Fate

by Tia Wylder

  I blinked. “This has nothing to do with Franchot,” I said.

  “I know!” Adele said loudly. She was practically yelling by now, and other people on the beach were staring at us. “Jack, I can’t believe you!”

  “Look, I’m a businessman – have you forgotten that?” I asked with exasperation. “Look, I know you’re bent on destroying Franchot, and I swear, we will.”

  “Yeah, as soon as you make as much money as possible,” Adele snapped. She got to her feet and grabbed her book, stuffing it into her bag and throwing the strap over her shoulder. “I can’t believe I actually thought you were one of the good guys!”

  I grabbed her arm and pulled her close. For a moment, Adele’s intense gaze was enough to make my cock hard. I wanted to kiss her, to slip my tongue into her mouth and take her right here in the sand. And the thing was, I knew she was feeling it, too. Adele was breathing hard – her chest was rising up and down – and her cheeks were flushed. She bit her lip as she stared at me. Then, she narrowed her eyes and yanked her arm free, and I knew the moment was over.

  “I can’t believe you,” Adele said again, shaking her head. “I’m going back to my room, to work on Franchot, which since you obviously forgot, is the entire reason we came here in the first place!”

  “Adele,” I said. “Don’t go, come on – I thought you’d be happy for me!”

  Adele spun around in the sand. She looked incredibly angry. “You’re a selfish pig,” she said hotly. “And I can’t believe I agreed to work with you.”

  I was stunned. Before I could even think of a reply, Adele whirled around and began stalked off towards the hotel.

  “Adele!” I yelled. “Hey, come back!”

  If she heard me, she didn’t listen. She stalked off, her tight ass swaying magnificently from side to side.

  I rolled my eyes as I flopped down in Adele’s chair, ignoring the stares from the others on the beach. I couldn’t believe she was angry with me – it was a huge surprise. I was doing everything for her – flying her to Nassau in my private plane, paying for a room at a luxury resort, and helping her take down Louis Franchot.

  So, why the hell was she so angry with me?

  With a frown, I got to my feet and wiped my hands off on my thighs. The tourists were still staring, and I glared right back at them as I stalked off the beach and into the Hotel St. Charles. Part of me wanted to run to Adele’s room and demand to know what the hell her problem was. But I didn’t want to go back to her with my tail between my legs, like a pathetic dog.

  What I needed was a drink. Shoving my hands in my pocket, I strode into the hotel bar and sat down on a stool. The bartender came over in a matter of seconds, all gleaming teeth and bright blonde hair.

  “Hi,” she said, batting her eyelashes at me. “And what can I get for you today?”

  “Scotch, on the rocks,” I said, pointing behind her to the aged bottle of scotch on the wall.

  The woman’s eyebrows flew up. “Sir, that’s our most expensive single malt,” she replied. “Maybe you’d like to start with a blend, instead?”

  I was tempted to whip out my platinum credit card, but instead, I sighed. “The single malt, please,” I said drily.

  The blonde flushed. She bit her lip and stared at me for a second longer than necessary before turning on her heel and fetching my drink. When she handed it over, I took a long sip and set the glass down on the counter. The fiery liquid burned my throat in a welcoming way.

  I’m going to be the richest developer in the world, I thought as I glanced around the bar. It was nice, to be sure, but mine was going to be better.

  I just knew it.

  “Sir, if I may,” the bartender said, leaning on the bar and giving me a doe-eyed look. “Are you visiting for a long time?”

  “Just a few days.” I drained my scotch and passed her the empty glass. “Another one, please.”

  The blonde nodded. She pushed her arms against the sides of her breasts until a savage cleavage formed beneath her black dress.

  “Of course,” she said sweetly. “Right away, sir.”

  I leaned back and sighed, wishing that she’d just leave me alone. The bar wasn’t very full – just a handful of college kids and a few old men sipping glasses of dry red wine. But I was already regretting my decision to come here. What the hell was I doing wasting my time like this? I should be upstairs in my room, planning my new luxury development.

  Or apologizing to Adele, a voice from the back of my mind said. I rolled my eyes. There was no way I was going to apologize to her – I hadn’t even done anything wrong! If she thought I was going to drop everything to make her little plan my priority, she was sadly wrong.

  The bartender handed me a fresh glass of scotch. She batted her lashes again. “I’m Claudia,” she said.

  “And?” I raised an eyebrow, unsure of what I was supposed to do with this bit of information.

  The woman flushed. “And I get off in a few hours,” she added, glancing outside at the beach. “Maybe we could take a swim.” She leaned in close. “You know, I’m not wearing any panties under this.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “Thanks,” I muttered. “But I think I have plans.”

  Claudia looked disappointed. She heaved a sigh before turning around and greeting a group of young women who had just walked into the bar. They were all wearing bikinis with skimpy knit cover-ups on top, and they were all beautiful, but soulless somehow. When they saw me, they stopped dead in their tracks. One of them glanced at the others and flushed, then walked toward me.

