Chapter 29
TWENTY-NINE
Davis
Colt stands in front of the tee, lining up his shot before pulling his club back.
When he swings it forward, it makes contact and sends the ball flying, landing just a few inches from the twelfth hole.
We were finally able to have the layout redone last year, and we’re now working our way through the course again, trying to hit a hole in one at every stop.
I reach down to set up my own tee, dropping a monogrammed golf ball onto it, then stand to get my shot lined up. I swing the club back, throwing it forward to whack into the ball. It shoots off of the tee and flies far, landing right in the damn rough.
“You’re off your game today, asshole,” Colt jeers.
“Yeah.”
I brush my fingers through my hair while he takes his next shot, giving the ball a calculated tap to send it into the hole. I head to the rough to line up behind my own lost ball, digging the club into the sand to act like a scoop and I send the ball back onto the green, a few feet from the hole.
“Seriously, Davis, what is going on with you?” He asks. “You could have made that shot, no problem. Hell, you have made that shot before, no problem.”
“She told me she loves me.”
My best friend’s eyebrows shoot up and a smile spreads across his face. “And you said…?”
“Not a damn thing,” I chuckle, tapping my club against the ball, sending it toward the hole.
“Jesus, Davis.” He walks toward me to pull the club from my hand. “If you’re about to try to tell me that you aren’t in love with that girl, I’m going to have to kick your ass.”
I laugh, scrubbing a hand over my jaw. “I’m not saying that.” With my free hand, I snatch the club back from him, giving it a couple quick test swings. “I just couldn’t say anything, you old bastard. Not ‘til she was asleep, anyway.”
“It doesn’t count if she doesn’t hear you say it to her,” he laughs. “I don’t understand. You spent months hung up on this woman. After everything that brought you to this point, why hold back?”
I fish the golf balls from the hole in front of us and toss my club back into the bag with all the others.
“It’s just different, saying it to you or Rowan or the kids,” I explain.
I heft the bag over my shoulder and the two of us start toward the next hole.
“You gonna have any more of those, old man?”
“No, and stop deflecting,” he orders.
“I’m not— look, I just can’t say it yet.”
Colt stops in his tracks, looking at me like I’m a fucking idiot before he scrubs a hand over his face.
“I’m about to whoop your ass, Davis,” he tells me, and I can’t help but laugh.
“You are at the forefront of a multi-billion dollar company, which you helped to build from the ground up.
You moved a thousand miles from home on a whim because some guy you met on the internet had an idea.
“You’ve built an entire life for yourself out of nothing, Davis.
You make some enormously stupid decisions sometimes – like the police car incident of twenty-ten - and yet, none of that has ever scared you enough to not do it.
There is risk in everything that we do. I understand that you have a lot to push past in order to get there, but she’s already said it, and I can guarantee you that she already knows.
You are not a subtle man,” he chuckles. “Stop being afraid if it and take the risk.”
“She does know,” I tell him. “She told me that, too.”
His hand claps over my shoulder. “So give her the words, asshole. And if you really can’t say it, if it goes that deep, write it down. Women love notes. Rowan bought stationery just for me to leave her notes with. It wasn’t subtle, but it was damn cute.”
“Nah, that dog won’t hunt,” I tell him. “She’s not a ‘notes’ kinda girl and I’m not the type to wax poetic about my feelings and shit. It’s unnatural.”
“No, you’d rather just ignore them until they make you explode,” he taunts. “You and Emmett both. You’re exhausting.”
“Not all of us were raised by Elaine Fowler. Fuckin’ saint of a woman,” I smile, remembering her.
Colt’s mom was probably the nicest person I’ve ever met; his wife is a pretty close second.
Elaine was my second mom just as much as Martina is Colt’s.
When I moved out here, with Colt moved out of the house, the Fowlers had offered me his basement apartment in their house, but I didn’t want to invade their space, so I got my own place close by.
Elaine brought me supper every goddamn night I didn’t eat at their place, and she left a ‘breakfast kit’ for the morning so I wouldn’t drive through somewhere.
She picked up my laundry on Sundays so I could grab the fresh basket Monday morning.
She even made Colt’s dad give up half his office so we could have a space to talk stocks and shit while she hung out with Emmett.
Damn near ripped me apart when she died.
Colt’s hand clamps down on my shoulder and he gives it a squeeze. “Seriously, asshole, if you don’t tell her, I’ll do it for you.”
“Just tee up, rat bastard.”
·
I rap my knuckles on the door to the employee lounge and count down from thirty before letting myself in, just in case. When I open the door, I’m met with a group of beautiful women, each dressed in a different color and style of lingerie.
