Tectonic (Double Blind Study Book 3)

by Heidi Hutchinson

  “Harrison told them?” he asked with some oddity. “When?”

  Greta shrugged. “Not sure, but he started to tease me about you long before I figured out we were becoming what we are.”

  Shane half-grinned. “So who are you scared to tell?”

  “Clarke,” Greta said with a sigh.

  Shane felt his eyebrows dip. “She still doesn't approve?”

  “It's not that. I promised her I'd keep her informed. This is going to look a lot like betrayal. I hate that,” she finished on a whisper.

  Shane nodded. “You guys are close. You might have to take a few lumps, but she'll get over it. I've known Clarke longer than you, and she's nothing if not forgiving.”

  Greta took a deep breath. “Yeah.”

  ***

  Brady was leaning over the main counter at Soaring Bird, one elbow on the surface, the other arm slack against his side.

  Steve was sitting along the back counter behind the register, facing the customers, trying to be helpful by suggestively selling items that were within pointing distance. But he was being more suggestive than helpful.

  Kip had wandered into the store a few minutes ago mumbling something about the price of the Sex Wax.

  They had all been sticking pretty close to Lia the past few days. Something was off with her. She didn't like it much, but she was tolerating them for now. Besides, under the guise of watching out for Lia, Brady could still watch out for Clarke.

  Clarke had been in a terrible mood since just after Christmas. She wasn't speaking to anyone about it and, if asked, would deny it completely. At first Brady suspected that it might have to do with Greta and Shane's blossomed romance, but now he wasn't so sure.

  Lia's body shifted almost imperceptibly out of the corner of Brady's eye. Her shoulders straightened and her eyes narrowed at the door. Brady followed her sight line and he abandoned his casual posture, standing and facing the two people entering the building.

  The first thing that Brady noticed was Greta's smile set to high beam. The second thing he noticed was the bling on her left hand.

  So that was that.

  “Well, holy shit,” Steve smiled and hopped off the counter. “Where the hell have the two of you been?” He rounded the counter before Brady had settled on his own greeting, and he and Shane were already clapping each other hard on the back.

  Greta stepped a little to the side amid the manly displays of affection and gave Brady a small smile.

  He jerked his chin at her hand. “Is it official, then?”

  She blushed and nodded. He embraced her in a hug, pulling her feet off the ground a little. “Are you happy?” he whispered in her ear. With her hands on his shoulders she gave him a smile that didn't need explanation.

  “More than I thought possible.”

  “Well, that's all that counts, then, isn't it?”

  “Congratulations, Garbo!” Steve muscled his way over to give Greta a hug as well.

  “Steven, you wish the groom congratulations and the bride best wishes,” Lia corrected him, coming around the counter to offer her own greeting.

  “What's the difference?” Steve asked with a shrug.

  “The difference can mean everything,” Lia muttered then offered a hug to Greta. “Best wishes, I'm sure you made a beautiful bride.”

  “Congratulations, Shane.” Kip had returned within the past few seconds and he shook his friend's hand. “Best wishes, Greta,” he said with a chin lift.

  “Thank you,” Greta accepted, then looked around the floor room. “Is Clarke here?”

  The group fell silent and all the guys looked to their shoes.

  “She's upstairs in her office,” Lia responded for them.

  Greta's eyes swung to the open stairway in the center of the building and Brady heard her groan under her breath. He followed her attention and saw Clarke standing at the railing overlooking their happy group. She didn't look near as happy as they did. But she didn't look pissed either. It was a weird expression. Disappointment? Concern? Fear?

  “Hey, Clarke,” Greta gave a small wave.

  “You guys got married?” Clarke asked, her voice laced with incredulous accusation.

  Greta moved to the stairs. “Yeah, on New Year's Eve—”

  “WHAT?!”

  They all turned in unison to see Harmony standing in the doorway. Brady barely repressed the shiver that wanted to run through his body.

