Forging Splendor

by S R Nulton

  “I was saved, she was not. She’d already chosen my name though, so I got stuck being a Giles and had to go live with daddy dearest. I met Ethan when we were in college and we became best friends and blood brothers. Then we found out we were actual blood brothers and had a blast sticking it to the old man. And Candace raised me like one of her own, but she never tried to hide what happened. I’m not happy with her part in my mother’s death, but she never tried to avoid her responsibility, so I’ve always had a bit of respect for her.”

  To say I was a bit shaken would be an understatement. It was a lot to take in, but it certainly explained the dynamic between the two. And Geo’s skin tone. He was clearly Filipino and very attractive but looked nothing like Ethan.

  “So, half-brothers? Wow. Okay, that makes more sense. Although it sucks for you.”

  He scowled. “Why? Because of Ethan’s limp? Or his scars? Let me tell you something lady, he is the best man I’ve ever met! I couldn’t ask for a better brother.”

  “Woah, woah!” I exclaimed, hands held up. “Slow down! I don’t care about his limp or scars! I just think it sucks that you have to be related to Neil and Cayden. Those two are first class jerks!”

  He slowed his breathing a bit before smiling. “They really are though. Good to know you’re on our side. My sisters still think that those two are kindness itself. It’s kind of disgusting.”

  Seeing a safe topic, I asked him about his sisters. That conversation filled up the rest of our trip to his vineyard.

  The tasting room was massive. Geo was clearly doing very well for himself. When I asked him about it he smiled and informed me that the vineyard paid for itself completely. He also owned a few microbreweries up in Oregon and Washington and a string of bars and nightclubs up and down both coasts. They were very popular because every employee had one responsibility that superseded all others: keep the ladies safe. He was a very protective of women because of the manipulation that led to his birth and his mother’s death. Geo loved alcohol, but only really got into the business because he saw it as a way to give young women a safe place to enjoy themselves and it let him keep them from making bad decisions.

  I jokingly said that “Take a Drunk Girl Home” was his personal anthem and he smiled and admitted it was his ringtone.

  Once we got to the vineyard, the delivery of the necklace went fairly quickly. The client was there to purchase some wine and look at Ethan’s gallery, so she was already in a very good mood. My demonstration of how everything worked made her positively beam, and she was absolutely thrilled with her new diamond encrusted knife.

  She also shared a little bit of information that cleared things up for me. It turned out there were a number of wealthy women who had been in bad relationships or found themselves in danger without the ability to defend themselves. They were good friends and spread the word about all the hidden weapons they were now able to order. It made them feel safe and stylish, which was a big thing for all of them. Ethan provided the means and they were more than happy to keep supplying the commissions.

  “Well that went better than I expected,” I said as we watched her leave.

  Geo snorted. “Are you kidding? That went spectacularly! She is going to find at least five other women to give you two commissions, mark my words. I think you need to do all the demonstrations from hereon out though. It seemed to make her more comfortable to have another woman explaining it. The ones who’ve been abused are only so comfortable with a man holding a weapon near them.”

  I nodded. “I saw that too. You were charming and unassuming, but she needed to know that it would fit her hand and be something built with her in mind. Seeing me pull a knife on you made her feel more in control. Specially since you smiled and asked her to try it next.”

  He nodded and gave me a big grin. For some odd reason, he’d seemed to enjoy that part of the demonstration the most. Who knew being held at knifepoint twice in ten minutes would make the man so happy? “Well, shall we look at Ethan’s sculptures? I know you’ve been dying to since you heard about the gallery.”

  I smiled and took his offered arm, allowing him to escort me through the room. It was interesting to see the progression from a rough, angry young man to one who was much more in control of his world and emotions. The rage was still there, but much more suppressed. The sculptures after JJ entered the picture were very… provocative, but knowing how their relationship really was, I recognized the emotions much better than others would. It was lust that was unfulfilled. JJ was a tease of the highest order and loved to string people along. Ethan had been nothing more than a pet to her.

  When she finally left, the anger came back, but there was also a lot of relief.

  “He’s free,” I whispered, looking at the man hidden in the unraveling tower.

  “You know, that sculpture has been up for a while and no one else has ever said that. They all see a man with his home collapsing around him.”

  I shook my head. “No, it isn’t a home. It is a jail. It may crush him as it falls, but it is still an end to his sentence. He is being freed from the prison.”

  That image stuck in my head as we drove back to the estate. To my home. I don’t know when it became home to me, but it had and I was looking forward to talking to Ethan again. It had been a whole day since I’d seen him, after all.

  I have to say, I didn’t expect the first sight that greeted me to be him and JJ in an intimate embrace. That was definitely a surprise, and not a good one.

  CHAPTER 8: CRAZY EX-WIFE

  ETHAN WATCHED AGGY and his best friend drive away and sighed. He had a lot to get done but after months of sharing his space it felt odd to know that he was completely alone. It was an unusual situation for him to be in. Normally, he craved his privacy and hated to have anyone encroaching on his territory. Or, that’s how it had been before Aggy made her way into his life.

