Chapter 23
Chapter twenty-three
LEE
Sutton came crashing through the back entrance of the bar and into Cole’s old bedroom.
Charlie and I had turned it into a temporary green room, but we weren’t quite done, and she struggled as she tripped over boxes and empty kegs.
Her face was flushed as she slammed the door and locked it behind her.
“What the heck happened with you and Magnolia?” she asked, throwing her arms up in the air.
I put my guitar down and stared at her. Did Maggie tell her I had almost run across the room and ripped that sexy, body-hugging outfit off her with my teeth, and we both knew it?
That I had her pinned against the wall and was two seconds away from lifting her leg and wrapping it around my waist before I…
I decided to do what I did best. Play dumb.
“Nothing, Sutton.” I shrugged innocently but noticed the crazed look in my friend’s eyes. “Seriously. Why?”
“She’s up there talking about moving in with Dane. And this girl, she’s my best friend, but she’s so bull-headed sometimes there’s no telling her left from right when she has her wires crossed. She can’t move in with Dane. I’m telling you, Lee. She can’t.”
Tears formed in the corners of Sutton’s eyes, and she sank down onto the couch, nervously rubbing her palms on her legs. It was only when I looked at her hard that I realized she was in just a pair of jeans and a bra.
“Where’s your shirt?”
“Oh shit, I left it upstairs. I was so shocked… Lee, Magnolia cannot do this. I know I’ve been playing the part of the dutiful best friend and reminding her that, you know, she has a boyfriend, and it doesn’t matter that her ex is back in town, and we all know she wants to jump his bones every time they’re in the same room.
I’ve done my job, but I think I’ve done it a little too well.
And I had to, because, you know, your dad can be awfully scary sometimes… ”
Something was wrong, and I had to bypass what she just said and the stirring in my jeans at the mention of Maggie and my bones. “Tell me what happened. Now, Sutton.”
She hopped up off the couch and crossed the room, grabbing the bottle of bourbon from the small bar, wiping the tears off her face as she swallowed the warm, honey-colored liquid.
“Dane… tried something. Once. One time,” she hiccuped and came back over to the couch, handing me the bottle and resting her head on my shoulder.
“We were at a wine tasting at Jordan and Doyle’s, and, well, Magnolia got super drunk, and Charlie brought her home.
Dane, the gentleman, suggested he should walk me back to my place, so I didn’t have to walk home alone.
” She took a break to sniffle back some tears.
“He asked if he could come upstairs to go to the bathroom, and I didn’t think anything of it, of course.
We got to chatting and poured a drink. He was asking about Magnolia, and, I don’t know, the next thing I knew, he was trying to shove his hand up my shirt and kiss me. ”
I could feel the heat rising in my chest, my hands almost trembling with the rush of anger.
Sutton shifted beside me, turning to face me fully, her eyes searching mine as she took my hands gently in hers.
I reached up, brushing away a tear from her cheek with my thumb, and she smiled—a soft, reassuring curve that made the tension in my shoulders ease just a little.
She took a deep, calming breath and continued.
“I pushed him off me, and Dane just… freaked out. He was swearing and pacing back and forth, mumbling about how this was going to ruin everything and how he was so stupid. I had to agree with him on that, but then he said your daddy was going to kill him.”
Pausing for a minute, she looked toward the window, rolling her lips together as if trying to stifle a sob. “An hour after we both decided he should leave and it would be smart of us to tell Magnolia, to tell her the truth, Vance showed up banging on my door.”
I knew by the way Sutton flinched next to me I had anger graffitied all over my face.
“Magnolia’s my best friend. I don’t ever want to hurt her.
But when your dad and I sat at my kitchen table that night and I told him everything, he didn’t even seem surprised.
He didn’t show me any empathy. He just nodded.
And… I don’t know. He said some things that didn’t make sense at the time, but I guess now they do.
Did you know the Wilder Trust partially owns LaMonte’s?
That I could lose my job, or worse, get black balled from the catering community? ”
I took a hard swig of the bottle between us and handed it back to her, burying down the urge not to snap at her. Did she cover this up to protect herself and her job? “My mother would never let that happen, Sutton.”
Sutton chewed on a piece of skin on her lip, looking off into a corner. “I can’t be involved. I need this job. I need Eunice’s connections. Vance told me not to say anything to anyone, especially Maggie, but I don’t know if I can let her go through with this because…”
I watched Sutton try to make sense of everything going on, the wheels turning in her head. Trying to save the career that she worked so hard for and her best friend all at the same time. Didn’t make any of this right, though.
“It’s more than just the Trust, and her getting enveloped into a life we both know—hell, we all know—she doesn’t want,” she sighed.
My patience was thinning. “What, Sutton? Just fucking say it.”
