“Eh, you know.” She looked at me with the spatula in her hand and rolled her eyes. “Finding a good man is like finding a piece of chocolate in this house. Fucking impossible.”
I smiled, “Or leftover bacon.”
“Now you’re talking. That’s even more impossible than chocolate! How was your night on Friday? What did you do? Did you hang out with Oliver?”
I blushed as I thought about my meeting with Ethan and then Oliver coming over to the apartment. I hadn’t told Lisa anything about Ethan, so I filled her in on my meeting with him and how angry Oliver was at him.
“So, let me get this straight,” Lisa said as she ate a forkful of eggs. “You have not one, but two billionaires after you right now? I need to be taking lessons from you!” She shook her head and smiled. “I mean, seriously, how does that even happen?”
“It’s not happening,” I said. “I’m not into Ethan.” That was a lie, and one I felt kind of guilty about telling, but I knew that I needed to convince myself just as much as I needed to convince anyone else.
“Well, that’s obviously not true,” Lisa said. “Look at yourself; you’re blushing like mad.”
She was right; even just thinking about Ethan had started a flush moving up my chest into my cheeks. Adding in the memory of Oliver when he’d come over and made me come, well, that wasn’t helping.
“It’s not a good situation,” I said. “Oliver would despise me if he knew I was even taking a second glance at Ethan. And those two have a history.” I hadn’t bothered to tell her about the work related elements, other than that they had known each other in the past and didn’t like each other. “Of all people for me to be interacting with, Ethan is the last one on the planet Oliver would be okay with. So, typical me, who am I attracted to?”
“Ha!” Lisa set her fork down. “You are attracted to Ethan!”
“Of course I am. When you see a picture of him, you’ll understand. He’s ridiculously good looking. But I have a good thing going with Oliver and I don’t want to mess it up.” That was all true. It helped, I had to admit, to strip everything down to the bare essentials. If I took out all of the work crap and just looked at the two men for who they were individually, I was with Oliver, and I didn’t want to hurt him. Ethan was getting in the way and confusing me.
“Well, he did lay claim to you first, and those billionaires love their claims.”
“He didn’t ‘claim’ me,” I said, sticking my tongue out at her. “But, billionaire or not, he is a man, and men don’t like having to share.”
“That’s true,” Lisa said. “But they do love competition. I’m not saying you should pit them against each other or anything, only that you might be able to have a little fun.”
“You’re a terrible influence,” I said. “But you’re an amazing cook. What did you put in these eggs?” I had been eating as we’d talked and was absolutely stuffed, but I was continuing to eat the eggs because they were delicious.
“I put crème fraiche in them. They’re fattening as can be,” she sighed, “but they make banging scrambled eggs.”
I agreed and finished, then stood up to put my plate in the sink. I walked back to my bedroom, feeling a little better after having eaten and having some bonding time with Lisa. I wanted to text Oliver, but I knew I’d see him in the morning at work and I didn’t want to pester him. Of course, I did think about Lisa’s comment that men like a little competition and thought I should maybe text Ethan.
“Don’t wreck your own life, Becka,” I told myself sternly.
***
At the office, things were business as usual. I arrived at my desk at eight o’clock and began to prepare Oliver’s coffee. I had set up a seven o’clock conference call for him that morning, so I knocked on his door lightly to alert him that I was coming in, then I entered with a tray containing his coffee, already with his desired amount of cream and sugar, a glass of ice water, and a toasted bagel with cream cheese. The bagel was new, based on my observations that he was always complaining of being hungry by about ten o’clock. I knew it was more likely than not that he left his house each morning without breakfast.
He winked at me and mouthed ‘thank you,’ and I left his office, closing the door behind me. I both got to work on Oliver’s list of things for me to do that day as well as my own research, and I alternating his list with my own. I had gotten into a nice rhythm working for Oliver, and I was able to keep my research pretty well under wraps.
