Freedom to Surrender [Freedom, Colorado 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Melody Snow Monroe

  To show her that he wanted to be part of her life, he’d decided to purchase the building. He doubted she’d accept it as a present, but the rent he’d charge would be just enough to cover his costs. Deciding to use his trust fund—something he swore he’d never do—had taken some soul searching. In the end, he decided Ashley was worth sacrificing some of his principles.

  “This is Drexel Ford. We spoke last week about the building on Clark.”

  “Yes, Mr. Ford. I remember.”

  “I wanted to discuss an offer for your property.” He could have gone through a realtor, but that would have cut into both parties’ profit.

  “I’m listening.”

  They barely haggled as Drex offered close to the asking price.

  “I say we have a deal.”

  They’d have to hire a few people like inspectors and a title company, but that was merely a formality. “I’ll drive to Boulder to sign the papers when everything’s set.”

  “A pleasure to deal with you.”

  Once he disconnected, he leaned against the wall and thought how great life was right now. He couldn’t wait until the weekend when he could tell Ashley his good news.

  * * * *

  By the time Saturday rolled around, Drex was a mass of excitement. If he couldn’t start his own business right now, then he could get the joy vicariously by helping Ashley.

  “Will you just sit?” Tatum scolded from the kitchen. “You’re driving me crazy.”

  Because he’d decided not to tell Tatum about his purchase, his roommate couldn’t understand why he was bouncing around. “Maybe I should have offered to pick up Ashley.” She was ten minutes late, which wasn’t like her.

  Tatum lifted a pot off the stove and set it on a potholder. “I’ve not seen you like this before. Something you’re not telling me?”

  The doorbell rang, preventing Drex from having to answer. He jumped up and pulled open the door. A smile stole across his face. Ashley looked lovely in a low-cut top and tight jeans. “Hey, beautiful.” He motioned her in.

  “What’s that grin about?”

  “Just seeing you makes me happy.” He closed the door then pulled her into his arms. The kiss that followed had his cock harden instantly. He was the one to lean back. “If I don’t stop now, I fear the cook here will be upset that we didn’t get to eat his masterpiece.”

  “Don’t let me stop you,” Tatum said. “It’s only meatballs and spaghetti. Hardly fancy fare.”

  Now that Ashley knew his real identity, Drex should go back to eating organic and cutting out wheat and dairy again. He also needed to find a gym. If he didn’t start working out, he’d be waddling home from work in a few months.

  Ashley grinned. “I’d be a bad guest if I didn’t say hello to the cook.” She winked and slipped out of his arms.

  Drex watched her fine ass cross the room. After he shared what he’d done for her, they’d be celebrating in style tonight. As she delivered a long kiss with Tatum, Drex adjusted his balls.

  “Come on over here, darlin’, and keep me company while Tatum slaves away in the kitchen for us.”

  His roommate stepped toward the living room. “I just have to cook the spaghetti and heat up the garlic bread, and I’ll be ready.”

  Since he wanted to spend dinner discussing her business plan, he was anxious to start. Drex slipped down onto the sofa and patted the seat next to him. As soon as she sat, he twisted to face her.

  “Be there in a sec,” Tatum said. The oven door opened and closed.

  A moment later, Tatum sat in the chair across from them. He directed a look at Drex.

  Now that it was time for him to tell her, Drex’s tongue wouldn’t work very well. He cleared his throat. “I have a surprise for you.”

  She looked up at him. “Are you going to tell me or do I need to guess?”

  If he’d had more patience, he would have asked her to guess. “You know the building you’ve had your eye on to open your bakery?”

  Her shoulders slumped. “The building I had my eye on. When I called the owner, he said the space was no longer available.”

  “I’m sorry.” While he said the words, they were tainted with too much excitement. Now his announcement would be so much sweeter. He could be the white knight riding to the rescue.

  “What would you say if I told you I now own the building?”

  Confusion crossed her face. “What do you mean?”

