Chapter 6
Nathan
"This could be something out of a smutty novel.
" Brody, my half-brother grunts as he lifts the barbell over his head.
I spot him, and he lowers it back to his chest, his biceps bulging.
The planes of his chest strain against the sleeveless T-shirt he has on.
He sits up and swings his legs over the bench before grabbing the towel I hand him, and mops at the sweat beaded at his temples.
"What do you know of smutty novels?" I scowl. The man loves to read. He’s never seen without a book, except for at the gym, though if I weren’t here, he’d go through his routine listening to audiobooks.
"More than you, apparently." He smirks.
"Do you read them?" I scan his features.
He shrugs. "Enough to know what women enjoy."
"There’s a line between fiction and real life."
"But fact is stranger than fiction." He hooks the towel around his neck, reaches for his bottle of water and chugs down half of the contents.
"Not when it comes to an arranged marriage, it’s not. What you see is what you get in such a marriage of convenience." I scowl.
"Hmm, you may not have read any booktok favorites, but you sure know the language."
"The fuck you talking about? What is book talk?"
"Not book talk, booktok. It’s a hashtag used on a popular social media platform. Perhaps, you’ve heard of it? TikTok?”
I roll my eyes. “Of course I’ve heard of it, douchebag.”
“Well, what you, apparently, don’t know is that it helps readers find their next read."
I rub the back of my neck. "How the fuck do you know this?"
"I make it a point to find out everything that’s relevant to my target audience."
"Your target audience?"
"Hey, women make a lot of important decisions which impact the rest of us. And I've found, reading these books is the best way to understand what women want."
"I prefer to use my instincts." I scoff.
"That too… but I’ll take every advantage I can get. I want to be prepared for when I meet 'the one.'"
"The one? Don't tell me you've bought into this fairytale notion of finding the one?"
"No." He shrugs. "Eh, maybe. Whatever the case, it's good to be prepared."
"Prepared?" I lower my arm to my side. "In what way?"
"I want to make sure I know exactly how to enact her favorite scenes."
"Hmm." I scratch my jaw. "There’s a certain appeal in that. But how spicy are these scenes in these books."
"Enough to leave me with a massive hard-on and needing to take care of it."
"O-k-a-y?" I purse my lips. "I thought spicy books were like chick flicks, loaded with emotions and such."
"Also loaded with 'porntastic' scenes." He makes air-quotes with his fingers.
How interesting. Does Skylar read them? Based on the names she’s chosen for her pastries, I think it’s a safe bet that yes, she does. And if so, which are her favorite scenes? And why am I curious? Don’t answer that. I know.
The arrangement I proposed will be a marriage in name only.
Unless I can show her it’s more than that.
Meanwhile, it should be enough to confirm my position as CEO, so I can bring down Arthur and have my revenge for how he and his family turned their backs on my mother.
Of course, by marrying Skylar, I'm ensuring she'll have access to the Davenport funds. Enough to pay off her debts and stop her business from going bankrupt. I promised Ben I’d take care of her, and this is my way of ensuring she’ll never lack for anything.
It's a good plan. Everything will be neatly tied up, and once I make sure she has enough money in her account, I'll bring down the company and be done with this lot, once and for all.
Meanwhile, I have to spend time with my half-siblings, keeping up the pretense of our family ties.
It's expected. And I must do it, so I don’t arouse any suspicion.
Truth is, I really can't complain. Hanging out with them isn't exactly a chore. It's the old man I could do without.
"Nathan? Did you hear my question?"
"No. I’m not looking forward to getting married, if you must know." I scowl at him.
"So why do it? It’s not like you don’t have enough money?" There’s a shrewd expression in his eyes. He might be the quietest of my brothers, but he’s not to be underestimated.
"I want the role of the CEO locked down, and Arthur won’t agree to it unless I get married."
"I can understand the seduction of power, but to sacrifice your personal life for it…" He raises a shoulder. "Seems a heavy price to pay."
"You grew up in privilege. You've always known what it's like to be an heir to the Davenport fortune.
