by Lily Zante
“Great move.” Izzy got up to go with him, but he grabbed her arm. “The bodyguard’s going. Let the kid try it alone. I can see him from here.”
Izzy pried her arm away from him, but didn’t sit back. “This is you all over. You’re despicable. You’ve proved that you’re a manipulative asshole who thinks he can treat people like dirt. You made a 7 year old go and do something, not because you care about him but because you want to speak to me.”
“I care about Jacob, and I care about you. I’m in love with you Izzy. I didn’t expect to fall for you, but I have.” He’d said it, not out of desperation, or as a way to manipulate her, but because he was speaking the truth. He was falling for her.
The fact that her skin seemed to turn pink, gave him hope. She stayed silent, but at least he’d managed to get a reaction out of her—even if it was hate, right now.
He could work with that.
He would show her that he had changed, and that he wasn’t the same loser who had made the bet. The very thing that had cost him her.
“You wouldn’t know the meaning of the word,” she said, sitting back stiffly. She grabbed a menu and held it up so that it half-covered her face.
“You stood up for me,” he said, remembering “You told Savannah about Jacob spilling the news about the twins. Why did you do that?” It had to be because she cared about him.
“I hate lies, and mistruths, and deception.”
He swallowed. “Thank you for doing that.”
“There’s nothing you can say to me now that will ever change the way I think about you.” She turned to him with her dark, angry eyes. “I had an idea you were a jerk, way before the wedding, and I can see now that my initial impression of you was the right one.”
He clasped his hands together. “I can be stupid, and I made a grave error of judgement, and I know you won’t believe me, but I forgot all about that stupid bet soon after I started to get to know you. And I’ll tell you when that was,” he said, seeing that he had her attention now, “It was a couple of times after we started hanging out. That’s all it took, Izzy. A couple of times.”
“You’re a liar. You even took me to your friend’s bar and paraded me.”
“I didn’t parade you.”
“You made me think you were taking me out to celebrate getting that investment.”
“I was.”
“I don’t believe you, and I don’t trust you, and I never will. Children don’t lie. They tell things as they hear them, and they tell them in the context in which they hear them. They tell it like it is. You placed a bet with your friend for a stupid amount of money, and you placed it over what?” She leaned towards him, baring her teeth. “Did you collect?”
“Collect?”
“Your money. Your ten thousand dollars. Did you get it?” Her lips pressed together tightly. “What did you bet on? Was it to take me out a couple times and get to first base? Or second? Was it to get me into bed?”
He didn’t know what to say, hadn’t thought that she would ask him. How foolish and unprepared he’d been, to think she would quietly listen to all he had to say without asking him any hard questions.
“Was that it?” she asked, her voice lifting as if she had made that connection. She blinked fast a couple of times, her face a mirage of disappointment, her eyes seeing right through him. “I thought you might have changed, might have become the kind of man a girl like me could be with. How wrong could I have been? Under all that bling, behind that Ferrari, and your businesses, and your super-trendy apartment, you’re nothing but a loser.”
Her words were like heat-seeking missiles, shooting straight into his core. “You’re right. What you see is a façade, most of the time. You stripped that away, and you made me see not just myself differently, but other people, and other things. You shamed me and made me hold a mirror up to my face and see the real me. I’m not proud of my actions, but I swear to you, I forgot about the bet. All I wanted was to get to know you.”
“You’re so full of horseshit you can’t even smell it.”
His brows furrowed together, as she unleashed her anger. “Do you really hate me that much?”
“Do you not feel the hate?” she blazed back, her face contorting in anger. “What must I do? How can I spell it out to you in a way that you will understand?”
He fell silent, unnerved by her venomous words.
Then she asked, “It wasn’t real, was it? Any of it.”
“It was real—almost all of it. Every kiss, every touch, every word.”
“You liar.”
“It’s true. I tried to tell you. I tried to confess so many times, but I didn’t know how to. Each time I tried to say something, I chickened out.”
