by Force, Marie
“I dragged you all into it.”
He looks up at me, his brow raised. “By being born?”
The utter ridiculousness of it all hits me then, and I release an uneasy laugh. “Something like that.”
His dark hair is mussed when he stands upright, his blue eyes heated with what might be rage, but it’s not directed at me. “Whoever sold us out is going to regret the day they ever tangled with the Quantum partners.”
His show of support means more to me than I’ll ever be able to tell him. “I haven’t said anything to Ellie about the rest of you being dragged in. That’s not up to me.”
“Understood.”
Flynn arrives a short time later, with two nieces and three nephews in tow. Kristian invites them to check out his game room while Flynn gives me a wary look that, knowing him, probably has more to do with my relationship with his sister than the threat of his secrets being made public. “Jasper.”
“Flynn.”
We circle each other like rabid dogs. “Where’s my sister?”
“In the loo getting changed after saving Kris from catastrophe.”
Kristian brings him up to speed on the near-flood. “Your sister is Wonder Woman.”
“Not sure I’d go that far,” Ellie says when she joins us wearing a much bigger shirt than the one that got wet. I miss the wet one. She greets her brother with a kiss to his cheek. “Behave yourself, or I’ll beat the shit out of you.”
“As if you could,” Flynn says with a huff of indignation.
“I wouldn’t mess with her after what we just witnessed,” Kristian says.
I nod in agreement. “Seriously. She’s amazing.”
Ellie rolls her eyes at our effusiveness, but I can tell she’s enjoying the well-deserved praise. “You need to get a plumber in here to replace that pipe.”
“The super called the emergency line, and someone is on their way. I hate to think about what might’ve happened if you hadn’t gotten here when you did.”
“No problem.” To Flynn, she says, “Where’s Nat?”
“She’s picking up Aileen and the kids at the airport.”
I notice Kristian perks right up at the mention of Natalie’s friend from New York, who’d been fighting breast cancer when Flynn met Natalie. He used his connections to get her in with some of the best doctors in New York, and she’s been doing much better. We’re looking forward to seeing her and her kids for the first time since Flynn and Nat’s wedding last month. I realize that no one is looking forward to seeing her more than Kristian is.
Interesting.
Hayden and Addie arrive with Emmett, Marlowe and her assistant, Leah, in tow. Now that they’re all here, I can no longer postpone the inevitable meeting with my partners.
“We need a few minutes alone,” Kristian says. His meaning is clear—partners only. Ellie and Addie have worked for us long enough to know that occasionally we have to tend to business that is confidential. Leah, who has been with Marlowe for more than a month now, is starting to catch on, too.
Ellie gives my arm a squeeze before she joins Addie and Leah on the sofa in the living room. The rest of us follow Kristian into his home office.
I pull the photos out of my satchel and hand them over to Emmett, who studies each one before passing it on.
“Motherfucker,” Hayden whispers when he sees the one of himself and Addie at Black Vice. Their embrace is relatively innocent, but behind them, a sub is bent over a spanking bench while her master wields a flogger. “You really think your father would actually release these photos if you don’t fall in line?”
“I really do.”
“Jesus. And I thought my family was fucked up.”
Flynn stares down at the photo of Ellie and me that was taken at Black Vice. The muscle pulsing in his jaw ramps up my anxiety. “What’re our options, Em?”
Emmett runs through the series of actions he’s already taken, including requesting an injunction in London that would prohibit Henry Kingsley from releasing the damaging photos. Due to the international element at play here, it’s tricky but not impossible, Emmett reports.
“I appreciate what you all are doing and how well you’re taking this serious breach of your privacy, but I’m not willing to risk it. I’ll give him what he wants. I’ll resign my partnership at Quantum—”
“No,” Marlowe says, “you won’t.” With her red hair contained in a ponytail and her face devoid of makeup, you’d never know she’s one of the top box office draws in Hollywood. However, right now, right here, she’s my friend and partner, and her green eyes are ablaze with anger. “You won’t make that kind of sacrifice on my behalf. I’m a big girl. If those photos get out, I’ll deal with it, but I don’t expect you to abandon your life and career to protect me.”
