The Billionaire's Last Fling (Scandal, Inc Book 5)

by Avery James

  “I have to help Abby with something,” Nolan announced before following her right out of the room.

  “One track mind,” she said as they walked back upstairs.

  “I’m just hoping to keep a low profile,” he said. “I always feel awkward once this thing starts.”

  “Why?” Abby asked.

  “I’ve acquired a certain level of fame for behaving badly, and I don’t want that to reflect back upon my brother. And my father always asks me to say something, and it never feels right, so I just don’t.”

  “Well, I think it’s a good idea,” Abby said. “I’m sure it would mean a lot to your parents.”

  “I don’t even know what I’d say,” Nolan replied. “That I feel guilty for being the one who survived. Not that I ever put myself at risk the way he did. I guess I feel guilty for a lot of things.” He trailed off and retreated into his mind for a minute. Abby could tell that being home was dredging up all kinds of emotions for him. She got the impression that what he was telling her was only the surface of what he was feeling.

  “You want to see something?” he said.

  “In the bedroom?” Abby asked. “I’m sure you can show me a thing or a two.”

  “No, actually it’s one of the places I loved most when I was a kid. I don’t know why I haven’t shown it to you before.”

  “Should I go get a pair of boots?” Abby asked, thinking back to their walk through the fields.

  “No, just finish your scone and come with me. Or, even better, hand me your coffee.”

  Nolan took the mug and headed into the hallway. “Are you coming?” he asked as he popped his head back in.

  Abby wondered what he had in mind. A minute later and a climb up a dusty, narrow set of stairs and a ladder later, she knew. “This, at one point was a rookery,” Nolan said as he led her out onto a balcony that connected the main attic of the house to a tower. Below, Abby could see a stream of people heading into a tent and others walking around the grounds. “I present to you my rooftop drinking spot. Unless I run back downstairs, the coffee will have to do.”

  “It’s lovely,” she said. “So all these people are here because of your brother?”

  “It’s a lot of family, and folks from town, but the guys he saved in the army, they’ll be here. They come every year, and a few of his other army buddies make the trip too. They were a bit more rough and tumble when these things started, but they’re all settling down. It just makes me think what he’d be like, you know?”

  Abby leaned against him. “You should talk,” she said. “I think it would mean a lot to everyone.”

  “We’ll see,” Nolan said. “If something comes to me, I’ll talk, ok?”

  “That sounds great,” she said. She downed her coffee. It was hot and strong, and good, and it filled her stomach with warmth on the cool October morning. “So what happens next?”

  “I’m probably going to kiss you,” he said.

  Abby laughed. “I knew that. I meant with the memorial.”

  Nolan wrapped an arm around her. “A reverend comes and says a few words, and then we walk to the river and lay down a wreath. Then we come back, say a few words, and drink to his memory. That’s it, really.”

  “It sounds perfect,” Abby said.

  Abby stayed by Nolan’s side for the rest of the morning, and when the memorial began that afternoon, she stayed by his side for the walk to the river. She held his hand as his mother and father laid a wreath in the river and watched it float downstream. Save for the sound of the light rain and the whirling of the river, everything was quiet. She held back tears as she thought about the pain they must have felt, and she squeezed Nolan’s hand tight.

  Somewhere in the distance, a bagpipe started to play a mournful song, and Abby nearly started sobbing. She prided herself on maintaining her composure in any situation, but she knew she wasn’t going to make it through the day without crying. It didn’t make sense to her. She handled difficult situations all the time with complete composure, but there was just something so genuine and so real about the grief Nolan and his family felt. It moved her. It made her want to be less jaded and cynical. It made her wish she could take their grief from them for even just a little while. And maybe, in some way, what she felt was their grief, because she’d never felt anything like it before. She didn’t know how she managed it, but she held it together for the wreath ceremony, and the walk back down to the house. As they approached the house again, the playing got louder.

