookers could do what they will with it.
I hoped paparazzi weren’t around since they tended to keep a presence on this particular street, but I didn’t care. I simply needed to talk with her.
“No. We cannot. I’m waiting for my ride to the airport.”
Dammit. She was serious. As if the luggage at her side wasn’t indication enough. I couldn’t figure out why though.
“I told you about the contract. About the deal I agreed to with Reginald.” Sure, it was later than I should have told her, but she knew. Nothing Reginald said would have come as a surprise to her.
“You didn’t fucking tell me it all balanced on getting us to sell.”
My mouth dropped open. “What?” Somehow, I got the word out of my mouth, even though it felt as if all the air had been sucked from my lungs.
“Don’t what me!”
Her voice carried and more than a few people stopped and stared. I watched as Lachlain gently tried to usher people around us. It didn’t wipe the wide-eyed stare he was giving me.
“Lit—”
“No,” she voiced adamantly. “You don’t get to use cute nicknames or flash that ridiculous dimple or try to sweet talk me back into bed. How could you?” she hissed, moisture gathering in the corner of her eye which she briskly swiped away.
All I wanted to do was take her in my arms and try to figure out what she was talking about. Convince her whatever she thought wasn’t the case at all.
I put my hands up, trying to get her to calm down, which earned me the stare to end all stares. Even Lachlain’s whispered, “Oh shit,” carried across the sidewalk.
“Are you giving me hand signals like I’m a wild animal?”
Reese looked wild, alright, but in the most magnificent way.
This was a woman who would suit me to a tee.
Who would be as vocal and vehement and passionate about her work as I was.
Then, when it was just the two of us, she’d love in the same way.
This was the “too much” that everyone else had a problem with.
The parts of Reese that defied convention and made her go after exactly what she wanted.
This was the Reese who’d captured my heart, though I didn’t think she wanted to hear that right now.
“No, no. Of course not, but Reese, that wasn’t the agreement.
I’m not going to buy your property. You were there when we signed the letter of intent.
Hell, it has your signature on it.” I tried appealing to her logical side, but I worried right now she was all feeling.
“Nowhere does it say anything about buying. I told you that from the beginning. It wasn’t what I was after.
” It could have been, but she didn’t need to know that.
Yeah, let’s keep more from her. That’s a great plan.
I pushed those thoughts to the rear of my mind. I could tell her all that later, after we worked this out.
Fumbling through her carry-on, she pulled out a sheaf of papers.
“That’s not what this says,” she complained, waving the papers in the air.
“Did you think if you fucked me long enough I’d just give up everything?
How long were you willing to keep up the charade until I finally gave in? A few weeks? Months?”
“There was no fucking charade. Reese, I never slept with you for the property.” In my mind, I’d made damn sure to commit to helping her before I’d actually let things go that far.
“I would never have done that. How could you think that?” This whole situation was a mess, one that conveniently fell at my stepfather’s feet.
As if I couldn’t hate the man more than I already did, now he was fucking with the most important person in my life.
“It’s in black and white, Clay. Black and fucking white.” Reaching out, she pushed the papers into my chest.
A small crowd had gathered on the sidewalk taking the domestic spectacle in, even as the doorman tried to move everyone along.
A tersely worded letter from management would likely wind up in my inbox shortly, complaining about bringing unwanted and negative attention to the building. I didn’t care one bit.
I let the papers flutter to the ground. “I don’t care what that says, it’s not true.
” A soulless laugh bubbled from my chest, as a thought struck and took hold.
“You’re awfully willing to believe my stepfather over me.
” I hated thinking this way, but once the idea had taken root, I couldn’t shake it.
“The offer to work with your family wasn’t contingent on our relationship. ”
“Double shit,” Lachlain murmured from behind us.
“So what, now I’m sleeping with you for the deal? That’s rich.”
Her eyes strayed toward the street where a car pulled up. The driver leaned across the front seat and yelled out the window. “Reese?”
She nodded, grabbing the handles of her bags and starting toward the car.
I couldn’t let her go. Not like this. Not with absolutely nothing settled between us.
“Clay?” Lachlain’s voice rang out.
“Not now,” I spat his way. Not when Reese was slipping her arm from my hold and moving toward the car.
“Yes now.” I’d never heard my brother so serious before. Glancing over, I saw the phone pressed to his ear. “The cops are on their way over, the press and the board both know.” A look of sorrow crossed his face. “I’m sorry.”
“Fuck.”
Reese’d already stowed her luggage in the trunk of the rideshare and was opening the back door. Tears shimmered along her lashes, but they never fell. Instead, a glorious anger lit her from within, one that shouldn’t turn me on as much as it did.
“Clay,” Lachlain hissed.
“Fuck,” I muttered again, thrusting my hands through my hair. “Just give me a second. It’s all too much.” The minute I said the words, I saw Reese freeze, before pivoting to face me head on.
“And there it is. Should have known eventually I’d be too much for you.” Ice dripped from her words.