Chapter 26
“Gentlemen!” Kesia said, grinning as she approached where I stood in the middle of the Cape Canyon Country Club ballroom with the guys.
All my guys.
After almost falling to my death off a cliff, Boston had been spending more time at Aston Manor, following me around like my own personal protection detail.
“And my favorite lady,” Kesia added with a smile as she joined our group. I fought to hide the grimace from my face as Gia trailed along behind her as she always did.
“Hi boys,” Gia said beaming at them. “Hi Presley.”
Her gaze slid to Boston, lingering a little too long, and I wanted to throttle her over that too. Did this woman want everything that was mine?
Pres gave her a head nod in response to her greeting, taking a sip of his drink, seeming wholly unaware of the effect he had on the junior publicist. Or maybe he was aware and he was so obsessed with me he didn’t care.
He gave me a wink from behind his glass and I fought a smile, turning my attention back to Kesia. He’d be rewarded for that show of loyalty later.
“Congratulations are definitely in order for two of you.” Kesia clapped her hands together, smiling expectantly.
I glanced at each of the guys, wondering what was going on.
“They didn’t tell you?” Gia asked, tilting her head in confusion as she stared back at me.
Resisting the urge to grind my teeth, I shook my head.
“Sinclair has been named number one on the Forbes Top Entrepreneurs Under Thirty list. It’s a huge deal.”
I could definitely ascertain that the award was a huge deal without her spelling it out for me.
“I only found out an hour ago,” Sinclair said by way of explanation. He was trying to placate me after Gia’s implication he’d kept it from me, and I appreciated it.
Boston raised his glass in Sin’s direction. “Congratulations, Aston.”
“Congratulations, Sinclair.” My heart rate picked up when his gorgeous green eyes locked with mine. “You’re quite the boss.”
My mind instantly flashed back to that day in his office where he’d ordered me to crawl on the floor. My face flushed at the memory, and I glanced down at my shifting feet, then back at him.
“Thank you.” He tilted his glass in my direction, the glint in his eye telling me he knew exactly where my mind had gone.
“Always so humble,” Kesia said proudly. “The cover shoot is scheduled for next week. I’ve sent the details to your assistant. Did you get a new one? What happened to Riley?”
Sin had fired the beauty queen who worked for him? The thought that he’d done it because she’d somehow propositioned him set a fire of possession burning inside.
Sinclair’s gaze lit with a hint of amusement, before his attention shifted to Kesia. “She didn’t work out.”
“Well, that’s a shame. Although, hiring a man as your EA.” Kesia elbowed Sin good-naturedly. “Very progressive, I like it. That’s how we make the top entrepreneur list, my man.”
“That, and his talent,” I added.
Kesia grinned my way. “Absolutely!”
“Presley’s had a fantastic week too,” Gia gushed, staring up at him.
He gave her a tight smile, and I turned on him, expectant.
“I got a call from a couple of NFL teams declaring their interest.”
My mouth dropped open. “Pres, that’s huge!”
He nodded in an almost disinterested way.
“He never declared for the draft,” Dacre added with a shake of his head.
Pres took a sip of his drink. “And I don’t plan to.”
“You don’t want to join the NFL?”
“Why? So I can travel all the time, party in every state, play in the snow, and wear out my body before I’m thirty? No, thanks.”
College players around the country would kill for the kind of opportunity Presley was being offered. His demeanour was that of an entitled rich kid who didn’t need the money or fame of an NFL contract.
I could see through it though. It wasn’t about that.
While he hadn’t always taken it seriously, playing football meant everything to Presley.
He loved the game. Loved the success it brought him and the confidence it made him feel.
His casual reaction to being shown interest by two NFL teams wasn’t about his disinterest.
He was afraid.
Afraid of what it would mean being thrown into that world and into the path of so much temptation all the time. It would be all too easy to fall back into his old habits with that kind of lifestyle.
He was afraid that he’d go back to drinking all the time.
Afraid that he’d go back to a life of hooking up with random women.
Afraid that he’d cause another scandal and have Byron cut him out of his family.
Afraid of losing me.
Kesia moved the conversation along to Dacre and his sold-out art show, asking him when he was planning the next gallery event.
I leaned closer to Presley. “Being away from each other won’t change anything between us,” I said so only Pres could hear. “It won’t change how I feel about you or your place in my life.”
When his gaze connected with mine, that tortured look I found way too often was there. “I can’t trust myself.”
