Bruised (Hunt Brothers Saga)

by Timothy S. Allen

  She was becoming far more comfortable talking to me like this. This was not even the same Claire McLendon I had met in her office. Of course, that Claire had employees in earshot of her. This Claire...

  “Well, I could say the same for you, Claire,” I said. I was slowly shifting into “fuck it” mode in which I would just let the night take me wherever I wanted to, consequences be damned. I knew doing anything beyond hugging her was asking for trouble as an investor, let alone all of the emotional trouble I’d carried with me in the past, but what was one night going to do to us? What was one hookup going to do?

  “How so,” she said, flipping her hair to the side.

  “You are doing what I wish I could do,” I said. “Running a successful business.”

  To my surprise, Claire let out a much stronger laugh than I ever could have anticipated from her, even if I had told the world’s funniest joke. It seemed so out of character for her, I was left wondering what, exactly, I had said that was so funny... and, more importantly, why it was so funny.

  “What?” I said.

  “It’s nothing,” she said. “Running a business is much harder and much more stressful than it looks. I don’t ever go out. Dating life? Forget it.”

  She could not have dropped that nugget of information by accident. She knows exactly what she’s doing.

  “I’m going to someday walk away from Rising Sun with a lot more money in my pocket than I started, but you see this? How I look? This is hiding the stress and burden of having to care for that business and my employees. Your money is going to save me in a way I could never thank you enough for.”

  I smiled but felt very uncomfortable at that statement. I had a feeling this was dangerously tilting toward a Layla-esque situation, except this time, the tables were turned. Claire was the vulnerable one. I swore on the spot that I wouldn’t take advantage of whatever she said, but how could I not? If she told me something about her financial situation that could lead to a better deal...

  Would I be man enough to pretend not to have heard her? If Morgan found out, would he have done the same? Or would we have both sought to take full advantage of Claire’s oversharing for our own benefit?

  “Well, tell me the story some other time,” I said, holding out my glass for a cheers. “Let’s instead focus on the good times here, shall we? Be present. Sway with the music.”

  She looked at me askance, even as we clinked glasses together.

  “What?” I said, pretending to be playful but desperately hoping Claire did not linger on the topic of business still. I almost wanted to kiss her purely to prevent her from putting me in the same spot of power Layla abused with me.

  “This is so unlike you, Chance,” she said. “You’re the quiet, dark, mysterious brother. Morgan is the talker. Morgan doesn’t know when to shut the hell up. You’re the one who watches and charms.”

  I bit my lip to prevent myself from saying something that surely would have crossed the line into blatantly flirtatious. I was this close to saying “how could I not stare at someone as beautiful as you?”

  A few more drinks and I would be well on my way to saying such a thing.

  Fortunately, I was only on my first drink, not my fifth.

  “Sometimes I like to change things up, especially as business continues to grow and I can reach a position like you.”

  It was... mildly flirtatious. Perhaps just risque enough for a business conversation, but not so much so as to be construed as inappropriate.

  “Very well,” Claire said. “Hold on, I need to use the bathroom.”

  She got up, put her hand on me supposedly for balance, and walked forward. I noticed as she moved that she had probably had more than one or two drinks up to that point. I knew right then this night was going to end with one of us making a move.

  The only question is if I would be moving to meet her on making the move, or if I would be strong enough to avoid making the move.

  I went into the tank in my thoughts, reminding myself that I needed to be strong and not keep making move on my business colleagues. Part of being a man, I told myself, was being able to say no to women as much as it was seducing the ones I wanted. Anyone could say yes to an interested woman—it took a true man with true self-value to know how to say no to a woman he shouldn’t have slept with.

  That ended, though, when Claire came back and put her hand on my shoulder.

  “Oh, I drank a bit,” she said with a chuckle.

  She paused, looking into my eyes for several seconds. It was incredibly obvious what she was hoping for in that moment. She was hoping I would lean forward, close my eyes, and press my lips onto her.

  That was not going to happen.

  “You should probably take a seat, then,” I said. I could see the disappointment in her eyes, that sense of half-disgust that I had not given her what she wanted.

  Which, I shortly realized as she leaned forward, showing me her cleavage, made her want me even more. This was going to be a real challenge tonight.

  You know, would it really kill the deal if you slept with her? You haven’t had sex since Layla. You need someone... why not Claire? She’s cute and harmless.

  But what if she says something? Do you want to be in a position like Layla?

  So don’t take advantage of her, you fuckhead. It’s not that hard.

  “I’m sorry, I’ve had more than I ever intended to have,” she said with a laugh. “I, I have just had a lot of stress. It’s not just work. My boyfriend broke up with me a couple of weeks ago.”

  It didn’t take me long to figure out that that coincided with when I’d walked into her office and made the deal with her. It didn’t take me any further time to realize we were both each other’s rebounds—she was mine from Layla, and I was hers from her boyfriend. In fact, I began to suspect she had taken our deal so quickly partly as a way to get over her ex, so she could have something to feel good about.