Of course, I had to admit, the main reason I was able to keep my research so secretive was because I wasn’t actually discovering anything. It seemed as though I’d already discovered every mention of both Oliver and Ethan that existed on the internet. Even my meeting with Ethan hadn’t given me anything new to go on. I’d tried to look up Ethan’s account numbers and information from the bank statements, but, without the ability to hack into the bank’s system, something that was far beyond my abilities, that was a complete dead end.
I heard a noise and I looked up. My mouth dropped open as I saw Ethan standing in front of me.
“What are you doing here?” I gasped. I glanced at Oliver’s closed door, fear moving through me. If Oliver saw Ethan and me talking, there was no telling what he would do. I couldn’t believe Ethan had the nerve to even show up here to see me like this! “You can’t be here,” I said, standing up and starting to walk around my desk. “I know the other night was fun,” more than fun, my brain said, “but you seriously need to leave.”
Ethan didn’t move, didn’t really, even, acknowledge that I had spoken.
“Good morning, Miss…” he made a show of looking at my nameplate. “Jasper. I’m here to see Dr. Weeks.” He smiled.
I felt a flush rise in my cheeks immediately and I shook my head. “No way,” I said. “First, that’s absolutely ridiculous. Dr. Weeks would fire me if I let you into his office. Second, he’s extremely busy. He’s in a conference call right now and is very booked with meetings for the rest of the day. I’m afraid you’ll have to leave. You could always call later and see if he has an appointment this week, but, to be honest, he’s very, very busy.”
I continued to talk as my arousal grew. I mentally chided myself for not having better control. He knew how much he was getting to me, I could tell.
“If you wouldn’t mind, please buzz him and let him know I’m here. I think he would probably like very much to see me and hear what I have to say.”
I looked between him and Oliver’s door, trying to make a decision. I didn’t know what to do. While I contemplated, Ethan leaned in and kissed me. My body responded first to his touch, to his lips, and I let out a small moan before I caught myself. I realized where I was and pulled away.
“What are you doing?” I whispered. “You can’t… do that here! If Oliver comes out of his office and we’re kissing, he’ll kill us both.”
I didn’t know if Ethan was there to see Oliver, or me, or both. I glanced at my desk and had a sudden vision of us on it, him sweeping everything from the papers to the computer off of the surface and taking me right there. He must have read my thoughts, or maybe he was starting to recognize the flush that rose in my chest whenever I became aroused, because he leaned into me and began to kiss my neck and my throat.
Suddenly, the door opened and Oliver walked out. He took in the picture of both Ethan and me standing next to my desk, Ethan’s lips on my neck. Though I’d been trying to shoo him out, not be close to him, it didn’t look that way. His face was masked with anger; it was tight across his eyes, mouth, and his jawline.
“What the hell are you doing here?” he demanded, stalking across the room and stepping between Ethan and me.
“Oh calm down,” Ethan said, smiling. “I got your message that you wanted to meet and I decided I’d drop by since I had some time open. It gave me the opportunity to visit with Becka here. As I’m sure you’re aware, we’ve become quite close.”
“Oliver, it’s not true,” I said.
“Shh, Becka, it is true, but it does
n’t matter.” He glanced at me and the anger in his eyes melted. He turned back to Ethan and his rage flashed again. “You’re an innocent pawn in Ethan’s game. He’s been trying to ruin me for years, to get his revenge on me for his own wrongdoing years and years ago. He knows that being with you would hurt me, so, as the latest in his revenge games, he made it his mission to seduce you.”
Oliver stepped toward Ethan and Ethan stepped back, surprised at Oliver’s aggression.
“Now, Oliver,” Ethan said. “That makes me sound so cold and calculating.”
“That’s what you are,” Oliver said. “What lies have you been telling her?”
“I haven’t lied at all. I’ve told her the exact situation that happened. From start to finish. I even showed her the bank statements where you’ve been paying me off for my silence for the last five years. I must admit, the expression on her face was priceless. She really actually likes you.”