I grew up in a single-parent home with a mother who never missed a chance to tell me I should claim my right when I grew up.
The result was, I hated the Davenports and everything to do with that name. "
"It’s also your surname."
"Only because I didn’t have a choice."
"And you are here."
"To claim what’s mine."
He searches my features. "Revenge can eat at you, and even after you get it, you’ll find it doesn’t satisfy you. Surely, you know the old adage: before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two holes."
Yep, definitely astute. All of my half-brothers are. But Brody has an intensity about him that invites you to share your secrets.
"A philosopher, too, huh?" I put some space between us, then drop down and begin push-ups.
"Guess all those books I read rubbed off on me."
"Next, you’ll be telling me you learned life-truths in those erotic romances."
He chuckles. “You’d be surprised. Matters of the heart and the body intersect at the gut and leave you with insights you aren’t always prepared for. Of course, erotica isn’t all that I read. Books have always been an escape for me, thanks to the complexity of the family I grew up in.”
I grunt as I continue to flow into the push-ups. After a beat, he joins me for the rest of the hundred reps. When I sit back, so does he, and the fucker isn’t even winded. He might love books, but he can match me in the gym, and that’s no mean feat. I reach for my bottle to take a sip of water.
"I imagine it couldn’t have been easy, having Arthur for a grandfather, not to mention, being the youngest of the lot."
"It had its moments." He hesitates, then tosses me my towel.
I wipe my face and drop it to the side, along with my bottle. Another hundred, then I switch over to sit-ups. He holds my feet as I pace myself. One-two-three—I count, until I hit a hundred. When I begin to straighten, he sits back on his haunches.
"I was bullied at school." He rolls his shoulders.
I take in his six-foot-five-inch frame, the massive chest, his thick neck, and one side of his mouth quirks. "To look at me now, you wouldn’t think I was a five-foot-three-inch runt, with nerdy glasses and my nose always buried in a book until I was fifteen."
"Late developer, huh?"
"You have no idea." He rubs the back of his neck.
"Knox came to my rescue a few times when I was being bullied, but I told him to back off."
"You wanted to stand up to them on your own."
He nods. "And I paid the price. I haven’t gotten as badly beaten up as I did that year, but I learned to assert myself. And then I began to grow." His lips curl. "I didn’t stop until I hit my present height."
"Quite a change, then?"
He nods. "I began to work out with Knox—more like, he wouldn’t take no for an answer.
He shoved me into the gym and insisted I lift weights.
I developed enough muscles to defend myself.
Soon, my tormentors began to leave me alone.
Given how strong I had become, it was logical I follow my brothers and do a stint in public service. ”
Four of my half-brothers did a stint in the military, or so Arthur informed me. He’s proud that I, too, pursued a career in the armed forces. He used it to make the point that I’m a Davenport at heart... Not. But whatever helps him convince himself to trust me.
“But you didn’t follow them, did you?”
“I could have, but it turned out, I had an aptitude for science.” He begins to stretch out his leg muscles. “My time was better spent on medical research. I ended up studying biochemistry and started my own pharmaceutical company under the Davenport umbrella."
"Among the best performing in the Davenport Group, too."
"I’ve made my grandfather a very rich man—or rather, I made him richer,” he says in a wry tone.
"How’s that?"
"He put in the seed money for the company. He believed in me when no one else did." He continues his stretching exercises.
I narrow my gaze. "You trying to tell me the old man has a heart?"
"I wouldn’t go that far, but he does believe in family."
"And the decisions he makes only make him richer," I murmur.
"It also benefits family members,” he points out.
"That’s why he called me up and asked me to join the board of directors? That’s why he’s insisting I get married before he confirms me as CEO?"
"Of course, it’s good PR to show a strong, united front among family members. Not to mention, getting us to marry and settle down is one way to ensure continuity of the family line.” He lowers his chin to his chest.
“Those are not the only reasons.” I widen my stance.
Brody sighs. “Knowing how canny Arthur is, he’s probably future-proofing the business.”
