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“Sure.”
Chapter Eight
Ariane
WhenIgotbackto the office, the last task I had for the day was to clean up around Logan’s office. I felt like that was something the janitor should have done, but after receiving the hefty bonus he’d given me on my first paycheck, I didn’t mind it at all. Besides, I figured it would give me the opportunity to snoop around on him a bit. I didn’t think I would find anything out of the ordinary for a man like Logan, I just wanted to be closer to him.
He kept everything in his office neat and tidy. His drawing pens and pencils in one drawer, and regular writing pens in another. He had nearly a dozen different brands and textures of paper neatly stacked in cubby holes, and all of his last-minute suits and dress shirts neatly hung in his closet. I couldn’t help but compare him to Lucas, who was a complete slob and had no idea how to even wash a single dish. Logan was the perfect catch.
While replacing items from his desk to their original spots, I came across a family photo near his computer. It was a picture of him, Casey, Margot, and Lucas. Although I had my concerns about Logan and Margot still being attached, I couldn’t ignore the overwhelming feeling I got when I saw Lucas’s face. Even surrounded by family he looked angry and evil.
I got chills when a memory of him popped into my mind. It was the pattern of his shirt that triggered me. I remembered the shirt vividly, because I was the one who had bought it for him.
That same night, we’d gone out for dinner with another couple and Lucas had gotten so drunk, he completely embarrassed me in front of the other couple. When I dared to defend myself, he got angry and poured an entire glass of wine on my dress. After I stormed out and sat in the car waiting for him to finish his dinner, he had come out and said that I was the one who had embarrassed him.
“Can we ever go anywhere without you pissing me off?” He had griped. “I don’t know why you always insist on doing something to get under my skin, and especially in front of guests, but if that’s the way you’re going to behave I'll never take you out again.”
Lucas was always so cold and cruel to me, and I had no idea why. Trinity always told me to just pack up and leave, but it was easier said than done. I had a lot of love for Lucas. I felt like he was damaged and I could fix him. Turned out, he was even more damaged than I’d known. There was no amount of patience in the world that could fix him. He had to want it more for himself than I wanted it for him.
“Nice photo, huh?” Casey startled me when she came in. “That’s me, my mom, Dad, and my brother Lucas.”
Little did she know, I knew exactly who everyone in the photo was. Especially Lucas. He was the one I knew the most out of all of them, even though I played things off like I had no idea.
“Your mother is beautiful. And you and your brother look so much alike,” I said.
“Yeah, everyone says that.” She smiled a little when she took the photo from my hand. “Although he’s only a minute older, he likes to think he’s years older.”
I knew from experience how superior Lucas felt he was, not just to her, but to everybody. He was an egotistical maniac and had no problem showing his true colors.
“Where is he now?” I asked. “I actually had the pleasure of meeting your mom this morning. I had to drop off a floor plan to her. I think it’s amazing that your whole family works in design, that’s really cool.”
“Oh, really? I didn’t know that,” Casey said. “But yes, my mom started her company a year after the divorce. My brother took it pretty hard and decided to step away from the family to do his own thing. I'm actually surprised my parents even have a working relationship after what happened between them.”
I wanted to ask her what happened between her parents from her perspective, but I’d already heard enough about it from Lucas and from Logan himself, so I continued on with my questions about Lucas.
“Was your brother really close with your dad or something?” I asked.
“Ehh.” She swished her hand around in the air a little. “Lucas is a strange guy. I don’t know what his deal was with my dad, but they’ve always had a pretty strained relationship for whatever reason. I think he expected my dad to just hand him everything because he made great money, but that’s not the kind of guy my dad is. Even I have to work for my share of things around here. And I work very hard.” She chuckled.
She was right—Lucas felt entitled to everything. And when he didn’t get his way, there was hell to pay. That was one of his major downfalls—he always wanted something for nothing. He didn’t want to work for anything at all, even though he had great skill in a lot of areas. He’d never told me about why he and his father's relationship was so strained, he just said they didn’t speak.
“Anyway.” She sighed and placed the picture in its place on her father's desk. “One day I hope Lucas does come around. It's been years of nothing but bickering and aggravation. I really love my brother, but I won’t deal with him when he’s doing nothing but causing problems. It's not fair to Dad. Or me. He's my twin, for crying out loud.”
Logan
Sharron, one of my top-paying clients, asked to see me that afternoon. She had a project at her personal waterfront property that she wanted done, and I was the only person she saw fit to take care of it. Sharron and I had a great friendship. We'd known each other for twenty years and counting, and she was a great friend to me. For as long as I'd known her, she'd never married or had children. Dated a few guys here and there, but never anything serious. One drunken night in Peru, she had confessed that she was waiting for me to be a free agent again.
I felt a little odd about it, because I’d been a married man at the time and my wife had always told me Sharron had a thing for me and she didn’t like us working together. But I’d never seen it until that night.
“The man of the hour.”
She smiled as she came to the door to let me inside. It was four o’clock in the afternoon and she was wearing nothing more than a silk robe and hair rollers. She had a large glass of wine in one hand and her white pooch in the other. Contrary to the way that might have seemed, Sharron was sexy. Her long legs and perfect tan made her even more appealing to the eye.
“And there she is.” I smiled and kissed both her cheeks as I entered. “The woman who gives me the most intricate projects. How are you?”
“Better now that you’re here.”
Sharron was rich. One of the richest women I’d ever come in contact with. Her father owned a large luxury car company that spread from the US all the way to India. I'd even bought a few cars from him. I figured her high standards came from having a man in her life who had enough money to buy the entire country, but I’d never understood why she felt I could fit in with them. I was just a regular guy—in my own eyes, anyway. Sure, I loved nice things and had a large house and successful company, but I was nowhere near as perfect as she made me out to be.
