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“I did what was needed.”
My eyes flick between the two as realization dawns, settling low in my gut before my father’s words reach my ears.
“You’re marrying Gabrielle, son.”
“Fuck.” Dax exhales, leaning back in his seat and clasping the back of his head between his hands. The dark ink of the tattoos covering both of his arms seems even darker in the corner of the bar we’re sat in to dissect the shitstorm that is my life. I stare at the flowered vines wrapping around his forearms and wish they could slap me around the face. Wake me up from this nightmare.
“He’s got it all planned, huh?” Drew runs a hand around his jaw.
“Hell, man,” Tanner agrees, swirling the deep amber whiskey in his glass and frowning at it.
“Gabrielle North,” Drew muses, brushing his hair out of his eyes as he tilts his head to the side and meets my eyes. “She’s a nice girl.”
I shrug. What can I say? She’s smart and beautiful, and stood up to her father about becoming a doctor and not working for him. So I expect she’ll stand up to him regarding this ludicrous notion of the two of us getting married. Dad told me that she’s planning to come back to the UK permanently. Spencer sees it as a sign of her being ready to settle down and thinks it’s divine timing from the universe or some shit.
When I left, Mum was still weeping and pleading with Dad to think about what he was asking. He thinks I’ll come around. He’s betting on it. Leonard Rich is stubborn. But unfortunately for him, I inherited all his stubbornness… and then some.
“Beautiful too,” Drew adds, watching me carefully.
I glare at him.
“I practically grew up with her. It’d be like…” I knock my drink back, savoring the burn in my throat as I cast my eyes around the table. “It’d be like me marrying Mads.”
“Maddy,” Drew corrects. “You know she hates you calling her Mads.”
I ignore him and look at Tanner. He’s the married one. He married his soulmate, Rachel. They’ve got two kids and a third on the way, and the fucker looks an equal mix of exhausted and deliriously happy each time I see him.
He lifts a shoulder. “You can’t force it. But maybe, you know, if you spent more time with her, then things might develop, they might—”
“Fuck off, man.”
“Ease up. He’s only thinking like that because Rachel hated his guts when they first met,” Dax says.
“When they second met, you mean?” Drew snorts. “She can barely remember the first time they met. Tan left that much of an impression on her.”
“Wankers,” Tanner fires out as the two throw back their heads and roar with laughter.
“I’m glad you bastards can find things to laugh about while my life is being torn to shreds.” I reach for the whiskey and refill my glass.
The table falls silent.
“He’s worried about money, right?” Tanner says thoughtfully.
Out of all the guys, he’s the second richest out of us. Like Dad, he built his company from nothing except his own blood, sweat, and determination. If anyone can understand my father’s logic behind this decision, then it’s Tanner.
“Yeah.” I eye him over my glass.
“Then get it from elsewhere. Do whatever the fuck magic it is that you do that’s gotten you all the funding in the past. And do it tenfold. No, make that a billion-fold.”
“Yeah. Talk the shit out of the investors on your trip and come back with money pouring from your ears. You won’t need any company merging crap then,” Drew says.
This is my thought process. But something about Dad’s finality in the way he told me we can discuss wedding venues upon my return has doubt clawing at me. Niggling like an old sore that hasn’t healed. One scratch and it’ll bleed once more. Weak to infection.
I’m missing something. I must be.
“Better delete the dating apps,” Dax throws in with a raised brow. “No more choosing your next date based upon the size of her rack. Jasmin will be impressed.”
I flip him the middle finger. Dax’s sister, Jasmin, has been going on at me for months to delete the app, saying I’m wasting my time. We grew close when Dax went to jail and I helped her keep their business running. Helping out friends’ sisters seems to be my calling. Maybe because I have no siblings of my own. I don’t know. Where Jasmin and I became friends, Maddy and I are more like… sparring partners.