I wanted so badly to slip my hand in his and reassure him with the physical touch he craved so much. “I trust you.” I shrugged. “Maybe I could travel with you sometimes.”
His eyes lit with hope. “You’d do that?”
“I’d do anything for you. Football is important to you, so it’s important to me too. I want to support you.”
He moved towards me like he was going to hug me, then stopped himself.
“Later,” I whispered.
“Presley,” Kesia said, her tone both teasing and chastising. “If you could please refrain from bad-mouthing your father when you’re interviewed about your NFL prospects, it would make my job a hell of a lot easier.”
I frowned in his direction, and Kesia thrust her phone at me. “This clip is running across eight different news outlets.”
Presley was being interviewed post-practice at CCU. The interviewers peppered him with questions about his NFL prospects, then one asked about how his father had influenced his football career.
“What role did your father play in your love of the sport?”
Presley’s smile in the video was forced. “None. He only comes to my games when it suits his schedule. Other than that, he never encouraged me at all when it came to my football career.”
Another interviewer asked him about his recent uptick in form and what it was due to.
“My girlfriend,” Presley said matter-of-factly. “She’s been a huge influence in my lifestyle changes, my confidence both on and off the field, and my stamina.”
The reporters chuckled.
“I owe everything to her,” Presley said, looking right down the barrel of the camera, as if he was talking directly to me.
My heart melted. He’d never referred to me as his girlfriend before, and hearing him do it so publicly while saying such nice things about me had my cheeks heating and tears pricking my eyes.
I didn’t dare glance up at him in front of Kesia and Gia.
“She sounds like quite a gal,” a reporter off-camera said. “Want to give her a shoutout? What’s her name?”
Pres grinned at the cameras. “Ah, I’m not falling for that one, guys. She doesn’t need a horde of reporters outside her house asking her what it’s like to be with a stallion like me. I’ll keep her name private, but she knows who she is.”
He winked at the camera, and Kesia’s screen went dark.
“In the scheme of things, he could have said a lot worse,” Sinclair said.
Kesia gave a nod of agreement. “He could have, but he also could have been far more diplomatic. Please do that in future, even if it’s just to give me a break.”
Pres agreed, giving her an affectionate smile, and she and Gia went back to cajoling Dacre into doing an interview for a prestigious art magazine.
I couldn’t believe what Sin, Dacre, and Pres had achieved in these past months. All three of them were excelling in their chosen fields, in spite of their asshole father doing his best to shatter their dreams.
“I’m so proud of both of you,” I said quietly to Sin and Pres.
“Yeah, congrats, man.” Boston offered Pres a fist to bump.
The two of them fell into surprisingly easy conversation about the NFL, and I shifted closer to Sinclair.
“You fired your assistant.” I sipped my drink like what I was about to ask held zero consequence for me. “How come?”
He huffed a laugh. “Because you hated her. No one on my staff is going to make you uncomfortable in any way or they’re gone.”
I stared, wide-eyed at him. He’d fired her for me?
Downing my drink, I handed my glass to a passing waiter. “She wanted to sleep with you.”
Sin fought a smirk. “So do a lot of people.”
My eyes narrowed on him, and he laughed.
He leaned closer and murmured, “There’s only one woman I want moaning beneath me, and you know it will always be you.”
I grinned at the acknowledgement, which satisfied—at least for the moment—the angry, jealous dragon inside.
When Kesia and Gia finished hounding a reluctant Dacre, Kesia turned to address the group once more.
“All of you, please try to stay out of trouble or at the very least, out of the headlines until Byron is over the line.” She turned to Sinclair.
“I need you to talk up your father in your Forbes interview, do some damage control for Presley.”
Sin shook his head. “I won’t be doing that. I’ll talk up my girlfriend the way Pres did, though.”
Kesia sighed. “Lucky ladies, whoever they are. You two keep them so well under wraps, even I don’t know who they are.”
“A man has to have his secrets, Kesia.” Presley grinned. “Keeps things mysterious.”
They said their goodbyes. I couldn’t help but notice that Gia’s gaze lingered on both Pres and Boston as she left.
What the fuck?
“I hate Gia,” I said, scowling.
Sinclair’s brows pinched. “What could you possibly hate about Gia?”
The corner of Dacre’s mouth kicked up. “She doesn’t hate Gia. She hates the way Gia looks at Presley. And now Boston too, apparently.”
My scowl deepened. All eyes landed on Pres, and he shrugged like he couldn’t help being so devastatingly hot that PR assistants hit on him.