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“You won’t touch her." I stuck my finger in his face. "And if you hadn’t screwed around all the time instead of studying, you’d be graduating with Graham and me instead of repeating a year.”
“Jeez. What are you, my dad? Chill, okay? I’ll leave her alone. I’m not a rapist or anything.”
“There are lots of fish in the sea.” I motioned to the array of beautiful young women on the beach. “Take your pick but leave Celia out of it. I'm serious. She's not fair game.”
Greg glanced around and appeared to consider.
“Later, bro.” He punched me lightly on the arm and left me sitting at the beach bar.
Alone again, I turned around on the bar stool and considered Celia, who was towel-drying her long dark hair. She was officially nineteen, so by all rights she was a full-grown woman and could do whatever—or whomever—she wanted, but she wasn’t a party girl. I knew that much from what Graham had told me about her over the years. Serious by nature, Celia was a bookworm who planned on studying criminal law at Harvard, following in her dead father's footsteps.
Her stepfather Spencer had practically kept her under lock and key during high school, and I could see why. She was a beauty. I hated to see my former frat brothers hitting on her, knowing how persistent they could be.
I turned back to my beer and considered my upcoming schedule. My father wanted me to stay in Boston and work with him, but I'd be drawn into the worst part of the business no matter what I did—organized crime. My father had intended to take the bus
iness legit, but he’d failed.
Graham and I were talking about starting a business together but I wasn't sure things would work out. Spencer hated me and my family. As the Assistant DA, he had a pretty good idea about us, but I wanted to be completely legitimate and not use any of my family's dirty money.
That had to count for something.
If things didn’t work out with Graham, I'd sign up with the Marines like my grandfather on my mother's side.
No matter what choice I made, I couldn't have Celia anyway. While I was musing on the fact that I’d never have Graham's beautiful little sister, he sat down beside me at the beach bar.
"So, any news on your decision?" He grabbed a beer from the bartender. "You going to stick with your dad? I know he wants you to help Sean run things."
I frowned. "What about Innova?" I asked, mentioning the name Graham and I settled on for the business we were going to start together.
"You know what a hardass Spencer is." Graham took a drink. "I don't know if I can do it. Besides, it'll be hard for your dad not having you to help with the business."
I said nothing for a moment, too shocked at Graham's suggestion that we might not go into business together. I'd already filed papers to check for our business name but maybe I'd been wrong about Graham's commitment to our vision for an investment start-up…
He knew I didn't want to get mixed up with my father's business. I'd often complained about the business dealings that were bordering on criminal – or outright criminal – that he couldn't seem to escape.
"You're getting cold feet," I said softly.
"Nothing's been decided yet, but it's hard for me to come up with money."
"I thought you had your trust fund," I reminded him. We were going to use it as half our nest egg to start the business. I'd provide the rest.
"There are complications," he replied. "That's all I can say for now. You can still go on your own even if I can't join you right away. Besides, you said you might join the Marines if things didn’t work out."
"I thought it was a sure thing," I replied, trying not to sound as disappointed as I was.
"Your dad needs you," Graham said. "Sean really has no mind for business. What happened to the old I'll clean up the business plan you had?"
"It worked out really well for Michael Corleone," I replied dryly, referencing the Godfather movie Graham and I had watched when we were kids.
"If you got involved," he added like it was a done-deal, "You could clean things up. Take the business legit. Cut ties with your uncle. Extricate the business from the mob."
I raised my eyebrows at him. "They don’t tend to like it when you stop paying them protection money. I think my father understands my decision to start a business not at all tied to the gym, even if he's upset."
Graham made a face. "Go into the Marines, then. I'll miss you but we all have to move on, right?"
I drank down my beer and placed the empty bottle on the bar. "I may do that."
"Your dad will be upset if you do, but you gotta be your own man, Hunter," Graham said, and took a long swig of his beer. "Do you think Sean can manage?"
