Chapter 32
“Can I exchange my brothers for new ones?” ~ Rhett
Rhett
I slide the drawer closed but it gets stuck. I push harder until it slams into place with a whack. I mutter a few choice swear words under my breath.
Zane skips into my office. “Uh oh. Mr. Bossypants is in a bad mood.”
“I thought we agreed to call him Mr. High and Mighty,” Miles says as he strolls inside.
I scowl at them. “What do you want?”
Zane taps his chin. “Maybe we should call him grumpy pants.”
Miles smiles. “I approve.”
“Shouldn’t you be surfing?”
“He’s not merely grumpy, he’s also blind.” Miles motions to the window behind me. “Even I can’t surf in this weather.”
Zane elbows him. “Admit it. You want to try.”
“I’m not visiting you in the hospital when you wipe out,” I say.
“Asshole,” Miles mutters before fleeing.
“Dude.” Zane shakes his head. “You can be grumpy but there’s no reason to bring up Miles’s accident.”
Fuck. Miles is very sensitive about the accident that caused him to give up his dream of becoming a professional surfer. I rub a hand down my face. “I didn’t mean to bring up his accident.”
Kai peeks into my office. “Where’s the fire?”
“There’s no fire.”
“Then, why was I told to report to your office pronto?”
I blow out a breath. “Because it’s apparently torture Rhett time.”
“Nah, dude,” Zane says. “We’re trying to cheer you up.”
I don’t bother asking why they feel the need to cheer me up. It’s not exactly a secret that I dumped Dakota.
“By calling me grumpy?”
He shrugs. “I didn’t say the plan was perfect.”
“I got this.” Kai rubs his hands together. “Brother, you remind me of a country song – you just need a truck, a lost dog, and a bottle of whiskey.”
Zane snickers. “Good thing we own a distillery.”
“Do we need to call a doctor?” Kai asks. “Because this level of pathetic might be a medical condition.”
I growl at him. “I’m not pathetic.”
“But you are broken,” Zane says.
“I haven’t seen something this broken since Mom’s favorite vase ‘mysteriously’ fell off the shelf,” Kai adds.
Zane throws his hands in the air. “It wasn’t my fault.”
It was totally his fault. Baseball is not an indoor sport, no matter what my brother thinks.
“I’d say there are ‘plenty of fish in the sea,’ but let’s be real – you ain’t exactly a skilled fisherman.”
I glare at Kai. “I know how to fish.”
Zane shakes his head. “Dude.”
“What’s going on?” Eli asks as he enters my office.
Finally. A responsible brother. “These two are just leaving to get back to work.”
“Boring,” Kai mutters. “No wonder Dakota dumped him.”
Zane studies me. “Do you think he’s boring in bed?”
“I am not boring in bed,” I grumble.
“Let’s ask Dakota.” Kai starts for the door.
“Don’t you dare bother her.”
“Because you care for her?” Kai asks.
“Or because you know she’ll confirm you’re boring in bed?” Zane asks.
“Whatever.” I throw my hands in the air. “You stay here. I’ll go work in Kai’s office.”
Kai’s eyes widen. “I have an office?”
“I blame you,” I tell Eli.
“Me?” He taps his chest. “What did I do?”
“You’re the one who thought it would be a good idea to found a company with the Raider brothers.”
Kai smiles. “It was an excellent idea.”
“Totally excellent.” Zane and Kai high-five each other.
“Enough shenanigans,” Eli declares. “Everyone out.”
I’m not going anywhere. “This is my office.”
Eli rolls his eyes. “Except you. We need to talk.”
Kai pats Eli’s shoulder. “Good luck with the grumpy one.”
Eli pushes Kai and Zane out of the room and shuts the door behind them. I collapse in my chair. “They’re just going to eavesdrop from Zane’s office.”
Eli sits across from me and grins. “But we can pretend we don’t hear them.”
“No one puts baby in the corner,” Kai shouts.
“I got this,” Eli mutters as he pulls his phone out of his pocket and starts typing. “That should do it,” he says before pushing send and stuffing his phone back in his pocket.
Barely five seconds pass before I hear a stampede in the hallway. “What did you do?”
He shrugs. “I said I’d pay their bar tab today.”
I whistle. “It’s barely noon. That’s going to be some bar tab.”
“What’s the sense of being a billionaire if I can’t pay a bar tab for my brothers once in a while?”
“Don’t expect me to watch over them. I have work to do.”
“I don’t expect you to watch over them.”
“You’re on the hook for bail money.”
“I opened an account with the police department a while back.”
I lean back in my chair. “What did you need to discuss?”
Eli lifts a brow. “You have to ask?”
