Maybe I did drink too much.
I’d never drunk like that in my entire life—besides my father’s funeral. Getting drunk was the only way I could stop myself from crying.
My hand moved to Hunt beside me, but he was nowhere to be found. The sheets were still warm like he’d been there recently. It was the first time we’d spent the night together in months, and I’d slept like a rock through the night.
But that also could have been because I blacked out.
I opened his nightstand, hoping there would be a bottle of painkillers inside. I reached my hand in and came into contact with a hard book. I leaned over and squinted, trying to read even though my eyes hadn’t adjusted to being open just yet. After I pulled it to my face, I recognized it.
My father’s book.
My hands slightly shook as I felt it. There was a bookmark in the pages, toward the very end. It was a receipt. I opened to the right page and looked at the date. It showed he’d bought the book months ago.
Before we called things off.
I could only assume he’d been reading it. Why else would he buy it? But why hadn’t he told me he’d been reading it? I had so many questions, but it didn’t seem appropriate to ask him. It looked like I was going through his personal belongings when that wasn’t my intention. I flipped through the pages and found little marks with a pen. Some passages were underlined, perhaps one that he enjoyed.
I panicked when I heard footsteps coming from the bathroom, so I placed the book back in the drawer and quickly shut it. The pulse was throbbing in my temple, but I lay back and pretended to have been there the entire time.
He entered the bedroom with a towel around his waist. “Morning, baby.”
“Morning.” Once I looked at his perfect, naked body, I stopped thinking about the book. Little drops dripped down the grooves of his gorgeous chest. My tongue wanted to taste him everywhere. My migraine was forgotten.
“How are you feeling?” He leaned over me on the bed and ran his fingers through my hair.
It dulled the pain, temporarily. “I’ve been better.”
A handsome smile spread across his mouth. “First time I’ve ever seen you drunk.”
“I wasn’t drunk.”
“I bet you don’t remember most of the things you said last night.”
I remembered talking in front of the elevator, but most of it was blurry.
He grinned in arrogance.
“What did I say…?”
He kissed the corner of my lips. “You’ll never know.” He moved off me and dropped the towel from around his waist. He stood at the dresser and pulled out a pair of boxers, his tight ass looking unbelievable.
I nearly drooled.
“Want some breakfast?”
“I should probably get going…”
“Nope.” He turned around and came back toward me on the bed. “Breakfast and then sex.”
“You don’t have work?”
“I always have work. But business will carry on even if I’m not there. Come on.”
“I’ll stay under one condition.”
“Name it.” He held himself on top of me again, smelling like fresh body soap and cologne.
“I need some painkillers for my migraine. And you do the cooking.”
He grinned. “I can do that.”
* * *
Thorn and I talked about business in my office, about what we would do with our respective companies once they were combined. We held assets in very different fields, and if we combined them correctly, we could achieve great success.
But Hunt was on my mind again.
He’d been in my head more than usual that week. I kept thinking about my father’s book sitting in his nightstand. It was a mystery why he never mentioned it to me. Knowing he read my father’s work, essentially, his diary, meant more to me than I could put into words. I never asked him to read it. He did that entirely on his own.
Every time I was with Thorn, I thought about the wedding. And the more I thought about it, the more uneasy I became. I was so certain this was the right choice for me, but now it didn’t seem that way. My doubt had nothing to do with Thorn, who was one of the greatest men I’d ever known.
It only had to do with Hunt.
Thorn finished what he was saying then set the paperwork on my desk. “So you still aren’t going to change your name?”
My entire identity was based on my last name. It was the name my father gave to me. The moment I changed it, the name would be lost forever. If I didn’t pass it on to my children, it would cease to exist. It wouldn’t even make sense for people to refer to me as Titan anymore. And I certainly wouldn’t allow anyone to address me as Tatum. “No.”
He rolled his eyes. “Meet me halfway. Let’s do a hyphen, at least.”
“No.”
His look hardened.
“My name is important to me, Thorn. How would you feel if I asked you to change your name?”
“I get where you’re coming from, but—”
“It’s totally sexist.”
“It’s tradition.”
“Whatever,” I said. “My father gave me that name. It means a lot to me.”
“And I get that. Which is why I suggested a hyphen. Titan can go first if you want. Titan-Cutler.”
Even that didn’t feel right to me. “I’m sorry.”
“You won’t have the same last name as your children. You do realize that, right?”
“They’ll have hyphened names.”
He rubbed his temple as he sighed in irritation. “We aren’t doing that.”
“You bet your ass, we are. Titan is everything that I am. I can’t change my identity for someone else, Thorn. I’m sorry. It would be different if we were in love, but we aren’t. This is a business relationship as well as one for convenience. I won’t change my mind about this.” When Hunt and I discussed it, I had a more open attitude about it—but it was because I was desperately in love with him. This situation was totally different.
Thorn shook his head slightly but folded. “I accept your decision. But I think we’ll need to revisit it once we have our first child.”
