by Ali Parker
The waiter came by and took our orders. Once he was gone, Jack looked at me and smiled. “How’ve you been?”
I nodded. “Good, really good. I mean, I’m engaged so that’s big news. My company, well, we had a little stumble, but as you know, things are looking up once again.”
He smiled. “Yes, they are, thanks to Grayson.”
“Tell me about him,” I said, hoping to learn more about the man who was worming his way into my heart. “What was he like as a little boy? He is always so stalwart and serious now. Was he always like that?” I said, hoping to get him talking.
“He was the oldest and always looking out for all of us. Maybe it was the responsibility of being the oldest that made him so serious. My parents were good parents, but they had their hands full with six boys. Grayson often stepped in to help one of us with our homework or help us find our shoes. Even when Dad started making a lot of money, my mom insisted on raising us herself. She didn’t believe in nannies or any of that stuff. Grayson was my favorite out of all my brothers.”
I could tell he was talking past tense. “What changed?”
He shrugged. “You’d have to ask him about it.”
“You mean there is a story?”
“Ask him.”
“Jack come on. What happened between the two of you? I know you two don’t get along very well.”
“It’s not really something I can explain. You would really need to ask Grayson. Let him tell you the story,” he said through gritted teeth.
The way he said it made me feel as if Grayson were to blame. I wondered if it had to do with a woman. Maybe that was why he’d never settled down. They both fell for the same woman and she screwed them both over and now the brothers hated each other. It would make sense. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time something like that would happen.
“Fine, I’ll ask him,” I said with a smile, hoping to lighten the conversation.
Our meals were delivered, but before I could take a bite of my chef salad, Jack spoke up. “Are you and Grayson truly engaged?”
My mouth dropped open. “What? Why would you ask me something like that?”
Alarm bells were going off in my head. It explained why Jack wanted to meet with me. He was trying to find out the truth.
“I need to know, Hannah—for my mother’s sake,” he said.
“Your mother’s sake. What are you talking about?”
In the back of my mind, I thought about what Grayson had told me about the competition between the brothers. Whoever had the first heir got the company. Grayson said Jack was his only true competition. I realized I had stepped into the brotherly squabble I had vowed to stay out of. I was in the thick of it now. I needed to choose where to place my loyalty.
It was with Grayson. It would always be with Grayson. He was my fiancé, real or fake. He was the one I would defend and protect the best I could. I knew it went much deeper than that. I had some very strong feelings for my fake fiancé and even if he didn’t feel the same way about me, I wouldn’t hang him out to dry. I had screwed up by agreeing to meet Jack. I should have known better. The minute I was done with lunch, I was going to go tell Grayson about the meeting and what Jack had said. I wouldn’t keep it from him. I was kicking myself in the ass for not telling him last night.
“Jack, we are truly engaged. We are going to get married.”
“Are you marrying him because you love him or is there something else?” he pried.
I didn’t like the way he was looking at me. I had told Grayson from the beginning I was a terrible liar. I had too many tells and the few people who really knew me could tell right away when I was lying. Jack used to know me and would likely be able to see my lies.
“I’m marrying him because I want to. If your mother is unsure of my intentions, she can ask me,” I said, a little irritated.
He shook his head. “No, no, it isn’t like that. There are things you don’t know about Grayson and our family.”
“Are you sure I don’t know about them, Jack?”
He looked thoughtful. “I guess you might, but I doubt it, because if you did, the Hannah I knew would never agree to marry my brother.”
I shrugged a shoulder. “Well, I guess you don’t know me as well as you thought or maybe it’s your brother you don’t know. Either way, Grayson and I are getting married. In fact, we were planning our wedding last night. We’ve decided to do it sooner rather than later.”
Jack grimaced. “I bet you are.”
“Excuse me?” I said, raising one eyebrow.
He shook his head. “Nothing. Forget I said anything.”
I nodded and took a bite of my salad. It felt like cardboard in my mouth. I wanted to get up and walk away, but I couldn’t let Jack know he had hit a nerve. We chatted about nothing in particular as we ate our lunches. Talking about the people we had gone to school with and where they were now. Once lunch was over, I was anxious to leave the restaurant and call Grayson. Maybe he’d still like to meet up and check out some of those hotels.
As we were walking out of the restaurant, I looked up to see Grayson standing on the sidewalk. He looked furious and hurt. My heart immediately went out to him.
“What’s going on here? Did I interrupt your lunch date? Were you headed back to his place to talk about your plans some more?” He sneered.
“No! What are you talking about?” I defended.
He shook his head. “You lied to me. You said you were having lunch with a friend.”
Jack looked at his brother, not saying a word. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, Grayson. Don’t say anything you might regret.”
“Oh, really. You think I might say something I regret?” His hands were fisted at his sides.
“Grayson, Jack is a friend. I told you that when we met the other night. I knew him in college. We were just catching up over lunch. It was nothing more than that,” I explained.
He was looking at me with such rage. I could feel how betrayed he felt and wanted to throw my arms around him, telling him it wasn’t true. I was loyal to him.