  He snorted at that thought. The word ‘territory’ sounded very animalistic, which was rather appropriate considering how many people had called him a beast over the years. Although, now that he thought about it, it was only ever JJ who said it to his face…

  Ethan shook his head and turned back to his home. He tried to look at it from an unbiased perspective, but he couldn’t. It meant too much for him to see it objectively. When he’d worked with the architect to design his home, Ethan had tried to choose the most comfortable style he could to live in. Truth be told, he had chosen that particular floor plan because of how open everything was. Most of the homes he had looked at were constructed at a time when open concept was for people living in lofts, not billion dollar homes on the California coast. The problem was that Ethan was a fairly large individual and he felt uncomfortable in enclosed areas.

  Finding open land and building from the ground up had been one of the best decisions he’d ever made.

  His home was designed to take advantage of the natural light and allow good airflow, taking advantage of breeze off the water. It was open and had high ceilings with exposed beams and pale colors on the walls. Basically, he did everything he could to make it not look like a cave. He had also worked hard on the back patio though. He’d added the largest pool he could afford and a Jacuzzi so that he could relax his muscles after a long day at the forge. It seemed that Ethan constantly live in heat and fire, so by the end of the day he often felt nearly desperate for the weightlessness of water and the beauty of the open air.

  Aggy had never used the pool though. He should let her know that it was available. She seemed like the type who wouldn’t use it because she’d see it as intruding on his private space. He needed to make sure she was comfortable there and wasn’t afraid to use anything he owned.

  And he wouldn’t exactly mind seeing her in that black and white bathing suit that she’d worn when they went kayaking. It may not have been a bikini, but it was the sexiest thing he’d seen in a while.

  Life had changed so drastically since she arrived. The nightmares that had haunted him for over a decade were start
ing to diminish. The darkness and loneliness he felt were going away too. He felt refreshed when he woke up and inspired now while he worked.

  For another thing, business was booming like never before and Ethan wasn’t sure what to do about it. Most of it was thanks to the woman who had so seamlessly worked her way into his life. She wasn’t obtrusive but she had a way of making herself known. It meant that he relied on her more and more every day, which was exciting and scary. She had also inspired him to launch a new line based on the jewelry they were collaborating on. Now, it wasn’t unusual for him to try new things, but this was the first time he’d really worked with another person to create his art. It made him wonder what it would be like if she were his partner in everything.

  And that’s what he really wanted, a partner. Someone who would work with him instead of living off his efforts. He was addicted to learning how she saw the world. She didn’t just look at the surface, or when she did it was never from the same angle as the rest of the world. She was constantly surprising him with her insights.

  Like when she saw what he’d sculpted a piece so that it had another image hidden in it that could only be seen from above. She’d asked him about that one day and Ethan had been shocked. Only three people had ever noticed that little quirk of his and two of them were very close to him. The third was a relative who was too busy to come visit. His Uncle Harrison had been stuck with a miserable position in the family company but felt too much loyalty to quit. He was also a wonderful resource for ways to piss of Neil.

  Once he was back in his workshop, Ethan looked at his prospective projects and decided to work on “Laughter”. It was the next in his special series and needed some special touches, like working crushed quartz into it. He pulled out the drawings and made some subtle adjustments before getting to work on the base shape.

  When he looked up again he had completed the first stage of the project and missed lunch by about two and a half hours.

  Ethan sighed and cleaned up his supplies, ignoring his growling stomach until everything was put back correctly. No need to rush and chance an accident because he was too stupid to stop earlier. He’d done that once and nearly lost his hands and half his workshop. After that incident, Ethan became very serious about safety. Everything had a place and was put in it when he was finished using it.

  He washed up in the sink, laughing slightly at the way his skin had been dyed black by his work. Aggy had teased him about not washing properly the other night and he had loved explaining why his hands looked that way. She had just smiled and winked before telling him to use a pumice the next time. The funny thing was she’d done some research into it and found a few options that would help remove the dark coloration from his hands, but only if he felt he needed to. She was very quick to say that, making sure he knew she didn’t mind.

  The smile stayed on his face right up until the doorbell rang.

  “Who could that be?” he wondered aloud. Everyone who came to his home had a key and anyone who didn’t clearly didn’t belong there. In fact, they shouldn’t have been able to get through the gate.

  “Carlos was here earlier though. Maybe they got in when he left for the day, “ he mused when he remembered that his gardener had stopped by. Either way, he was not prepared for the person waiting on his porch.

  “JJ? What are you doing here?”

  She scowled, her pretty face showing lines already, something he knew she hated. “I want my money.”

  Ethan blinked. “What money? You already got money from me, remember? I mean, not much, I’ll grant you, but the judge ruled and there’s no going back on that.”