  “Excuse me,” she said. “Are you Jack Nathan?”

  “I am,” I said, raising an eyebrow. “Why?”

  The woman flushed. “I’m Bethany,” she said. “I, um, stayed at your Tokyo property last month. It was insane,” she added, biting her lip as her cheeks turned bright red. “It was like, the most beautiful hotel I’ve ever seen.”

  “I’m glad you liked it.”

  Bethany hopped up on the stool next to mine without waiting for an invitation.

  “So,” Bethany said, batting her eyes at me. “Are you here for business or pleasure?”

  “Business,” I said drily. It was funny – the old Jack used to love attention from random women in bars…especially women who looked as good as Bethany. But I wasn’t feeling it. If anything, she was an annoyance, a distraction. All I could think about was Adele.

  “I’m here on vacay,” Bethany said in an obnoxious Valley Girl voice. “With my besties. We were all sorority sisters, and now we’re here for a bachelorette.”

  “Sounds fascinating.” I drained my second glass of scotch and put the tumbler on the counter, signaling to the bartender.

  “Look, if you want to be alone, just say so,” Bethany said. She licked her lips and leaned closer. “But I can’t think of very many fun things to do alone if you know what I mean.” She put her hand on my thigh and squeezed.

  I sighed.

  “I mean, you have to have a little fun, don’t you?” Bethany crooned. “I bet you’re used to tons of women around you all the time…but I promise I’m not bad in bed.” She raised an eyebrow. “And I’m certainly not a prude.”

  I glanced down at her hand on my thigh before gently removing it and putting it back in her lap.

  “No,” I said. “Trust me. I didn’t think you were a prude.”

  Bethany pouted. “What is wrong with you,” she asked, her voice filled with annoyance. “Do you know that I’m like, one of the hottest girls at my school? Guys are dying to sleep with me.”

  “Well, I’ll let them fight for my place,” I said, sliding off the stool and pulling a wad of cash out of my wallet. Leaving it on the bar, I turned and strode out of the bar.

  I half-expected Bethany to follow me. I’d forgotten how desperate women could be – almost like vultures if given a chance. But I wanted nothing to do with Bethany, or Claudia, or any of them. They were all the same. Meaningless, blonde dolls with big eyes and uniform tans.


  I hadn’t eaten anything yet, and I realized as I staggered toward the elevator bank that I was almost drunk. The scotch was buzzing in my bloodstream, and Adele’s name kept sounding in my head like a rhythmic chant.

  I got it, I thought excitedly as I stumbled into the elevator and waited for the doors to ping shut. I’ll go see Adele, yeah, we can talk, maybe she’s cooled down a little bit.

  By the time I got to Adele’s floor, I was almost falling over. I couldn’t believe the scotch had hit me so fast – I’d only had two doubles! But two doubles on an empty stomach was nothing to fuck with, or so I was finally learning.

  The hall seemed to stretch on forever. I staggered down towards Adele’s room clutching at the trim on the walls to keep from falling over. When I got to her door, I swung at the door, intending to knock. But I lost my balance and fell, crashing to the floor in a tangled heap of limbs.

  Adele, I’m sorry, was my last thought before I passed out.

  Chapter Nine

  Adele

  I was so angry after talking to Jack that I could hardly think straight. I couldn’t believe it – he was nothing like the man I’d thought he was. He was cocky and arrogant and bullheaded and so incredibly fucking stupid…how on earth did he think I would be okay with his development proceeding when we had something so much more important to take care of?

  I was so mad that I could hardly see straight.

  I spent a couple of hours pacing in my room, back and forth, until I felt like I was going to wear the plush carpeting down to a bunch of little nubs. Then I called Lisa.

  She answered on the first ring.

  “Yo,” Lisa said. She coughed. “How’s Nassau?”

  “It sucks,” I said flatly.

  “Whoa,” Lisa said. I could tell by the sound of her voice that she was frowning. “What happened? Mr. Dreamy not working out?”

  “Mr. Dreamy is too excited about his stupid fucking real estate project to care about Franchot anymore,” I said angrily. “He actually thought I would be happy for him when he told me that it had been approved! And then he didn’t understand why I was mad!”

  “Well, Adele, I mean, that is his business,” Lisa said slowly. “Just because the project was approved doesn’t mean that like, he’s going to start building it tomorrow.

  “Whose side are you on,” I shot back. “And you don’t know that! For all I know, he’s getting drunk with his crew right now and planning when to break ground.”

  Lisa sighed. “Adele, honey, you need to calm down,” she said. “And before you tell me to shove it, I know you hate being told to calm down…but you really need to chill out. Franchot is the devil, but he’s not exactly going anywhere. There’s still plenty of time for you guys to catch him and make him pay.”

  “But that’s explicitly why we came down here!” I said. By now, I was so mad that I was almost yelling. “We came down together for that reason!”