  Not only didn’t she seem excited, he didn’t think she understood. “I bought the building so you could open your bakery there.”

  He grinned, pleased that the plan was coming together.

  Her brows pinched and she moved to the side of the sofa. “You’re telling me you bought the building so I could open my bakery?”

  “You got it.” Why wasn’t she throwing herself in his arms and screaming for joy?

  She shook her head. “Why?”

  Why? He’d given presents to women before, though none of this magnitude, and they all thanked him. “Because I wanted to show you that I support your dream.”

  “My dream or your dream?” Her lips pursed.

  What the fuck was going on? He clasped her hands in his, but she pulled out of his hold. The pain of her temporary rejection ran deep. She must not understand. “Are you mad at me for something?” Ashley looked over at Tatum, who was shaking his head. “What am I missing here? Please clue me in.” This time he failed to keep the ire out of his voice.

  She worked her lips and then took a big inhale. “Drex. I imagine you were trying to be nice, but you clearly don’t get me.” Her words came out metered as if she was working hard not to tell him to go to hell.

  “Care to enlighten me?” His patience had run its course.

  “I want to do this on my own. You know how I felt about borrowing start-up money from my dad. I can’t use the space you bought me.” She said the word “bought” like it was dirt or something.

  “When people care for each other, they help each other out.” She was the one who didn’t get him. “I’m not your dad. I always believed in your abilities.”

  She held up her hands as if she’d yell if he touched her. “That’s not the point.”

  “Yes, it is.” He didn’t quite know why her rejection hurt so much. Before he said or did anything he’d regret, all three of them would be better off if he just left. Drex stood. “I need to take some time to think about this. I’m going out.”

  Without looking at her, he strode to the bedroom to get his keys and wallet. He broke his own rule of using his trust fund to buy the goddamn building and what did she do? She threw the offer in his face like he meant nothing to her. He punched the wall and cracked the wallboard. “Fuck me.”

  Drex had no idea where he wanted to go, but he figured the High View Bar and Grill was a good place to start.

  When he strode back into the living room, Tatum’s fist plowed into his face. Drex reeled backward, and his vision blurred for a second. As soon as his head cleared, he saw that Ashley wasn’t there. That worked for him. His anger took over and he charged his roommate, ramming his shoulder into Tatum’s hard belly.

  The two tumbled to the ground and rolled, but his roommate got in another punch before he could slam his fist into his face. Blood trickled down Drex’s lip. Suddenly, he was on his stomach with his hands behind his back.

  “If I had my cuffs, I’d put them on you and haul your stupid ass to jail and arrest you for being a dumb fuck.”

  His jaw throbbed and his lip vibrated. His anger deflated faster than letting the air out of a tire. As soon as he slumped, Tatum let go. Slowly, Drex rolled over and held up his hand. Tatum grasped it and pulled him to a stand.

  Tatum moved closer. “Care to tell me why the hell you did that?”

  Drex wasn’t sure what “that” referred to. “Are you asking why I bought a building for the woman I love?”

  Tatum visibly jerked. “You love her?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Me, too.” Tatum
rubbed his jaw, which now had a nice red shine to it. “For someone who’s fairly slick with women though, you sure don’t have a clue what to do with them.”

  His anger built again. “Do all of us a favor and enlighten me.” He’d made that request a few times now and neither one of them had been willing to share their wisdom.

  Tatum shook his head, acting as if he was the dumbest fuck on earth. “Don’t you realize how important it is for Ashley to build this business on her own?”

  “What do you take me for? Of course, I know that. You didn’t hear me say I wanted to help her run it, did you?”

  Tatum held up a hand. “Have you ever listened to her go on about her business?”

  “All the time.”

  “No, I mean really listen.” Drex stood there, stunned. Tatum shook his head again. “You know what? Why don’t you go where you were planning to go. Get shitfaced or something. Maybe when you get back things might be clearer.”

  “Fine.”

