by Rachel Kane
As smoothly as the car handled, though, he'd been surprised to find a Mercedes in the driveway—for some reason he'd assumed the circle would be empty—and he found himself skidding. Colby shouted angrily—and with a real note of fear in his voice—but with one hand on the wheel, another on the shifter, and with both feet at play, Dalton made the car dance to the side, drifting hard before coming to a stop just in front of the steps of Superbia Springs.
Dust clouded around the car.
"You are never, ever driving this car again." Colby sat back in the leather seat, trying to catch his breath.
Dalton found himself just as breathless, though for other reasons. He'd seen the figure in the window over there, twitching the curtain back. He thought he recognized the shape of the shadow. That sinuous body he had come to know so well.
"Colbs...I'm scared. Maybe this is a mistake."
"Now you say that? You owe me a new set of tires. And a new paint job. And—"
"What if he turns me down?"
For once in his life—for maybe the first moment in their entire time together as brothers—Colby's eyes looked sympathetic. "If he turns you down, then he's missing out. Look, I don't say this often. In fact, I never say it. And never will again. But you're a catch, Dalton. You've got a heart as big as your bank account. And... And I'm done fighting. We have a deal. Do what you need to do, and make sure he knows I'm not getting in the way."
"You're not coming in?"
"I'm not sure I'd be welcome."
But there were more faces in the window now. Including some he didn't recognize. "Actually...come with me," Dalton said. "I'm suddenly nervous."
"You, nervous. You give talks before thousands of people. You convince them to give you millions of dollars in investments."
"This isn't about millions of dollars," Dalton said with a shaky voice. "This is more serious than that."
He left himself out of the car, feeling unsteady on his feet. The dying sun, low in the west, brought out a golden tone in the car's otherwise silvery skin...and shadows showed where the gravel had injured that skin. One more thing to feel guilty about. No. It was just a car, and cars could be fixed.
What about hearts? Could they be fixed?
He took the first step up to the porch. The old house loomed above him, its beauty and elegance now sharpened by darkness. It looked like it was judging him, staring down, finding him unworthy.
Maybe I am unworthy.
Only one way to find out.
Another step.
Another. The old marble steps curved into a depression in their centers, the results of a century of people walking up. So much history here.
I thought I wanted you to be mine, he thought to the house, but it was really someone who lived inside of you that I wanted.
At the door, he paused. He took a breath. He tried to rehearse the words he'd need to say, but they had all fled his mind, everything he'd thought of on the drive down, gone. In a panic, he looked back at Colby, who was still down by the car. His brother gestured him on. He nodded and turned back to the door, raised his hand to the old brass knocker in the shape of a lion's head.
Before he could reach it, the door opened, slowly, silently, on its great ancient hinges.
Noah stood there, staring out at him.
A moment stretched between them, a silent moment that could have meant anything.
Maybe it was a quiet anger. Maybe Noah was deciding what he would say to injure Dalton, to cut him off entirely, before slamming the door in his face.
Maybe it was just an accusation. Noah telling him in no uncertain terms how Dalton had failed him.
He started to open his mouth, his lips and tongue dry, all the words gone out of his head, except one word, one last word, the last thing in his mind and in his heart, the only thing he could think to say, and it was the most honest thing of all:
"Noah."
Every feeling in his heart was in that word. Every moment that had passed between them. It was an apology, and an explanation, and a plea.
The man he loved looked back at him, and he saw so many feelings there. A wariness—a fear of being hurt. Yet something more. Please, he thought, let there be something more.
"Are you...are you here?" said Noah, then shook his head. "That's not what I mean, I mean—"
"I am here," Dalton agreed. "I'm here for you."
"But I told you I can't do it," Noah said, a note of doubt in his voice. "I can't come between you and your family, you and your dreams—"
"Please...please, can I talk? Can we talk? Just for a minute? I promise, if you hate me after that, I'll go away, and leave you to...who are all those people in there?" Because as much as he wanted to focus solely on Noah, he couldn't help notice the shadows coming from the study doorway, couldn't help feeling watched.
