Chapter 5
JESSE
Two days ago, I’d made an appearance at a party in New York City with Claira Asheboro on my arm. I’d run into her in Miami when I’d gone for a quick visit, and on a whim, I’d asked her to be my date to a gala I had to attend.
As soon as Alex, my oldest brother and the current CEO of Westwood and Sons, walked into my office on Monday morning, I knew he was not happy about it. I had a feeling I knew why, too.
As it happened, Claira was the twenty-five-year-old daughter of the mayor of New York City, and for the last forty-eight hours, my name and face had been plastered across every financial and social column in the country.
The press was going nuts about me, the playboy at the center of the Westwood family, being seen with such a refined young lady.
Speculation was rife about why we’d been together, whether we were in a secret relationship, and in some instances, even whether there were wedding bells in the near future. It proved they didn’t know me at all.
“Good morning, Alex,” I said, aiming for cheerful ignorance. “What’s up? How was your weekend?”
For a long moment, he didn’t move or speak, just standing right inside the door with his jaw tight and his disappointment right on schedule. Our matching Westwood blue eyes clashed and held, neither of us backing down.
“Claira Asheboro,” he finally said, like the name itself was evidence in a case he was building against me. “Did you really think it was a good idea to make a public appearance with her right now?”
I leaned back in my chair and shrugged. “When you say it like that, it sounds worse than it was. And in my defense, most of our time together was spent in private.”
His eyes narrowed. “A lot of people are talking about this.”
“That’s what people do. They talk. It’ll blow over.”
He blew out a heavy breath. “Jesse, I’d like you to take this seriously.”
“Look, there’s nothing to worry about. Claira and I had our fun together, and now we’ve gone our separate ways.” The second the words left my mouth, I knew it had been the wrong thing to say.
Alex’s expression didn’t just tighten. It snapped. And so did the patience he’d been trying to cling to. He turned and shut the door with a dangerously soft click behind him, then spun to face me again, looking livid.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” he demanded, his voice booming across the room with enough force to startle me, and I’d been butting heads with him since the day I’d been born.
“This is not a joke, Jesse. Because of her father, she’s always in the spotlight, and now you’ve got people telling all kinds of stories about what’s happening between you two. ”
“It’s nothing,” I said, because it should have been.
“When you took over for Will as COO, all I asked of you was one thing,” he said. “Just one thing.”
“You asked for a whole lot of things,” I told him.
Alex rolled his eyes. “Sure, but they all boil down to the same thing. As COO, you’re one of the faces of the company now, and I need you to keep a clean image. Corrupting the mayor’s daughter is not keeping a clean image.”
“Okay, fine,” I said, anger rising in me. “What if I want to marry her? All of us brothers are going to be paired off eventually. So what if I chose her? She’s perfect. Don’t you think?”
I had zero intention of marrying Claira or anyone, ever, but I couldn’t resist arguing with Alex when he got like this. It was just a natural reaction.
Alex turned to look at me like I’d just said something in a language he didn’t understand, steam practically coming out of his ears. “Are you delusional?”
I frowned. “That seems a little harsh.”
“Harsh?” he repeated incredulously. “You’re talking about marrying the daughter of the mayor of New York City like you’re picking a tie. Who the hell are you kidding?”
“She’s a socialite from a great family,” I pointed out. “Isn’t that what you want for me? For any of us?”
Alex scoffed down a humorless laugh, scraping a palm across his jaw before he started shaking his head slowly from one side to the other. “You have no intention of settling down with anyone. Why waste everyone’s time?”
My eyebrows shot up. This honestly wasn’t the conversation I thought we’d be having. “You’ve been hounding everyone else, including Zach, who’s younger than me, by the way, for months.”
“Yes, but Zach isn’t you.”
I stared at him, mouth open. “So you’re saying I’m off the hook to marry someone like the rest of you did?”
