“Your brother seems willing to meet you halfway. Maybe even more than that. It’s what you want, so why aren’t you taking the chance to fix your relationship?”
Fierce brown eyes met mine. “If you’re on his side, then get out of this shower and go fuck him. Sounds like you almost had that worked out anyway.” He rinsed his hair.
“I’m on your side, you idiot.” I shoved my way under the water, tired of being cold. “I wasn’t going to fuck him, but I think your sister-in-law would like to watch the two of us.”
Drew spun, pushing me up against the plastic wall of the shower/tub combination. “If you want to help me, stay out of it.”
I lifted my hands in surrender. “I sure as hell don’t want to do anything of the kind.”
He quickly soaped and rinsed himself, leaving me in the shower alone. When I got out, there wasn’t a single towel or Drew to be found.
Chapter Thirty-One
Sonya
Glutton for punishment.
That was what I was. The second I arrived at the apartment building from my day working off my bill at Paths of Purpose, I went straight up to the Carter apartment under the guise of checking on Loretta when I really wanted to see Drew. He hadn’t come to the shelter at all that day, so I assumed he’d been with his mother. I didn’t like the way the morning had gone down, the semi-fight different from our others.
Mulaney answered the door when I rang the bell. “Glad to see you wearing a little bit more.”
“Are you sure about that?” I tossed back as I entered the foyer. The expression on her face was livid. “How’s Loretta?”
“She’s had a rough day.” Mulaney frowned and looked away. “Can't keep anything down,” she elaborated in frustration.
“What do the doctors say?”
“That it’s normal, and they’ll monitor it. Fuckers won’t do a damn thing for her,” she finished under her breath.
“I thought they were the best?”
We walked down the hall to Loretta’s bedroom, the apartment quiet. “They are.”
“She’s probably not up for company. I’ll just look in on her and be on my way.”
“Loretta will be happy to see you. She asked about you earlier.”
“She did?” My steps faltered. For reasons I’d never understand, she liked me, and I had a feeling she knew just how rotten I was.
“I’ll be in the study if you need me,” Mulaney said.
Quietly, I pushed inside. The blackout curtains were drawn, a little light coming from the bathroom. I blinked a few times to adjust to the dark and scanned the room. The chair beside her bed was empty. There was no one with her except Sam, who was in his place curled up next to her sleeping form.
Almost tiptoeing, I padded over to the chair, trying to sit without making a sound. It creaked as soon as my ass hit the cushion, and I winced.
“Drew?” Her voice was weak.
I found it telling that she expected her son to be here above anyone else. “It’s Sonya. I’m sorry I woke you.”
“That’s okay, dear.”
“I’m just going to sit here with you for a while, if that’s okay. We don’t have to talk.”
“Tell me what’s wrong with my boy. He’s not right today.” It sounded like it took a Herculean effort to get that out.
“I’m not a hundred percent sure, but I think he’s struggling to take the olive branch Easton’s offering. There’s something he’s not ready to let go of, and he’s being an asshole about it. Sorry,” I apologized quickly, but Loretta didn’t say anything. “I’m not one to help others. I don’t know what Drew needs, but I want to be there for him.” I paused, lifting a shoulder. “I also want to kill him the majority of the time.”
That got a little snicker from Loretta, though she remained unmoving.
“Drew won’t forgive or let go of whatever it is that’s bothering him until he’s good and ready. He may never be,” she said.
“I agreed to what you asked me to do before, to look after him, but I’m really not the person for the job. I like you, and I don’t want to let you down.” This truth thing was for the birds, but I couldn’t stop spewing it around her.
“Then don’t.”
After that, she slept, and I sat there, soaking in the silence. I hadn’t been so conflicted since college, when my father had asked me to do something for him that I’d wanted to say no to but couldn’t. That was part of the reason I was who I was. I didn’t get involved in other people’s drama, and I avoided my conscience like the plague. There was no room for that in my business or my life.
I’d been alone for so long, hadn’t cared about anyone but myself in the name of self-preservation. And after Drew’s revelations, we were more alike than I wanted to admit. He’d been going through life alone too.
I didn’t owe the woman in that bed anything, yet I felt compelled to keep my word to her when, in the end, I wouldn’t be able to. I just wasn’t built that way. I didn’t have the time or inclination to worry about Drew. I had to figure out how to dump that coin, but buyers for that kind of thing weren’t on every street corner. Getting caught selling stolen artifacts . . . I might be making an appearance at the big house after all.
I had things to do. I couldn’t sit here with a sick woman. Hastily, I pushed up out of the chair. As I did, I noticed she wore the shawl I’d made around her shoulders. I ignored the pang of joy and stab of guilt, and held up my finger to my lips when Sam popped his head up. He stayed put, and I quietly exited the room.
As I walked down the hall toward the front door, I heard voices coming from one of the rooms.
“I don’t think he knows we own the mineral rights, Dad. He’s not even doing anything with SPE. Like he doesn’t give a shit if it sinks now that Carter Energy is out of the picture.”
I froze, knowing this had everything in the world to do with Drew. I had no business listening or getting involved, but I couldn’t make my feet move.