“I overheard at work that the Wilder Trust wants to sell the property for ten million dollars to an investor from Atlanta. The investor wants to build a high-rise on this property, some mixed-use type of thing. Shopping at the bottom and condos on top. This building takes up an entire city block, and it’s not registered on the national landmark protection.
It’s one of the few buildings in the city that has this much space and that’s not protected.
And Vance is hell-bent on pushing the deal through, so I’ve heard. ”
She thought about saying more and locked eyes with me for a minute, then exhaled deeply, the weight of it evident.
“If I’m the one that spills all of this, I lose everything. My career, my best friend, everything, Lee. But if I don’t speak up… she’ll lose this place forever.”
“Is that why my brother is with her? Holy shit.” I jumped up and paced around the room. I was going to murder my brother first, then my father. I would spare my mother, only because I had a feeling she had been strong-armed into this.
“I’ve known Dane forever, much like you obviously, and does this really all seem so out of pocket for him?
I mean, come on now.” Sutton paused and bit her bottom lip, debating what to say next.
“Before this whole grabby-ass incident, when they were together, it was kind of nice… I don’t know, like the nostalgia of having most of our group back together or something.
But that’s why he’s pushing the move in and the engagement.
If he has that control over her and she sees what kind of life she can have, she won’t care about losing all of this. ”
I sat back down next to Sutton. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I couldn’t believe that, in almost twenty years, the trust between Sutton and Magnolia was about to be broken because of my greedy family. I couldn’t let it happen.
“We’ll think of something, don’t worry. I’m going to fix this, but for now, let’s keep it between us until I can figure out a plan.
And Sutton, she’s your best friend. She’ll understand you needed to do this to protect yourself, but I can’t promise you won’t hear an earful from her.
” I grabbed her hands again, and as soon as I did, Ryan flung open the door, with Janelle right behind him.
“Holy! Shit!” Janelle screamed, throwing her hands up to her face. Ryan let out a weird, bellowed growl at seeing Sutton half-dressed.
“Oh, God. This is in no way how it looks, Janelle…” I started, but Sutton had gotten up and crossed the room, extending her hand for Janelle to take and shake it.
“Shake my hand, Janelle. I’m not the enemy.
This guy, right here, is one of my oldest friends in the world, and I am going through it right now.
Like more than you could know. Your boyfriend is the nicest person on the planet.
He’s my family.” She looked down at herself and sniffled.
“It looks bizarre because I’m not wearing a shirt, but if you stick around long enough, this will be the least weird thing you see in Savannah. ”
Janelle and Ryan stared at Sutton with their mouths hanging open.
She wiped the streaky mascara off of her cheeks and turned to me. “I’m going to go get clothed. I’ll keep our conversation between us, and so help me God, let’s go save this bar.”
She shut the door to the green room, and I heard gasps as she walked through the bar and, presumably, up the backstairs to Maggie’s apartment to make herself decent.
“So, that wasn’t her? That wasn’t Magnolia?” Janelle crossed the room and stood next to me, grabbing my hand as a way to tell me that she believed Sutton and that she was somewhat fine with what she walked in on.
“No. I’m Magnolia,” the tall, intimidating redhead said from the doorway. She walked over to Janelle, and instead of shaking her hand, she opened her arms for a hug. “And it’s really wonderful to finally meet you. We’ve all heard so many wonderful things about you.”
I watched Maggie and Janelle embrace, and my heart skipped. One was here out of contractual duty, and the other was here out of loyalty. The difference between them was not lost on me.
“Let’s go get this party started,” Maggie said, offering me a small, sympathetic smile over Janelle’s shoulder. “I’m sure y’all could use a drink anyway. I know I sure could.”
Janelle and Ryan walked into the bar, and Maggie lingered behind, opening the door to her office and pretending to busy herself at her desk. I leaned on the doorframe and watched her for a minute.
When she finally looked up, she gave me a half grin. “Don’t suppose you want to tell me what that was about?”
“It’s not my story to tell, Maggie. She’ll talk to you when she’s ready.”
I knew she hated this. I knew how sad she was that something could have potentially come between her and Sutton. Since the day they’d met, as different as they were, they’d been joined at the hip. They were sisters.
As much as it hurt me to keep my mouth shut, I had to protect what Sutton had told me until I could figure out how to wreck the plans my brother and father had and gather up some concrete evidence.
More importantly, I didn’t want to break Sutton’s trust when I was finally getting back into the fold.
But what about Magnolia’s trust?
“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked. “I feel like the second you landed in Savannah, everything’s been kind of off for us.
We used to be able to tell each other anything.
And if we couldn’t say it, the other just…
knew. I can’t put my finger on it, but it’s like there’s been a glitch in the Matrix or something. ”
I knew what it was, but I wasn’t going to tell her. She couldn’t see that the spark between us was growing into a flame, but she would soon enough.
“We’re all just getting used to each other again, that’s all. Now let’s go do this show and make us some money. What do you say?”