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Chapter 5
Cash
Frankentersmyofficeand slaps pictures down on my desk. I pick them up and sift through them.
“I don’t get it. Where is he?”
Chase disappeared when the news story previews played, and we haven’t been able to find him since. It’s been almost two weeks, and I can’t for the life of me figure out where he went. I had Frank find his mother, worried that Chase would be stupid enough to lead the press right to her, but she’s still living her normal life uninterrupted by the twenty-seven-year-old hothead.
“Maybe he went to Vegas or something?” Frank suggests. “You know your brother. He probably just needs to blow off steam.”
I blow out a breath and walk over to the bar, grabbing a drink. “You’d think he would realize that we’re all going nuts looking for him. You’d think he’d care that I’m here doing damage control while he parties.” I grip the glass tightly before taking a sip of the clear liquid.
“Vodka?” Frank asks, staring at my glass like it’s poison.
“Whiskey wasn’t cutting it.”
Or more like it reminds me of the person that causes me to drink. Which ya know is fucking fantastic since I own a damn whiskey company.
Frank shakes his head. “Maybe you should try not drinking so often and then it won’t lose its effect.”
“Maybe you should mind your own fucking business,” I grit out.
“You are my business, Bossman,” he retorts.
“Don’t,” I say, cutting him with my eyes.
“She’s only a few blocks away. You could make this right. Just apologize. Tell her the truth, that you flew off the handle, you lost your mind, that you’re sorry, that you were wrong…”
Before he can continue, I fling the glass in my hand at the wall, filling the void between us with a noisy clatter and sending shards of glass and liquid flying.
“Fuck!”I scream.
Frank doesn’t flinch.
“I did nothing wrong! You’re supposed to bemybest friend. You’re supposed to be theoneperson I can rely on. Now you’re taking her side too!”
Frank folds his arms across his chest. “Despite what you may think, this is me being someone you can rely on. This is me being here foryou. I’m here to tell you that you fucked up and you’re making a mistake.”
“Get out,” I say, walking back to the bar to pour another drink.
“You are going to be really fucking miserable when you wake up and realize that she did nothing wrong.”
“Out!” I scream again.
Frank doesn’t budge. “Do you really think she would do that to you? Honestly, think about it, Cash. It doesn’t make sense. None of it makes sense.Talk to her.”
Not bothering to turn around, I pour myself another drink and down it in one shot.
When I hear the door close, my shoulders relax in relief. I strain my neck to rid the tension that the mere thought of Grace does to me on an almost hourly basis.
Fuck, it’s not like anyone has to even say her name, since she’s on my mind constantly. The way she felt below my fingertips, the sounds she made when she came, the taste of her lips—sometimes vanilla because of her lip gloss, vodka from her dirty martinis if she’d been out, or just Grace when she was waking beside me, no makeup or filter in the way.
Everyone thinks they know her better than I do, but I knew every intimate detail of that woman, and it is because of that knowledge I’m positive I’m right. Grace always put her career first. Hell, she told me she wouldn’t change and she didn’t. Memories of every word she ever said to me, every kiss we ever shared, and the way she tasted poison my every thought.
It is because of this, and also in spite of it, that I did something incredibly stupid only an hour ago. When an email came in addressed to Chase, Carter, and me regarding purchasing a club in Boston, I accepted without even speaking with my brothers. To be fair, I can’t speak to Chase, and who knows what the hell is going through Carter’s mind now that he’s found out about a potential love child. But that wasn’t the reason I made the decision without discussing it with them. It was because it wastheclub. The one where I watched Grace’s hips move, where I watched her laugh in unbridled joy, the one where I grabbed her and finally kissed her in public. The place where she admitted to me that what I was feeling wasn’t one-sided. That what we had was real. The club we left, hand in hand, before we spent the night talking and making love.
That was also the same night I told her my family’s secrets. The same ones she used to destroy me.
No one else could own that place. Part of me wants to burn it to the ground. Part of me wants to preserve it. I’m not sure which side will win, but either way it will be my decision to make.
