Chapter 5
Ana managed to smile at her assistant manager as she made her way through the boutique toward her office. “Hi, Sasha. How are things?”
The twenty-one-year-old woman was a student at UNCW and had worked part-time for the last three years. Sasha had made the move from their tiny location near the boardwalk to the interior of the hotel, and Ana didn’t know what she’d do without her.
“Slow this morning, but it has steadily picked up through the day as people check out and in.”
“Great. I’ll be back out to help soon,” she said, moving to the back of the store. She had a tiny office that doubled as storage. Right now, that space represented an oasis and one she needed badly.
Except it wasn’t empty.
“About time you showed up,” Quinley said, lowering her heels to the floor with a clomp. “Where have you been? I couldn’t believe it when Sasha said you weren’t here.”
Ana wished Sasha had given her a heads-up that Quinley was in the office, but since it had never been a problem before, she couldn’t be mad at the girl. “I had…something I needed to take care of.”
“Did that ‘something’ have anything to do with why you didn’t respond to my texts last night after your disappearing act?”
Ana dropped her purse and phone atop the small desk. How would she ever explain the last twelve hours or so to Quinley? “It did.”
“Ana, I don’t like the sound of this. What’s going on? Last night, Sasha said you went searching for Benji, and when I looked for you, you’d disappeared. Did the little jerk guilt you into driving him home?”
Ana pressed her ice-cold fingers to her hot face and welcomed the shock of them. “I found Benji and…decided it was best to leave.”
“You’re being deliberately vague,” Quinley said, her gaze narrowing. “What did he do? And don’t BS me. You’re upset, and I know it has something to do with Benjamin.”
Ana turned and leaned her hips against the desk. Her hands gripped the edge, palms aching from her hold.
Quinley crossed her arms over her chest, looking like a well-dressed interrogator. To distract herself, Ana noted the fact Quinley wore Coastal Couture from ear to toe. Her friend could afford more expensive designer labels, but she’d never been one to flash her good fortune. And always one to support her friends.
Gemstone earrings dangled and sparkled in the light filtering through the tiny office window, the pointy silver tips not quite brushing Quinley’s Tiffany-blue blouse. That was paired with stylish skinny jeans ending above pointy kitten heels that elongated Quinley’s already long legs and a thin chain-link belt that synched her narrow waist to perfection. Quinley’s discarded jacket had come from last year’s Coastal Couture’s collection—something else that earned Ana’s approval.
The overall image looked chic, elegant and sophisticated without being stuffy or matronly. Quinley looked perfect for a weekend out and about working and playing as she and Rhys were known to do. “You’re rocking that look, you know.”
“Don’t try to distract me with compliments. What is going on? What did Mr. Surly do now?”
Ana sighed deeply and eyed the toe of her bootie. She’d dressed for a day spent in the boutique greeting customers and hoped her outfit also lent her a polished look very different from the girl Cole had known. “You’re right,” she said wryly. “Benji wanted to leave last night, so…he liberated a limo from its owner.”
“Liberated?”
“Stole. And…then wrecked it.”
“Oh my— Was he hurt?”
“No. No, he’s fine. No one was hurt. Just the vehicle.” Her collar bone twinged in pain, and she pressed a hand to the ache.
“Okay. Good. I won’t feel so bad when I kill him then.”
“Quin—”
“Don’t you dare defend him, Ana. He stole a limo?”
A laugh rumbled out of her chest, the sound slightly hysterical even to her own ears. “It gets worse.”
“Worse? Did he go to jail? Court? Is that where you’ve been?”
Needing more substance beneath her, Ana stood on jelly-like legs long enough to twist and plop into the now-vacant office chair. “No,” she said, explaining how she’d begged the owner not to call the police.
“And this was outside the hotel? I can’t believe Lachlan hasn’t said anything.”
“I didn’t see any of the security guards out there,” Ana told her. “Just some kitchen staff. Anyway, I had to go meet with the owners this morning. They want Benji to work off the repair cost.”