“I thought we talked about this,” he said in a low growl, looking directly at me.
“We did, and I heard you. This isn’t anything I wouldn’t have told you. In fact, I was going to call you when I was done here. I’m ready to go look at those hotels.”
He scoffed. “Yeah, right. Like I want to look at places for our wedding.”
“Grayson, you’re making a mistake,” Jack said again.
“Shut up! I knew I couldn’t trust you. Always the backstabbing little brother. Always wanting what I have. It’s never enough for you.” He seethed.
I shook my head. “No! Jack wanted to get to know me a little better. We are going to be related and we are in business together. It was nothing like you are making it out to be.”
“I’m going to go. Take care of yourself, Hannah,” Jack said and walked away, leaving me to deal with the very angry Grayson.
Grayson’s hazel eyes were stormy with anger. I reached out to touch his arm, and he yanked away from me. “Don’t touch me.”
“Please,” I begged.
“I trusted you. I believed you when you said you wouldn’t keep secrets from me. I should have known you were just saying what I wanted to hear because I had my fingers in your pussy.” He sneered.
I felt like I had been slapped by his vulgarity. I moved toward him again, but he stepped away. He walked to the waiting black town car and got in, leaving me standing on the street like an idiot. I watched the car fade into traffic, wondering what I had just done. Wondering why I cared so much and felt like my heart had been ripped out.
It was supposed to be fake. None of this was real. I shouldn’t feel guilty for having lunch with another man. I shouldn’t feel horrible for betraying a man who was blackmailing me. I closed my eyes, reining in my emotions before hailing a cab to go home. I thought about following Grayson to his place and trying to explain one more time, but realized he needed some space.
> As the cab weaved through traffic, I thought about what Grayson had said to his brother about wanting everything that was his. I had a feeling I had just stirred up old resentments and rekindled a family feud that had been quietly festering for some time.
“Great job, Hannah,” I mumbled to myself.
“Pardon me,” the driver said from up front.
I shook my head. “Nothing. Sorry, I was talking to myself.”
I had been doing a lot of that lately. I went home and flopped on my couch. I had no idea if I had a job or a fiancé. Things were not looking good on either front. I would never forgive myself for not telling Grayson from the start about the meeting with Jack. It was probably one of the biggest mistakes of my life. Looking back, I realized how easy it would have been to avoid all this. I knew I was going to miss him in my life if he decided to kick me to the curb. Even if he let me keep my job and we went through with the marriage, it wouldn’t be like what we had. It was irrevocably damaged. He would never trust me again.
Chapter 25
Grayson
It was early, but I didn’t really notice. I had barely slept at all, thinking about what I had to do. Everything had blown up in my face. The shitty thing was I knew better. I knew not to trust anyone, especially a woman. She was only fucking me to get close. She’d probably been fucking Jack the days she wasn’t with me. Both of them laughing at me as they did. They had been so close to pulling it over on me. I had let myself believe she was the real deal.
That was my own fault. I had let my guard down and let her get close. Now, I felt like hell and I had no one to blame but myself. I had spent the night thinking about our conversations and wondering how much of it had been true and what had been a lie. She made a fool out of me and I would never forgive her.
One tiny little lapse of control and look what happened. People wondered why I was such a hard-ass all the time. This was why. Because people were dicks and they were always trying to screw you over. Jack had been gunning for me from the moment he exited the womb. I was lucky he was a well-adjusted guy, or I’d be pushing up daisies by now. He’d have killed me long ago to be the top dog in the house. All my brothers were a little competitive, but Jack was the only one who came close to beating me.
He lied about not wanting the Bancroft Estate. It pissed me off that he couldn’t just be honest about it. I would have been able to respect him a lot more if he’d just been straight. I didn’t mind competition. I’d have been able to beat him fair and square, but this underhanded move was not cool, and I planned on making him pay. And her. I wanted her to pay for what she had done.
The door buzzer rang. I knew it could only be one person this early in the morning. She’d been calling me for the past hour. I was ignoring her. I didn’t bother answering the buzzer either.
A couple minutes later, my landline rang, and I knew it was the concierge. He was the only one who would call that number. I answered it, listened to what he said, and told him no.
“Pardon me, sir? I said it was your fiancée,” he repeated.
“No. I don’t want her up here. Ever.”
“Okay, I’ll pass along that information,” he said, and I could just see her standing there waiting to hear what I had to say.
I grabbed my cell and texted her to meet me at the office in an hour. I did not want her waiting in the lobby and pouncing when I walked out. I needed to keep the media out of this mess for as long as possible. I wanted her to sit and stew for a bit longer. She probably had a pretty good idea about what was coming, but she was also probably thinking she could persuade me with a little sex.
I wanted our meeting at the office for just that reason. She wouldn’t dare try and seduce me in front of an audience. I didn’t trust myself to be alone in my apartment with her. I’d end up fucking her again and she would let me, wanting to use sex to control me. I smirked thinking of the few times I had used sex to bend her to my will. That was different.