He had no way of convincing her, and he had nothing more to say, except, “Why do you think I never let us go any further? Why do you think I always left and never stayed over? I’d told myself that I had to come clean before we went away, but I couldn’t, and I regret the way it happened, how you found out because I didn’t have the balls to tell you myself first.”
She looked at him in disbelief, but she was listening. He moved as close to her as he dared. “Why do you think I never let you do anything for me?” he asked, lowering his voice. “Do you think I never wanted to make love to you? Do you have any idea how many times I had to walk away with aching blue balls, because I couldn’t let myself go further until I had told you?”
Her eyes widened, those dark, dark irises suddenly shiny. Her lips parted, slightly.
“If I was such a jerk, if the bet mattered, ask yourself why I didn’t fuck you and leave?”
She let out a short, sharp breath, then swallowed, hardness creeping into her face once more. “Because this was a game to you, and you were taking your time playing it,” she hissed, taking him by complete surprise. “You’re the type of guy people like me hate, and you’re no better than Shoemoney.
He couldn’t believe his ears. “I’m nothing like Shoemoney.” He wasn’t. She had told him he wasn’t. She’d said it before.
“I made a mistake, Izzy. I was drunk, and I made a stupid bet with Luke, and I will live to regret it, but in some ways I don’t, because that stupid bet is what led me to you. I don’t think you would have even noticed me if we’d met any other way.”
She laughed. “You’re so pathetic. Anyone else would have admitted their mistake and left it at that. You, you have to go one step further and justify it, like you did just now. Like Shoemoney did, because his wife was away and he was lonely.” She shook her head, as if the idea that she had ever gotten together with him was too much to bear.
Fuck.
There was no salvaging anything from this. “Please give me a chance, and I will make you see.”
“You have no regard for people, or their feelings. You treat women like objects, and the only difference between you and Shoemoney is that he hides behind his wife and family, and you hide behind the Stone family name. People only talk to you and give you the time of day because you are Tobias Stone’s brother.”
It was like a whip to his face. Sharp enough to draw blood.
“I’m not perfect, I’m not my brother, and I never will be. I’m me, and I make mistakes, and I’ve been an asshole, and an idiot for more times than I care to remember, but you make me want to reach for the stars. You make me want to be someone else, someone better.”
“People like you ruin other people’s lives over silly games. My life is better because you’re not in it.”
That hurt.
He couldn’t change her mind, or make her see, and the truth of it was, if someone had done to him what he’d done to her, neither would he.
“I got salad,” said Jacob, returning to the table.
Xavier forced himself to smile, even as the echoes of Izzy’s words whirled around his head. “That’s good, kid. That’s really good. Hey,” he stood up. “I have to be someplace else.” He didn’t even look at Izzy.
“Aww,” said Jacob, looking and sounding disappoi
nted. “Why can’t you stay here?”
“I’ve got plans. Sorry. But you guys have fun, okay?”
He high-fived Jacob and left.
Chapter 49
He locked himself away, stayed in his apartment, and worked. Stayed busy. Hired two new virtual assistants, too. And tried to forget the things Izzy had said to him.
Weeks passed.
He ventured out one Sunday. The Stones were having lunch at The Four Seasons and his mother had told him he’d better be there, or else.
And so he had turned up, and made small talk.
But he’d almost choked when Tobias had casually mentioned that the guy sitting a few tables away was Gideon Shoemoney.
Seeing the douchebag sitting at a table with men in suits had unleashed a tidal wave of anger in him and he didn’t give a shit if the guy was in a business meeting or with friends.
Rage bubbled up inside him like a hot spring. He couldn’t sit by and do nothing, which was why he’d gotten up and walked over.
“Gideon?” he asked, not blinking when the guy turned to him and smiled. It was then that he threw the glass of wine at his face.
