Dirty Disaster Read online

  “Yes, it’s what I want. It’s better than bookstore detail, and the tips are wild. You would never believe how much I’m hauling!”

  “I sort of would. The tips at The Pelican aren’t that bad either.” So much so that I haven’t bothered to pursue the mortgage assistance. And I’ve taken a charge under my roof to boot.

  “So are you okay with it?” Serena nods as if coaxing me to say yes. That conversation we had a few months back comes rushing back to me. Serena told me she was a waitress at the Black Bear, and I thought she was kidding. I insisted that she was kidding.

  Shep struts by along with a younger crowd—more of Teagan’s friends, I assume.

  “How about we revisit this conversation? I’m sort of throwing a birthday party in the next room.”

  Teagan shakes her head, clearly ticked off that I’m not warming to her bright idea of boys and booze. “Excuse me, but I’ve got a shift to finish. I’ll talk to you guys later.” She leaves in a huff, displacing her chair in a loud manner as it scrapes against the floor.

  Marlin shakes his head at me in disappointment while rising from his seat. “I’ve got a shit ton to finish, too.”

  “Why are you looking at me like that?” I stand to meet him while silently demanding he side with me.

  “Because it’s not a big deal, Lex. You’re making it something more than it is. To be honest, I was shocked when she was headed to Barnes. Heck, I was shocked when you went to Barnes.”

  My mouth falls open as my brother walks over and gives me a quick embrace. “Chill out, would you?” he whispers before taking off, and all the barflies scuttle around him until he hits the door. A man in uniform gets them every time.

  Rush offers up a quick embrace and heads over to his friends at another table.

  “Hey.” Sunday pulls me back into the moment. “How about we check on that birthday bash? You don’t mind if I crash, do you?”

  “Not at all.” I lead her to the poolroom where the party seems to be raging at top teen decibels. Teagan has a tiara pressed to her head, and she’s dancing with an entire circle of boys. Great. Axel is going to hate me for pimping out his baby sister to a bunch of future frat boys—at the infamous Black Beer no less.

  Shep steps up, and his eyes light up as soon as he sees Sunday. “Who is this, and how fast can you introduce us?” he teases. Or at least I think he’s teasing.

  “She’s family, and she’s way too young for you.” I look to Sunday. “On second thought, you don’t have to hang out with a bunch of teenagers. Why don’t you hang out with your girlfriends instead?” I glare over at Shep. “This room is suddenly swimming with piranhas.”

  Sunday laughs as if it were the funniest thing in the world, but her eyes linger over Shep’s a moment. My God, now I’ll have to worry nonstop about the fact both she and Serena are hypersexual. When did chastity belts ever go out of style, and how fast can I bring them back?

  Sunday disappears as if she read my mind in a thought bubble floating above my head.

  Shep smacks his lips with disappointment. “You do realize I’m not a predator.”

  “I do realize you work for your father.” I change the subject on a sexual dime. The truth is, I need a reprieve from all things hormonal. “Hey—are you up on all your father’s new acquisitions?”

  “I should say so. I was at the meeting this afternoon. He’s grooming me to take over one day.” A waitress offers him a drink—pineapple-tini, a nonalcoholic drink Teagan had her heart set on. It’s nice to see the bartenders here are willing to play along and make all of our Freedom Fest fantasies come true.

  “Really? Do you remember the idea Abby Wilcox pitched? A blonde about yea high, with a perverted look in her eyes and a panache for Collins boys? Ten bucks says she’s already gifted you her best line.”

  “I do know Abby.” He squints at my uncanny ability to detail her, no doubt. “And yes, I might have a date with her later this evening.”

  “Never mind your nasty bedtime habits. What was she pimping?”

  “Some restaurant review site called Epilates or something.”

  My stomach bottoms out. “Epicurean Elite?”

  “Yeah, that’s it. Axel said it was genius, and he was right. It’s brilliant is what it is.” Shep cranes his neck past me in Sunday’s wake. “Hey, is she single?”

  “Like I said, she’s family.” My body slaps with shock as I try to grasp what might be happening.