I quickly showered and dressed, steeling myself for the coming conversation. I wanted to enjoy it. I wanted it to sting. I wanted to make her feel as bad as she had made me feel watching her walk out of that restaurant with a big smile on her face with my brother by her side. When I walked into the office, she was sitting in the waiting area outside my office door. She looked like hell. All her fancy makeup did little to conceal the dark circles under her eyes. She’d pulled her hair back and her outfit looked like it had been crumpled at the bottom of the laundry heap for a week.
Good. I hoped to hell she was miserable. I looked her over, staring at her appearance and raised my eyebrow, letting her know I noticed. She stood up and opened her mouth to say something. I stared her down, using my eyes to tell her to keep her mouth shut while shaking my head at the same time. I was running the show. I would tell her when she could talk.
I told my secretary to hold all my calls before gesturing for Hannah to enter my office. She walked in and stayed standing in the middle of the space. I closed the door behind us before throwing the lock. I did not want to be disturbed. I kept a wide distance between us, my hands in my pockets as I looked at her.
“Grayson, I wanted to tell you, I was going to tell you, but I didn’t know how,” she started, not even bothering to try and deny anything had happened.
I smirked. “Oh, it’s easy, you open that sweet little mouth of yours and the words come out. The same way you used that mouth to lie to me and suck my dick. Did you suck him as well?” I asked thoughtfully.
“No! You don’t understand,” she said, her voice rising.
I shot her a glare, telling her to lower her voice. “I understand completely. I’m not an idiot and I would appreciate it if you didn’t try and talk to me like I was.”
“I know you’re not an idiot. I’m only trying to tell you that you are jumping to a very wrong conclusion about what you saw yesterday. It was an innocent meeting between friends, just like I said it was,” she tried to explain.
I held up my hand. “That’s bullshit and we both know it. I don’t care what you have to say. Nothing you say is going to change things. I caught you with my brother, the same brother I told you was trying to take my company. You two have been working together this whole time, haven’t you?”
“He and I are not together, nor have we ever been together, and I’m definitely not working with him in any way, shape, or form. I met him as a friend. That’s it. I was going to tell you about the meeting, but we were having such a good time on Saturday. I didn’t want to ruin it. I knew you would get mad at him or me, and the fun you and I were having would come to an end.”
I smirked. “You mean when I was making you come time and again? Is that what you mean about a good time? Or was it in the morning when I was making you breakfast after you slept beside me all night,” I asked in a deadly calm voice.
I was too close to her. I had to get away. I should have met with her in the conference room. This was too private, too intimate. I walked around my desk, taking a seat. I needed the distance between us. I didn’t trust myself not to reach out and touch her.
“I’m on your side,” she whispered.
“You were colluding with my brother and you got caught. Of course, you’re going to say you’re on my side.”
She took a deep breath, taking a seat in the chair across from my desk. She was looking into my eyes, trying to persuade me. I looked away.
“Effective immediately you are no longer employed by Bancroft Estate. And in case you’re wondering, the engagement is off as well. You can keep the ring for the services you so willingly provided,” I said with a sneer, watching the look of shock spread across her face.
“You can’t do that! It’s my company.”
I smiled and shook my head. “No, it’s my company and I can do that. I own it.”
“Grayson, you can’t take my company away from me. You know how much it means to me.”
I shook my head. I could see the sadness in her eyes. I couldn’t let myself fall for her trap.
Not again. “I’m sorry, we had an arrangement. You failed to uphold your part. Therefore, you’re fired, and I would really prefer never to see you again.”
“You don’t understand. Something changed between us. It wasn’t just a marriage on paper for me. I was falling for you. I realized it when I was meeting with Jack. When he asked me if our engagement was the real thing, I told him it was. I knew in that moment I was loyal to you and always would be,” she said in a soft voice.
“I think you realized that a little too late. You should have thought about where your loyalties were before you lied to my face and sneaked off behind my back with my brother. I don’t think you would have ever told me about the meeting had I not been there to catch you,” I said, staring at her with disgust.
“You’re wrong. I think you know what we had was a lot more real than either of us expected. Something changed between us and I know it wasn’t one-sided,” she said, her voice firm.
I laughed. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t love you. I don’t have feelings for you. What you felt was my dick between your legs. Never mistake sex for love. You wanted it, I wanted it, and it was something we happened to do really well together. It was nothing more than that,” I said in a cold voice.
Inside, I was dying a little. I could see the hurt I was causing and wanted to stop but knew I couldn’t. I didn’t want her to want me. If she wanted me, I didn’t know if I could resist her. I didn’t want to break my rules about keeping my distance ever again. I was supposed to stay in control at all times. I had let myself lose control with her, and it had ended just as I expected it would.
“Grayson, I don’t believe that. I think something happened to you at some point in your life to leave you cold and jaded. I got a glimpse of the real man behind all those sharp edges. That’s the man I was falling in love with. Don’t pretend he isn’t there. I know you’re lying,” she said, her voice soft.
I shrugged. “What you thought you saw is wrong. Even if that man did exist, you fixed that with your betrayal.”