Noah lifted his hand to his brow. "I... Sure. Yes. Of course."
"Am I interrupting something?"
"Yes, but it's a good thing," he said. "Come with me."
As they passed the door to the study, Noah looked in. "Give me a few minutes, guys. Okay?"
Dalton was shocked to see the scene inside. There were the Mulgrews, sitting triumphantly at the table, papers in front of them. Violet Mulgrew looked at him, and the way her expression flickered when she saw him, he knew exactly what was happening. "Hold on," he said. "Are you—"
"Come on," said Noah.
"No, but are you about to—"
"Not here, all right?"
Colby chose that minute to poke his head through the front door. "Can I come in?"
"Oh god, him too?" Noah said. "The entire world. Wait, why is he here... I don't understand."
Colby raised his hands in surrender. "I come in peace."
"But why?"
"Colbs, go in there and visit with the nice people," Dalton said. "Don't let them sign anything until we get back. And call the lawyers. Get Marcia down here. Have her take the chopper if she needs to."
"How come she gets the chopper, and you had to ruin my car to drive down—"
"Oh my god, I am trying to have a moment here, would you just do what I say? Be glad you're an only child, Noah."
"I thank my lucky stars every day," Noah said, and quickly pulled him through the halls, toward the empty gallery. Once they were there, he turned to Dalton. "What's going on? Why are you here?"
Dalton could hear the shakiness in his voice.
The gallery itself looked haunted. As the last rays of sunlight bathed the other side of the house, the gallery was cast into a preternatural gloom, the sort of early darkness that matched exactly how Dalton felt right now. If this went wrong, if Noah turned him down...
All he could do was talk.
"You can't break up with me," he said, and it wasn't what he meant to say, or how he meant to say it, but it came out. "You're not allowed to. This is a partnership, and both partners have to agree to these kinds of decisions."
Noah crossed his arms and looked at Dalton skeptically. "Have you ever been in a relationship before? That's not how any of this works."
"I'm saying it badly. You can't go. Look, you're wrong, okay? You guessed wrong."
"What, are you talking about our guessing game back on the bridge? Dalton, seriously, I'm sorry, but that's—"
"No! I'm talking about today, this morning, when you left. You thought your presence was causing me stress. You thought Colby would forever be pulling us apart. You thought..."
"I thought you wouldn't stand up for me, because you're so afraid of anyone knowing you have feelings," Noah said, and it wasn't an accusation, just a simple statement of truth.
"I proved you wrong. I told Dad. I told Colby. I said—well, I don't remember exactly what I said, and I think I may have agreed to let Colby take credit for everything I do for the company for the rest of my life, but I don't care, Noah, don't you get it? I don't care. I need you in my life. In my heart."
"I can't make you choose—"
"You're not making me. Al
l life is, is choices. We choose things all the time. One thing is better than another, so we choose it. I get that. But I also refuse it. I would give up the company to have you, if that's what it took, I'd give up everything...but sometimes in this world you get everything you want. You just have to believe. You just have to fight."
Noah shook his head, looking bewildered. "You are not making a damn bit of sense, Dalton."
"I want us to be back together! I'm in love with you, Noah! And I refuse to believe I have to lose anything to love you. I think loving you gains me everything. I think loving you has opened my eyes to how hungry I am for... For the world to mean something again. For my work to be meaningful, for my life to be something other than going through the motions to honor my father. You brought that to me, don't you get it? You brought me to this place where my life actually means something again, and I refuse to give you up. Absolutely refuse."
"Refuse? You can march in here in your fancy car and just sweep me off my feet, is that what you think?"
"Yes," Dalton said. "That's exactly what I think."
