Chapter 26
TWENTY-SIX
SOPHIE
Colson stood in the doorway of my brother’s office, where I’d been sitting for the last twenty minutes, waiting for him to arrive while mentally rehearsing this conversation. I still had no idea what I was going to say, but whatever it was, it needed to be perfect.
“Fuck no, we can’t talk. I have no interest in speaking to you, Sophie.”
“What?” I was so shocked by his response that it was the only word that came out of me.
His expression told me he was distant and detached. But his tone? His reaction?
Where was this coming from?
“You heard me.”
Another reply that was like a slap across my face.
Was this a joke? Was he testing me? Was he … done?
The longer I looked at him, the more changes I saw from when I’d spoken to him on the beachfront promenade. His demeanor had hardened. His lips grim. Even his posture was off.
“Yes, I heard you,” I started. “I just can’t believe you would say that—”
“Why are you surprised that you’re the last fucking person I want to see or talk to right now?”
My neck reared back, my head hitting the top of Hayden’s chair.
It felt like I was positioned in front of a jet’s engine, the wind slamming me against a wall.
Why?
Because only a few hours ago, he had been an entirely different person. Upset, yes. But not like this. This was an unexpected level of emotion.
He mumbled something to himself, something I couldn’t quite make out, but it sounded like he shouldn’t be here, that he should be on a plane instead.
“Why?” I tried to fill my lungs. “More like why am I the last person you want to see or …” My voice faded out.
Was he mad because I had overreacted last night in combination with what had happened this morning?
Two completely unacceptable situations, so his lack of patience was valid.
But that was why I had sought him out. To fix things.
Except I wasn’t sure if I could, not with the anger radiating off his body.
“Colson, I know I shouldn’t have run away from you. I should have stayed and talked. I was wrong in doing that. But …” I looked up at the ceiling, wishing it would swallow me. Why is this so hard? “I’m not good at this. I don’t know how to open up, even though I want to and—”
“And you’re incapable of apologizing.” He gripped the molding at the highest peak of the door. “I know. Lucky for you, I no longer want an apology.”
But he didn’t know.
And he was wrong.
I moved to the edge of the chair and held the lip of the desk. “Colson, that’s why I’m here. That’s why I’m in this office. I didn’t want to have this conversation through text or over the phone. I wanted you to see my face when I admitted how badly I’d messed up—”
“Oh, you messed up all right.” He let that statement hang in the air for several seconds, the gaze of his light-green eyes so shockingly cold that I shivered. “I have absolutely nothing to say to you. Where’s your brother?”
My hands were shaking so hard, and I released the desk and clasped them together in my lap. My thoughts were all over the place; I couldn’t distinguish which direction I wanted to go in. I just knew I had to say something. I had to save this—whatever this was.
“Colson”—I drew in some air—“please—”
“Where’s your brother, Sophie?” His icy stare turned to a glare. “If you don’t tell me, someone else will, but I’m not going to keep standing here, waiting for you to answer.”
Oh God, what have I done?
When the realization hit me that I’d lost him, that there was nothing I could say that would change this, I whispered, “He’s in Callum’s office, but—”
He was gone before I even finished the sentence.
Fuck.
My hands covered my face, and I hunched forward, resting my head on the desk as my mind replayed the last few minutes.
How had things turned into this? How had his hatred grown to this extreme?
Had something—
“Mommy!”
My fingers fell at the sound of Abbi’s voice.
She ran into the office, clinging to my arm. “Can I go to breakfast with Uncle Callum? Please?” Her bright blue eyes were pleading her case.
Callum was in the doorway, the same spot Colson had just been. Their appearances were nothing alike, but their sizes were similar, built frames that filled the whole space.
My heart was beating so hard that I couldn’t breathe.
Abbi shook my arm. “Please, Mommy?”
“Hold on a second, baby.” I looked at Callum, his light-brown eyes as tender as always. But that gentleness didn’t help. I was so far from calm, I could hear the quiver in my voice. “Are Hayden and Colson still in your office?”
“They just left.” He pointed behind me.
I turned around. With Hayden’s blinds open, I could see my brother and Colson walking along the dock behind the building, boarding one of the yachts parked there.
“Mommy?”
I faced Abbi again, reminding myself of the question she’d asked. “Yes, baby, of course you can go to breakfast with Uncle Callum.”
“Thank you!” She kissed my cheek and rushed over to Callum, hugging his leg.
“Do you want me to bring her back here or to your condo?”
Would I be here?
Shouldn’t I leave and go home?
I couldn’t think.
“I don’t know.” I shook my head. “Text me.”
Callum picked up Abbi and held her to his chest. She looked even tinier when one of her uncles held her, her frame so small and lost against theirs.
“Are you ready, princess?”
“Ready!” She waved at me. “Bye, Mommy.”
I lifted my hand, wiggling my fingers at her, and the moment she was gone, it fell from the air and landed on my phone.
My cell was resting face down on Hayden’s desk, and since it was on silent, when I looked at it, I had missed several notifications that had come in, like a call and text from Troy.
Troy
Call me ASAP.
Things were settled between the Gordons and Westons, which meant this had to be a personal call.
I pulled up Troy’s contact and hit the Phone symbol, holding my cell to my ear. “Hey—”
“Sophie, Jesus fucking Christ.” His tone was gritty, and he almost sounded breathless.
“What’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong? Come on. You know exactly why I’ve been trying to get in touch with you.”
As I stared at the doorway, watching different employees pass by, I dug through my mind, trying to figure out what the hell Troy was talking about. “Help me. I’m lost.”
“Unbelievable.” He paused. “I just texted you a link.”
“Looking now.” I put him on speaker mode and went into his text box, clicking the link. What immediately loaded was a press release from the Gordon family. I skimmed the first few lines and exhaled, “Fuck …”
“My thoughts exactly. We need to fucking talk.”