“Oh man,” I say under my breath. Two months ago, I would have been figuring out the logistics of fucking them all at the same time, but now, I don’t think I’m allowed to even think about it anymore.
“There he is,” Sophia announces, poking her head out from behind a dressing curtain.
She steps out of the curtain dressed in a practically fucking fluorescent green bra, with a pair of little bows sitting on the front of each strap, a matching set of panties, and a little belt that wraps around her waist, ending at her thighs in clips that hold stockings to her legs.
A few small bruises line her arms, reminders of our playtime with the rope, and her hair is tied up in two buns at the top of her head.
“Do you like them?” She asks, giving one of them a few gentle pats. “Rowan gave me the idea.”
I step toward her, dropping a hand to her waist, and I bend down to meet her ear with my mouth.
“I’m gonna use them as handles when I rip those panties off and fuck you,” I growl at her.
I bring my teeth to her jaw, biting harder than I mean to before turning to the rest of the girls, gesturing to the five here from Envy.
“Alright, y’all come on to the office with me and I’ll get you situated. ”
They follow me in a line, and I give them the lay of the land while we walk through the club.
“You’ll be two or three to a table, you’ll never work solo.
Anyone asks you to, anyone makes you uncomfortable or does something that makes you feel unsafe, you hit the silent alarm.
They’re always on the front left leg of the tables.
You hit that button and it alerts the security team and me. ”
We cross the threshold into the office and I head for the desk, reaching into the drawer to pull out a few envelopes.
I hand one to each of the girls, except for Sophia.
“Put these in your lockers. Your bonuses are inside, and there’s a card with a phone number on it.
You need any help you can’t come to me or another member of staff for, you text that number.
Her name’s Rowan, and she’ll get you what you need. ”
Sophia watches me while I talk, with her arms crossed over her chest and her hip popped out – the one with the stetson on it. A smile tugs at the corner of her mouth while she watches me pass out the envelopes, and still after her friends all leave the office.
“I dropped off the paperwork this morning. You really did it,” she finally says. “You really got us out.”
“I told you I would.”
“A lot of people say they’ll do things things, Eric,” she tells me. “It doesn’t mean they’re going to follow through. But you’re two for two now. You better watch out, I’m starting to trust you.”
I reach behind the desk and grab the little black gift bag I tucked behind it earlier this evening and I sit on the edge of the desk, dangling the handle of the bag over the tip of my finger. “Come get your bonus, Sugar.”
“That’s not an envelope,” she says, walking toward me.
“How observant of you.”
With her eyes on me, she digs into the bag and pulls out a little turquoise box, damn near looking like she’s gonna whack me with it when she sees it.
“Eric.” The way she pulls the lid off of it, you’d think it was a bomb she’s trying to defuse.
There’s a necklace inside, a small chain that ends with a knot at the center, one half of it inlaid with diamonds.
Not as nice a knot as the ones I make, but a knot all the same.
“The lady at the store said the pink gold would be good with your coloring. Whatever the fuck that means,” I tell her with a chuckle.
“It’s beautiful,” she says. “Will you?”
She hands me the box and turns, standing in front of me with her back to me.
I pull the necklace out of the box and drape it in front of her, bringing the clasp of the chain around to the back of her neck.
My fingers trace over the bruise that sits there, mostly hidden under the makeup she tried to cover it up with, and my blood heats.
If I could kill the motherfucker a second time, I would.
“You’re all set,” I tell her, bending down to kiss the side of her neck. Pointing toward the bag, I add, “But you’re not done.”
The second turquoise box she pulls out of the bag, holding a pair of X-shaped earrings in the same metal, she does use as a weapon, smacking me hard on the bicep with it.
“Eric!” I laugh while she finally pulls out her check, watching as her eyes go fucking wide as saucers while she looks at it. “Eric.”
“I think we’ve established that is, in fact, my name, Sugar,” I tease.
“I can’t take this.”
“Sure you can. It’s not that much.”
“I drive a pre-owned Honda Civic,” she tells me. “I split rent in an apartment with a roommate. I coupon. A hundred thousand dollars is...insane, Eric.”
Crossing my arms across my chest, I shrug. “It’s a gift. I know you need your independence and you like working for what you have, but you can pay for your school and have a little freedom with it. Maybe get a couple hooks installed in your ceiling,” I wink.
Sophia sets her stuff on the desk behind me and brings her hands to my face. She looks up at me with those seafoam eyes, looking so fucking cute wearing the little buns on her head. “I love you, too.”