Crazy Nights (The Barrington Billionaires Book 3)

by Danielle Stewart

  “I’m getting on a plane tomorrow, Evie. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone or if I’ll be in contact. Just go do what you need to do, and I’ll do the same.”

  “Then what?” she asked, croaking out a little bit of hopefulness that he may give her something to hang on to.

  “Bye, Evie,” he said, kissing her and moving her toward the door. “Pack your stuff. Trust me, this will be for the best. You’ll look back and be glad you walked away.”

  She lost her breath as the heavy hotel room door closed in her face. Sobbing as she dragged her feet toward the elevator, she couldn’t imagine how she could pack anything tonight. All she wanted to do was bury her head in a pillow and cry until her sides ached and her cheeks stung. Everything seemed so clear in her mind as she walked into that warehouse earlier tonight. Now it was like someone poured mud in her ears and clouded up every thought she had. Maybe Emmitt was right, maybe she took a risk that wasn’t hers to take, and now she was paying the price.

  Chapter 32

  Emmitt stared at his phone and nearly dialed her number a dozen times. Evie hadn’t waited to say goodbye in the morning. She hadn’t taken his money or his offer of making travel arrangements. She was just gone. And that was part of what he liked about her. No matter how tough things got, Evie seemed to face them. She rarely fell apart or played damsel in distress. He wondered where she was right now. Did she grab a bus ticket back to the Midwest or maybe a train back to Texas?

  “I appreciate this information,” Asher said as he reviewed the paperwork Emmitt left in front of him. It wasn’t his best work, but luckily Lance Barrington’s security was lacking enough he was able to make plenty of recommendations just on the data collected and the recon he did.

  “The analysis is fairly basic,” he admitted. “There was a lot of low hanging fruit. He does have the opportunity to tighten up quite a bit. A new badge system. More screening in the lobby.”

  “Good,” Asher said, still reading.

  “Also,” Emmitt said, as he pulled out his phone, “there’s a contractor that will likely be interested in bidding on some of the work in Lance’s proposal: Restoration Consultants, Inc. Watch out for them. They have a history of breaching company’s databases to get an early look at plans and competition before they make their proposals. They’re slimy. I didn’t see any evidence that they’d already breached Lance’s office, but as you can see I had no problem downloading any file I wanted from an unlocked utility room. I’d start there with the security upgrades.”

  “Fair enough,” Asher nodded, pushing the paper back into a pile and standing. “Have your brother text me on this number.” He handed Emmitt a business card. “I’ll set up some time to meet with him.”

  “Thanks,” Emmitt said, throwing a small nod back at Asher and heading for the door.

  “You have the flu or something?” Asher asked before Emmitt could leave the office.

  “No,” he said, confused by the question.

  “Good I wasn’t sure if I had to have the cleaning service in here bleaching the place. I figured you were sick, considering last time you were here you wouldn’t shut up. You had plenty to say about how things would go down. Now you’ve got nothing to say.”

  “I had a job. It’s done. You held up your end of the bargain. My brother gets what he wanted. Not much to stay.” Emmitt buried his hands in his pockets and let out a long annoyed breath.

  “Right,” Asher said flatly. “But I still figured you’d come in here demanding something else. I was fully prepared to tell you to go to hell.”

  “Sorry I robbed you of that,” Emmitt retorted as he looked at his phone again. Still nothing from Evie.

  “Do you still think your brother is worth my time? You were making a strong case for it last time.”

  “My brother knows business. Whatever he’s doing with West Oil you’ll want to hear about. Give him an hour. You won’t regret it.”

  Emmitt turned and left the office without another word. Half his responsibilities were done. Mathew would now have what he wanted. It was on to ridding them of the plague that was their father. It was time to do what he did best. Leave.

  Chapter 33

  “She’s something,” Charles said as he watched Emmitt check his phone for the hundredth time. He fastened his seat belt tightly in the seat directly next to Emmitt.