“That’s for a friend you molested. You dirty, filthy, slimy piece of shit.” He leaned over, until his face was barely two inches away, and the man flinched as if he was scared shitless, before expressing outrage. One, two, three expletives followed.
“Keep your dirty paws off of your au-pairs, old man,” Xavier threatened, “Or else.”
The mouths of the other men on the table fell open, and Shoemoney turned silent. His face had turned red, and Xavier wasn’t sure if it was the wine or his outrage. Red streaks ran down his face and shirt, and two servers rushed over to him to help wipe up the spill.
He walked calmly back to his table and continued with his lunch as the commotion a few tables away raged on.
“What the fu—” Tobias had started to say, glaring at him over the table.
His mother’s cocktail glass halted in mid-air. “Xavier, what on earth is wrong with you?”
“Son?” his father asked.
Jacob’s mouth had remained fixed in in an O.
“Son,” his father said, again. “Have you lost your goddamn mind?”
“Language, dad,” Tobias cautioned, his face dark, his mouth twisting. It was entertaining, seeing his brother try to resist the urge to explode.
Only Savannah eyed him silently. She had that look about her. The one where she made no judgement, but knew there was more to tell.
“Eat up, kid.” Xavier told Jacob. “I won’t apologize for that.” He pointed his knife at Shoemoney’s table. The head waiter approached. “Is everything alright, Sir?” he asked.
“Everything is perfectly fine,” he replied. Nobody would ever dare tell a Stone to leave. When Xavier next turned to look, Shoemoney had left, but his guests were still digging into their meal.
“It had better be good,” Tobias said, sipping his wine, and glaring at him. “Your explanation.”
“You’ll understand.”
He knew Tobias would.
~ ~ ~
He stepped out into the busy sidewalk and decided to walk back to his apartment instead of jumping into a taxi.
Walking was good. It cleared his mind, helped him to think. Except when his cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his jacket pocket and his fingers hovered over the button when Tobias’s name appeared on the caller ID.
He was surprised his brother had lasted a day. Now he wasn’t sure whether to accept the call or send it to voicemail. He answered, bracing himself.
“How’s it going?” Tobias asked, a simple enough question, but one which left him wondering what he was walking into.
“Good,” he replied, wondering why Tobias was so calm and hadn’t uttered an expletive yet. Or maybe this was the calm before the Stone eruption?
“Need to talk to you. Are you free to meet up? I can come by if you’re at home.”
Free to meet up? His brother hadn’t yet made any accusations, or apportioned any blame, or made assumptions. This didn’t sound like Tobias at all. Dare he risk it? “I can come by your office,” Xavier suggested. “I’ve come out of a meeting, and I’m a couple of blocks away.”
“Come by.”
And so he did.
Tobias had a relaxed look about him, and he was actually smiling at him as Xavier walked in, so much so that he was tempted to ask him if he was feeling alright.
“Everything okay with Savannah and Jacob?” he asked, sitting down across the desk.
“Everything is fine.” Tobias got up from his desk, and gazed out of his floor-to-ceiling windows. “Do you know why I like being so high up here?”
“Because you like to feel like a king?”
His brother issued a rare smile. “Because it gives me a bird’s eye view of things.”
“Oh-kaaaay,” he said slowly, and wondered if he ought to call Savannah and ask what the hell had happened to Tobias, because clearly, something had.
His brother gave him a sidelong glance. “I need to remember that, because it’s easy for me to get so caught up in the minutiae of business that I don’t see the bigger picture. And that means, I don’t have clarity.”
What the fuck was he going on about? “What—” Xavier paused, and struggled to find the words. “are you saying?” he asked, slowly.
Tobias turned away from the window and stood facing him. “I’m sorry for blaming you. I know you didn’t leak the news about the twins.”
Jeez. This wasn’t even about the Shoemoney incident. An apology from the almighty Tobias. He’d expected that Savannah would tell him at some point, but he’d never held out for an apology. He’d have been lucky to receive an acknowledgement via text, but this, an apology, and in person. “Savannah told you.”