It wouldn’t go any differently then. “Fine.”
Thorn continued to sit in the armchair even though it was tense between us. It didn’t constitute a fight, but it wasn’t easy either. Normally, things between us were absolutely smooth. Since we were making big decisions, there were bumps and potholes in the way. He watched me for a few minutes before he changed the subject. “Anything else we need to discuss before I leave? I’ll be in Montreal for a few days.”
“When will you be back?”
“Friday. It’s a short trip.”
“It’ll be beautiful. I’m sure it’s snowing.”
“I’m looking forward to it. Perhaps I can find someone to share my chalet with.”
I smiled. “With your charm, I’m sure you will.”
“Thank you. I’m looking forward to you being the recipient of that charm.”
I found Thorn attractive, but I didn’t see him in that way. Before I met Hunt, I could picture us having a great sex life. He was beautiful, muscular, successful…everything I wanted in a partner. But the moment I fell in love, my physical attraction to other men disappeared. Now I couldn’t even imagine it. “I slept over at Hunt’s place the other night…”
Thorn shifted his position in the chair as he watched me.
“I had a migraine, so I opened his nightstand drawer and found my father’s book…”
“His book of poetry?” he asked in surprise.
“Yeah. He had a bookmark in it along with some notes, so he seems to be reading it.”
Thorn rubbed his chin as he considered me. “What’s your point?”
“I checked the receipt, and he bought it before we broke up.”
Thorn stared at me.
“I don’t know why I’m telling you this. I’m just not sure what to make of it.”
“Maybe he enjoys poetry. I re
ad sometimes.”
“Yeah, but he’s never mentioned it to me. Not once.”
“I still don’t see the relevance.”
“It’s just…it’s a very sweet thing to do. I don’t see why he would do that if he didn’t really love me. If he was just using me before we broke up, it doesn’t make sense for him to buy my father’s book and read it.”
Thorn considered me for a long time. He didn’t seem annoyed by my words, but he needed to take time to phrase a response. “I think you might be reading too much into it.”
“What do you mean?”
“He may have bought that book to learn more about you, to make you fall in love with him to achieve his goals. Or maybe he really did buy it because he wanted to read your father’s work. Maybe he bought a used copy and never read it. The fact that he never mentioned it to you makes it seem like he doesn’t want you to know.”
I hadn’t considered any of those other scenarios. I just assumed it was a touching and romantic gesture.
“I’m not trying to disappoint you,” he said gently. “I just see these flashes of hope in your eyes. They come and go over and over. It’s painful to watch…”
I shifted my eyes away, embarrassed I was so obvious.
“I know this is hard for you,” he continued. “I know the wedding date reminds you that you and Hunt will be over soon, and that scares you. I get it. You think you’ve unmasked something to make him innocent and you can finally have everything that you want. But you need to understand that’s never coming. If Hunt could clear himself, he would have done it by now. You’re in the exact position you were in months ago, but your emotions cloud your judgment over and over. I’m not saying this in judgment. I’m just trying to give you a clear perspective on the situation.”
Thorn understood me too well. My eyes remained on the desk because I didn’t have the strength to look at him. “You’re right… I guess I’ll never stop hoping. It’s hard for me to stay objective when it comes to him. It’s impossible…and I start to fantasize.”
“It’s okay,” he whispered. “That’s what I’m here for. You can always talk to me about these things.”
“I know you’re tired of hearing them…”
“Not true.”
I raised my expression to meet his gaze.
“You can talk to me about anything, Titan. I will always be there for you—even if you repeat it a million times. I’m your partner for life, whether I’m your husband or not. There’s never something you can’t share with me. I hate seeing you in pain like this. I wish more than you that it had worked out with Hunt. I’ll never forget how ecstatic you were when you told me you were going to marry him. I’ve never seen you so full of joy like that since the day I met you…but I have to protect you too. I can’t tell you what you want to hear to make you happy. I have to give you the truth—as painful as it is to listen to.”
My eyes softened as I listened to Thorn be sweet to me—for the millionth time. “I know…”
“I’ve talked you back down to earth today, but in a few weeks, we’ll be back where we are right now. But don’t worry, I’ll be there for you again…just like you would be for me.”
“Thank you.”
“No problem, sweetheart.”
“I don’t know what it is about him that makes me like this…”
“It’s love,” he said simply. “It’s the strongest emotion in the world. It was love that made me stab someone in the heart to protect you. It was the craziest thing I’ve ever done. I could have gone to jail for murder, but I didn’t care. And I’d do it a million times just to keep you safe. So I understand, Titan. I’ve never been in love, and I can imagine that level of love is a million times more blinding.”
9
Hunt
I didn’t read up on Megaland because I didn’t want to know what my father was doing with my company.
I mean, his company.
There wasn’t a doubt in my mind he would take care of the company, but I was disappointed he saw what direction I was taking it in. It was basically like looking at my playbook.
It was unfortunate.