  “The whole jet’s ours, no need to sit right next to me.” Emmitt sighed as he rolled his eyes.

  “We can talk,” his father offered with a toothy smile that set Emmitt’s nerves on edge.

  “We have nothing to talk about.” Emmitt poured himself a drink and didn’t bother offering one to his father. “Just be glad I took the cuffs off.”

  Charles absentmindedly rubbed at his wrists where the marks still stung. “You shouldn’t leave her behind. Take her with us. She’d come. I could tell by the look in her eyes when you told her we were leaving. There’s still time. This jet’s on your dime. You can tell them to wait.”

  “She’s not coming,” Emmitt asserted. “I’m doing her a favor by ending it now.”

  “Right, I know that argument.” His father laughed but stopped quickly at the sight of Emmitt grinding his teeth together. “All I’m saying is protecting people from yourself is a joke. That’s not really what you’re doing.”

  “It’s not?” Emmitt asked with a look of frustrated disgust. “Please enlighten me.”

  “You’re not protecting her from you, you’re saving yourself from how she makes you feel. The fact that she makes you feel anything at all when you’ve gotten so good at stuffing that down. You can say all you want that you’re doing this for her sake, you can fool a lot of people with that. But men like us—” His words were cut short by the banging of Emmitt’s fist against the armrest.

  “I’m nothing like you,” he boomed. “Don’t pretend to understand my motivations. You’ve never cared for anyone more than yourself.”

  “You’re right,” he said, raising his arms. “You do plenty for the people around you. You’re a better man than me. But breaking that girl’s heart now just so you don’t risk breaking it later isn’t sparing her. Stop the plane. Call her.”

  Emmitt squeezed his phone tightly in his hand, nearly crushing it. “We have connecting flights. I’m not delaying this. The sooner I get you the hell out of here the better.”

  “You still haven’t said where we’re going,” Charles grumbled, seeming not happy with the lack of control he had over the situation.

  “You’ll know when we get there,” Emmitt said as he grabbed his headphones from his bag and put them on. Turning the loud pumping music up as far as it would go, he closed his eyes. His father wouldn’t want to stop the discussion, so he put a forcible end to it instead. As his eardrums vibrated to the rhythmic beat, he pushed all thoughts out of his head. The familiar feeling of nothingness flooded his body and he could breathe again.

  Chapter 34

  The pit of Evie’s stomach was blazing with anxiety and motion sickness. The bus ride was nearly over, and while everyone next to her was probably dying to get off, she considered hiding under her seat and riding back to the bus depot for the night. Then she wouldn’t have to tell anyone she’d been fired from the movie set months ago. She wouldn’t have to face her mother and whatever downward spiral she fell into after leaving treatment.

  “Isn’t this your stop?” the old man with the narrow sinking eyes asked her through his crooked smile.

  “It is,” she said with forced cheer as she grabbed her bag and made her way down the narrow aisle. Stepping off the bus, she felt the difference in the air. She knew she’d be back here one day; she knew she’d have to face everything she was hiding from, but now that she was here it felt worse than she imagined.

  Evie pulled the rest of her cash from her pocket and considered the best way to get home. She could grab a cab or call her brother. At least the cab would buy her more time of anonymity. She could hold her secrets a little longer.

&nb
sp; “Evie?” a familiar sunny voice called from behind her. “What are you doing here?”

  “Sara,” Evie said in a singsong voice as her oldest friend came barreling into her arms.

  “Are you on a break from the movie?” Sara asked, pulling away and looking her friend over appraisingly. The bleary look in Evie’s eyes gave her away. “Are you all right?’

  “No,” Evie admitted through a stifled cry. “It’s terrible. Everything is awful.” Sara led her over to a bench as she recounted how the last few months had unfolded. Retelling the sordid tale of all of her dreams imploding was more painful than Evie had expected.