"And you think that I'll just stand here swooning because you're declaring your love for me? That I'll just fall into your arms because you say you've somehow beat Colby at his own game, you've somehow won the right to have a relationship and your life, is that what you think?"
The words could have been hostile...but Dalton heard the hope behind them. He knew what Noah needed right now was certainty. That his entire life had been on the knife's edge of risk, always on the verge of losing everything.
So he opened his arms. "If you want to fall in, go ahead. I'm yours for the taking, Noah. Everything you've ever wanted in life is yours. All you have to do is forgive me."
"Forgive you? I was the one who left. I was the one who ruined everything."
"You didn't ruin anything. I should have made it clear to you that I never wanted you to go, that I would've given up anything for you, without a hesitation—"
"No, seriously, Dalton, I've been so damn cagey about my past, so humiliated by it for no reason, as though we get to choose our pasts, as though we have any choice in the matter at all, and I hurt you by leaving, instead of just trying to work it out—"
"Look," said Dalton, "can we just agree this was all Colby's fault?"
Noah laughed then, the purest sound in the world, a sound that made things okay again, that made Dalton feel like maybe the sun would rise tomorrow, maybe the earth would still turn, and life would go on, and things could be good.
"I totally blame Colby," Noah said. "I'm glad you brought him here, so I can give him a piece of my mind."
"Careful, there," Dalton said. "He's mourning the loss of his car's perfect side-panels. I may have done a bit of illegal speeding to get down here."
"You risked getting a ticket for me?"
"I mean, I risked billions of dollars for you. A speeding ticket was the least of my worries."
"That's the sweetest thing anyone's ever done for me," said Noah, suddenly throwing himself at Dalton, putting his arms around him, pressing his face into Dalton's chest. "Rushing down...it's very romantic."
"You heard the part about risking billions, right?" But suddenly there was no room for jokes. Suddenly there was just this awareness of Noah's body against his, and the rightness of it, and a sense of relief, like he had narrowly avoided the greatest disaster of his life.
Which I guess I did.
He hugged Noah close, as though the smaller man were far sturdier and more grounded than Dalton himself was. Like Noah was a mountain.
"You must never do that again," Dalton said. "No more thinking you know what's going on in my heart. No more sacrificing yourself for my sake. Got it? No more sacrificing, period."
Noah shook his head and kissed Dalton. His eyes were shining. "And you're sure you mean it? Because I could really use a favor right now. Violet's in there about to buy the house—"
"I know. But she's not going to."
"I mean, you have to know how it feels to ask for your help, right at this moment, when all I want to do is strip your clothes off and drag you up the stairs to my room, I hate it, it feels manipulative to ask you to step in right now—"
"Are you kidding? What could be more romantic than interrupting a legal proceeding and voiding some contracts? It's basically the real-estate version of crashing your wedding to the wrong guy."
Noah blinked. "There's something you never see in rom-coms. Put down that pen, I've found out something important about the zoning for the property!"
"When I'm done, though, we've got to get back to the romantic part. I'm not done telling you how much you mean to me."
"Oh, trust me. The minute Violet's out of here, you and I are going to have a talk."
"Although, wait...one of the women in the room looked just like you. Was that...was that your mom?"
Noah blushed. "Yeah. Yeah, that's Bonnie. Can you believe, I was wondering whether I should introduce you? Like maybe I should keep her hidden away?"
"You have got to introduce me. I want to understand how you turned out so wonderful."
"Okay, but having my mom here sort of puts a damper on the whole romantic evening vibe I was hoping for."
"So what you're saying is, once we're done here, we should fly out somewhere far away?"
"I mean, I wasn't saying that, but if you insist on taking me to New York or Paris or—"
Dalton tsked. "You and your expensive tastes. Okay. Let's go save the day, and then figure out where in the world to go for dinner."