  “I get it.” Shep holds his hands up in surrender. “By the way, if you have any questions for Abby, you can ask her yourself. She’s right out there.” He points his beer in the direction of the bar. “Every time I hit the Black Bear, I find her glued to a stool. She’s quite the fixture.” His brows pitch as if she were a fixture he wouldn’t mind decorating his body with. And knowing Shep, I’m right.

  But I’m too blind with fury to even think about Shep or what he does with his body. I’m so blind with rage I’m about ready to eviscerate little Miss Wilcox right here at her favorite point of interest. I’m about to hang her by her heels on the nearest light fixture and have Teagan and her guests use her as a piñata.

  I speed out into the bar thick with coeds, the band playing a little too loud as I weave my way through bodies, and I stop cold.

  Standing less than ten feet away is a familiar head of dark hair with his arms wrapped around a petite bleached blonde. Her skirt is so short it hardly qualifies as the proper accouterment. He looks up and carefully peels her off of him because he’s simply a gentleman. It’s an all too familiar scene, and it sends the bile rising in the back of my throat.

  Axel darts for me. “Lex—it’s not what you think.”

  “That’s what you keep saying.” I bolt through a crowd of bodies and right out into the ice-cold night.

  “Lex—wait!” Axel catches me by the wrist and spins me into him, his face transformed with agony. “I swear to you, this wasn’t what it looked like.”

  “It never is. Save your excuses.” I yank my hand free. “Just tell me this. Did you approve of Abby Wilcox working with your father?”

  “Yes.” He nods so enthusiastically as if it were something I should want, too. “She’s on her way. I’ve signed off on everything. I’ve even asked Teagan to get the copyright rolling so she can move things along. I don’t want her anywhere near my restaurant. Or us.”

  My mouth falls open. “You approved of this? Have you lost your mind?” I push past him as I speed to my car. “Go back inside and help yourself to that strumpet that’s attached herself to you. You haven’t changed one bit. And don’t think you’re doing us any favors.” I hop into Frank and start the engine. “There is no us.”

  Axel

  Six Years Earlier…

  “Lex! Lex—please! Come back to me, Lex. I love you! ” I shout so loud my voice saws along my throat like a razor.

  The beefed-up gym rat holding me back shoves me against a wall. “All right, dude. I know it hurts, but you need to relax. Do yourself a favor and give her some space. Now, I gotta ask you to leave.”

  “Believe me, this is the last place I want to be.” The Moulin Rouge is a joke of a club that I’ve visited for a beer now and again, mostly sitting along the bar wishing it would magically morph into the Black Bear. In my fantasy, Lex would be there, long tan legs, huge red curls dripping down her back, and that ear-to-ear dirty grin going just for me. But this is New York, not North Carolina. Manhattan, not Hollow Brook. A pile of shit I’ve landed myself in, not paradise.

  Keith O’Malley—the fucker I let talk me into meeting his sexed-up roommate, Charlize, struts over, laughing as he spills his beer. It’s Charlize’s birthday. One drink with his roommate. It was his gift to her. She has a crush were his ridiculously convincing words. She pulled me in, and the next thing I know her arms are around me, telling me a fucking knock-knock joke of all things. I was going to leave—alone. One beer and out. A favor for a guy I’ve known less than six weeks.

  “Dude, that was a twofer.
Thanks for making my roomie’s night. She says if you need any Southern comfort her bed is waiting for you.”

  “I’ll pass.” I take off running up the stairs and out into the cold dark night, nothing but a steady stream of yellow cabs speeding by. An army of pedestrians throbs along the sidewalk in throngs.

  “Lex!” I call out running left then right, spastically landing myself in the middle of the street, cars honking, every third person flipping me the bird. “Lex! Come back! I love you, Lex.” I let those last words die on my lips.

  All night I text her to no avail. I hop the next plane to Hollow Brook, praying I’ll be on her flight. No such luck. Shep picks me up at the airport, his driver’s license not even a week old. Lex is living in north Hollow Brook with her little sister, Serena. We make a beeline for their apartment, and I bang on the door like a maniac until the manager calls the cops on me. We hit Hallowed Grounds, Barnes, the Black Bear looking for clues, but Lex is a ghost, the invisible woman. She won’t pick up the phone. She won’t text me back. Lex has never subjected herself to social media, no check-ins, no locations attached to a single picture that might lend me a hand. Nothing. After three days of torment, I head back to New York. The new me. Single and hopelessly mourning the only woman I will ever love, Lex Maxfield.