  Their divorce had been surprisingly clean cut. She was shown to be a cheater and none of her half-hearted attempts at destroying his character had worked. She wasn’t working, but he had just started selling to higher end clients. They were on fairly equal footing when it came to income, so he was just asked to provide enough funds for JJ to officially move out. There was no actual requirement, though JJ was unaware of that fact, just a recommendation from the judge so that she couldn’t later claim he’d avoided alimony payments. They had never combined any of their bank accounts or assets so there was no community property that needed to be sold.

  And her blowup in court about how she didn’t need money from some two bit artist when she was an international supermodel kind of sealed her fate. She really hadn’t wanted his money before. That was why her showing up, demanding money was so strange.

  Well, that and the fact that Cayden was paying most of her bills. Ethan thought his older brother seemed to enjoy the novelty of keeping a mistress.

  “Not that money, you idiot! The money that you have coming to you from your family. I’m owed it just as much as you are! I’ve had to put up with them longer, pawing at me and trying to steal my attention from Cayden and the babies!”

  Ethan stared at her like she’d lost her mind, which it seemed like she had. He’d never received a lot money from his parents, not even when he was a child. Granted, they did pay for necessities, but nothing more than that. The idea that she somehow had more trouble with his family than he did was valid but also a bit ridiculous. He had a few spies in his father’s home and knew for a fact that she’d been barred from the premises until Cayden agreed to marry her or unless there was an event for the twins and Cayden couldn’t attend in her place. The Montgomerys wanted nothing to do with her.

  “Look, the divorce wasn’t final, not really. And it won’t be ‘til you give me what I’m owed, so stop stalling and just pony up!”

  “JJ, you aren’t making any sense. Have you been drinking again? Do I need to call you a cab or something?” He knew she couldn’t be in her right mind because he had the divorce papers in his safe. Well, annulment papers, technically. It was just less embarrassing to say ‘divorce’.

  Her face turned a very unusual shade of red and she screeched, “I am not drunk!” She drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly, seeming to come to some sort of decision, then it was like a switch was flipped.

  JJ popped one of her hips, placing her hand on it, and lifted her opposite foot just slightly off the ground. Next, she cocked her head to the side, showing off her long neck and letting her hair fall into her eyes a bit. Then she bit her lip and looked up at him with the most sultry expression he had ever seen outside a magazine.

  It took all he could do not to laugh in her face.

  “Ethan, baby, why are we always fighting?” she crooned. “Don’t you think it’s silly? I think it’s silly.” She stepped forward and trailed a finger down his chest while looking at him through her mascara covered lashes. “Come on, baby. Let’s end this silly argument we’ve been having and get back to… reconnecting.” The last word was said breathily and with more promise than anything she’d ever said in their entire marriage.

  By that point Ethan was just plain confused. It was obvious she was trying to seduce him, but he couldn’t figure out why. He also couldn’t see how anyone would fall for such heavy-handed flirtation. It was so obviously fake! Add to that the fact that they’d never connected before, a reconnection was pretty much impossible.

  Before he could say anything to that effect, though, she launched herself into his arms and started kissing him.

  Now, there were many nights where Ethan had imagined what it would be like to kiss his then wife. He had fantasized about it, longing for the day when she would seek him out and finally become the woman he thought he had married. He imagined what it would be like to have such a stunning woman look at him with heat in her eyes and feather her lips gently over his before he drew her close and devoured her for hours.

  The kiss she laid on him pretty much destroyed every fantasy he’d ever had, it was that bad. It also made sure that he would never again desire to know what might have happened if their marriage had continued. If sleeping with her was anything like kissing her, he would have needed to shower in hydrogen peroxide to get rid of the slimy feeling she gave him.

  B
ottom line, it was desperate, overly practiced, and left him feeling like he’d just been covered in refuse. It was disgusting and wrong. And very, very confusing.

  Just then he looked over her shoulder and noticed Geo and Aggy standing there, staring at him and JJ. The looks on their faces could only been described as shocked, although sickened came in a close second. That was the shock he needed to finally shove her away.

  “Look,” he said as he wiped his mouth, trying to get rid of the taste of her. “I have no idea what you think is supposed to be happening right now, but whatever you’re after, the answer is no. No, I will not give you money. No, the divorce is not still up in the air, I have the paperwork to prove it. No, I will most definitely not sleep with you. Just no.”

  JJ’s eyes hardened more and more as he spoke and when he finished they closely resembled pieces of frozen granite. “Then people are going to hear all about how you abused and forced yourself on your ex-wife when she refused to have sex with you. I’ll find a way to get the bruises. No one will think I’m lying, after all, all sorts of women are coming out and admitting to being sexually abused. Why not me? No court in the country will believe you over me!”

  Ethan narrowed his eyes and smirked. “Want to bet? If you had cared enough to get to know me while we were married, you would know that I have security cameras everywhere on my property, and just last year I also installed full audio recording. I should have enough to get a restraining order put out on you, don’t you think, Aggy, Geo?”

  JJ gasped and whirled around to see his half-brother and his assistant standing there. They waved cheekily and Geo suggested that she leave before she showed any more of her true nature. Luckily, she took that advice.