“I’m fine. I’m more worried about you.” Yet she still rubbed at the area I’d gripped.
“It was a bad dream.” That wasn’t a lie. Memories showing up while sleeping were still considered dreams.
“A really bad one.”
I nodded, hating that I hadn’t gone to the boat like I’d said. My foolish need to be close to her in order to protect her had cost us both.
It had been a few years since the past had haunted me the way it did now. And I should have stayed far away from her to keep it from hurting her.
“You should go get some sleep,” I said.
“Why don’t you come to bed? It’s really not fair that you’re out here in a hammock and I’m in a bed. Chivalry is great, but it doesn’t make me feel good.”
Chivalry had nothing to do with it. I didn’t want my nightmares to cross into the present and Lizzy be caught in its crossfire. “It’s okay. I’m not going to sleep anyway. I have work to do.”
“Work? It’s what the fuck o’clock in the morning.”
I remembered the night I’d seen her in my loft. She’d said something like that to Griffin. “Some of us have night jobs.”
“What? The club? Do you work at the club you had me visit?”
“I own the club.”
“Oh, of course you do. What was I thinking? That a billionaire’s son actually had a nine-to-five?”
“Says the millionaire’s daughter who owns her gallery in her twenties.”
She aimed a finger at me. “You know my age, don’t you?”
I shrugged. “You graduated from Boston University, what, last year?”
Her jaw dropped.
“Don’t look at me like that,” I said. “It’s all on your website. You know, the ‘about me’ page?”
She shut her mouth.
“Now go to sleep. Sorry I woke you.”
“One day, I’m going to find out more about you,” she said before heading inside.
That was a day I hoped she would never see. My life wasn’t the thing of fairytales like my brother thought. I had real life demons who I’d like to one day slay because of that boy, Lonnie, I’d been unable to protect.
Our years at the school hadn’t been kinder to him than to me. Though I’d grown taller, he’d remained smaller than most. And though he hadn’t seemed as though he had the strength of other boys our age, he’d managed to take his life. He hung himself, unable to endure one more night of torment.
Instead of me saving him, he’d eventually saved me. His suicide confession about the abuse he’d suffered had led to an investigation by his angry parents. He hadn’t told them. They’d found out the truth in his final letter.
Though Mr. Payne was removed from the school, Lonnie hadn’t written the given names of the boys. He’d written their nicknames, like the ringleader, Ruin. Even with his sacrifice, no one else, including me, came forward. Shame had been my excuse.
I wasn’t strong enough then to come forward, but I’d vowed I would be stronger in other ways. I would fight. I no longer roomed in the younger boys’ group dormitory as I was too old and been moved to an individual room on another floor. Yet I spent my nights camped in front of doors of that dormitory to make sure not another boy would be harmed. I also spent a lot of time in the gym, building up muscle in order to back up the threat I wanted to pose.
Nowadays, I watched the little monsters who’d tortured me then. Some of them hadn’t given up the appetites they’d learned from Payne. They would all pay if it was the last thing I did.
I forced those thoughts away and went to the boat to get the satellite phone. My first call was not to my brother, who had enough on his plate with a new bride, but Griffin.
“Hello, brother,” he said.
That was new. Griffin despised me. “Should I wait for the knife at my back?”
He laughed. “I thought you were a little shite, but I’ve changed my mind.”
“I’ve earned your respect?” Not that I’d needed it.
“Let’s say you’re not the dobber I thought you were.”
I waited for some yer and ayes, but that was more my brother.
“Are we friends then?” I joked.
“I wouldn’t go that far,” he said, the Scottish accent more pronounced.
“Are you giving up on Lizzy?”
“She’s your wife. She’s made her choice.”
“A good one. Now you can pursue the Dubai princess. Does her father know?”
“She’s a friend.”
“Ah. Still, does her father know?”
“What did you tell me when I asked about Lizzy? Mind yer business?”
“I wouldn’t have used yer,” I said in jest. “Any word on Matt?”
“Not any more than I’ve already told you.”
“You need to make contact. Lizzy will not give up on hearing from him.”
“I know that. Bye now, little brother. Keep our girl safe.”
And he was gone. Though he claimed we weren’t friends, I had a feeling wherever we stood had turned a corner.
My next call was to Eliza.
“Boss,” she said.
“How did it go tonight?” I had access to my private servers and would go through the footage, but I wanted to hear from her first.
“Fine. Nothing happened.”
“Good.”
“When will you be back?”
“I’m not sure,” I said.
“I remember a time you used to tell me everything.”
“So do I.”
If she’d been waiting for me to say more, she was disappointed. “Fine. I’ll handle everything. You need not worry.”
“That’s all I want to hear.”
When the call ended, I realized I had no regret for the loss of our friendship. She was important for now, but replaceable. Something I hadn’t thought was possible. Eliza had been such an important person in my life, there was a time I couldn’t have imagined life without her. Now I felt oddly free.
The other thing I realized was that the club wasn’t as important to me as I thought. Out of all the places in the world, I felt I should be here with Lizzy. That in itself should have scared me, but it didn’t.
As the sky brightened, I made my way back to the house. Though I hadn’t been here before, the instructions I’d gotten in advance had been thorough.
There in the pool, doing laps, was my blonde. When she rose out of the water, my cock could have punched through my pants.
“Hey, handsome,” she said. “I’m glad you’re awake. I’m going to make you breakfast.”
“Are you trying to kill me?”
She laughed. “What?”
“You’re being nice and you’re offering to cook, which in itself could be a death sentence.”
She waved me off. “You’re not spoiling my mood. Plus, I can make an omelet.”
“We have food for a week or more if we don’t waste it. Maybe I should cook,” I offered jokingly.
“I owe you a meal and I’m going to make you breakfast. Sit, you look tired.”
Women. I had no idea what change had come over her. No snarky comments. No million questions. Something had to be up, but I wasn’t sure what it was.