  “What did I tell you about coming back in here?” Lia took a threatening step forward, but Harmony ignored her.

  “You married that bitch?” she screeched, shock and horror warring across her face.

  “Oh, shit,” Steve muttered, as all parties shifted to block Greta from Harmony. Shane's whole body stiffened and his chest expanded as he faced his ex.

  Greta, for her part, rolled her eyes and kept moving to the stairs. “Can I talk to you, Clarke? Please?”

  “Shane, you've got to get rid of her!” Harmony was usually shrill, but this was a whole new level, even for her.

  That's when Shane grabbed Harmony by her upper arm and maneuvered her into his office, Lia following closely behind.

  Brady looked to the stairs. Greta had reached the top, but Clarke had retreated into her own office. He debated whether to stay here to see the fireworks, or head to the upper level to see if he could help with whatever was going on up there.

  Steve planted both hands on his hips.

  “How is it that nothing around here happens for like a month, and now I can't decide which throwdown I want to watch?”

  ***

  Greta was kind of stunned that Clarke was this upset. It seemed a little over the top for Clarke. Tate was usually the one to throw a drama, Clarke was always so even keel.

  By the time she reached the doorway of Clarke's office, she could see that her first mistake was doing this at work. They were about to have words, and if history was anything to go by, Greta was about to say some really embarrassing things.

  She stopped in the open door and leaned against the frame.

  “Are you mad?”

  Clarke's eyebrows lifted as she paced back and forth behind her desk, her arms crossed over her chest.

  “Why would I be mad? Because you promised you would keep me in the loop? Because you demand transparency from everyone around you, but don't hold yourself to the same standard? Because you're my best friend and you ran off and got married without me being there? I can't think of a single reason why any of that would be upsetting, can you?”

  Greta groaned and closed her eyes. “I'm sorry, you're right. I should have at least called you.”

  “You think?” Clarke bit back, stopping in her tracks. “Did you even think about this? Or is this another one of those times where you do what's fun and damn the consequences?”

  “Clarke, it's not like that.” Greta rubbed the back of her neck with one hand.

  “You don't even know him, Greta!” Clarke's voice rose with the flush in her face. “He has a reputation for a reason! One of those reasons is throwing her own drama downstairs right now! I can't believe you married him!”

  “I love him,” Greta defended herself softly, clenching her hands next to her side.

  “Yeah? Okay,” Clarke came round the front of the desk and moved her hands to her hips, “have you even had a fight yet?”

  Greta frowned, her reply caught somewhere between her throat and her brain. “What does that have to do with anything?”

  Clarke's face twisted in disgust. “For real? You don't see how maybe that might be significant? Of course it's easy to love someone when you're always getting along with them, but what happens when real life interrupts and you start to disagree?”

  Greta didn't reply because she had no reply. Clarke was right. She and Shane hadn't had a fight yet. Not a big one anyway. And humans, especially ones invested in each other, were bound to have several fights along the way.

  “What happens when you guys have a big one and you haven't learned how to
solve it yet? You got married on a whim, is that how the divorce will happen too?”

  “No! Geez, Clarke, calm down,” Greta finally found her voice. “You have a point, a small one, but I don't think it's going to be that big of a deal. Shane and I talk. We discuss the issues we have. I really think that when we have a fight, we'll figure it out. I know it looks like I did this on the spur of the moment.” Clarke's eyes bugged out and Greta raised a placating hand. “You're right, we kind of did, but I love him. More than I thought I ever possibly could. This was going to happen whether we waited a year or not. So maybe our first year together will be harder than someone else's, but I truly believe that we're gonna get through it.”

  Clarke took a deep breath and let it out. Then she tilted her head slightly, her eyes getting watery.

  “I wanted to be there.”

  Greta smiled and lunged at her friend for a hug. “I know, but you can throw us a kick-ass reception if you want.”

