34
Two weeks later, Austin Ford was summoned to the offices of WCS. The board wanted a word.
After Ben Thomas’s visit, he’d spent days and nights contacting every asshole with an outstanding debt to him. But it seemed nothing could dig his ass out of the cavernous pit Carter and his lawyer had found for him.
Austin approached the boardroom now with poise, ignoring the wary look from Helen, his office secretary, when he stopped at her desk.
“The board should be arriving at—”
“They’re already in,” she said, avoiding his eyes.
Austin cocked an eyebrow. “They are?”
“Yes, sir.”
Well, that was … odd.
He took a breath, pushed the large mahogany door open, and immediately wished that he hadn’t.
Fuck. Me. Sideways.
He stared incredulously at his cousin, who was standing at the head of the board table in a four-thousand-dollar tailored Dior suit. Standing straight and smiling as if he knew the meaning to life itself, he looked infinitely different than the bedraggled ex-con Austin had seen only months before. Austin instantly wanted to wipe the smirk off his face with a swift right hook.
“Morning.” Carter gestured to the empty seat to his left. “Won’t you take a seat?”
“I’d rather stand,” Austin replied, eyeing the fifteen people around the table, including Adam. “Isn’t this fucking cozy?” Austin dipped his chin in an effort to keep his temper. “I guess this is what they mean when they use the phrase ‘hostile takeover.’ ”
“Perhaps,” Carter replied. “But this isn’t hostile, nor is it a takeover; I’m simply reclaiming what was already mine. The board members have unanimously agreed that the contracts signed by our grandparents clearly show that I am rightful CEO and majority shareholder of WCS Communications.”
“Have they?” Austin growled.
“Yes, they have,” Adam answered. He stood and took a step toward Austin. “And they would have done so sooner, had you not hidden it from them. We need you to sign over your rights. I’ve done mine. Legally, we have to do it in front of the board.”
Austin narrowed his eyes at Adam. Where was the fucking loyalty? “I know,” he hissed through gritted teeth.
“Don’t worry,” Carter interrupted. “I’ve made sure that you still have shares, and the payout you will receive is more than enough to keep you and yours secure for two lifetimes.”
“It’s not about the money.”
“Exactly,” Carter snapped. His voice lowered to a harsh whisper. “It never was about the money, Austin. It was about the fucking principle, a word that continues to elude you on a daily basis.”
Austin regarded his cousin and brother, the cold fingers of defeat gripping his chest. “Where’s the contract?”
“Here, Mr. Ford,” said one of WCS’s lawyers.
The sly, backhanded nature of the whole scenario started to surround Austin like a suffocating fog. Storming past Carter and Adam, he grabbed a pen off the table and signed his name. All his hard work, all his dreams, signed away in one brief moment. The taste of vomit became strong in the back of his throat.
“There is also a gag order for you to sign,” the lawyer said. “It states that, should you besmirch Mr. Carter’s or the company’s name, the entire deal will be null and void and you will be entitled to nothing. Legal action will also be swift and indiscriminate.”
“Yeah, I get it,” Austin retorted. Throwing the pen down hard, he glared at the board members. “Good luck,” he sneered with a thumb in Carter’s direction. “You’re gonna need it with this prick running the show.”
He turned to Carter and smiled tightly. “Well done, Carter. Looks like you landed on your feet.”
Carter shook his head. “No, I just got what I deserve. As did you.”
“Whatever,” Austin snapped, pushing past his cousin. He needed to get out, find a bottle of JD and a woman, and lose himself in both for a week.
“Oh,” Carter said suddenly, stopping Austin in his tracks, “Kat says hi.”
The sound of Austin’s jaw snapping shut echoed around the room. He could practically hear Carter’s smug fucking smile. With his temper unraveling, he shoved through the doors and left WCS for the last time.
* * *
“Just suck.”
“I can’t!”
“Of course you can. Suck!”
Kat coughed on the noodles Carter was dropping into her mouth and began to giggle. Carter laughed with her. The noodles slid down her chin and fell to her bare breasts. Quick as a flash, Carter dove onto her and began to lick and slurp the noodles into his mouth. He may have licked her nipples, too, because eating Chinese food naked was all about the perquisites.
His adventurous mouth moved to her chin, and then to her lips, where he kissed her, covering her in sweet-and-sour sauce. She squealed, feebly trying to push him away. “You’re an ass.” She giggled.
“I know,” he admitted with a waggle of his eyebrows.
He sat back against the pillows at her side, grabbed the box of Kung Pao chicken and his chopsticks from the side table, and returned to stuffing his face. Girl had helped him work up an appetite in the last hour, and he needed to refuel. Kat, still naked and smelling of their lovemaking, nibbled on garlic shrimp while watching some predictable Christmas movie on the flat screen.
Carter let the domestic simplicity of their situation soak in. The calmness of their relationship and the easy silence they enjoyed surrounded him like a cocoon. He’d never been more comfortable with anyone in his entire life, happier or more loved. All the shit that’d come and gone seemed insignificant, and, as God was his witness, he’d go through it all again if it meant being with her.
He swallowed his mouthful of food and licked his lips. “So, you’re staying over tonight, right?”