I watched the back and forth between the two men, truly not knowing whose side I should be on. Both men had accused the other of lying about the exact same situation. Both had credible evidence to support their claims. I had no idea what to say.
“Becka,” Oliver said, not looking at me, but keeping his eyes on Ethan. “There is one part of the situation that I doubt Ethan here told you. I can pretty much guarantee it, because I haven’t told it to you either.”
“Don’t you dare,” Ethan seethed. “If you tell her, I’ll ruin you once and for all.”
“You’re not going to have the chance,” Oliver said. “I have enough support on my side, enough evidence to counter your claims, that no amount of yelling and screaming on your end will convince even the most simple minded person that you’re the honest one in the family.”
“Family?” I croaked, the word standing out like a rock star in the spotlight against the rest of his words.
“Family,” Oliver repeated. “Becka, Ethan is my brother.”
Chapter 5
Becka
Both men turned to look at me and, for a moment, I was sure I was going to pass out. I grabbed the side of my desk and made my way back to my chair. I scanned both of them for a family resemblance but couldn’t see any. There was nothing about them physically to suggest they were brothers.
“You’re done for, Oliver,” Ethan seethed. “We had an agreement.”
“You breached our agreement when you started messing around with the past and when you took a step into Becka’s classroom asking questions.”
“I…” I was speechless.
“No need to say anything,” Oliver said, not even glancing in my direction. “I’m going to have a quick meeting with my brother, here, and then he’s going to leave this office quietly and we’re not going to hear from him again, isn’t that right, Ethan?”
“We’ll see what you have to say,” Ethan said. His dark demeanor was back. I couldn’t fathom which brother was telling me the truth, or maybe both were. Or neither. My head was spinning. I heard Ethan’s story over again in my head and wondered… was it possible that he had substituted Oliver’s actions for his own? Was he the one who had been responsible for the animal testing, for nearly ending Neuotova so many years ago? Or was it Oliver, just as Ethan had told me? Oliver had said that Ethan didn’t like me, that he was only using me as a pawn to get back at Oliver. But, I had been with Ethan; I’d felt his lips on mine, and I knew he wasn’t just using me.
I watched as Oliver and Ethan, the two brothers, walked away from my desk and into Oliver’s office. The door closed and I could hear their voices, muffled and angry, through the mostly sound-proof door.
I stared at the closed door for the better part of an hour trying to wrap my head around the one piece of truth both men had confirmed to be true: they were not just partners, not just best friends who had gone to school together and had had a falling out. They were… I could barely wrap my mind around the word: brothers.
Suddenly, there was a crash from inside the office. I jumped up just as the door opened.
“I’ll fucking kill you,” Ethan swore. His face was red and he was sweating; his hair was mussed up as if the two men had tousled.
“You don’t have the nerve, but you better watch your back, because I do have the nerve,” Oliver retaliated.
I couldn’t believe my ears. Were these two threatening each other in front of me? I grabbed my purse and I walked out without a word. I could hear Oliver calling after me, but I ignored him. I felt tears in my eyes but I blinked them away quickly. I never cried at work, and I never cried for a man. I was just so completely overwhelmed by everything that had happened, not just today, but since the moment Oliver had walked into my life.
Rather than go straight home, I texted Lisa and told her I was heading to Armadan, a wine bar near Oliver’s company. It was early, even for happy hour, but I needed a drink. What I needed more was to clear my head. I walked briskly to the bar and took deep breaths to try to clear my head. I felt a pang in my stomach and I knew it was because I had left Oliver and Ethan in his office. They weren’t alone in the building, of course, but I felt like I should have called the police or something.
The police. I wondered if they knew anything about this situation. Typically, the cops don’t get involved on the city level in corporate situations; that’s more the FBI’s sort of thing, I suspected. But, if something happened to one of them… I knew I needed to focus my research not only on the truth of what was happening with Neurotova, but I also needed to uncover which of the two men, Oliver or Ethan, was telling the truth. Finding out the answer would affect my life either way; I was sure I wanted to be with Oliver, but… that was only if I knew for certain that Oliver was the man I believed him to be.