  “You need to go, Evie,” Sara said simply as she glanced around for any other familiar faces. “You don’t belong here. You never have. If you come back now you’ll end up working at the local diner for pennies and giving them all to your mother to help her get better. This place,” she gestured around and whispered, “it’s not big enough for someone like you. You can get right back on that bus and try again. But if you stay now, you’ll be stuck here forever. I just know it.”

  “But my mother,” Evie said through tears. “I can’t just leave now and not help her.”

  “You will do exactly what you intended when you left the first time. You’ll get wildly famous and have everything you need to really help her. If you stay, the sadness and the helplessness is going to suck you in and destroy you.”

  “I thought maybe you’d be the first person in line to say I told you so,” Evie sniffled.

  “Never,” Sara asserted. “I’ve always known you were going to do something great that would help your entire family. I thought maybe by now you and I would be walking the red carpet, photobombing celebrities, but I’m willing to wait.”

  They laughed the way one does when tears are still in their eyes, that defeated type of chuckle that lets in a small ray of hope.

  “Call him. What you told me about Emmitt, I have to believe he’s hurting as badly as you are right now. You don’t belong here in this dusty, shitty place. Think of yourself as a life raft. Don’t go back to the sinking ship, just go get help for the rest of us.” Sara playfully nudged her shoulder into Evie and tried to get her to smile. Evie reluctantly obliged, but her stomach still ached with worry.

  “So I just turn back around?” Evie asked, gesturing at the bus. “Do I go to Texas? Boston? I don’t know where Emmitt was heading.”

  “Go where your heart tells you,” Sara giggled. “I know that sounds cheesy, but it’s true. If you need any more convincing, use this for motivation.” Sara reached into her bag and pulled out a name tag and pinned it to her chest. “Stay here and you can add this fancy badge to your outfit. You could stand right next to me and scoop ice cream cones for people who want a thousand free samples and stuff stacks of napkins in their pockets. Run now while you still have a chance.”

  “Come with me,” Evie said, a rush of adrenaline pouring through her body. “Forget the ice cream shop and the bullshit here. Get on the bus with me.”

  “You’re chasing your life and a guy you love. I already have a guy here,” Sara said, flashing her ring finger and showing a small gold band with a tiny diamond.

  “Sara?” she gasped. “You and Marty are engaged?”

  “We are,” Sara glowed. “No date set yet, but his parents are letting us use their time share in Florida for our honeymoon. Getting on that bus isn’t what I need, but it is what you need.”

  “This feels crazy,” Evie said, covering her face with her hands.

  “What’s the worst that can happen?” Sara challenged. “I can always keep an ice cream scoop ready for you.”

  Evie nodded her head and accepted the tight hug from her oldest friend. “I’m sorry I didn’t call the last few months. You must have thought I was being such a pretentious jerk.”

  “It crossed my mind,” Sara said with a blush. “But every time it did, I remembered the way you stayed home from the eighth grade dance because Billy stood me up. You were the same girl who showed me how to straighten my frizzy hair and told me my braces made me look cooler even though we both knew that was a lie.”

  “I’m getting on a bus,” Evie said as though she were breaking the news to herself.

  “Good girl,” Sara cooed as she waved a quick goodbye and headed in the other direction. “I can’t be late for my shift. Who will scoop the mint chocolate chip?”

  As Evie watched her friend walk away she did the quick calculations to what was left in her bank account. If she was going to do this, she’d have to do it now. If she went farther into town, if she saw her brother or tracked down her mother, she knew she’d talk herself out of this crazy plan. It was now or never.

  Chapter 35

  “This is a very small airstrip, so buckle up,” Emmitt explained to his father as he looked out the window at the arid land below.

  “Where on God’s green earth are we?” Charles asked as he rolled the ache out of his neck and stretched his sore back.

  “Not very green here,” Emmitt chuckled, considering how his father would react to finding out where they were. “We’re in Botswana, Africa. Or at least we will be when we touch down.”

  “What?” Charles asked, leaning over to get a look out the window. “What in the hell are we doing here?”