  When Drex strode out he was more confused than ever.

  * * * *

  Ashley had never been more miserable in her life. As soon as she’d arrived home, she’d drawn a bath and brought a whole bottle of wine in with her. Even after drinking half of it, the answers about where to go from here still had not come to her.

  Why did Drex have to ruin things throwing his money around? How many times had she told him she wanted to figure out a way to get the money to start her company on her own? Sure, most people would call her crazy for turning down his offer, but she wasn’t most people.

  After soaking in the tub until the water turned cool, she debated offering to pay Drex rent—the same as she would have paid Mr. Templeton—but after much internal debate, she realized that really wouldn’t solve anything. The real issue was that Drex didn’t understand her. Hadn’t he listened to what she’d said about needing to start the business on her own? Going into partnership with Sharon didn’t count, as each of them would be contributing evenly.

  Ever since she’d learned that the space they coveted wasn’t available, she and Sharon had been searching other places to rent, but so far none had come close to Drex’s newly purchased building. She still couldn’t believe he bought the whole damn thing. It was three stories tall. Did he plan on renting out the top two floors, too? What was the man thinking?

  He wasn’t. And that was the problem. Part of her wanted to stop home and discuss the situation with her mom, but she knew how she’d react. Her mother would say she was being stupid for not accepting Drex’s generous offer.

  Ashley thought about calling Nikki, as she’d given up a career in law enforcement to build her own business with Dani and Holly. She closed her eyes to picture how her friends would react. They’d say Drex was being nice and she was being stubborn. None of her friends would sympathize with her because they hadn’t been bossed around like she’d been her whole life. None of them had a father who told them they’d never amount to anything. Besides, Drex still wasn’t letting anyone know he was filthy rich.

  After she finished her bath, she dropped into bed and placed the pillow over her face to block out Drex’s image. It didn’t work. After an hour of additional turmoil, she got out of bed and traipsed to the living room. Maybe a bit of television would take her mind off her problems.

  As she clicked through the stations, she thought that perhaps she shouldn’t have walked out on Drex. They’d both been upset, but perhaps she should have tried to understand his motivation better. The last time he tried to tell her about him being rich, she’d stormed off.

  Her problem was that she hadn’t yet calmed down enough to listen. Perhaps if she waited a few days, she’d simmer down and then approach him.

  * * * *

  Drex had been in an alcohol-induced coma when the ring of his cell phone registered. He’d set the ring tone to the theme from Rocky to know when his brother was calling. Fuck. Drex cracked open an eye and noticed the light only barely seeped through the slit in the curtain. He fumbled on the nightstand and picked up his cell.

  “What do you want? It’s six in the morning.” Lee rarely made it to work by nine. Most likely his brother was still up from the night before, having partied hard.

  “Dad’s had a heart attack. You need to get your ass here quick.” Lee’s words sounded slurred.

  He sat up in bed and inhaled to keep his voice calm. “A heart attack? How is he? How severe was it? Is surgery scheduled?” Drex’s dark world turned black.

  “He’s stable. That’s all I know.”

  Why didn’t he know more? He wanted to scream at Lee but knew it wouldn’t do any good. “Are you with Dad now?”

  “No.”

  Drex counted to five. If he didn’t calm down he’d have his own heart attack. Maybe by the time he got to Portland, he could be civil enough not to kill his brother. “I’m on my way.”

  As soon as he hung up, he dropped back onto his bed. He hated leaving Ashley with this misunderstanding between them. Hell, it cut him to the core that she thought so little of him. Tatum was right about him not being a good listener. Drex had missed playing the big man so much that maybe he’d bought the building more for himself than to be good to Ashley.

  He always thought he had his act together. Apparently, he’d been delusional. His father’s heart attack couldn’t have come at a worse time, but it wasn’t as if this was planned. As soon as he returned to Freedom, he’d do whatever he could to patch things up between them.