  “Well, yeah, but I’m sure Jack has a lot of other things going on. He’s a billionaire, honey. He’s not going to put everything on hold just because he’s helping you with this project.”

  “He should,” I muttered angrily, rolling my eyes and flopping down on my bed. “He should know better! This could ruin everything…and if he doesn’t take down Franchot, then how the hell is that going to look for him? Is he seriously going to try to compete with Franchot? It’ll seriously lower the value of his own property!”

  Lisa snorted. “If you’re so smart about this, why not go into business yourself?”

  “Ouch,” I said, shaking my head and closing my eyes. With a sigh, I flopped my head back against the pillow. “It’s just so frustrating, Lisa. I thought we were getting somewhere. And now I feel like I’m here for practically no reason. I may as well come home.”

  “Adele, don’t do that,” Lisa said. “God, it stormed again last night – I swear there are four feet of snow on the ground right now. You definitely don’t want to come home.”

  I sniffed indignantly. “I’m missing valuable study and research time,” I said sulkily. “All because of this jerk who thinks he’s more important than saving the wildlife of Nassau!”

  “Adele, please,” Lisa said. “It’s just a couple of hours – I’m sure he’s not actually going to stop helping you just because of this. Besides,” she said, trailing off.

  “What?” I narrowed my eyes. “What were you going to say?”

  Lisa laughed nervously. “Look, don’t hate me for this or anything…but he’s a man, Adele. He’s got like, manly confidence and stuff. This kind of news is probably what his ego needs.”

  I groaned. “Oh my god, no,” I said. “I’m not giving him a pass because he’s an insecure man-child. He’s immature, and that’s that.”

  “Well, he’s a man,” Lisa countered. “I’m not really sure what you want me to say.”

  “Say you’ll buy me a pizza when I get home,” I said drily. “I’m going to pack and see if I can’t get the first flight out of here.”

  “If you’re sure,” Lisa said. She sounded doubtful. “Why not just stay another day or two, take advantage of the beach and get some reading done?”

  I frowned. “For a doctoral student, you’re not very serious sometimes,” I said, shaking my head and knitting my brows together. “I’ll be home tomorrow, hopefully. We can talk then.”

  “Okay,” Lisa said. She sounded vaguely offended. “Have a safe flight home.”

  We said our goodbyes – hers was noticeably chillier than usual – and I hung up, slipping my phone into my pocket.

  Packing wasn’t hard. I hadn’t brought very much stuff – most of it was books – and I filled my suitcase in under an hour. The sun was starting to set, and I pulled out my laptop to check flight times. To my supreme annoyance, I saw that there was nothing until the following morning.

  Outside, on the beach, I could see people dancing and laughter by the light of tiki torches. I could tell they were having a lot of fun, but I didn’t care. I felt sour about the whole thing. Stupid luxury hotel, I thought as I narrowed my eyes. All these people care about is drinking rum and partying on the beach…they don’t even care that soon, there won’t be a beach at all!

  After a few more seconds of hateful glaring, I closed my curtains and flopped back down on the bed. It was early, not even nine, but I felt exhausted. Dealing with Jack and my surprisingly unsupportive roommate had worn me out.

  Eventually, I fell asleep.

  --

  In the morning, I woke up when the sun was barely above the horizon. The sky was beautiful – pink and orange and purple – and for a moment, I almost regretted booking the first flight home. But I couldn’t stay here and waste any more of my precious time. If Jack was determined to be an asshole, then I was determined to find someone else who could help me.

  Grabbing my suitcase, I slung my purse over my shoulder and checked the room to make sure I hadn’t left anything behind.

  When I opened the door, it caught on something, and I almost tripped. Frowning, I leaned my full weight onto it and pushed hard.

  “Hey!”

  I gasped in surprise. Jack was sitting on the floor, rubbing his eyes. He looked terrible. His face was red and puffy, and his eyes were bloodshot. His clothing was rumpled.

  “Have you been out here all night?” I frowned and put my hands on my hips. “What are the fuck are you doing?”

  Jack groaned and blinked. “Having the hangover of a lifetime,” he muttered under his breath. “Pro tip, don’t even drink two doubles on an empty stomach.”

  “I’ll try to remember that the next time I go crazy and binge,” I said sarcastically. “Would you mind moving?”

  Jack braced himself against the wall and got to his feet, brushing his hands off on his pants. He groaned again and leaned against the wall, putting his face in his hands.

  “I feel like hell,” he groaned. “What time is it?”

  I looked down at my watch. “It’s nine-thirty,” I said. “And I reall
y need to be going. My flight leaves at eleven.”

  “What?” Jack squinted. “Your flight?”

  “Yeah,” I said, rolling my eyes. “You’re obviously not interested in helping me out, so I’m leaving.” I stood proud and tall, puffing out my chest. “Besides, I’m missing the valuable time where I could be in the library. Or studying. Or basically doing anything but waiting around for you to come to your senses.”