  It was all coming together. She was so cold that day because she had just gotten dumped. But ever since then, she was looking for someone to help her move past, someone she knew. She was too busy to get on a dating app and take risks with someone completely new. So she went for the handsome guy who wasn’t her coworker but would be around her all this time.

  Me.

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” I said. “I can commiserate. The woman I had fallen for screwed me over hard.”

  “I bet she did.”

  I had to admit, as kind of poorly timed as that line was, it made me laugh so hard coming from Claire McLendon I didn’t even mind. Claire just sheepishly grinned in triumph, as if proud of what she had said. And damn well she should be, it was fucking funny, no matter what I had actually meant.

  “In any case, she really did, though. I told her something personal and she used it to manipulate me into telling her something more. And... well...”

  I realized I had never mentioned that it was a business deal on which she’d fucked me over. I was keeping that information from Claire on purpose. I didn’t want her to know for fear of scaring her away.

  Maybe I should just reach in and...

  “I’m sorry, Chance, it sucks,” I said.

  “Truth to that,” I said with a laugh.

  We both found ourselves looking downward and then looking into each other’s eyes. For only half a second, I hesitated as butterflies wrecked my gut. Doing this...

  Too late. I moved in.

  I kissed her.

  Immediately, our lips locked as Claire pulled my head in close. She was a surprisingly good kisser for such a reserved and sometimes aloof person. Maybe it was the context. Maybe it was the buildup. Maybe she was just naturally this way.

  Whatever it was, it fucking worked, because I got up out of my seat and got closer to her so I could get some more. I was getting hard and things were getting more passionate between us. It was getting harder—in more ways than one—to pull away.

  Just like Layla.

  With that single thought, it
all came rushing back. Not just Layla—the fact that I was a rebound for Claire. The fact that we were supposed to be business partners, not partners with benefits. I stepped back, almost stumbling into my seat.

  “What’s wrong?” she said, hurt by what I had done.

  “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that,” I said, cursing myself out for being so damn stupid. “You’re a client and I’m an investor, that was completely terrible. I don’t want to drag you into something serious, I—”

  Again, though, Claire just laughed.

  “Serious?”

  As soon as I realized I had said that, I did feel slightly ridiculous.

  “Chance, I just broke up with my boyfriend two weeks ago, we dated for three years,” she said. I noticed her eyes verging on tears, though her voice didn’t waver. “Do you really think I’m looking for something serious? I’m not looking for anything official, not even close. I just don’t want to be alone right now. I don’t expect you to love me or even like me.”

  “I do,” I said. “I mean, not seriously.”

  Although, with every passing day, that was becoming dangerously closer to the reality.

  “I just... well, this is a bad idea still. Do you really want us to be together? Even if it’s just us sleeping with each other twice a week. Morgan would kill me and tell you it’s a bad idea.”

  “Oh, he’d kill me too,” she said with a laugh. “To be honest, he warned me.”

  “He what?” I said, feeling a little frustration.

  “Oh, nothing about you,” she said. “He didn’t say you would make a move on me. Actually, he was adamant that you would not.”

  He knows of Layla. He knows I wasn’t going to try anything.

  Until, well, I did.

  “He just said that most girls fell for you in the end and that you were a dangerous magnet to be near.”

  That was oddly complimentary, and I tried to take a chuckle out of it. But I didn’t have much interest in digging too deep into it, partially because of how guilty I felt about what had just happened.

  “Well, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel attracted to you, Claire,” I said, bringing a soft smile to her face, one I hated to bring down. “But I just can’t see you like this. I made a mistake before that I don’t want to repeat. So... I hope you didn’t take me inviting you out the wrong way.”

  Because what’s happening right now is the right way. It’s how I wanted it to go when I texted you drunk last night.

  And now I feel like a massive asshole. At least you didn’t tell me everything. It would have put me in a bad spot if you had.

  “I understand,” Claire said, and it looked like she did. “My offer is still on the table, though.”

  I laughed, appreciating her honesty. At least she didn’t have any bones about it. At least she put it on the table.

  “I may take it up, just not tonight and probably not tomorrow,” I said. “OK?”

  Feeling like there was no reason to stay, especially since we had no place to go but down, I pulled out a hundred dollar bill and handed it to Claire.

  “Use this to pay the tab,” I said. “I’m gonna go. Are you good?”

  She nodded, a couple of tears falling down her cheek.

  “Message me if you need anything.”

  Well, almost anything.

  I leaned over, kissed her on the forehead, wiped away her tears, and made my way for the exit.

  I don’t know why I did what the fuck I did, but at least I had pulled away before the damage got too severe. But then again, was it really damage if Claire had no intention of falling in love with me?

  Or was that blissful naivity in the same way that I had with Layla, where I was convinced I would never fall in love with a curvy woman like her but instead ended up blurting out that I loved her?

  Claire has her shit together way more than you ever do. If she wants to remain distant, she will.

  I opened the door, stepped out the front door, and tried to act as normal as I could when I saw Morgan crossing the street, walking toward me.

  Chapter Ten

  Well, fuck.

  This is either going to be a hilariously innocuous conversation or I’m about to get my ass whupped.

  Probably both if my slowly tipsy ass can’t keep my mouth shut.