  ***

  “What is she doing in here? I want to talk to you privately,” Harmony sneered at Lia, who was leaning casually against the closed office door with a look on her face that could melt glass.

  Shane's patience was starting to get thin where Harmony was concerned.

  “First of all, she has a name. It's Lia. And she's my personal assistant. Besides, I think it would be a good idea to have a witness to any conversations you and I have.”

  Shane ignored the small smirk that graced Lia's mouth at the announcement of her promotion.

  “Whatever,” Harmony pushed onward.

  She'd calmed down significantly since entering the office. It was as if her explosion on the main floor was something he had imagined.

  “It doesn't matter. I'm sorry for losing my cool out there, I'm just surprised is all. I had been waiting for you to get back, so that I could warn you about Greta, but it looks like she's already made her play.”

  “What the hell are you talking about, Harm?”

  “I spoke to Ted Trippy last week,” she said with no small amount of knowledge in her voice.

  Shane felt his stomach shift around that solid rock of indigestion that had settled there.

  While his personal life had been sailing along beautifully, his business was still in a downward spiral that he couldn't control or explain. Ted Trippy had virtually fallen off the face of the earth and Shane's warehouse supplies were dwindling. It was only a mater of time before he wouldn't be able to fulfill orders from his vendors. His next stop after this one was to go directly to Ted's house and ask him what was going on.

  “I've been trying to get a hold of him for weeks. Explain to me how you can casually announce that kind of thing,” Shane responded darkly.

  Harmony's face softened and her eyes tilted down in what looked like understanding. “I volunteer in the children's ward where his daughter is getting treatment for leukemia.”

  Shane saw Lia's chin lift slightly, her calculating eyes memorizing Harmony's information as it fell from her lips.

  “I didn't know his daughter was sick,” Shane said slowly. He also didn't know that Harmony was a volunteer for anything.

  “Yeah, it's really sad. She's been sick for a long time.” Harmony's bottom lip trembled.

  “What does any of this have to do with me?” Shane asked suspiciously.

  Harmony took a step forward and placed her hand on his arm. Shane wanted to shake it off, but he was caught by the look on her face and the words that came out of her mouth next.

  “He told me that Greta approached him a while back and bribed him to stop providing boards for you for a while, and she would pay for his daughter's treatment.”

  “That's ridiculous,” Shane scoffed, his stomach twisting in a weird way. “That makes no sense. At all.”

  “I didn't think so either, but I did some asking around and I found out that Greta had a meeting with Cody Carmichael in Squaw Valley about a month ago. Do you know her?”

  Shane got the distinct impression that he was standing on the side of a building, his window to safety nailed shut and a rabid wind biting against his skin, trying to suck him from the inches of foothold he had.

  “I've heard of her,” he answered tightly.

  “Apparently, she's starting her own line, and wanted Trippy to herself. She cut a deal with Greta to make it happen. As soon as you run out of stock, Cody is supposed to offer you a merger option. She wants to combine your name with hers. Greta was supposed to guarantee the outcome.”

  Harmony must have taken Shane's silence as a green light to get closer. His whole body tensed as she closed the gap between them to less than six inches.

  “Shane, you mean a lot to me,” her voice dropped to a more intimate level and she touched his bicep with her fingertips. “I don't want to see you get hurt. You've built this business from the ground up. I'd hate to see it stolen from you. I know Greta, you can't trust her.”

  “You need to leave now,” Shane growled out, barely holding onto his temper.

  Harmony took a step back and sighed. “Look into it yourself.” She gestured to Lia. “Have your people ask around. I'm only telling you this because I think you have the right to know.”

  Shane's rigid body was trembling slightly. Harmony crossed to the door, Lia moving out of her way. She paused and turned back.

  “I was worried about you, so I hired a private investigator to follow Greta for a while.”

  Lia snorted.

  Harmony reached into her purse and pulled out an envelope. She handed it to Lia, but didn't take her eyes off of Shane. “When you're ready for more information, you can call me.”