“Neither do I,” Kristian says, his gaze steely and determined.
Hayden hesitates, and I know he’s thinking of Addie and not himself. “I don’t want that either. I can’t imagine this job or life without you smack in the middle of it. You’ve got to fight him.”
All eyes turn to Flynn, who is staring at a photo of him and Natalie taken at Club Quantum. He looks at me. “Is my sister pregnant?”
“I hope so.”
“Whoa,” Marlowe says. “How about bringing me up to speed?”
“Seriously,” Kristian says. “What the hell?”
“Jasper?” Flynn says with a smirk that makes me want to punch him—except that maybe, if we can get through this nightmare, he might one day be my brother-in-law. I contain the urge.
“When we were in Mexico, Ellie told me she wants to have a baby. She said she’s tired of waiting for Mr. Right to come along, and time is running out. I offered to help her. One thing led to another, and we’ve both confessed to having had feelings for each other for a long time.”
“Holy shit,” Marlowe says. “How’d we miss this?”
“I always sort of suspected,” Flynn says.
I scoff at him. “You did not.”
“I did, too! She looks at you a lot when you’re not aware, and you do the same. If you don’t believe me, ask Natalie. I told her there was something brewing long before you woke me in the middle of the night to confirm it.”
Now I’m gobsmacked for a whole other reason. I thought I’d been so subtle about my affection for her. Apparently not so much if Flynn picked up on it.
“So she’s already pregnant?” Marlowe asks.
“We hope so. We’ve been giving the project a tremendous amount of effort.”
“Not another word,” Flynn says, holding up his hand, “or I won’t be responsible for my actions.”
Though I’m still heavily burdened by anxiety and the fear of what might happen if the photos are made public, I can’t help but laugh at the face he makes.
“The way I see it,” Flynn says, “the only place you belong is right here with my sister and my future niece or nephew.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” I tell him, thankful for his support and friendship.
“Then we’ll fight,” Flynn says. “We’ll fight with everything we’ve got, and if the worst happens, we’ll deal with it. But no one is going anywhere.”
“I can’t tell you what it means to me…” My throat closes around a lump. I look down at the floor while I try to get my emotions under control.
“You’re one of us, Jasper,” Hayden says. “And when one of us is threatened, we all are. The far bigger issue, in my opinion, is who the fuck took those photos and how the fuck did they get into our club and Devon’s?”
“Sebastian and I are already working that angle, and we’re going to loop Gordon in, too,” Emmett says. “Believe me, Sebastian is as enraged as you are to hear we’ve had a breach, and he doesn’t even know the full extent.”
“There’s no chance…” Kristian shakes his head. “Never mind.”
“What were you going to say, Kris?” Marlowe asks.
“Nothing. Doesn’t matter.”
“You’re wo
ndering about Sebastian, aren’t you?” Hayden addresses the question to Kristian, who winces. “Let me assure you, there’s no fucking way he’d ever roll on us. Not after everything we’ve done for him.”
“And I know that,” Kris says. “That’s why I didn’t say it.”
“Despite his past, he’s one of us,” Hayden says of his childhood friend. “He’d never have anything to do with harming us.”
“I’m sorry to have even had the thought,” Kristian says.
“Everyone is suspect until they aren’t,” Flynn says.
“Not Sebastian,” Hayden says, glaring at Flynn.
“We’ll get Gordon on it,” Emmett says. “Let’s give his people a chance to fully investigate before we start tossing around accusations.”
“Agreed,” Kristian says.
“Someone needs to talk to Devon and give him a heads-up,” I say. “If his security teams up with ours, we might figure this out sooner rather than later.”
“I’ll talk to him,” Hayden says.
