28. Alex
28
ALEX
My friends stared at me with expressions ranging from curiosity to disbelief and outright shock. We were gathered in Michael’s penthouse suite, indulging in drinks and friendly chatter. We decided on hanging out at his hotel suite because he had Poppy with him, so he couldn’t meet us in town.
It was our usual thing to get together whenever we found ourselves in the same city. The only change was that there was a new member of the gang, Charlotte. She was the only one not looking at me as if I’d grown another head after the update I had just given about the latest happenings in my life. Unlike the others, she looked at me with concern.
“Okay, let me get this straight,” Charlotte said as she peered at me. “You’re no longer interested in buying out your ex-girlfriend’s company?”
“I never said that,” I corrected, holding up a finger. “I said I put that particular endeavor on pause.”
“To work with her…?” She tilted her head and frowned .
“Yes.”
“On what exactly?” Jamie asked. “You weren’t specific.”
Tapping my finger on the arm of my chair, I shrugged. “I’ll share the finer details when our project is complete.” I trusted every person in the room, but I didn’t want them involved in the mess Olivia and I were wading through.
Jamie leaned back on the sofa he shared with Charlotte and folded his arms over his chest. “You’ve lost your mind.”
“He lost it a long time ago, Jamie,” Michael chimed in. “And he gets more unhinged with each passing year.”
I glowered at him while Jamie and Charlotte chuckled.
“You only think I’m unhinged because you’re boring, Ebenezer.”
I was hit with Michael’s typical severe scowl—hence the name Ebenezer.
“Easy there, Tadpole,” he drawled.
That sent Charlotte into a fit of giggles. “Tadpole?”
The tiniest smile lifted a corner of Michael’s lips. “I’ve called him that since college. He was a wee little lad of seventeen when he started Harvard, and he was so scrawny…”
The Irish accent—his mother was Irish—that he put on made Charlotte laugh harder. On occasion, the grump showed his humorous side, but he had to be very comfortable around you to show more than his scowl.
“I love hanging out with your friends,” Charlotte said, smiling at Jamie. “You guys are very entertaining.”
Jamie beamed at her, his eyes practically forming hearts. He was so whipped. “I’m glad. They love you too. How could they not?”
I rolled my eyes as they smooched.
Michael lifted his glass. “We do love you, Charlotte. Welcome to the family. I’m glad we have one more person to help rein that one in.” He lifted his glass toward me. “He’s working with his ex-girlfriend whom he set out to destroy. He can lie about his motive all he wants, but we know he’s driven by his need for revenge.”
I huffed and reached for the bottle of scotch on the coffee table. “Can I go wake Poppy? I’d much rather hang out with her than you guys,” I grumbled.
Michael ignored me and continued his rant. “Now, he’s taken a break from targeting her company to save it, but he won’t tell us exactly from what or who. Then, he’ll resume his mission to swipe the company from her later.” Michael scoffed and shook his head. “Plus, he’s living a few feet away from her. No one can tell me he isn’t unhinged.”
Charlotte blew out a breath. “I’m afraid I have to agree with you, Michael. That’s crazy behavior.”
“Char.” I clutched my chest and gave her a look of utter disappointment and betrayal.
She gave me a sheepish look and shrugged.
Okay, so they weren’t wrong. Since Olivia came back into my life—or rather, since I bulldozed my way back into hers—I had blurred every line between us, and I was behaving more recklessly than usual. It was a good thing I didn’t mention that I was also sleeping with my ex. Well, we didn’t do much sleeping when we fell into each other’s beds. Olivia and I fucked like rabbits every chance we got. Maybe she was just as crazy as I was…
“Linc, help me out here.” I turned to Lincoln who hadn’t said a word the entire time. Come to think of it, he’d been unnaturally quiet for a while.
He looked up from his phone screen, which he’d been staring at, and blinked. “Huh?”
“Are you okay, man?” I asked .
“Fine.” He cleared his throat and shifted on his chair. “Just fine.”
“Are you sure?” Jamie asked. “The last time you got so distracted and looked so troubled was when you got it into your head to go to Hawaii to win Charlotte back.”
Charlotte jabbed Jamie in the side with an elbow and gave him a pointed look.
Michael and I exchanged amused glances. Last year, Lincoln was going through some kind of weird not-quite-mid-life crisis and suddenly decided to win back his ex-girlfriend. He dragged us all to Hawaii on his fool’s mission. The amusing part was that he didn’t even talk to Charlotte about getting back together first.
