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Now, the same as before, he had Everly to think about. Would she want to go with Ridge? Even after she found out the whole truth?
Or would she choose to stay here? If she did, Blake would never leave her.
“David is going to be a problem,” Ridge said.
“No, he won’t.” Blake wasn’t afraid of many things, and David wasn’t on the short list. “I’ll take care of him. He’s been texting her on and off since the breakup. Everly didn’t want me to get involved because she thought it would make things worse, but I think we need to revisit that talk.”
“I got in on the merger.”
Blake groaned. “You’re joking.”
He remembered a little about the offer. David wanted to buy a hotel on the Gulf Coast, and he needed Ridge’s backing–money, to be exact. David had a tendency to rush into things, but he’d at least learned something. If he didn’t go all in on his own, the fallout wasn’t as crippling if things went south.
“It was before the breakup. I thought they were getting married, and I didn’t know he was cheating on her. I wasn’t really all in, but I didn’t have a good reason to say no other than I didn’t like the guy.”
“You’re not the type to do something you don’t want to,” Blake said.
“I thought it would show Everly that I was trying to get along with him. She’d mentioned a few times that I wasn’t friendly around David.”
“Does she know about the hotel acquisition? It’s been a long time since we talked about it. Were the terms still the same?”
“Terms were the same. Sixty percent my way. And I don’t think she knows. David said he wanted to surprise her. I told him I thought she should know, since they were getting married soon, but he looked at it as a business move and not something she should be concerned with.”
Blake scoffed. “What a jerk.” Hearing about David keeping secrets from Everly made Blake’s own secret sit heavier on his shoulders. He should have told her years ago. “Are you still in?”
“I’m in the process of getting out. He’s furious, and I don’t care that he’s ticked at me, but if he’s been bothering Everly–”
“He has. That explains why he’s not letting her go.” That, and because Everly was an amazing woman, but it made sense that David wouldn’t appreciate her for who she was.
Ridge shook his head and huffed. “I didn’t know. Have I mentioned lately that he’s not my favorite person?”
“She’s been downplaying it because he hasn’t been hostile. Personally, I’m tired of giving him the benefit of the doubt.”
“Does he know you and Everly are together?” Ridge asked.
“No. No one does. She’s just been ignoring his messages, for the most part.” She’d responded to David’s message when he wanted the ring back, but Blake had gotten a good laugh out of that one.
“Maybe it’s time to tell him,” Ridge said.
“That’s up to Everly.” Would she be ready to make their relationship public? They hadn’t actually talked about making things official yet. Blake wasn’t sure it would put a stop to the messages, but it would give him the freedom to step up and say something if David didn’t get the hint. At this point, Blake was eager to do more than chitchat with David.
“If this turns into a mess, I’ll have to stay,” Ridge said.
“You don’t have to. Trust me, I can handle David.”
“I know you could handle him on your own. I don’t want to shake up Everly’s world more than necessary.”
“She’s not a little girl. Everly can handle anything.” Blake’s respect for Everly had only grown in the last few months.
Ridge cut a glance at Blake, assessing him from head to boot. “I suspect I have you to thank for that, at least a little. I can’t help but see her as my little sister.”
“Probably time you got it through your thick skull that she’s a grown woman,” Blake said.
“I’m working on it. But really, thanks for always being there for her. I see a change in her when you’re around. She’s braver.”
“She’s brave on her own.”
Ridge chuckled. “I guess I really need to give her some credit.”
