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The elevator stopped on the Finance Department’s floor. Mr. Hardwick turned to eye Avery just outside the car. “If you’re struggling with things and don’t understand, you can always bring them to me if Vaughn is too busy. Hell, that boy trained under me when he first started moving through the ranks here. I probably know more about what you’re doing than he does.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Avery lied, forcing a smile.
“You do that,” Hardwick said as the doors closed again.
* * *
Climbing into the elevator alone,Wilder brushed a hand through his hair and yawned. It had been a terrible night of sleep with vivid dreams of Abraham the entire time. He’d tossed and turned, unable to get much shut eye. Instead of lying awake and staring at the ceiling, he’d gotten up and prepared for work. Early mornings were normal for him.
As he walked past the conference room, he noted Abraham already in. Glancing at his watch, he frowned. It was barely seven-thirty. He knocked on the door and pushed it ajar. “Morning.”
Abraham glanced his way but didn’t truly give him a full look. “Morning.”
“Glad to see you here bright and early.”Particularly after last night.
“I wanted to get a jump on things.” Abe peeked at him and back at the laptop. “As you said, you wanted to get this investigation going as soon as possible.”
“I appreciate it,” Wilder murmured.
Weighted silence hung in the air as he lingered, unsure what else to say.
I dreamt about you last night.
Being in your arms.
Loving you.
All night.
“I guess I should get started,” he said instead.
“Yep.”
Marching into his office, Wilder glanced through the window at the handsome beta, knowing he needed to get his shit together. The Green Trust meeting was upcoming, and he had a ton of other projects on the table. Vaughn was the CFO and needed to supervise the investigation, not him.
Yet there was no way he couldn’t be involved.
He glanced Abraham’s way one more time, realizing it wouldn’t be the last that day.
* * *
Later that day,a clench of need wracked Avery and sent him scrambling for his bottle of pills. Opening it… he found only three.Three.Earlier that morning, it had been half full or more. There’d beenplentyof pills. He opened his bag, searching the contents. Had they fallen out? No… there was nothing there! Where had they gone?
He remembered lifting them to show his uncle and tossing them back to the top of his bag before they’d gone to the foyer to talk in private.
No… oh no.
Lake.
Had his brother taken them?
Another clench nearly made him moan. He tossed two of the three pills he’d planned to take and washed them down with the bottle of water beside him. As soon as they were down, he reached for his phone and called home.
Gray answered. “Hello?”
“Where’s Lake?”
“Asleep.”