If he had, he would have known that she had no interest whatsoever in rekindling their romance and saved himself a lot of trouble. Charlotte ended up falling for Jamie on sight. Things were great between them though. Charlotte and Lincoln were still great friends, and there was no awkwardness between the three. In fact, Lincoln was going to be the best man at the wedding.
Lincoln folded his lips. “How about we not dredge up the time l lost my head and acted as recklessly as Alex would?”
“Hey!” I scoffed.
Michael and Jamie roared. Even Charlotte looked like she was barely holding back laughter.
“See? Lincoln confirms that Alex is a nut job,” Michael said.
“I wish Spencer were here,” I huffed. “He’d take my side.”
Spencer was visiting his parents across the pond, but he’d join us soon for Jamie and Charlotte’s official engagement party. The time for their wedding was quickly approaching.
“That’s because he’s as crazy as you are,” Michael replied.
“Alright, that’s enough,” I said. “The rag-on-Alex-fest is over.” I pointed at Lincoln. “I’ll get to the bottom of your strange behavior soon. I know it involves a woman because I know the look.”
“What? Why… I… There’s no woman,” he denied, yet his eyes skated away from us.
Charlotte, Jamie, and Michael regarded him with amusement and curiosity.
“Right now,” I continued. “I need to ask the bride and groom a favor.”
“Sure,” Charlotte chirped without hesitation. She was such a sweetheart.
“May I bring a plus one to the party?”
Jamie’s eyes narrowed on me. “Is it one of your strippers?”
I threw my arms up. “You make it sound like I have a fleet of strippers at my disposal.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if you did,” Michael said under his breath.
“For your information, I haven’t been to a strip club in months.” I had no desire to see random tits and ass. Hell, I didn’t even flirt with every woman I encountered anymore. I was actually tired of the superficial relationships I had with many women…
By God, I think I’m growing up.
That thought sent amusement coursing through me. My mom would be proud. She worried a lot about my rakish behavior… former rakish behavior. The change happened when Olivia came back into my life. How ironic was it that the woman who broke my heart was the one to show up and open my eyes to the fact that I was tired of bed-hopping and meaningless relationships?
“Earth to Alex...”
Charlotte’s voice pulled me from my thoughts .
“Of course, you can bring a plus one even if she is a… dancer,” she said with a gentle smile.
See? Like I said, she was a total sweetheart and so nonjudgemental. “Thanks, Char, but it’s not a dancer. It’s Olivia.”
Everyone went back to looking at me as if I’d sprouted another head.
“You must be a masochist,” Lincoln said as he shook his head.
Yeah, maybe I was. It was just that Olivia was arriving from Massachusetts tomorrow and she’d be here for a while as we continued our quest to systematically expose and take down a shady character.
“I’d feel bad leaving her alone all night when we’re supposed to be working together.” She always seemed so sad, and I hated the thought of her all alone driving herself crazy with anxiety… I knew that was what she did when she was alone.
“You do remember that she broke your heart, right?” Michael asked.
“It’s hard to forget, Mike, but clearly my broken heart didn’t turn me into a heartless cynic,” I said dryly.
He grunted and lifted his glass. “I’m proud of your newfound maturity.”
I rolled my eyes.
Charlotte and Jamie exchanged glances and then Charlotte smiled and said, “I can’t wait to meet her.”
My fingers flew over the keyboard. The soft clicks echoed in the otherwise silent room. The symphony of the keys was comforting to me because it was so familiar. Plus, venturing deep into the digital world and navigating through layers of encryption and security was a dance I knew well. I always felt in my element on a computer… on any digital device really.
A soft sigh broke my concentration, and I glanced at Olivia sitting beside me. We were working in her apartment tonight because she offered to make me dinner. It had been a long time since I did something as intimate as having a home-cooked meal with a woman other than my mother.
Olivia stared at the screen although I was certain she had no idea what she was looking at. The way her teeth sank into her lower lip made my gaze linger on her mouth. Of course, that reminded me of the amazing sex we’d been having for weeks. I wasn’t sure what we were thinking or if we were even thinking at all. How would we navigate our rivalry after we accomplished saving the business and medical world from a vulture? The lines between us were so blurred that I couldn’t even see them anymore.
