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“Shat up!” I snapped. “You just keep Elliot in check whilst I’m gone. Even better, do something to keep him busy. And for fuck’s sake, don’t let him buy anything!”
“Alright,” Aiden nodded. “I won’t.”
“Unless of course it’s a killer deal,” I stipulated. “Like the Donnelly contract. Or that time we found—”
A horn blasted, echoing obnoxiously beneath the departure drop-off awning. John F. Kennedy airport was crazy enough without the ocean of taxi horns adding to the chaos. Snaking an arm out the window, I flipped the guy off.
“And you’ll take care of our girl too, will ya?”
“I will,” Aiden promised.
“Don’t impregnate her or anything, though,” I warned snidely. “I’ll do that deed when I get back, if I haven’t already.”
“Just get the fuck out of the car already,” my friend smirked.
I popped out, grabbing my bag from the back seat as I went. I hated checking luggage. I usually traveled light.
“And don’t forget to tell your mom I said hi,” Aiden smiled cheekily through the window.
I wrinkled my lip at him. “I’ll do no such thing.”
He pulled away, leaving me in a sea of travelers on the gum-caked sidewalk. I could’ve flown private if I’d wanted. We had a share-plan going with a bunch of other companies. But this wasn’t business, it was personal. Only it also wasn’t.
Damn.
I hated lying to anyone, much less one of the guys. But Aiden and I were at the end of our rope. We needed to know what happened on Elliot’s trip, because he sure as shit wasn’t telling us everything.
And that, by itself, gave me license to do this.
The ticket said I’d be flying to Dublin, which of course I was. But a day and a half later, I’d be headed to Heathrow. I had people to meet, contacts to see. Associates who I needed answers from regarding one of my closest partners and friends.
I could only hope they’d keep their mouths shut.
“Checking that bag, sir?”
The guy at the sidewalk check-in reached out for my duffel. I yanked it back.
“I’m carrying it on.”
“Maybe,” he theorized. “It might too big for the overhead, though. Here, let me test it by putting it in this—”
“You’re not putting it anywhere,” I growled, pushing my way past him. “I’ll get it in the overhead, don’t you worry your pretty little head.”
Ten steps later, I felt bad. Not a lot, but a little bit. I’d been irritable since Aiden and I made the decision to check into Elliot’s failed meetings. As necessary as it was, it still sucked.
I also wasn’t looking forward to leaving Jordyn.
You’ve fallen for her.
Damned if that weren’t true. I’d spent weeks denying it to myself at first, but over the past few days I’d had a come to Jesus meeting regarding my own feelings. The truth was, I was bonkers over her. She ticked off every box when it came to the perfect woman, except the only one that mattered:
I couldn’t actuallyhaveher.
I mean, partially that wasn’t true. Biblically I’d had her in just about every sense of the word! But tohaveher, have her. To make her mine as a girlfriend. As someone I could actually plan a future with…
She’s your surrogate. Don’t get attached.
“Yeah sure, Connor,” I spat as I handed my pre-printed boarding pass to the security officer. “Easy for you to say.”