I snort. “Likely, he realized it was best to bring his illegitimate grandsons under the family umbrella and give them a stake in the Davenport Group, so they wouldn’t try to tarnish the family reputation with their claims later.”
While Edward’s mother is different from mine and Brody’s, we all share a father.
His only role in life seems to have been to spawn as many boys as possible, before he and Brody’s mother were killed in an accident.
By all accounts, he was a weakling, unable to keep it in his pants.
Not to mention, he was cowed by Arthur’s larger-than-life persona.
Edward was adopted by his uncle, our father’s older brother, who shunned all contact with Arthur.
It was only after Arthur’s wife passed that Arthur became aware of Edward's and my existence. He took it upon himself to right the years of not having contact with us. He made Edward and me joint interim CEO’s—no doubt, hoping we’d compete for the role.
But Edward dropped out, leaving me as the only contender for CEO of the company.
If you don’t count Knox, who’s chomping at the bit.
Problem is, Arthur isn’t ready to confirm me to the position of CEO until I get married.
Knox is pissed off at being left out of the race, after being groomed to be Arthur’s successor all these years. And honestly, I can’t say I blame him.
"'Course, if our youngest uncle comes back, he’ll have more claim to the role of CEO of the group," I point out.
Yep, Gramps’ youngest son Quentin is estranged from him. He joined the British Secret Service and has been busy running top-secret missions for the government. He hasn’t been seen in years.
"From what I remember of him, he hates Arthur with a passion. I doubt he’s returning anytime soon." He snatches his bottle of water and chugs down several gulps. "You and Knox have a lot in common." He caps it and places it down on the floor.
"You mean, the fact he was in the Royal Marines before he was injured?
" You’d have thought that would give us more common ground, but it's only served to rub Knox the wrong way. He refuses to acknowledge my past, and we certainly haven't had any chummy conversations about our service stints. I suppose, being reminded of your injuries in the line of duty every time you see your face in the mirror isn’t easy. Perhaps he wants to forget about his past and move on. I can’t blame him for that.
"Knox was close to Quentin. He looked up to his uncle, almost hero-worshipped him when he was younger. It’s why he became a marine." Brody rises to his feet, then thrusts out his arm. When I take his hand, he pulls me up.
"You’re trying to find common ground between me and your brother?" I frown.
He half smiles. "Not that I'm a fan of Arthur. But the one thing I agree with him about is that I want to see my brothers get along."
Technically, I’m their half-brother, but I don’t correct him.
It’s damned inconvenient that I’m beginning to like this guy.
When I set out to get to know the rest of my new family, I did it to keep up appearances.
But this warmth that fills my chest, this sense of belonging that embraces me like a second skin, takes me by surprise.
After my mother died, I became accustomed to being alone, to watching families from the outside as they celebrated holidays.
I saw Ben’s attachment to his sister and his protectiveness toward his mother, their joint wavelength as a family unit when they were together, and realized I would never have that.
Even when my mother was alive, she was so consumed with her need to make the Davenports pay, it impacted her mental health.
There were days when she’d forget to pick me up from school or not be able to get out of bed and go to work.
Days when I had to be the adult in our relationship.
In a way, it was almost a relief when she passed away.
I only had to take care of myself after that.
I hated myself for thinking that way, but I couldn’t stop it.
The few times I went home to visit Ben’s family with him, they welcomed me into their fold. It's the closest I’ve come to having a sense of connection with anyone since losing my mom. They accepted me for who I was, and the feeling of kinship I experienced with Ben is what kept me grounded.
I’ll always be grateful to him for that.
I owe him for giving me a reason to not lose myself completely in the missions I ran.
It would have been easy to lose perspective with the death and destruction I saw and was often responsible for in the call of duty.
But Ben was good and kind, and I owe it to him that some part of me stays human and wasn’t lost completely to the emotionless mask I had to do my duty.
It’s why I’ll do my best to watch out for her.
To ensure her every need is taken care of.
It’s how I’ll deliver on the promise I made to Ben to take care of his sister.