  “There’s no place to gamble here,” Emmitt laughed as he thought of the total seclusion they’d be in.

  “Forget gambling, is there even a place to go to the bathroom here, or do we have to dig a hole in the desert?”

  “Relax, it’s a luxury resort. Well, comparatively.” Emmitt had selected this location because of its seclusion. There was no cell phone service. Hardly any tourists ventured out this far. His father couldn’t get into any trouble here unless it involved a lion. And maybe that would mean the problem had taken care of itself.

  “Africa?” his father asked again as he held the armrests to fight against the bumping and jostling of the small prop plane.

  “There will be a woman here.”

  “Nice,” Charles perked up but his hopes were quickly dashed.

  “She’s a doctor who specializes in gambling addictions and behavior disorders. You’ll stay here until she gives you the clearance to leave. Don’t bother trying to pull one over on her either. She’s been at it for three decades; you won’t do anything she hasn’t seen before. So consider the crazy notion that maybe you actually try to get better.”

  “Is it even safe here?” Charles asked, skeptically eyeing the short runway they were approaching.

  “I’ve brought in some security. Don’t bother bribing them, they’re old military buddies of mine. They won’t fall for your shit either.” The plane skidded to a stop after a bumpy landing.

  “When do you leave?” Charles asked, his eyes fixed on Emmitt, obviously trying to look for any change in expression. Emmitt was too smart to offer one.

  “I’m staying a while.”

  “Why? I have a doctor, it’s secluded as shit, and I know that security isn’t about protection, it’s making sure my ass stays here. I don’t see how you factor in.”

  “Maybe I want to go on safari,” Emmitt quipped as he stared out the window and watched the new scenery pop to life in front of him. A dry rocky plain spread out all around them, darted with tiny flecks of green spiny shrubs. In the distance there were lights coming to life as the sun faded low.

  “Hiding,” Charles said with a scolding shake of his head. “That girl isn’t going to wait around forever.”

  “Her name is Evie, and I’m not expecting her to wait around.”

  “Do you want to know the biggest tragedy of my life?” Charles asked, still furiously glaring at Emmitt to prove his seriousness.

  “Can you really pinpoint one? I would think with the amount of things you fucked up, it would be hard to separate one mistake from the next.”

  “I didn’t say mistake, I said tragedy.”

  Emmitt rolled his eyes but didn’t interrupt. That was about the only form
of invitation to talk he’d give.

  “I fell in love with a woman who recently stopped loving me,” he said solemnly. “Not your mother. I know you probably wish it was her.”

  “I’m glad you’re not in her life.”

  “I know you are, but there was a girl I met when I was eighteen. It was before all this gambling and bullshit. She loved me right away. She told me. And she showed me all the time. She was kind and caring and forgiving. All the things a man like me needs. I was too busy fighting with my demons; they were different then but they were still there. For two years she loved me, knowing I didn’t love her back. Then I fell in love while she was walking away. She left and I finally understood. But it was too late. I’d lost her. Of everything I’ve ever known in my life, I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy. It’s like walking through the desert, holding a canteen full of water and when you finally need it you realize it’s been leaking a little at a time and now it’s empty. You had it right there in your hands, but it slipped away.”

  “Evie believes everyone can be saved.” Emmitt exhaled in frustration. “She believes people get a million chances no matter what it costs her. I can’t live up to that, and she’ll spend her life watching me fail her. I’m not the guy a girl like her can love for a long time. I’m a speed bump, a detour. Girls like Evie just date me long enough to realize who they should be dating. I’m the guy who leads a girl to her husband. But I’m not the husband. I’m not a man she can love for long.”

  “You could have done a lot with me,” Charles sighed, looking unconvinced. “You could have tossed me in some cave in one of the hells you were deployed in. You could have had me put in prison somewhere. This doctor you have on retainer is probably costing you a fortune. This resort in the middle of nowhere isn’t free. Do you think I can get better out here?”