  The door closed behind her and Shane took a deep breath.

  Lia was already pulling out the photos and laying them down on the desk. Shane took a step forward to see that all the photos where of his wife talking to Cody Carmichael in the lobby of the hotel they had stayed in at Squaw Valley. He'd had no idea that those two had spoken.

  Greta had never mentioned it.

  “This doesn't bode well,” Lia muttered.

  “Sonofabitch,” Shane hissed, shaking his head and running a hand through his hair in frustration. He looked to Lia and jerked up his chin. “I realize that the obvious pay increase with your promotion doesn't look very promising in light of this new information, but can you—”

  “Not a problem,” Lia cut him off and tucked the photos back in the envelope. “I'll look into it right away.”

  “Thanks,” Shane said, trying to come up with the next plan of action.

  Calling Cody needed to be on that list.

  Unfortunately.

  “Can I make a suggestion?” Lia asked, locking the envelope of photos into the file cabinet.

  “By all means.”

  “Talk to Greta. Ask her straight out what's going on. That's the reasonable course of action.”

  Shane knew she was right, but he remained silent. Harmony couldn't be trusted, that was for certain.

  But even when he was at his worst, he always stuck a little bit of truth in with his lies. He suspected she did the same.

  Then there were the photos, of course.

  Damning evidence indeed.

  Was it possible for Greta to have deceived him that intensely? It seemed completely absurd... but those pictures. And Ted still not returning his phone calls. And then Greta pointing the finger at Harmony long before Harmony was involved. Did she know that Harmony was going to find out?

  Shane shook his head aggressively to stop the thoughts that were going to drive him out of his mind if he let them. Lia was right, he needed to talk to Greta directly. She would tell him the truth.

  Chapter 18

  Rise Above This

  “Where do you want this one?”

  Greta came out of the bedroom to see Brady standing in the hallway with another box. She glanced at the contents.

  “In the second bedroom. I'll have to sort through that later.”

  “'Kay,” he grunted, and headed that directi
on.

  Shane had given Greta the keys to the house and told her to get her things moved in. He had to stay at work for a little while and get caught up if he could. He promised they would talk about what happened with Harmony when he got home that night.

  She was going to hold him to that. Especially since he let her leave without even giving her a kiss goodbye. Harmony must've really thrown off his day.

  So Greta enlisted Brady and Steve's help to get her few possessions moved over into her new place. It was still pretty early, so she was hoping she'd be able to make dinner before Shane got home.

  She opened the fridge to take stock of the inventory and make a mental list of all the things she needed to get.

  “So, you're the one who turned Shane into an honest man.” Steve reached past her, grabbing a beer off the shelf. Greta added beer to her list.

  “Whatever that means,” she replied, moving to the cupboards.

  “I truly never thought he'd be able to hang up his balls for anything,” Steve continued as he hefted himself up onto the counter top.

  “That's not...” Greta trailed off with a grimace. “That's not exactly how it works, Steve.”

  “Whatever. I mean, I guess it makes sense. You're super hot and all. He'd never marry someone ugly.”

  “I'm gone for a couple of weeks and all that re-training,” she jerked her thumb over her shoulder, “right out the window.”

  “Shut it, dick,” Brady joined them in the kitchen, taking up what little space there was left.

  “Don't get all bent just cuz the chick you've been scamming on picked your much richer friend. That's how the world works, dude. Guys marry for looks, chicks marry for money.”

  Greta and Brady stared at him.

  “Brady, I told you not to let him spend that much time in the sun,” Greta finally muttered.

  “Someday you're going to find out how very wrong you are,” Brady said, shaking his head.

  Steve rolled his eyes, took a swig from the bottle and hopped off the counter. “All right, I'm outta here. I have to meet Adam back at the beach house.”

  Greta looked at his beer that was only twenty-five percent gone. Before she could say anything, the door was closing behind him. She looked to Brady and let out a laugh.