  Present Day

  Axel

  “Lex! Wait! Let me explain this!” I shout into the dark, and a vivid memory of that night back in New York comes flooding back to me. Lex had come to visit—surprise me, and I believe in my heart she was there to restore what we had. And for a time, we had restored it—made it better, made it shiny and new. But we’re barreling back to square one, and I can’t help but let out a roar into the night as I kick the tire on a neighboring Mercedes.

  “Shit.” I head back into the Black Bear where the bodies seem to have multiplied.

  I head to the back where Teagan’s party is still going strong. She’s out there dancing with her friends, laughing, having the time of her life, and as much as it warms me to see it, I’m frantic to find Shep. I caught a glimpse of him speaking to Lex moments before Abby pulled me over to thank me for getting her upstart off the ground. She was so enthusiastic she offered me an embrace, and I took it. No harm, no foul—that is, until Lex spotted us and became unhinged.

  “Shep.” I wave to him through the crowd and speed my way over to where he stands with a group of girls. He excuses himself politely and takes a step toward me.

  “Dude, where’s the fire? Can you relax? You look like someone just shit on your pillow.”

  “Lex just took off. She’s pissed. She said something about Abby Wilcox working with Dad. What was she saying to you?” My heart does its best to kick its way out of my chest and go looking for Lex itself. But I need to know what I’m up against. Why would Lex care what Abby did with my father?

  Shep sobers up. “She was asking me the same thing. I told her what I knew.”

  “And what’s that?” I lean in, holding my breath so I can hear him above the riotous music.

  “Something about the Social Elite. Hell, I don’t know what she’s calling her company. Dad liked it. So did you. Teagan said you gave it a green light, and she pulled out all the stops. Abby is in. That’s all I told her.”

  “Social Elite?” I rack my brain trying to make sense of any of this. “Why does that sound familiar?”

  Shit. A horrible thought occurs to me.

  I head back into the bar, scouring the Black Bear from top to bottom in hopes of finding Abby. I don’t have her number, but The Pelican has it on file. A thousand thoughts crash through my brain. Head to The Pelican. Screw The Pelican—head to Lex’s place. Stay away from Lex’s place. Give Lex time. That’s what the bouncer at the Moulin Rouge suggested that fateful night. It didn’t work. I gave her six long years, and she’s still running from me.

  I head back into the poolroom where I find Teagan swinging her hips into two wasted boys that I’m positive are far too young to drink.

  “Teagan”—I gently pull her aside—“I need to ask you a question.”

  “Hey!” She looks longingly to the drunk boys I just dragged her from, and she cries out in frustration. “What do you want? Things were just getting good.”

  “Abby Wilcox,” I growl her name out like a curse. “What kind of company did Dad partner with her in?”

  “What?” Teagan looks pissed at the fact I’ve pulled her aside on this, the most important night of her life. “Who the hell cares! Jason Roderick is here!” She stomps over my toes with her high heel. “I swear, you are certifiable. Pull me aside once more to see what time Dad picks his nose, and I’ll make sure you won’t walk for a week.” She tries to take off, and I block her path.

  “Was it called”—my mouth can’t bring itself to say the words—“Epicurean Elite?”

  “Yes!” She shoots me with her finger and wrinkles her nose. “Weird, right? But you said she was brilliant, and, apparently, Dad thinks so, too.”

  My body goes numb with rage. That bitch. Abby stole Lex’s company right from under her. I’m betting both concepts have more in common than just a name. “Teagan, did you file that copyright like I asked you?” My voice is shaking with anger. It’s all I can do not to hunt down Abby Wilcox and make her explain a few things to me.

  “Of course. It’s a done deal. Abby and Dad have everything they need to run it. Dad was so excited he assigned her a team. It’s already gone down to tech.”

  Tech is where the real work happens. If Abby needs a website, she’s got it. Any technical aspect of the company is graciously covered by my father and his minions—right along with his millions.

  I’ve done this. I’ve unwittingly sold out Lex’s dream.