  The bagpiper was playing just outside the entrance to the tent where the rest of the memorial was taking place. When the group headed into the tent, he followed. There were photos of Ewan and flowers everywhere, and there was a little stage set up for family and friends to make remarks.

  To Abby’s surprise, after his parents and a friend of Ewan’s spoke, Nolan got up and headed for the stage. He gave her a quick look as he reached the microphone. He stood completely still for a moment, looking out at the crowd, before turning his attention to Abby and giving her a little nod. Then he addressed the bagpiper, and said, “Gary, I hope you won’t take this next part personally.” After a confused look from the bagpiper, Nolan added, “It’ll make sense soon.” Then he turned his attention to the crowd and began.

  “I wanted to thank each and every one of you for making the trip here today. Some of you only had to walk the few feet from your study to this tent.” He cleared his throat. “I’m looking at you, Dad,” he said to chuckles from the crowd. “And some of you have travelled thousands of miles across oceans and continents to be here. I know Ewan would have appreciated that. He always knew how to appreciate life. It was something that I never understood when I was younger, how he just seemed to get it in a way I never could. He knew what he lived for. Even when we were kids, he just had this incredible sense of who he was and what he wanted out of life. He wanted to make a difference. He wanted to serve. And he did. He wanted to give everything he could to help others.

  “I can still remember the day he died like it was yesterday. I had just started uni. I was in my room, nursing a hangover and studying for an exam. If I close my eyes, I can still see the page I was reading when my mother knocked on the door. At that point, my biggest worry in life was that I’d get caught slacking off, and I thought maybe they’d decided to drop in to make sure I was living up to the family name. Of course, one look and I knew something was wrong. I remember dropping to my knees, right onto the hard tile floor, and sobbing like a baby. I spent the next months and years wondering what I could have done differently, how I could have saved him. I know now that he wouldn’t have wanted that.

  “When my brother died, he was providing cover fire to protect the men who served under him. He was twenty-one years old, but he was a man. He knew what he was doing, and I know he’d make that same decision every time. And that was Ewan. He made a decision, and he stuck to it, no matter what.

  “Now I know what you’re thinking, that I’m going to drone on and on about what a saint my brother was and how we should all live up to his example. And if you think that’s what I’m trying to do, you’re half right, because I do think we should live up to his example, but I don’t think anyone would ever call him a saint.

  “He wasn’t always serious. In fact, he raised hell. He pulled pranks, he lived life to its fullest. More than once he got caught trying to sneak a girl into the house, and more than once he was caught after sneaking a girl into the house.

  “He had a sense of humor, too. Some of you might think the solemn bagpiper playing in remembrance is a bit melodramatic, especially as a soft rain falls outside, but that’s only because you don’t know the rest of the story. Mom, Dad, I’m sorry I never told you this, but I think it’s time. You see, Ewan didn’t like the bagpipes. It wasn’t that he hated them or anything, but he knew I did. So, before he shipped off, he told me if anything were to happen to him, he wanted a dozen bagpipers at his funeral. He knew it would drive me nuts.

  “Of course, then he d
id die, and I told my parents his request without explaining the motivation behind it, and now whenever I hear bagpipes, I tear up and think of him.” Nolan paused for a moment and took a deep breath as he tried to fight back tears. Abby could see them glistening at the corners of his eyes.

  “If you love my brother the way I do, and you want to honor his memory the way I do, live every day to its fullest, find the one thing in life you couldn’t live without, grab it with both hands, and don’t let go.”

  With that, he turned to the bagpiper, who started to play “Amazing Grace.” Abby felt the lump in her throat as she tried not to cry, too, but she couldn’t help herself. She was hardly alone. There wasn’t a dry eye at the reception as they stood, listening together. When the song was done, Nolan stepped back up to the microphone with a pint glass in his hand. He raised the beer up high, and said, “To Ewan, we love you.” Ewan’s army buddies cheered and raised their glasses, and the grief that had hung so heavy in the air transmuted itself into something else entirely. It became a kind of grateful joy, and as Nolan made his way through the crowd to Abby, she couldn’t help but feel thankful to be a part of this moment, and a part of Nolan’s life.