“You should have said something,” Tobias continued
“I didn’t want Jacob to get into trouble.”
“I know. That’s what Savannah told me. He would never have gotten into trouble.” Tobias walked over to him and perched on the corner of the desk. “Do I come across as a monster?”
Xavier blinked. “Uh—” He was caught in a serious dilemma, should he tell the ugly truth or make up a pretty lie?
“The truth, Xavier. I want the truth.”
“Can you handle the truth?”
His brother raised an eyebrow, and swallowed. “Yes.”
“I find you intimidating at the best of times, and I’m a 27 year old guy. Can you imagine how you might come across to that kid?”
“I love that boy. I’ve never raised my voice at him, I never would. He can’t do any wrong in my eyes, not only because I’m biased, but because that’s the kind of child he is, because of the way Savannah raised him.”
“Sometimes you don’t even have to open your mouth, Tobias. You have a look about you that could turn people to stone, if you had any supernatural powers.”
“I’m working on fixing that.”
“Marrying Savannah was a start.”
“It was. I’m going to adopt Jacob, before the twins are born.”
“You are?”
“Would have done it sooner, but his damn father was hard to track down.”
“Nice.”
“And,” Tobias’s face darkened. “I’m sorry for coming down on you like a ton of bricks, about that whole Matthias situation, about him being a partner in that company with Hennessy. I didn’t tell you about what happened between us, and it was wrong of me to take it out on you.”
“I’ve pulled out of the contract.”
“You did what?”
“I pulled out.”
“But you needed it. You said he had contacts and the infrastructure you needed in China.”
“I can find someone else.” It would take a while, and it would set back production, but it made sense. He felt it had been the right decision.
“But you’d already signed contracts.”
“Doesn’t matter. I told Hennessy that it wasn
’t the right fit for me.” That was the meeting he’d come from, and he had given some vague but believable reasons for backing out of the deal.
Tobias looked surprised. “Why did you back out?”
“Because of you. Something had obviously gone down between you both, and it didn’t feel right for me to proceed.” He needed the investment, but did he need a pissed off brother to deal with at every turn? This had to have been big, the fall out with Matthias.
“You don’t even know what happened,” Tobias said.
“I didn’t see the point of going into business with someone when you clearly had a problem with the guy’s company. I know it had to be something serious, because you still haven’t been able to tell me.”
“I’ll tell you,” said Tobias, “I’ll tell you when I’m ready to talk about it.”
“For the record, I want you to know that I haven’t seen Matthias for months, and he wasn’t a party to any of the meetings I had with Chad.”
“See that,” said Tobias, pointing his finger at him, “that’s what I mean. I was so wrapped up in the emotion of it all, I didn’t even care to see how it affected you. I used to be better at detaching myself from emotions, that’s how I built all of this.” He gestured around the room. “But things are different now, with Savannah, and Jacob, and the pregnancy. I’m losing my ruthlessness.”
Xavier smiled, unable to hold back. “You’re becoming more human, bro.”
“I think of my family, and it makes me want to tear up with joy. You ever felt that way about someone? That you would give your life for them? And if they hurt, it kills you?”
Hell, yes. He’d come the closest to feeling that depth of emotion about someone, and he’d lost her along with his heart.
“I know how he thinks,” said Tobias. “And it wouldn’t surprise me if Rust thought that doing a deal with you might be a way to get back in with me.”
His thoughts were still wrapped up in Izzy, and Tobias had switched into business mode so fast, he had to force himself to listen. “Yeah?”
“I know how that brain of his works.”
Xavier wasn’t sure how he felt about that. He had believed Hennessy had invested in him. It made him feel small again, to think that Hennessy and his company would invest in him purely so that Matthias could indirectly find a lifeline to Tobias. “Do you always have to make it about you?”