“Shit,” I mutter. I had hoped my big brother was here about work. I hate to be wrong, especially when it means I have to discuss my failures.
“What happened?”
I scratch my chin. “With?”
“Seriously? My personal assistant has been crying her eyes out all morning. What happened?”
I frown as guilt stabs me. I ignore it. I don’t have a reason to feel guilty. I’m not the one who was keeping secrets. I’m not the one who tricked someone into falling in love with me. I’m not the liar.
“Crap.” Eli sighs. “I don’t want to fire Dakota. She’s a damn fine assistant but judging by the way you’re grinding your teeth there’s no way the two of you can work together.”
Panic lashes at me. Dakota may be a liar. But her desperation for money is real. Her late husband screwed her over bad.
“You can’t fire Dakota.”
“Pretty sure I can.”
“No, Eli. I’m serious. You can’t fire her.”
“But you two can’t work together anymore. I knew I should have forbidden you from dating her. But you always kept your distance from the women you dated before. I assumed you’d have a fling and be over it. I didn’t think I’d find my assistant crying in the bathroom.”
Fuck. Dakota was crying in the bathroom.
“And you trying to break your desk.”
I jump at the chance to keep the conversation focused on me. I can’t think about Dakota crying in the bathroom. Her tears kill me. “I didn’t try to break my desk.”
“Jaxon heard you in the distillery.”
“Liar. The distillery could burn down around him and he wouldn’t notice.”
“I heard you.”
“I just need some time. I should have worked at home, but I needed to pick up some documents, and the phone rang, and before I knew it, I’d been here all morning.”
“What happened?”
“I don’t want to discuss it.”
“Too bad.”
“It’s none of your business.”
“Wrong. You dated my assistant. I need to know if I should fire her.”
“Our breakup had nothing to do with her work here.”
“If she broke your heart, I’ll fire her.”
I rub a hand over my chest. “You can’t fire her for breaking my heart.”
He smirks. “You admitted she broke your heart.”
“Asshole,” I mutter.
He shrugs. “I wouldn’t need to be an asshole if you’d just come out and tell me what happened.”
“You’re not going to give up, are you?”
“Nope.”
“Why don’t you ask Dakota? She works for you. She’s required to answer you.”
“You work for me. You’re required to answer me.”
I shake my head. “She wouldn’t tell you, would she?”
“The woman is Fort Knox.”
“I’d be Fort Knox if I was a drug addict, too,” I mutter.
“What?” He explodes. “My assistant is an addict?” He jumps to his feet. “That’s cause for immediate termination.” He begins to pace the room. “I’ll need you to write a witness account. I don’t want her suing me.”
“Easy enough. I saw her injecting herself in the stomach in my hall powder room.”
He freezes. “In the stomach?”
I nod.
“And you didn’t find this odd?”
“I wasn’t concerned with the location. I was more concerned with the needle.”
He collapses in a chair. “She didn’t tell you. She told me she didn’t want anyone knowing, but I figured she told you.”
“You knew?” My jaw aches from how hard I’m grinding my teeth and I force myself to stop. I can’t believe this. Eli fucking knew I was dating a drug addict and didn’t tell me. What the actual hell?
“Listen.” He clears his throat. “I think there’s been a misunderstanding.”
“A misunderstanding?”
“Dakota isn’t a drug addict. She’s a diabetic.”
My whole world spins on its axis. Dakota is a diabetic. I can’t believe this.
“A diabetic? But how? And why didn’t she tell me?”
He shrugs. “I don’t know but guessing by your reaction to seeing a needle, she might have been afraid of your reaction.”
“No.” I shake my head. “Don’t blame this on me.”
He holds up his hands. “I’m not blaming anyone. I’m merely pointing out that had you asked Dakota for an explanation, she could have explained she’s not an addict.”
“I did ask her…” I snap my mouth closed when I remember I didn’t ask her for an explanation. In fact, when she tried to explain, I wouldn’t let her. Am I the asshole?
Eli pushes to his feet. “I’m glad we resolved this.”
“We didn’t resolve shit.”
“Sure, we did. You’re an asshole. Dakota isn’t an addict. Problem solved.”
“How is the problem solved?” As far as I can tell, the problem is worse than when he arrived. It’s a big pile of shit I not only stepped into. I also stomped around in it before dragging shit everywhere.
“I assume you’re going to grovel for forgiveness since you jumped to conclusions,” he says as he leaves.
Is Eli right? Should I grovel for forgiveness? Did I jump to conclusions?
My heart spasms in my chest. Dakota isn’t a drug addict. She could be mine if I apologize.
Is that what I want?