  Drex climbed out of bed and packed. When he was ready to step out the door, he’d wake Tatum and tell him what happened. He glanced at the clock. It was 6:20 a.m., too soon to call Carl and tell him he had to leave town. Perhaps Tatum could stop by and let the man know. Drex understood that he might have to stay in Portland for a while until his father was back on his feet.

  “Shit.”

  As quickly as he could, he packed, then woke up Tatum and told him the news.

  “I’ll be happy to let Carl know. And don’t worry about Ashley. She’ll eventually understand that you were trying to do something nice for her.”

  “I’ll give her a few days to figure things out, then I’ll call.”

  “She’ll be worried about your dad.”

  “I know.”

  They said their good-byes and Drex took off for Denver.

  His life as he knew it might never be the same.

  Chapter Twenty

  All Sunday morning, Ashley moped about. The conversation with Drex never left her mind. The way his face had twisted in disbelief still churned her stomach. The more she thought about his action, the more she softened toward him. What he had done was beyond nice, but if only he’d spoken to her about the purchase, he might have been able to help in other ways.

  Stupid man.

  At least Tatum seemed to be more aware of her needs.

  Her cell rang and her heartbeat spiked. She grabbed her phone and her shoulders sagged when she saw it wasn’t Drex. Damn.

  “Hey, Sharon.” It took all of her effort to sound cheerful.

  “I don’t have to work today and wondered if maybe we could get together?” She sounded so excited that Ashley didn’t have the heart to turn her down.

  “Love to. You want to come to my place? No wait. I don’t have Wi-Fi. Maybe we should meet at Starbucks. That way we can both be online. We’ll look back at the irony in the years to come.”

  Sharon laughed. “Perfect. Say thirty minutes?”

  “I’ll meet you there.” And then she’ll think her partner was an idiot for turning down Drex’s offer.

  Oh, shit. She couldn’t tell Sharon about Drex buying the building because he was supposed to be some poor mechanic. Aargh. Maybe she needed to swallow her pride and call him. She’d say she’d overreacted—just like she’d done when he told her he was some rich guy whose dad owned a chain of stores across the nation. He’d jumped up and ran out before they’d discussed her paying him rent.

  Maybe two hotheads couldn’t be toget
her.

  Call him.

  “Fine.” She punched his number, but it went straight to voicemail.

  He’d mentioned he never turned his phone off in case his father or someone from Ambrose’s needed to get ahold of him. When the beep came for her to leave a message, she inhaled. “Drex. I’m sorry. I really think we need to talk. Call me, okay?”

  Her pits were damp from that short conversation. Maybe that meant she was a wee bit guilty. Not wanting to keep Sharon waiting, she grabbed her laptop and purse and headed out. On the way to town, she decided to stall Sharon if she suggested they look for a place. By the time they figured out the pro-forma expense report and their possible start-up costs, it could take weeks. By then, Drex and she would have sorted things out, or so she hoped.

  Sharon was already at Starbucks and had come prepared with a list of all the items she thought they needed. “I’ve included everything I could think of from new bowls, spatulas, all the way down to toilet paper and soap for the bathroom.” She’d printed out a list of items along with the prices.

  Ashley studied the list then took out her pen. “You did a great job. I don’t see cups for coffee or tea.”

  Sharon hissed. “Should we go with paper or real cups that we’ll have to wash?”

  Ashley glanced at what Starbucks used. “Let’s look into both ways and compare.”

  For the next two hours, they hashed out things like the logistics of how they would receive pie orders during the week to their marketing strategy. Too many times she’d been tempted to tell her how talented Drex was and say she knew someone who could point them in the right direction, but she bit her tongue and made stuff up that she thought would work.

  After three hours of looking things up on the Internet and discussing what they had to have versus what they’d like to have, Ashley’s lack of sleep had caught up with her. She must have yawned ten times and no amount of coffee had stopped it.

  Sharon placed a hand on hers. “Looks like you need some rest.”