We adjourn to join the others, who now include Natalie, Aileen and her children Logan and Maddie, both of whom have grown since they were last here. They immediately run off with Ellie’s nieces and nephews who want to show them Kristian’s game room.
Aileen looks a thousand times better than she did a month ago, and I’m not the only one who notices. Kristian goes to her, as if he can’t not go to her. With everyone watching, he kisses her cheek and gives her a hug that leaves her flustered and flushed.
“It’s so good to see you,” he says.
Aileen offers him a shy smile. “You, too.”
“You look fantastic,” Marlowe says, pushing Kristian aside to hug Aileen.
“I feel fantastic.” Her blonde hair is still thin after a recent round of chemo, but her brown eyes are alive with excitement, which is a marked improvement.
“Do you want to take the kids to the pool on the roof?” Kris asks.
“They’d love that,” Aileen replies, glancing quickly at him before redirecting her gaze. “They’re full of energy after the long flight.”
“Let’s all go up,” Natalie says.
“I brought all the food and booze we were going to have at their house,” Addie says, using her thumb to point to Flynn and Natalie. “We’re overrun with reporters outside the gate, so we moved the party.”
“Oh good,” I say, “thanks for arranging everything.”
“That’s my job!”
Ellie comes over to me, begins to put her arm around me, and then appears to think better of it. “Everything okay?” she asks, looking up at me with a crease in her brow that lets me know she’s worried. I hate that she’s worried. I hate that my father has given her reason to be.
I put my arm around her and kiss the top of her head. “It’s all right, darling. They all know now.”
“Oh,” she says, adorably flustered.
“He calls you dahhling,” Leah says, fanning her face. “How do you not spontaneously come every time he says that?”
Her question is met with stunned silence followed by screaming laughter.
“Crap.” Leah covers her mouth with her hand. “I can’t believe I said that out loud.”
“I can.” Natalie shakes her head in amusement.
“PS,” Ellie says with a wink for Leah, “it’s all I can do not to.”
Now it’s my turn to be mortified as the others howl with laughter. But the embarrassment quickly fades, replaced by elation that Ellie and I have now officially gone public as a couple. The rousing support of my partners has also helped to improve my dour mood. We’re far from out of the woods, but between Emmett’s efforts and my mother’s, the kernel of hope continues to burn bright within me.
The gathering at Kristian’s pool turns into a party that’s made raucous by seven excited kids. My nieces and nephews pick right up where they left off with Logan and Maddie after Flynn and Natalie’s wedding.
While Flynn plays lifeguard for the kids, Marlowe, Natalie, Addie, Aileen and Leah corner me at one of the tables. “What?” I ask between bites of corn chips and delicious pineapple salsa.
“You’ve been holding out on us,” Marlowe says. “You and Jasper? Making plans and a baby?”
I look over at him, sitting next to the pool with Emmett and Kristian. Hayden is actually in the pool with the kids, leading a loud game of basketball. Though Jasper is with his friends, I can see he’s a million miles away, the weight of his worries heavy upon his shoulders.
“It’s, um, well, still very new.”
“Not according to Flynn,” Natalie says. “He claims it’s been coming on for a while now.”
“And of course he’d know better than Jasper and me.”
She laughs. “He thinks he knows better, but I’ve sort of noticed a vibe, if you will… Call me crazy…”
“You’re not crazy.” I feel my face get warm with embarrassment, which is funny because I’m never embarrassed when talking to my friends about guys. Until this guy. “There’s been a vibe for a while now.”
“I love you two together,” Marlowe says.
“Really?”
“God, yes. It’s a perfect match.”
“It feels sort of perfect, or it did until he saw his father and now… It feels sort of tenuous.” My stomach hurts at the thought of what could still happen if his father makes good on his threats. I’d gotten sort of used to the idea of raising our child with Jasper.
“He’ll figure something out.” Marlowe’s confidence gives me a badly needed boost. She is rarely ever wrong about anything. “Here he comes now with Flynn. They’re coming in hot.”