  Aunts and uncles, cousins and friends, came up to them in wave after wave, regaling Abby with stories about Nolan and his brother when they were kids, and tales of family traditions that stretched back hundreds of years. Everyone was so full of empathy and love. “It’s the alcohol talking,” Nolan said as he pulled her aside for a moment. “For the rest of the year, they’re straight-laced and unemotional, but get them drunk and they’re the bubbliest bunch you’ll ever meet.”

  “I think they’re wonderful,” she said. “I think you’re wonderful.” She took his hand and looked into his eyes. His cheeks were flushed to a rosy red, and his hair was slightly tousled, all of which only highlighted the blue in his eyes.

  At some point, after eating, they headed back into the house. The party had migrated, and the band had set itself up in the main hall. It was strange to see the place that had been so cold and quiet the first night they’d arrived transformed into such a cozy and warm space. The sound of fiddle and guitar bounced off the walls as people laughed and danced.

  Nolan got quiet and took a seat at the back of the room. After getting swept away by an aunt who wanted to show her the tapestries she especially loved, Abby found her way back to him. “How are you?” she asked. She could tell he was in a pensive mood.

  After a pause, Nolan looked up at her, his eyes full of love. “He’d have liked you,” he said. “I wish you could have met him. I think he’d have tried to woo you away from me.”

  “There’s no one I’d rather be with,” she said. She sat down at his side and ran her fingers through his hair. How could she explain the way she felt about him? Her heart ached just trying to find the words. He was so wonderful and caring. He was so different than the person she’d thought he was. She wanted to tell him that, wanted to say that when they first met, she’d expected someone with a devil-may-care attitude, great abs, and not much more. Instead, she’d found him. And whenever she expected him to push her away, he only pulled her closer, let him see more and more of his vulnerabilities. She felt like she was on the brink of tears again, but this time for a completely different reason.

  “Abby?” a voice called from across the room. She was surprised to see Nolan’s father striding over to her, looking concerned. “You have a phone call.”

  “I, uh, what?” she asked.

  “You have a phone call,” he said. “In the study. I think you should take it. The woman on the other end sounds quite… serious.”

  “Amy?” Abby asked.

  “That sounds right,” he said.

  Abby gave Nolan a peck on the cheek and headed to the study. Why in the world would Amy Haven be calling her on a Sunday afternoon. How in the world had she gotten Nolan’s father’s number?

  “Hello?”

  “Oh, Abby, it’s good to hear your voice,” Amy said. It was strange to Abby how hearing Amy’s voice brought her right back to her old life. She could hear the hum of activity in the office. She was fairly certain she could hear Callie Haven and Maggie both talking over each other, and she wondered what was going on. The whole team pulled long hours, but to have everyone in office on a Sunday? Something big must have happened.

  “Is everything ok?” Abby asked. She tried to run through what could have happened, but really, it could have been anything.

  “I need you back in D.C. as soon as possible.”

  “What happened?” Abby asked.

  “It’s Andrew Heck.”

  At the mention of the name, Abby froze. “What did he do now? Is everyone ok?” Her thoughts immediately turned to Maggie and the trainees. If he did something to them, she swore she’d make him pay.

  “He died,” Amy said.

  “WHAT?”

  “On top of his mistress this morning.”

  “Please tell me you’re kidding,” Abby said, “or this is a metaphor of some kind.”

  “No,” Amy said. She gave a tired laugh. “I wish. Though, I’m sure he’d be glad to know that even in death, he found a way to screw us.”

  “Oh, God.” She’d had her differences with Andrew Heck, but she’d never wish this upon anyone. She sat down as she tried to process everything. “How’s the Senator?”

  “In shock, I think. She asked for you specifically on this.”

  “Even after everything that happened?”

