Furthermore, Beau understood better than anyone the pressure I placed on myself to provide for him and challenge my father’s expectations. Of course, I knew Chandler was here for a nefarious reason. I’d been planting seeds of disinformation, waiting for Chandler to funnel the data to whomever he was working for, most likely my old man.
I finally turned away to tidy up my lunch and give myself a moment to set my resolve. Old habits took a minute to get past. I had to harden my heart against the deep urge to go after him. I discarded my food in the trash can and headed to my en suite bathroom for some solitude. The heels of my palms pressed against my eyes, shutting out everything except my racing thoughts. There was so much I’d kept from Beau, maybe I shouldn’t have.
Chandler wasn’t just a mole. Without realizing it, he also gave me information I wouldn’t otherwise have about my family. He had told me that my mother was doing everything she could to tarnish Linda’s reputation in the elite circle they all ran in. Fabricating inappropriate stories about her, and the connections they shared. My father’s focus was now on Carter and putting him out of business. If I continued to work with Carter, I was certain there would be a day that I’d go head-to-head with my father’s team of attorneys. With my firm at my back, we’d destroy the Richmond legal team.
My vendetta against my father was reaching new heights. It consumed me day and night, pushing me to be better than the day before. As I turned to stare at my reflection in the mirror, I could tell I was chipping away at my father’s meticulously crafted facade.
In the coming two weeks, I needed to find the right words to sit Beau down and buy myself time to allow Chandler to dig his own grave. The seeds I was planting ensured Chandler would suffer mightily.
18: The Court
Dash/Beau
Dash
The basketball left my hand only to bounce back as I dribbled from the free throw line. Lon was bent over, hands resting on his knees, closer to the net, panting like the old man I teased him about being. At forty years old, that was nothing more than a playful jab. Basketball had never been my forte, but it was Lon’s. He insisted we play, likely due to the way he consistently kicked my butt on the court. I was learning though.
Tonight’s game was as close as the score ever got. I was just one point behind him. He knew my plays by heart. What he didn’t realize was that I had been secretly practicing my three-point shots. This was my one chance to catch him off guard. Did I save it for another time or show off my new skill now?
“Are you just gonna stand there?” Lon asked in a dismissive tone, rising from his ready position.
Yeah. Now was as good a time as any. I positioned and sent the ball flying. The ball flew through the air, arcing in perfect form until it slid through the net.Yes! I jerked my gaze to Lon for his reaction. He stayed rooted in his spot, no attempt to rebound, in utter shock.
“The whole reason to play with you is so that I win,” Lon shot out as if that was a reasonable thought to share aloud with an opponent. “When did that happen?” He waved toward the net to make his question clearer.
“All that matters is that I win,” I responded cockily and left the court, walking with a confident strut across the firm’s rooftop gymnasium.
“So you’ve been working on your game behind my back?” Lon asked. Based on the way his voice faded, Lon was still standing close to the net. “Not very sportsmanlike of you. Did Beau teach you that move?”
Oh, the shit-talking was flying. “Beau probably could have taught me to kick your ass a long time ago, but he didn’t teach me that shot,” I said, spinning around to walk backward to ensure he heard me. “That was all me.”
“Huh,” Lon countered. “Now you’ve played your hand. I’ll be better prepared next time.”
“If there is a next time. I got more from where that came from.” My lie sounded pretty damned convincing even to me.
I pushed through the doors into a room that rivaled any professional sports team’s locker room. There were private showers, which I had used many times after a workout before going home or beginning my day in the morning. I regularly used the state-of-the-art sauna, stored a week’s worth of my wardrobe in the climate controlled storage “lockers”—another perk properly executed by Penny. There were even bedrooms for when a partner’s home life got twisted, much like mine right now, and needed a place to stay.
“Funny, how you’ve just made the news that I’m about to give you much easier to say,” Lon said as he entered with a bang of the door against the wall in the irritation of his loss. I took a terry cloth towel off the stack and scrubbed it down my sweaty face then over the wet ends of my damp hair.
“Bad news?” I asked. My tone reflected the sense of disinterest that Lon had taught me to master. I finally cast a glance at Lon before heading to my locker for my shower kit, a term I’d learned from Beau. That thought shifted my focusback to my guy. He’d only been gone for eight hours. Yet, he’d managed to lodge himself into my thoughts. Images flashed through my mind’s eye. Beau nude, grinning, walking toward me. His cock was a thing of beauty, just like the man overall. In this memory, he was flaccid, his length bouncing from one thigh to another as he came at me.
Whatever I had done to cause such a reaction from Beau, I’m sure it would end with me being thoroughly fucked. Tingles rippled over my arms. He knew what I liked and gave it to me every single time. No matter what was happening with me, when we were home together, Beau healed me right up, making sure life looked bearable again. How had our perfect lives gotten so messy and complicated? Beau still mattered more to me than anything else in the world.
“I was prepared to trounce you then give you the blow. You’re competitive, you wouldn’t care what I said.” Lon popped open his locker, managing to gain my full attention.
“Is it about Beau or Chandler?” I asked.
“Chandler. Let’s start there. He’s locked out of everything with no chance of being hired full time. Why’s he here?” Lon asked, agitation entering his tone in seconds flat.
“He stepped up today,” I murmured, recalling the lowly tasks Lon had assigned to me when I first started working closely with him. “He’s also on a temporary contract. Let me figure out his angle, then I’ll send him packing.”
Lon turned to face me directly. “You have the firm paying a salary to a guy you suspect is reporting back to your old man?” His incredulous tone with regard to Chandler hadn’t changed since the first time we had this conversation.
“I’m paying his salary and leading him on a wild goose chase. My father’s getting harmful information from Chandler. Why’re we still talking about this?” I asked and slammed shut my locker door to drive home my point.
“My suggestion is to let the vendetta go, along with Chandler. You’ve won. You’re moving to senior partner soon. Whatever your family did doesn’t matter.” Lon shut his door in a normal way, then followed me into the showers.
“Did we cover the blow you were prepared to give me, or is it about Beau’s appearance today and the way he left the office?” Sadness blanketed my heart. I’d been wrong not to stand up for Beau over the last few years. The hurt and anger in Beau’s gaze the minute he recognized Chandler might leave a lasting scar across my heart. I hadn’t expected Chandler to be in the office until well after Beau had left for the airport. Whatever reprimand Lon was about to throw down was nothing compared to the way I beat myself up for allowing Beau to leave without the full explanation.