“I’m saying any marriage of yours is destined to end in scandal, which is the exact opposite of what we want.” Alex sighed, inhaling a deep breath through his nose before he lifted his gaze back to mine. “I thought you’d be thrilled to hear it. You’ve always said you didn’t want to get married.”
I felt like he’d punched the air right out of my lungs. “Well, yeah, but that doesn’t mean I’m not worthy of marrying someone. And for the record, if I ever did settle down with someone, I would never cheat on them.”
“Until you get bored,” he said.
“You were just as wild as me before you got hitched,” I said, shaking my head. “And you’re throwing a lot of accusations my way about things I haven’t actually done.”
He rolled his eyes. “Am I wrong to assume you won’t be able to settle with a good girl and be satisfied with just her?”
“Yes,” I said firmly. “You are wrong, you prick. If I ever decide to commit, I’ll commit.”
“Our family doesn’t entertain affairs, Jesse. Period. It’s practically written in blood at this point.”
“I’m aware of how our family works,” I snapped, irritation flaring hot and fast. “I grew up in the same house you did.”
“Did you?” he shot back. “Be as offended as you like, but the fact is that you’d be bored of marriage before the ink was even dry on the wedding certificate and you know it.”
The words hurt and still he wasn’t done, completely leveling me even though I’d thought he’d long since lost the ability to actually leave a mark.
He held my gaze, pausing before he delivered the final blow. “I’m carrying the weight as the patriarch of our side of the family now and I have a new generation of Westwoods to think about. I think you’ll find I’m not fucking around when it comes to them.”
I exhaled slowly, my jaw tightening. “That’s dramatic. They’re babies and it was one party. How many pictures are there of you at parties back in the day, before Jane, with different women on your arm?”
“Yet there’s not a single one since I committed to her, nor will there be,” he said crisply. “Let me put this in a way you might understand. How would you feel if your behavior negatively impacted your nephew Bennett’s future?”
“It’s Little J,” I corrected without even really thinking about it. “I’m Big J.”
Alex shook his head at me. “Take this seriously, Jesse. Just think about it for a second.”
Although I didn’t consciously decide to do it, I could picture it so easily that I did what he’d said anyway.
Little J toddling across that polished floor, laughing at nothing, completely unaware of anything beyond the next moment.
The Future Earl. Unaware, perhaps, but important and untouchable nonetheless.
Unless someone like me made him otherwise.
I dragged a hand over my jaw, exhaling slowly as I looked away. “I’ve been holding my own as COO. I’ve been as respectable as you’ve asked me to be. If that’s not enough to prove I’m not the family screw-up, nothing will ever be good enough for you.”
“There are kids involved now,” Alex said, the fight seemingly having drained out of him now as well. “This isn’t about you anymore, Jesse. It’s not about me, or Nate, or Will. It’s about Cameron, and Emma, and Little J. They’re who we’re protecting.”
“So that’s it?” I said. “Your solution is for me to just continue my social life in secret like that somehow makes it better?”
His answer came fast and easy. “Yes. Stay out of the spotlight. Easy peasy.”
Alex didn’t trust me. My own brother and he didn’t trust me with someone else’s life.
What was worse was that he wasn’t totally wrong.
I wasn’t the marrying type and I had been quite vocal about it over the years.
I’d stayed away from the family when it suited me, built my own thing, and lived my own life.
I’d slept with half of Miami and then some, acting like consequences were optional and reputations were disposable.
Still, I had been trying to prove that I’d grown up. It was grossly unfair that he would box me out of his marriage plans like there was no chance I would ever change my ways.
“Jane expects you at dinner tonight,” he said abruptly, like he was done with the conversation whether it was finished or not. “Don’t be late.”
With that, he turned, crossing the room in a few quick strides before yanking the door open. “Alex—”
The door slammed shut behind him, the sound echoing through the office and leaving me standing there alone with the aftermath of a conversation that I already knew I wouldn’t be forgetting anytime soon.