Even as weeks went by, I couldn’t swallow the defeat. He came into my office and robbed me, but I did nothing to stop it. All I could do was put my hands in the air and let him walk out—with my balls in his pocket.
I sacrificed business for romance.
Something I promised myself I would never do.
But Titan was my woman, and I loved her too damn much to let anything bad happen to her. She worked so hard to retain respect from men in her field. If the world thought she was cheating on Thorn with me, she would never live it down. It would haunt her for decades.
My company wasn’t worth that lifetime of sorrow.
Besides, she was going to be my wife someday.
I didn’t know how, but she would. She’d arrived at my penthouse drunk and said everything I wanted to hear. She had doubts about her marriage to Thorn. She wanted to marry me instead. Liters of alcohol showed her true colors, her profound vulnerability. She was just as weak as I was, miserable at the thought of letting me go.
We would make this work.
I needed to do something to make her choose me, but I didn’t know what else I could do. I had no evidence to support my innocence. All I could do was show her how much I loved her with every action I took.
Eventually, the lack of evidence wouldn’t matter.
She simply couldn’t live without me.
The way I couldn’t live without her.
I was at my office when the news showed a video that had been released to the press—and it included me.
Someone had sent in a video of my father and me from the charity gala. We spoke to each other in the corner of the room, both of us fiercely hostile with unnecessary space in between us. There was no audio, thankfully. But it was obvious we hated each other. We didn’t even shake hands.
The story accompanying the video made it even worse.
Vincent and Diesel Hunt are still at war with one another, over a decade into their feud. A few months ago, Diesel Hunt shared his version of the story with one of our team members, and this evidence seems to support his account. Vincent Hunt is seen standing across from his own son and doesn’t even offer a handshake. Few words are exchanged before he abruptly walks away. Did Vincent Hunt treat his son just as badly as his stepson, Brett Maxwell? We reached out to Vincent Hunt’s office for comment but haven’t received a response.
“Jesus Christ…” I rubbed my temple as I listened to the rest of the story, which made my father sound like an even bigger scumbag. Technically, it was completely accurate, but I didn’t need any more fuel added to the fire. He already took Megaland away from me. I didn’t want to make my life even more difficult.
But he wouldn’t take this lying down. My father was stubborn and prideful. He didn’t care much about what other people thought of him, but having the entire world critique his parenting skills would unnerve him.
It was only a matter of time before I heard from him again.
My cell phone rang, and I saw Titan’s name on the screen. She never called me during business hours, so I knew exactly what this was about. I answered. “Hey, baby.” I didn’t think twice before I spoke to her that way. No one was in my office, so I could say whatever the hell I wanted. Besides, I wasn’t in the mood to censor myself.
She didn’t correct me, which told me she knew about the news story. “I’m assuming you already saw it.”
“Yep, just finished,” I said with a sigh.
“I wonder who got that video.”
“Don’t know. Don’t care.” In a world of social media and endless cameras, it was impossible for every little detail not to be captured.
“He’s not going to like this, is he?”
“Nope.” He’d probably already punched a hole in the wall by now.
“Maybe you should be proactive and tell him you had nothing to do with this.”
&nb
sp; I wasn’t doing a damn thing, not when he came down here and threatened to destroy my woman’s life. “No.”
“Diesel—”
“No.” I wasn’t telling her what I did, not yet. And I definitely wasn’t going to tell her over the phone. “It is what it is. He’s a smart man. I’m sure he’ll figure out I had nothing to do with this.”
“But you did indirectly cause it.”
There was no denying that.
“Do you need anything?” she asked quietly. She took time out of her busy day just to call me. I knew very few people were afforded that luxury, earned her devoted concern. As far as I knew, it was just Thorn and me.
“No.”
Titan knew my bad attitude wasn’t going to change. “Alright. I’ll talk to you later.”
I shouldn’t be a dick to her, not when she was just checking on me. She didn’t deserve that. So I forced myself to speak, even through gritted teeth. “Thank you for calling me.”
“You don’t need to thank me, Diesel. Bye.”
In a moment of weakness, I did something I’d never done before. “Love you.” I’d heard tons of people say it to their significant others over the phone, but I’d never done it before. The words shot out like they had their own power. It didn’t matter how angry I was, I should always show her what she meant to me. I lost my temper once before and pushed her away unnecessarily. It was a dick move. Now that I could lose her at any moment, I had to fight even harder for her.
“Love you too.”
* * *
An hour before the office closed, Natalie spoke through the intercom. “Sir…Vincent Hunt is here to see you.” Her voice shook in a way it never had before. It even cracked a little, like the pressure was too much.
I suspected my father hadn’t said a word to her. He probably walked inside and just stared at her, knowing she would figure out exactly what he wanted.
It’s what I would do. “Send him in, Natalie.” This time, I was prepared for this arrival. This time, I knew what was coming. He’d stopped by my office unexpectedly in the past, but now I always expected him, every minute of the day.
Boss Alpha Page 11