Chapter 16 #3
A look passes over Cole’s face that I can’t quite place. He was a grumpy old man even in his twenties, but this isn’t the “I’m tired of everyone’s shit” look I’m used to seeing from him. Instead, he looks almost guilty. Which I don’t understand, until I hear Dad’s voice at the conference room door.
“You better not screw this up,” he says. I glance over at him, but his back is to me and I can’t see who he’s talking to inside that room.
“That’s my cue to go. Good to see you, kid,” Cole says quietly and slips out the door of the admin offices so quickly I don’t even have the chance to say goodbye.
Dad is two steps out the door before he notices me waiting there, and his face rearranges itself as he goes through several emotions—guilt, regret, shock.
It’s the look of a man who just walked into a restaurant with his mistress only to find his wife sitting at their table.
In other words, not the reaction I was expecting.
He turns back to the door like he’s reaching out to close it, but he’s too late because Nate’s already stepped through it with some guy in a collared shirt and tie following right on his heels.
This other guy’s got jet black hair that’s obviously been styled, and he’s way overdressed for a ski lodge.
Goose bumps erupt on my back like a snake slithering up my spine.
Something is not right here. What the hell are my dad and my ex-boyfriend doing in a top secret board meeting together?
Nate hasn’t even been back to Blackstone since we broke up.
And he doesn’t belong here now. Especially not with some suit carrying a leather messenger bag and looking all official.
“What the hell is going on?” I ask as I stand.
Nate’s reaction is much like my dad’s—guilty.
“This one’s all yours to explain,” Dad says to Nate.
“I signed the NDA, too, remember?” he responds. He’s talking to my dad and it pisses me off that neither of them has even responded to me.
The guy standing behind Nate leans in close and says something to him so quietly I can’t quite make it out. Then Nate tells me, “I want to explain this, but it’s a violation of the nondisclosure agreement.”
An NDA means that there’s some sort of business deal going down here, and it’s obviously something they’ve been working on prior to today. Suddenly I understand that this is what Dad wasn’t telling me in the car when we were driving home from the airport.
I look back and forth between my dad and Nate, my eyes narrow as I try to determine their intentions.
“Fine. Get me the paperwork and a pen, then start talking.” There’s no room for argument in my words. I’m not asking. I’m insisting they tell me what’s going on.
But then the guy who I’m guessing must be Nate’s lawyer steps in front of Nate with his back to me, and lifts some paperwork to point something out.
Again, his voice is so quiet when he speaks to Nate that I can’t make out his words even in the relative silence of the room.
I glance over at Dad, hoping he sees how betrayed I feel right now.
Nate shakes his head, drawing my attention back to him. His nostrils flare and he closes his eyes, taking a fortifying breath. It’s clear he’s conflicted.
Then he opens his eyes, and looks straight at me. His face is begging my forgiveness before he even opens his mouth. “It’s a violation of the contract to add anyone else into this process, NDA or not. I’m so sorry, Jax.”
“Oh, hell, no,” I say, the words rolling off my tongue slowly.
“You do not get to go behind my back like this and then turn around and call me Jax.” I’m livid and I’m not even sure what about.
I don’t technically have a right to be involved in whatever is going on here.
But the fact that my father and my ex-boyfriend are obviously engaged in some sort of deal regarding Blackstone—the only place in the world that really feels like home—and that they both hid it from me, is yet another betrayal.
And I’m still not over the first one. Combine that with my interview being cancelled this morning, and I’m obviously looking for a fight.
I know it and I still can’t stop myself.
“I’m not going behind your back,” Nate says, shifting his weight back and forth as he runs his palms down his thighs. “I have every intention of explaining this. I just can’t do it yet because of all the fucking legalities.”
I look back and forth between Nate and my dad. “Just once, I’d like you both to be honest with me. Every time you hide something from me, even if you think it’s for my benefit, it just makes things worse.”
I turn and leave so quickly I don’t know if they even respond.
Outside, I take the elevated walkway across to the deck of the lodge then scurry down the outdoor stairs, weaving around the ski families in their snow gear.
It feels like both yesterday and a lifetime ago that I was in their boots, back when all I wanted in the world was to race.
Back then Blackstone was my sanctuary. And until today, I’d hoped it would be again.
But now I’ve lost my interview at Danforth, and Nate has his fingers all over some business here at Blackstone.
Even though I want to be here for my parents, moving home now feels not only less possible, but less appealing as well.