  Teagan bops back to her guests, and I don’t stop her. Instead, I stagger to the door, stunned as shit, and a familiar body bumps into me.

  “Whoa.” It’s Brody Wolf, another victim of my manipulation, and I can’t even find it in me to return the smile. “Dude, did someone piss in your beer?”

  “Yes.” I head outside, and Brody follows. “I did.”

  Brody sits next to that oversized bear, and I tell him everything—and I do mean everything.

  “Are you dicking with me right now?” He gives my shoe a hard kick. “You have our accountants giving me busy work so you could chase a skirt at the bar? Shit.” He bangs the back of his head against the stone wall. “You could have told me to go to Cabo for a few months, and at least I would have had a good time.”

  “You would have gotten killed by a drug lord.”

  “That might be true, but at least I wouldn’t be having nightmares where numbers were chasing me down. Dude, I can’t breathe at night. You’ve given me anxiety that’s going to last a lifetime.”

  “Yeah, well, it’s over. Just like Lex and me.”

  “No way. That chick has cost me too much lost sleep—even if I didn’t know she was at fault. You’re getting her back, and I’m going to help you.”

  “How are you going to do that?” I sink my head between my knees a moment and soak in the dizzying rush.

  “Find Abby Wilcox. I don’t know—void everything to do with her connection to that company. Doesn’t your father have some sort of a fraud clause? You know, she stole it from Lex.”

  “It’s a classic case of he said, she said.” Or in this case—she said, she said.

  “What about Lex? She has a file, right? She’s been working on this. Her files are dated. I say you charge at Abby with a dozen different high-powered lawyers—you and half your family and get back what’s yours. Namely Lex.”

  “Sue her. Huh.” Now there’s a concept. “You think she’ll roll over?”

  “Hell yes. You throw enough legal-ease at her, and she’ll not only roll over, she’ll run out of town. Nobody wants that headache.” We think on this for a minute. “Why do you think she did it? I mean, she didn’t even bother to change the name. If she were smart, she would have at least basterdized the concept.”

 
; “I have no clue. And for all I know, she could have botched the concept. One thing I do know is that Lex feels as though her life was just pulled from under her. I know that feeling well, and it sucks.” I’m experiencing it firsthand.

  “I’ll help you in the morning.” He socks me on the arm. “That’s for messing with me. I’m sure Levi won’t mind half as much.”

  “What are you doing here, anyway?”

  Brody looks to the door and gives a wry smile. “Thought I’d keep an eye out on Raven—you know, for Levi. He’s been indisposed no thanks to you, and she’s been running around like a question mark.”

  “Raven, huh.” I frown over at him, doubting his chaste intentions. I doubt Brody would be dumb enough to try anything with Raven. He and Levi grew up together. Hell, Raven is probably like a sister to him. “All right, man. I’m taking off.” I make a break for the parking lot, my head full of all the bullshit that just transpired.

  I drive by Lex’s house and knock on the door, but she doesn’t answer. I didn’t think she would.

  She doesn’t answer my calls or my texts. I know the routine. Text, call, repeat. If Lex says we’re over, we are done.

  But I don’t happen to agree with her. And the last time I checked, I was a fifty percent partner in this relationship.

  I head to The Sloppy Pelican and pull Abby’s file before heading to the penthouse. I log in to the Collins and Associates mainframe and let myself into my father’s new acquisition files. I’ve got all the passwords I need to take me right to the nexus of what I’m looking for. Abby Wilcox, Epicurean Elite. I peruse the contextual outline and let out a breath. It’s laughable. A skeleton of what Lex described. Abby doesn’t know what the hell she’s talking about or doing. She needed an idea, and she ran with a good one.

  And, of course, I paved the way with Lex’s dream.

  Things couldn’t get any worse if they tried.

  The rest of the weekend drones by—the air iced with Lex’s cold shoulder. Monday, she doesn’t bother showing up for her shift. But Tuesday evening—just after the lunch rush and prior to the dinner onslaught, she graces the bar with her presence once again. Only it’s not me she’s come to see. It’s Low and Levi. It’s the day of their rehearsal, and since they’ve decided to hold the nuptials right here in the bar, this is where the entire wedding party has congregated.