Colby was standing guard over the room, and he had his Colby-face on, the business scowl that caused CEOs to quake in their boots. No more scared-passenger face, no more queasy-over-Dalton's-feelings face. He was in his element. "And another thing, I believe the lawyers could make a case that this contract was presented to the Coopers under duress, at a time of emotional stress in their lives—"
It was quite a sight. Violet and Justin looked mortified, listening to Colby, unable to make any objection to his point. The lawyer they'd brought (That's Mr. Edwards, Noah said, he's a good guy) was beaming happily at their discomfort. And the Coopers were looking nervously at the scene, still not sure what they were seeing.
But Bonnie only had eyes for her son. She caught Noah's glance, then looked at where he had entwined his arm with Dalton's, and a satisfied smile stole over her face. They really did look a lot alike, especially with that smile.
"Thanks Colby, I believe I can take it from here," Dalton said. "Everyone, there has been a change in plans."
You could have heard a pin drop. Not a breath in the room. Dalton felt like he could hear his own heart beating...or maybe it was Noah's. Maybe it was both of them, their hearts in exactly the same time, in a quick rhythm that was all joy. It was all he could do not to break out into a smile himself, to keep the serious look on his face.
You're mine! You're actually mine!
The lawyer pulled the papers away from Violet's side of the table. "And would you mind outlining this change of plans for us, Mr. Raines?"
“I’m joining this venture as a silent partner. Which means,” he said, looking at Colby, “that I won’t be using Raines Foundation funds. It’ll come out of my own pocket.”
Colby started, “Dalton, you don’t have to—”
But Dalton raised a hand. “Let me finish. I know there have been some concerns from the Superbia town council about this project. About what it might do to the community. So let me say this right now. There will be no objections from the zoning committee. No tricks. No trying to stop these three from making this resort come to life again.”
At that, Violet Mulgrew rose, superiority stiffening her spine like iron rods. “And who do you think you are, Mr. Raines? You may have money on your side, but I have the law. I am Superbia. I am the town council. If I find something wrong with the zoning, something wrong with the permits—”
“You won’t,” said Dalton, “because of the second project I am bringing to
Superbia. Our company is growing, and we need another factory to keep up. I’m proposing to build it here.”
“You what?” whispered Colby.
Dalton glanced at him. Don’t interrupt, damn it, I’m trying to make a scene. “You know it as well as I do, Colby. This order we’re fulfilling now, it’s stressing the factory to its breaking point. We need another one. Because the orders aren’t going to stop. And Superbia is the perfect place for it. You’ve seen the geography, the sunlight—we could run the whole place on solar. We could—”
“I’m sorry,” said Violet, shaking her head, “but I fail to see what that has to do with this. Now, these boys have freely agreed to sell this property to me, and I mean to have it. What you do with your factory—”
“The thing is,” said Dalton, “we’re going to need land for that factory. Good, solid land with excellent drainage, access to the highway…and remind me again, who is the largest landowner in Superbia?”
That got through to her. A little of that stiffness softened in Violet’s face. “I am, of course. You’re saying you want to buy some of my land.”
“I’m willing to pay well over market value,” he said. “Well over.”
“Why, Mr. Raines, are you offering me a bribe?”
“An extremely generous bribe. And all you have to do is give this up. Superbia Springs will be rebuilt, and you won’t stand in its way. No more schemes to undermine Noah and the Coopers.”
Later on, Noah would ask him about this. He’d say, Violet deserved punishment, not a reward…why did you offer to buy that land?
And Dalton would tell him, In business, in life, it’s not always winners versus losers. Sometimes to beat someone, you have to let them win a little, too. As long as you get what you want—everything you want—then it’s a victory.
Maybe, Noah would say. But she’s still getting away with murder.
Dalton would grin and pull him close. People like that, they eventually get their comeuppance. I’m not letting you lose Superbia Springs just so you can feel morally superior to her. Don’t worry. She won’t be around forever.
But right now, here in this room, Violet’s shoulders sank. “Bribing me to let a homosexual hotel come up in this town. I feel like I’m taking Satan’s money.”