  “How’s Claire?” Morgan said with a sly smile.

  I shrugged, trying to play the part of nonchalant, ignorant man. Morgan smirked right back at me and then playfully shoved my shoulder.

  “I know she’s inside, you know.”

  “You do?”

  “Yeah, she told me she was going here tonight. I was just going to drop in and see how she was doing. There’s no way that you were both in there and didn’t see each other.”

  Well, now I was kind of fucked. Not only did Morgan know I had seen Claire, he would now probably wonder why the hell I had lied about knowing she was inside. He examined me up and down, as if testing to see if I would crack, but it was too early in the conversation to do that.

  “We talked for a bit. She seems fine. Stressed, but what do you expect from the CEO of a growing company?”

  I shrugged again, trying to mimic the action from just moments before in the hopes that it would no longer look suspicious. I had a feeling I was failing miserably in that regard. Morgan laughed casually, almost... I daresay maniacally.

  “You know she likes you, right?”

  Well, in other news, New York taxi cabs liked to honk. But I tried my damndest to act surprised.

  “For real?” I said, hoping not to oversell my reaction. “I would not have guessed. She struck me as too professional to engage in something like that.”

  “Meh,” Morgan said, crossing his arms. “We can’t control who we like. We can only control our reaction to it. Her reactions may be good, but she still likes you.”

  “OK,” I said, pausing between my words slowly. “And? Your... point?”

  “My point?” Morgan said. “No point. Just telling you what’s obvious to everyone around you.”

  Damn. Maybe it’s not much of a secret. If Morgan knows... maybe her coworkers know.

  In which case, why am I hiding it? Morgan doesn’t seem perturbed by it. On the other hand, he doesn’t know I’ve done anything yet.

  “Well, that’s great, but I’m not going to do anything about it.”

  “You’re not?”

  Morgan seemed more like the big brother daring the little one to do something stupid than he did a business partner right now. So I shoved him while laughing, hoping to get in the game of it all.

  “Why would I? It’s business, not pleasure. You know how badly I got fucked over the last time I tried to do that.”

  “Exactly,” Morgan said.

  Huh? What the hell did he mean? That was his point... so he wanted me to go back in?

  “Confused? Instead of being fucked over, Chance, now you can be the one to get information. Now you can be the one to learn more from the woman instead of the woman learning more from you. You have a magnetic presence we would be foolish not to use.”

  “Ohhh.”

  I had to shoot the idea down as quickly as I got. This was a little too Edwin Hunt-like from Morgan, and MCH had no room for that in any fashion. We could make a shitload of money and never have to rely on an inheritance or any of the like from Edwin Hunt, but had to make damn sure not to inherit any of his worst tendencies.

  “Yeah, that is not going to happen, Morgan.”

  “No?”

  He wasn’t getting it. Maybe he was also a little drunk; I didn’t think so, but I didn’t want to rule out the possibility.

  “No, no, no,” I said. “That’s a dick move and a fucked up move. Think of how badly Layla screwed me over, Morgan. If I use Claire liking me to our advantage—”

  Morgan started to say something, bit his lip, and sighed.

  “Dad’s teachings get borrowed a little too much sometime,” he said, crossing his arms. “You were right. I’m s
orry. I just... you know how things are for me. I’m so stressed. I just want us to start taking off now. I’m impatient. And it seems I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get something now. I’m sorry.”

  “I get it,” I said. “I mean, I don’t. Neither of us have really gotten the other’s life in a fair way. We’re brothers, but we’re two different people.”

  Morgan looked hurt by my words, but it was painfully true. I was an adopted son, he was a favorite son. I was a listener, he was a participant with the Hunts. I was an outsider, he was an insider.

  Nothing short of being reborn would change that, and I was pretty sure no amount of Silicon Valley magic would change that any time soon.

  But I also realized what I had said may have struck a chord too harsh with Morgan, who was dealing with the kind of internal pressure I would never have to face. I put my hand on his shoulder and shook him gently.

  “Hey, but we’re going to pull through this just fine,” I said with a smile. “If I can get over all of the things that happened with Layla, then you can survive this. We all do stupid shit under duress.”

  Like make out with the woman whose business you’ve invested in, for example. That one will go over so swimmingly. Just imagine meeting her other investors and wondering if they’ve made out with her.

  And... I feel jealous over that?

  “I know,” Morgan said. “Let me reframe it as such. You have a power. I don’t mean that in some corny ass way either. You have a charm about you that makes women swoon in ways that I could never make happen. You can charm men into liking you even if they believe everything you don’t. I’m not saying we have to use this in an unethical way. But...”

  “I should use everything in the toolbox to my advantage, whatever it takes,” I finished for him.

  I saw the point. I didn’t have to break ethical barriers, but stretching them? Or at least getting close enough that I could extend out and touch them a little bit?

  Besides, all negotiations had a little bit of dirt on them at the end of the day. If they didn’t, it was because one side capitulated far too quickly. I was never going to do that, for better or for worse, and the kind of people that we would be dealing with either wouldn’t or they would have the lawyers and teams that wouldn’t.