Could we just forget that we’d fallen into bed countless times and made deeper emotional connections each time? Because I couldn’t deny that spending so much time with Olivia had brought back to life that flame that once burned so intensely between us. I was right back at the place I told myself I wouldn’t go back to. I still loved Olivia Brentwood… I wasn’t about to admit it out loud though.
Swallowing a sigh of my own, I returned my attention to my task. My focus was disrupted again when I heard another clicking sound distorting the steady rhythm of my typing. I looked at Olivia from my periphery to see her chomping on her fingernails. I reached out to snag her wrist and gently took her hand away from her mouth.
“Old habits die hard, I see,” I said, still typing with one hand.
She let out a puff of air. “Yeah. My anxiety has been at a ridiculously high level since we started this whole thing. ”
I grunted. “I need you to relax, Liv. Your nervous energy isn’t helping me.”
“Sorry,” she grumbled as she gave me a sheepish smile. “Have I told you thanks?”
“Too many times,” I muttered.
“Well, what you’re doing is amazing. Helping poor Raymond Walters is heroic.”
“I could help him faster if you’d stop distracting me,” I said.
“Right… okay… I’m shutting up now.”
I gave her one more warning look to keep quiet and then delved back into the underbelly of Don Weaver’s corrupt world. I almost had enough concrete proof to show that Raymond Walters was framed by Weaver.
“Alex?”
I swallowed a groan. “Yes, Liv?”
“Do you want me to rub your shoulders?”
“What?” I glanced at her with furrowed eyebrows.
She shrugged. “I feel like I should be rubbing your shoulders. You look a little tense. Besides, I’m just sitting here doing nothing while you do all the work. I’m a terrible sidekick.”
“You’re not my sidekick, Liv. We’re not Batman and Robin.”
She laughed. “Of course not. You’re the White Knight, and I’m…” Her eyeballs rolled around as she considered.
“ Annoying ,” I finished.
Her cheeks flushed crimson and she threw her arms up as she groaned, “I know. I’m sorry. I’ll go find something to do far away so you can concentrate.”
As she moved to get up, I snagged her wrist and pulled her back into her chair. I suddenly felt like a dick for being annoyed because I knew she was likely going stir-crazy right now. Control freak that she was, her mind was probably in shambles over this entire Weaver situation that she had no control over. Plus, there was also the issue of her worrying about me buying her out of her company.
As I studied her and took in the dark circles under her eyes, guilt kicked me in the balls with the force of a freight train. “Sit down, Liv. I didn’t mean to sound like a dick.”
She sat back down, looking a bit uncertain but relieved. “I hate feeling useless.”
“I know,” I said softly as I tenderly tucked a tendril of hair behind her ear… I just couldn’t help myself. “But you’re not. You’ve fooled Weaver into believing that you’re still on board with the merger. You’re like a spy getting intel directly from the source. That’s pretty badass.”
She offered a small smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. I bet it was because she was still anxious. Letting out a sigh, I pushed my devices aside and tugged her chair closer.
She opened her mouth to speak but my lips crashed down on hers. Instantly, she melted with a soft sigh and kissed me back. As usual, we lost ourselves in each other. Her hands tangled in my hair and she let out a low moan that resonated with desire. That desperate need always flared between us even with the slightest touch. It was crazy and a little scary.
“Alex…” she breathed.
I pulled back enough to allow her to speak.
“What are we doing here?” she asked.
“I’m helping you relax. We both know this is the only way to lessen your nervous energy so I can get back to work. I have to fuck the anxiety out of you.”
“Oh, my god.” Amusement rang in her voice. “After all these years you haven’t gotten a filter.”
I reached for the top button of her blouse. “Seeing as how you’re uptight enough for the both of us, I don’t need one.”
She glowered at me, yet there was blatant carnal anticipation in her eyes, and she didn’t stop me when I continued to undo her buttons.
Our gazes locked and the air got thick with raw sexual energy. Still, I asked, “What’s the matter? Don’t you want me to? Fuck away your anxiety, that is.”
Her skin flushed a pretty pink and her chest rose and fell rapidly. I bit my lip to hide my smirk.
“Well… if you think it will help, why not?” she panted.
My grin broke through and in an instant, I was on my feet and plucking her out of her chair. Her gasp and giggles as I all but sprinted to her bedroom with her in my arms made me smile harder. For the moment, I forgot how dangerous it was to get wrapped up in Olivia again.