Quinley stood gaping at her, her lip-glossed lips hanging open as she dissected the words and processed her shock. “They probably heard one of his snarky comments and want to torture him themselves.”
“I think you might be right,” Ana said, remembering the Blackwell brothers’ responses to her son when he’d yanked away from her and admitted he’d lied about basketball.
“So you’re not on the hook for the repair cost? I mean, I agree with them that Ben is the one to blame, but how did you manage to get the guy to not call the cops? Do you have some kind of magic charm? Do you know the cost of the repair?”
Ana gave Quinley the price range for repairs and watched as Quin’s anger increased even more. Her arms lifted, hands flapping, heels clacking as she paced.
“That little jerk. I can’t believe he was so stupid,” she grumbled while prowling the tiny office space.
“Is it bad that I didn’t argue about not having to pay them?”
“You kept your son out of jail. You’ve done enough, Ana.”
“What happens if they get sick of Ben’s behavior and decide payment would be easier?”
“Then you come to me. You don’t need a bank. If you can’t pay it, you come to me.”
“Quinley, I can’t ask that of you.”
“You’re not asking. I’m offering.” Quinley stopped pacing long enough to shoot Ana a quelling stare. “And I mean it. You hear me?”
Ana inhaled and battled tension-fueled tears. She’d barely slept because her mind spun with Benji’s stunt and seeing Cole again. Exhaustion plus kindness brought on the waterworks. “Thank you.”
“Ride or die, girlfriend. You know that.”
Ana managed a smile but then stopped pretending to be in better condition than she was. “Is there…any way you won’t mention this to Rhys? Any of it? I don’t want to put you on the spot, and he might find out anyway, but…can this be between us if he doesn’t?”
“Ana, Lachlan knows everything about this hotel. If he hasn’t heard about the accident yet, I’m pretty sure he will at some point.”
“I know. And if he does, that’s fine. I just— I don’t want him to regret leasing me the space or break the contract because my son did something so stupid literally on day one.”
Quinley inhaled and nodded.
“Sure. I won’t mention it, but if he asks me, I won’t lie.”
“I don’t expect you to.” Ana leaned back in the chair and pressed her hands to her face, wishing she could rub away the fatigue dragging at every cell in her body.
“So who’s the white knight?”
Ana blinked her eyes open and stared at her friend. “What do you mean?”
“I mean who did you charm to keep Benji out of jail? That’s no small feat.”
Ana inhaled and motioned for Quinley to take the foldable chair off the hooks holding it to the wall.
“If you want me to sit down, this can’t be good,” Quinley muttered.
Once Quinley was settled in front of her, Ana said, “Do you remember that night freshman year when I lost some stupid bet, and you made me reveal my worst mistake?”
Quinley frowned, her gaze shifting as though she searched her mind for the answer.
“The dude you broke up with by email? The soldier you were engaged to?”
“That’s the one.”
“You mean he’s the limo driver?”
“Driver and owner, yes. Him and his brothers.”
Her friend looked about as shocked by the news as Ana felt. Because what were the odds? “Of all people. Of all the businesses in the area… Benji stole from Cole Blackwell. The limo is apparently a new venture for them.”
Quinley was never at a loss for words but now seemed to be having one of those moments.
Ana bit her lower lip as she stared at her friend. Until the pain became too much and she had to distract herself from the problematic cluster that was her life. She spotted and grabbed the lipstick-shaped stress “ball” from her desk. A gift from Benji from one of the many school fundraisers over the years.
The irony wasn’t lost on her.
“That’s…wow,” Quinley said when she finally broke her silence. “What was that like? Did he recognize you? I’m guessing he did or else he wouldn’t have agreed to not calling the cops. Ana, say something.”
“He recognized me right away. But I think more than anything Cole wanted to press charges because of how I handled the break up. Still, he didn’t.”
“And you saw him again today? Tell me everything. Every detail.” Quinley leaned forward in the chair, elbows to knees and hands clasped as she waited.