While the others laugh, I notice a new pep to Jasper’s step and a renewed sense of determination in the way he carries himself.
“Flynn has an idea we want to run by you,” he says when they stop next to the table where I’m sitting with the girls.
“I’m listening.”
Jasper’s gaze darts from me to the others.
“It’s okay,” I tell him. “We’re all in this together.”
“You bet your ass we are,” Marlowe says. “Let’s hear it.”
“An interview with Carolyn Justice,” Flynn says. “We’ll give her a huge exclusive on why Jasper kept his pedigree a secret for all this time, how no one ever found out, why his father spilled the beans, and how Jasper has no plans to return to London now or ever.”
“It sounds like a good idea.” I look up at Jasper. “What do you think?”
“It’s a great idea, and it would knock the legs right out of my father’s plan to blackmail me. But Flynn thinks it would be more powerful if you did the interview with me. How would you feel about that?”
“I told you I’d do anything I could to help you, up to and including doing an interview on national TV.” As I say the words, a flurry of nerves attacks my belly. I can go on TV. Of course I can.
“It needs to happen fast,” Flynn says. “Henry is due to leave on his trip in two days. If we want him to hear about it before he goes, we need to move.”
“What about the deadline?” I ask.
“We talked about that,” Jasper says. “I’ll call my father’s assistant, Nathan, and tell him what they want to hear to buy us the time we need to get the interview done and on the air.”
“Will they be able to do it in two days?” I ask.
“When I offer it to Carolyn, I’ll tell her that’s the condition,” Flynn says. From the fierce look in his eyes, I can see that my brother is entirely focused on the challenge at hand, and willing to do whatever it takes to help his friend—and me. “Shall I make the call?” He holds up his cell.
Jasper looks to me, and I nod. “Do it,” he says.
I reach for his hand and hold on tight to what I want as much as I want the child I hope we’ve created together.
“Before you go on TV,” Flynn says to me, “you need to talk to Mom and Dad about what’s going on.” His gaze shifts to include Jasper.
“
I know.”
“They’re coming here later. They had another party to go to, but they said they’d come by.”
“I’ll talk to them then.”
“We’ll talk to them then,” Jasper says, smiling down at me.
My heart flutters from the way he looks at me with so much warmth and affection and love. I’ve waited my whole life for a man to look at me the way he’s looking at me now, and I never want this feeling of joyful elation to stop.
“I’ll make the call,” Flynn says, heading for a quiet corner of the deck.
Jasper sits next to me on my lounge and puts his arms around me. “Are you okay?”
“I’m good. You?”
“I’ll feel better when we manage to neutralize this threat.”
“I like Flynn’s idea. How do you feel about it?”
“Well, I’m not him, so the idea of being on TV makes me nervous.”
I lean my head against his shoulder. “Me, too.”
“I’m sorry to put you through this, darling, but I think it’s our best chance.”
“Could you say that again?” Leah asks.
“Say what?” Jasper replies, sounding perplexed.
“Dahhhhling.” She fans her face. “Do you really get to listen to that every day?”
“I really do,” I say, smiling at Jasper, who rolls his eyes at the two of us.
Flynn comes back. “We got lucky. Carolyn is in LA. She’s coming here with a team at nine.”
I blink up at him. “As in tonight?”
“As in tonight.”
“You ready to go public, darling?” He puts extra emphasis on the last word for Leah’s sake, and she fans her face again.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
Chapter 22
My parents arrive at Kristian’s about thirty minutes before Carolyn is due. After they say their hellos, Jasper and I ask for a moment alone with them. I can see that Mom is baffled as to why we’d both need to talk to them, but Dad seems less so after nearly catching us together the other night. They come with us into Kristian’s office.
“Is everything all right?” Mom asks the second the door closes behind us.
“Everything is fine. In fact,” I say, glancing at Jasper, “everything is great. Jasper and I… We, well…”