“And you said you don’t think he’s aware of your and Mulaney’s ownership of the pipeline?” That was Mr. Carter.
“Not based on a conversation we had a few days ago. He knows it’s held up in legislation, but he definitely believes it’s his.”
“So where are we on that?”
“We’ve shored up the LLC, made it iron-clad so there’s no way for him to control it.” Mulaney was speaking. They were their own little club, sorting everything out under Drew’s nose.
“Good. How bad off is SPE financially?” Mr. Carter again.
“They’ll be lucky to make it another six months, especially without those mineral rights.”
“Serves him right.”
Drew’s father was definitely bitter over the money, but I wondered what my father would do in his shoes? I couldn’t picture him shutting me out as they had Drew. Although, if I were in their shoes, Drew would be in jail unless I could figure out some way to use him to my advantage.
“I’m going to check on Loretta,” Mulaney said, and I scampered to the front door, escaping before I was caught.
I flew down the stairs, hoping Drew was home. I was supposed to be using him, not helping him. But I was going to anyway.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Drew
Sonya burst through the door, out of breath, and all I could think about was taking her. It always came back to that, no matter what mood I was in. I couldn’t turn off this need to have my way with her. To make her bend to my will.
Her fingers snapped in my face. “We can fuck after we talk, but you need to get your brain out of your pants for a few minutes.”
“And I wonder, why didn’t I miss you at all today?”
She glared at me and put one hand on her hip. “I honestly don’t know why I bother.” Then she was on top of me, where I sat on the couch, her mouth against my ear. “We need to talk somewhere private.” She glanced around as if she wasn’t sure we could talk freely. That was smart thinking, and something that hadn’t occurred to me, but I
wouldn’t put it past my family to have planted cameras and listening devices.
“How about a smoke? Will that make you a little easier to deal with?” I asked with a wink.
She was back on her feet in a nanosecond. “Can’t hurt to try.” She stalked to the door.
“Might need a jacket, sugar,” I called, and she spun on her heel. I loved her pissed off. She was wild and sexy and out of control, and so fucking beautiful when she was mad. Casually, I grabbed my coat from the closet. “Oh, you don’t have one, do you?” I said, shrugging my arms into the sleeves.
She didn’t say a word, stabbing the button for the elevator once we were in the lobby. “Why can’t I come home and you ask me how my day was? Or offer to get me a drink? Or maybe even run me a bath?”
I gripped her by the nape of her neck, lowering my mouth toward hers. “You know you don’t want a boring and predictable man like that.”
“I’m seriously rethinking that.”
I laughed, kissing her and backing her into the elevator. She gripped the lapels of my coat and thrust her tongue in my mouth, daring me to do something about it if I didn’t like it.
I took control of the kiss, pouring all my frustration from the day into it. She took it, easing every ounce of it with her acceptance. She let me get it out without having to say a word. In the underground garage, I led us up the ramp to an exit door. The side street off this building wasn’t so bad—not nearly as dirty as some of the others we’d been in and fairly well-lit for the evening. We huddled in an alcove, out of the wind, and I lit up a cigarette.
She looked miffed but was pacified when I held the Parliament Light to her lips. We both took a drag and blew out a stream of smoke. She stepped closer to me, tucking herself under my jacket.
“Can we talk here?” she asked, and I gave her a quizzical smile.
“What’s got you so serious?”
“Damn you.” The curse only made my smile broaden.
“I think we’re safe here. What’s on your mind?”
“I went to see your mother this afternoon.”
My smile dropped. “Is she okay? I mean, it was awful today, but she was resting when I left. She seemed all right.”
Sonya’s hand pressed against my chest, right above my heart. “She’s still resting. Didn’t get sick at all while I was there.”
I nearly sagged in relief, and her eyes softened.
“I overheard your father, brother, and sister-in-law talking. It didn’t make a lot of sense to me, but I’m thinking it will to you.”
I straightened immediately, dropping the cigarette and stomping it out. “Like what?”
“Do you know what SPE is?”
“Yes, it’s the company I own. The one I bought so I could force my father to sell his business to me.”
She nodded as though something had clicked into place. “Your brother said he didn’t think you knew they owned the mineral rights.”
“Mineral rights to what?” I grilled.
“I don’t know. Then he said something to the effect that you weren’t doing anything with SPE. That you didn’t care if it failed. They don’t think you can make it through the end of the year, especially without the mineral rights.”
My foot began to tap at a rapid pace. Mineral rights. Mineral rights. Surely, they weren’t talking about the ones that belonged to SPE. There’s no way they could own those. I’d bought them when I purchased—“Son of a bitch.”
“What?”
“I need to look at that contract, the one I did with Dad. I read it, but that legal shit turns into a bunch of mumbo jumbo. He might have sold me Carter Energy without conveying any of the mineral rights.”
“Is that bad?”
“Without those, the damn company is worthless.”
“They don’t think you know that you don’t own the pipeline either. They’ve shored up the LLC so you can’t touch it.”
“Fuck.” I slammed my fist into the brick wall. Sonya didn’t even flinch. “I need you to get me a laptop. Mine’s obviously compromised.”