  “I think because of it,” Amy said. “I need you on the first flight back.”

  “You don’t think this had anything to do with…”

  “No,” Amy said. “He had a heart attack. He had a heart condition. The way he was behaving himself, it’s incredible it didn’t happen earlier.”

  Abby took a deep breath. “I just, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

  She looked up to see Nolan standing in the doorway of the study. “What happened?”

  “I have to go,” she said. “Work.”

  “It can wait,” he said. “Come back in.”

  “I have to go,” she said. She walked across the room to him and hugged him. “I wish more than anything I could stay.”

  “Then stay,” he said.

  “It’s not that simple,” she replied. “Someone died.”

  “That’s awful.” Nolan looked into her eyes with such concern that it caught her off guard.

  “It’s ok, really. He wasn’t a very good person, but his wife needs my help.”

  “The senator?”

  “Yeah,” she said.

  “Well, I’ll arrange a plane for you in the morning.”

  “It has to be tonight,” she said.

  “Ok,” he replied. “If that’s what you need, I’ll make it happen.”

  Abby kissed him. “I don’t know what I did to deserve you.”

  “You were you,” he said. “That’s all it took.”

  “I have to go pack, do you think you could meet me upstairs in a bit? I don’t want to cause any trouble.”

  Nolan ran his hand through his hair, and he smiled as he looked into her eyes. “I like trouble.”

  It didn’t take Abby long to pack, but Nolan still showed up in the bedroom before she was finished. “Is everything ok?” he asked. “There was something downstairs when we talked… you just seemed different. You seem different.” He looked up to the ceiling. “I know this can be a lot to take in.”

  There were so many things she wanted to tell him, but she just couldn't find the words. She wanted to tell him that she’d felt more during these few days with him than she had in the ten years before them. She wanted to tell him that she didn’t want to leave at all, that she just wanted to stay in his arms, and she wanted to tell him that she was afraid to admit to herself just how strong her feelings for him really were. She wanted to explain just how much this trip had meant to her.

  If there was one thing she'd learned in her line of work, it was that nothing
was ever that simple. Maybe it is, she thought. She thought back to what Nolan had said, find that one thing and grab it with both hands. If only it were that easy.

  "You should see your expression right now," Nolan told her.

  "What expression would that be?"

  "Confusion, I think," he said.

  "Well, I was trying to figure out the best way to tell you this before leaving," Abby said. "I figured this wasn't the kind of thing I should do over the phone." Nolan cocked his head to one side and crossed his arms. None of this was coming out right, she thought. Why was it that around everyone else, she felt like she was in control of almost any situation, but around Nolan, she was a complete bag of contradictions? She felt like she was being pulled in a hundred directions at once every time she tried to make a decision about their relationship. Why was it so hard?

  The answer was as obvious as it was simple. It didn’t have to be so hard. All she had to do was make a decision and stick to it. The consequences could come later.

  "I love you," she said. It had come out almost as a question, like she was realizing it as she spoke. Of course, that's because she was just realizing it. She could feel the smile forming on her lips as she said the words. I love you, she thought. Oh, God, I love you.

  Nolan's eyes lit up and he wrapped his arms around her before planting a firm kiss on her lips, the kind that thrilled her to no end. It was the kind of kiss that made her want to forget everything else and stay in his arms forever. When their lips finally parted, Nolan grinned at her and said, "Say it again.”

  "Are you serious?"

  "Say it again," he repeated, but his voice was tender, and he spoke just above a whisper, and Abby couldn’t think of anything in the world she’d rather say. She leaned into him, feeling the sweet force of her body against his, and the way his arms seem to fit perfectly around her, and the way his lips met hers in just the right way as she stood on the tips of her toes to kiss him. This time, the kiss was softer, slower, and Nolan ran his hands down her back as he deepened the kiss. Abby stayed there, letting herself bask in the warm glow of her feelings for him even after the kiss ended and they were simply looking into each other’s eyes.