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Logically, she knew his job was demanding, to say the least. She knew he’d had to get up before dawn on Sunday to catch a plane to their game in Miami that afternoon. He’d be back on Wednesday, and then he’d be in town for a couple of weeks, but only because they had a string of home games before he had a day off. Even being an avid baseball fan her entire life, it had never occurred to her how much time the players dedicated to the sport, or how exhausting it must be.
And still, he’d made time to call her. Sometimes just for a quick check-in to see how she was doing. Other times for longer talks where he asked about her day and regaled her with tales of life on the road that left her laughing so hard it brought tears to her eyes.
So why was she having so much trouble shaking this feeling that something was wrong? That everything was going to come crashing down around them soon, and she was powerless to stop it?
Because she was being ridiculous, she decided, scowling at her blank monitor. Nothing was wrong, and she wouldn’t become some broody, mopey girl pining after her crush. She was a woman with a career, a damn good one at that, and it was time she started acting like it again.
Giving the mouse a shake, she logged back in and pulled up Austin’s files. Maybe diving into his finances would be enough to distract her from missing him.
It worked, at least until she started sifting through his monthly finances to see where he could trim things up a bit. It wasn’t a service she provided for every client, as most who came to see her had a pretty decent idea of how to budget. The majority of people who made gobs of money were very careful with it, which was how they kept those gobs.
Austin wasn’t one of those. He wasn’t hemorrhaging funds, the way she’d seen with some of the other sports stars she’d worked with, but if he wanted to continue living comfortably after his retirement, he’d need to cut back on his expenses.
“Do you guys eat at five-star restaurants every night? Good lord,” she muttered to herself as she sorted through what could easily be identified as dining expenses. And wasn’t the team responsible for providing meals on the road? Shaking her head, she jotted it down as something to discuss before moving on.
Everything else seemed to track. Union dues, his agent’s fee, various purchases from sports stores. But there was one payment, made on a monthly basis to “Cartwright-Davidson Enterprises” for twenty-five hundred dollars that she couldn’t pin down.
Exactly the same amount, around the same date every month. Some kind of monthly membership or fee? But what the hell could he have a membership for that was costing him nearly as much as her mortgage?
Maybe it was a mortgage. Or rent. But as far as she knew, the Cartwright-Davidsons weren’t in the mortgage game. She’d been watching them closely for years, desperately wishing she could get her hands on their portfolio. Or even a five-minute sit-down with Jaxson to pick his brain. The man was a genius when it came to making his money work for him.
Rent was a possibility, though. If she was remembering correctly, they’d purchased a few apartment buildings a couple years back and renovated them. But had that been here on the east coast or in California?
Abandoning Austin’s finances for the time being, she dove head-first into digging up everything she could find about Cartwright-Davidson Enterprises. Talk about diversifying your investments. She nearly came on the spot when she realized how expansive their empire really was.
A few startups, almost all of which had done incredibly well over the years. Some real estate, as she’d remembered, on both coasts. Runway East and West, of course, the twin nightclubs again on both coasts.
There was a “doing business as” filed for something call Black Light, but she couldn’t find anything beyond that. Nothing else in their holdings, nothing online. So, what the hell was it? A front for something? She couldn’t see Jaxson Davidson risking his business or his family with anything criminal, so there was probably some boring explanation for the odd DBA.
Right then, she was more interested in this monthly fee her, ah, client was paying out. Her mind skittered away from the word ' boyfriend’. It was somehow too permanent, and at the same time, not encompassing enough for what she had with Austin.
Her hand froze over the mouse and the number on the screen became a blur. He’d told her he didn’t like to share, but that didn’t necessarily mean that exclusivity went both ways. What if he had a more permanent girlfriend set up in a nice apartment somewhere outside of D.C., where he had easy access to her?
What if he had a whole family, for that matter?
Giving herself a mental shake, she refocused on the screen in front of her. If Austin Barrick had a family, she would know. Everyone would know. The man might be able to keep a secret girlfriend or two, but he couldn’t hide a whole damn family from the world.
Nausea bubbled in her stomach as she started working her way through the Cartwright-Davidson holdings on the east coast. They didn’t own a ton of apartment buildings, and based on the amount Austin was shelling out, she was able to narrow it down to a handful of options.
Sitting back in her chair, she studied the website for the one she’d deemed most likely, based on its ease of access from the Hawks stadium. The apartment building was run by a property management company, as most were. So why wasn’t the rent showing up under their name? She’d never seen a payment billed to an umbrella company like that, especially not one the size of Cartwright-Davidson Enterprises.
Maybe it wasn’t a rent payment. But if it wasn’t, what the hell was it? The professional thing to do would be to wait until their next meeting to discuss any odd expenses, but she knew the wait would just give her more time to come up with increasingly outrageous scenarios. And if therewassome secret girlfriend or something, didn’t she deserve to know sooner rather than later?
Picking up her phone, she tapped out a message.
Call me. We need to talk about something.
There. That was all she could do for now. Doing her best to ignore her burgeoning unease, she shifted her attention to the real estate mogul she was meeting with that afternoon. Austin Barrick and his secrets would have to wait.
* * *
Austin
Scowlingdown at the phone in his hand, Austin silently willed the plane to move faster. As spacious as first-class might be, it didn’t offer near the privacy for the conversation he apparently needed to have with his girl.
Call me. We need to talk about something.
About to get on the plane. What’s up?