Ana went over what her hazy brain could recall.
“They laid out boundaries. Of course, Benji didn’t like that. And then he yanked away from me when I tried to touch him, and things got tense. They— All four of them acted like they’d…defend me. I think it made Benji realize his behavior is over-the-top. I hope so, anyway.”
“What happened then? I feel like there are things you’re not telling me.”
Ana stopped fidgeting with the foam lipstick and just stared down at it. “Alec and the others told Benji to go with them so they could show him around and get him started. They herded him out of the office pretty quickly and left me with Cole.”
“And? Come on, Ana; you’re killing me here.”
She lifted her head, her gaze meeting her best friend’s. “I tried to leave, and Cole stopped me.”
“Stopped you how?”
“He just…pressed his hand to the door.”
“Okay, and…?”
This was the hard part. The part she didn’t want to admit to Quinley. “He asked—demanded—to know if…Benji had ever struck me.”
“And you told him the brat likes to shove into you like a linebacker, right?”
She didn’t speak.
“You didn’t tell him,” Quinley said. “Ana.”
“Of course I didn’t tell Cole. Benji is my son. My responsibility.”
“And he’s bullied you ever since his last growth spurt. Benji might not put his hands on you in the traditional sense, but his intent to intimidate is clear. That happening once would’ve been one thing, but you can’t deny Benji’s behavior is getting worse. Stealing the limo is the cherry on top at this point,” she said with more than a little exasperation.
Quinley meant well. Ana knew her friend spoke out of concern for her, but it was a hard pill to swallow.
Quinley leaned back in the hard chair, and Ana had a hard time meeting her friend’s too-knowing and visibly disappointed gaze.
“I will call,” Ana stressed. “I promise. I just…don’t know how I’ll manage to make Benji go. It’s not like I can force him into the car.”
“Sounds like your long-lost lover boy and his brothers could do it.”
“Not how I want it to happen, Quin. What good would strong-arming him do? Benji has to want to go and seek help.”
Ana watched as Quinley accepted the statement with a roll of her shoulders, slow blink, and lift of her chin.
“Fine. I get that. But I am glad you have Cole’s number just in case.”
“Benji would never hurt me.”
Quinley didn’t comment and Analise hated that her friend held such a bad impression of her son. But Quin had seen Benji’s dive into snark, backtalk and shouldering. And while Ana had handled the behavior with various punishments as the parenting books said to do, they hadn’t worked.
“Sooo, did Cole say anything else to you? How did things end?”
Ana tossed the foam lipstick squeeze to the desk, her hand cramping a bit from where she’d squished it so hard. “He grabbed my phone, input his number and said to call him when Benji…hurt me.”
Silence followed her statement, and Ana fussed with straightening her desk, unable to look at Quinley. When she finally snuck a peek, Quinley met her gaze dead-on.
“I know things didn’t work for you and I’ve never met this guy, but I like him. Sounds like he still likes you, too.”
A horrified laugh burst from her chest, and Ana gave up the pretense of doing more than shuffling papers around. “Cole hates me.”
“You sure about that?”
Another huff left her, and after a moment, she nodded. “Yeah. I am, actually. His brothers do, too. I can tell.”
But Cole and his family weren’t the only ones who hated her. She hated herself. She’d let fear and her parents and immaturity, and all the things, get into her head. Mess with her brain. “Them hating me is something I know for a fact.”
Quinley got to her feet and refolded the chair before lifting it and hanging it back up on the wall out of the way.
“Well, if that’s true I don’t envy you the next year or so while Benji works for them. It’s never easy to face an ex, but if Cole and his family hate you, that’s going to be a whole other level of drama.”
Ana froze.
She’d been so upset about Benji and worrying about how she’d go about paying them for the repairs that she hadn’t even had a chance to process the fact that the brothers’ requirement meant dealing with Cole on an almost daily basis. Seeing him, speaking to him…
This agreement of theirs was going to be even harder than she’d expected.
How was she going to survive this?