“Sure. You can use mine,” she said without hesitation, already ducking out of my coat.
She took off down the alley instead heading back into the building.
I caught her hand. “Where are you going?”
Impatience shaped the expression on her face. “To get a laptop,” she said slowly as if I was an idiot. “It’s not far from here.”
“I can’t let you go by yourself. It’s too dangerous.”
“What if my bodyguard goes with me? I could use some extra clothes.”
“Do you have an apartment nearby, Tigress?” I asked, intrigued by all the things I still didn’t know about her.
“Why would I need one when somebody else is always willing to share theirs?” She gave me a mischievous smile.
“You’ll have to pay for a cab.”
She appeared ready to knee me in the crotch. What was new? “This relationship is the worst I’ve ever been in. I have to do all the work.”
“I’ll more than make it up to you later,” I promised with a salacious smirk.
“Sex doesn’t count.” We went out to the street and hailed a cab.
“I was going to let you watch me get off again,” I said, and she swatted me before rattling off an address to the driver. “We’ll get you a friend. I’ll let you play with her while I watch.”
“Who says my friend would be a her?” she sassed.
* * *
Twenty minutes later, we arrived at a warehouse-type building. She keyed in a code in a panel by the door. We immediately took the stairs inside the entrance, climbing up two flights. I followed her into a long hallway, with metal rollaway doors lining both sides. A mini-storage warehouse.
She stopped in front of a space that was wider than some of the others we’d passed. She unlocked the door and thrust it upward. My brows shot up to my hairline.
In a ten-by-twenty unit, clothes, accessories, shoes, handbags, and God knew what else were neatly organized so she could find whatever she wanted in an instant. I let out a low whistle, and she gave me a scathing look before marching straight to the back corner.
“Take your pick,” Sonya said, opening a cabinet stocked with laptops, tablets, and cell phones . . . a techie’s dream. Her selection rivaled mine in Houston.
“Why are you working off your debt at Paths of Purpose when you could easily cash in some of this, pay it off, and be done with it?”
She froze, those wild eyes locking with mine. “Because I want to.”
I studied her. It wasn’t much of an answer, and even though it was foolish of me, I didn’t believe her intentions were nefarious.
“Do you have a bag?” She selected a large black briefcase with separate slots, and I loaded up several laptops and a couple of tablets. Meanwhile, she stuffed clothing into a Louis Vuitton duffel at a rapid clip.
“You rob a Neiman Marcus or what?”
“This is what years of hard work will get you,” she said without taking a break.
Once the bag was stuffed and zipped, she dug around in a dresser and piled a bunch of lingerie on top of it, revealing a safe. She typed in an elaborate series of numbers, and the lock popped. She retrieved a velvet pouch and tucked it in a purse she’d selected a moment before. Next, she grabbed a box about the size that would hold a necklace.
After a second of hesitation, she checked a cell phone, frowned, and put it back in the safe.
“Expecting a call?” What sugar daddy was important enough for her to keep in touch with?
“No.” She snapped the door closed, pressed a button to engage the lock, and returned the lingerie to the drawer.
“Then why were you looking at that phone?” I couldn’t let it go, my curiosity too much to ignore.
A little growl escaped her. “If you must know—” She hesitated. Would she lie to me? And then she deflated. “It’s the number my parents know. I thought they might have called.”
I nearly fis
t pumped that she wasn’t reaching out to old flames. “You sound disappointed they haven’t.”
“I don’t know . . . It is what it is.”
“Ever think about calling them?” I was the last person to be giving advice on family.
She looked at me as if I’d suggested she tell them how she acquired this warehouse full of stuff. “No. I’m ready to go,” she said, closing the drawer with her hip. “And you’re carrying all of this.”
Sonya picked up her purse and breezed past her duffel toward the hall. End of discussion.
“The hell I am. I’m not your bellboy.” I hefted the briefcase on my shoulder and sauntered past her bag. I had every intention of carrying it, but there was no need to make anything easy for her.
She blocked my exit. “How badly do you need that technology?”
“Not bad enough to heft all your crap around the city,” I tossed back. She moved for the stash hanging from my shoulder. I held it away from her. “What happened to the woman who didn’t need me for anything?”
She started around me. I stopped her with a quick kiss and then grabbed her duffel and slung it over my other shoulder.
“Remind me not to do anything else for you ever again,” she said as she rolled down the door and secured it.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Drew
“Where the hell have you been?”
Easton was waiting for us, leaning up against the kitchen counter with his arms crossed over his chest.
“I do have a business to run on top of everything else.” I kept moving toward the bedroom. Why had I thought it was a good idea to buy an oil company? Two really if I counted SPE and Carter Energy . . . which I did. In some ways, I was grateful for my sentence because it meant I could avoid the work I loathed.
“You aren’t to leave unsupervised.”
“Stop being a nag,” I called over my shoulder, taking Sonya’s things to my room. “We’re back in time for dinner.”
Thick As Thieves: An Enemies-To-Lovers Romance (Paths To Love Book 5) Page 18