As for Ethan, I didn’t know what to do. Each of our encounters brought us closer and closer to me cheating on Oliver. Oliver and I had never had a conversation about being exclusive, but I didn’t even know if adults did that. Would I call myself his girlfriend? It depended on who I was talking to.
I shook my head and walked into Armadan. The bartender was someone I’d met before, a man in his early fifties named Rico, and he smiled when he saw me.
“Becka! Happy day!” He looked at his watch, then he looked back at me with mock disappointment on his face. “Darn, you’re early. I thought time was just going by quickly today.”
“I tried to hold out,” I said, smiling as I sat on the bar stool, setting my purse next to me on the bar, “but it’s an early happy hour day. Can I have a sav blanc, please? Whatever you have open.”
“Oh, I have a sav blanc to die for. It’s new; we just got it in.” He looked happy to have the opportunity to share the wine with someone he knew would love it. As he poured, I glanced around the bar. It was a smallish space, and, as early as it was, there were only four of us in the place. Armadan didn’t serve much in the way of food, so it was a place that people tended to hit either before dinner or after. I love it for basically that reason. I had discovered it my first day working at Oliver’s company, and I’d been there at least twice a week since.
Rico set the glass in front of me with a flourish and smiled. “Enjoy,” he said. “It will erase any difficulties of the day,” he promised.
“That’s a tall order from a little glass of wine,” I said, “but I’m willing to give it the chance.” I took a sip. The crisp, sweet, lightness of the sav blanc hit my taste buds and I felt my body begin to relax almost instantly. There was something about a really great glass of wine that could help put things into perspective.
“Well?” he asked. “What’s the verdict?”
“Interestingly enough, all the difficulties of my day have been completely erased!” I grinned. Rico nodded and smiled.
“See? It’s magical elixir!”
A couple came into the bar and Rico moved to help them. I checked my messages; Lisa was on her way. I wondered how much I should tell her about what had happened. She didn’t know anything about my research, but she knew plenty about Ethan. After I
’d described my first meeting with Ethan, she had, right away, suspected that I was attracted to him. I remember blushing as I thought about him and tried to convince her that I wasn’t into him at all. It hadn’t worked, of course.
I was halfway through my first glass of wine when Lisa came through the door and sat next to me.
“Whew!” she sighed. “Trying to get anywhere in this town is completely crazy, sorry. How are you? What’s with the emergency happy hour?” As she talked, she dropped her bag on the chair next to her with a thud.
“Let’s get you a drink first,” I said. I waved Rico over, introduced him to Lisa, and she ordered a cocktail. “Okay,” I continued once she had her drink in hand, “here’s what’s going on.” I told her about everything relating to Ethan except for him and Oliver being brothers. I also left out my research, though I began to wonder if Lisa might be someone who could help me. She was hella smart, maybe she could think of some avenues I hadn’t explored yet.
“So,” she said, shaking her head, “you have two billionaires fighting over you.”
That would be the only possible interpretation she had to conclude, based on the information I’d given her. It felt like a lie; I wasn’t used to not being fully honest with Lisa and, though I’d lied by not telling her all of the information, it was still very much a lie.
“Yes,” I said.
“Two billionaires. You’re right, I did need a drink for that. Have you talked to either one of them since it happened?”
“I turned my phone off,” I said. “It all happened right before I came here, so I have no idea.” I finished my glass of wine and signaled to Rico that I wanted another. “For all I know, they’re still beating on each other in Oliver’s office.”
“So, what are you going to do? Who are you going to choose?”
I looked at her and realized that was really the question it all came down to. It was muddied by a lot of other details, but that was it. I knew that Ethan wanted me as much as Oliver. All of my research was really to determine which one of them I wanted, because I didn’t know. I wanted them both. Of course, that wasn’t possible…
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