He usually didn’t ask—letting Kat decide when she stayed with him—but, weirdly, tonight he needed to hear her say she wasn’t leaving.
He never wanted her to leave.
The thought made him sit up a little straighter. Startled, his mind tried to wrap itself around what that would mean.
What, forever?
Like, move in?
He kinda liked the idea—a lot. It definitely had its appeal. He glanced at her naked legs stretched down his bed. But it was more than that. He’d want her to move in because he loved her.
His brain kicked into overdrive. Shit, they’d been together only a short time. Yet they’d been through so much. Maybe it was a bad move to lay that on her. He didn’t want her to feel pressured, and maybe she wouldn’t want to live with him yet. He was anal about cleanliness and he was a grumpy motherfucker in the morning, not that she didn’t already know that—
“… because I’m meeting Beth for coffee, if that’s okay with you?”
He slowly blinked back into the room to see Kat looking at him expectantly.
“I’m sorry, what?” he asked, dazed.
Kat laughed and cupped his cheek. “Are you okay? Where were you?”
“Nowhere.” He put his food down and fisted his hands in his lap.
Kat noticed and her face turned serious. “You wanna talk about it?”
Did he want to talk about it? He gazed at her. “Um … I was just thinking.”
Kat squirmed at his side. He noticed, in her nervousness, she’d pulled the sheets up to cover her nakedness. Carter clenched his jaw and little by little pulled it back down. She’d never been shy about her body. He wasn’t about to let her start. He bent to her bare chest and kissed her lovingly between her breasts.
“It’s nothing bad,” he promised her, then laughed with uncertainty. “Well, I sure as shit hope not.”
Kat’s hands clasped his. “Whatever it is,” she soothed, “you can tell me.”
He rubbed his hands across his hair. Well, shit, this was a first. After a moment, he said, “So, I was thinking that, maybe—you know, if you want to. Because I do,” he waffled. “I don’t want you to feel obligated. But I think it’d be— What I mean is, I wondered if you’d—”
His cell phone vibrated on the side table, and he cursed. Max.
Shit.
“Hold that thought,” he fumed before he picked up his phone. “Dude, what’s up?”
“Carter, I need a favor.”
Carter’s eyes darted to Kat. “Little busy now, man. Can it wait?”
“No, it can’t,” Max snapped. “Fuck’s sake, man, you can’t blow me off for your woman again!”
Carter’s hackles went up. Something smelled off. “What is it? What’s going on?”
“I’ll explain when you get here,” Max answered. “I need you at the shop in twenty, okay?”
Carter rubbed his forehead. This wasn’t good. “Sure,” he replied and hung up. He stood to retrieve his boxer briefs and jeans from the floor.
Kat’s mouth pressed into a hard line. “You’re going out?”
“Yeah.” He began to fasten his belt. “I shouldn’t be long, though. Max needs me for something.”
Apprehension crossed Kat’s face. “Something,” she repeated quietly. “Something … illegal?”
“No,” he said, going over to her. “I’ll be right back.”
She wrapped her hand around his wrist. “Please … He’s not— What’re you … You know what? It doesn’t matter.” Kat tried to smile. “You’ll be careful, though, right?”
Since Carter had finally admitted to Kat about his doing time at Kill for his best friend, and Max’s ever-worsening drug addiction, she was always anxious when Max’s name was mentioned or when he called. She would never admit it, but he knew she worried that Max would land his ass back in jail. Truthfully, he worried about the same thing.
Occasionally, Kat would drop subtle hints about Carter working at a different body shop, or stopping working altogether now that his name was firmly back on the WCS shareholders list, so that he was away from any threat to his parole. At first, her concern had riled him and caused many a heated debate. Now? He understood where her fear came from. She was petrified of losing him, just as he was of losing her. She loved him and wanted to protect him and keep him safe.
Carter tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “I would never jeopardize what we have, baby.” He kissed her. “I’ll text you when I’m there, okay?” He kissed her again, his mouth lingering on hers.
“Okay.”
* * *
Carter left Kala standing by the shop door, texted Kat, and then lit a smoke. He surveyed his surroundings instinctively, watching for anyone who appeared suspect. Once he was sure there was no one near, he disappeared inside the shop.
With every step, his palms got sweatier, and his conscience spoke louder. Bad idea, it said. Yeah. No shit.
He found Max in his office, looking disheveled and sleep-deprived. His clothes were creased, his face unshaven, and his dark eyes were encircled by even darker lines. He, too, was smoking. The cigarette dangled from his lips while he cut a line of coke on the desk with a credit card that was no doubt maxed out. Despairing, Carter pushed his hands into his jacket pockets while Max snorted the line through a rolled-up twenty. He sat back, coughed, and rubbed his nostrils before standing and holding his fist for Carter to bump.
“Thanks for coming, man,” he sniped when their knuckles finally touched. “I wondered whether I could pull you away from banging your precious tutor.”
Same shit, different day.
“I’ve told you before,” Carter replied sharply. “We’re not ‘banging.’ ”
Max gave a derisive laugh. “Ah yes. You love each other. That shit’s a thing for you now.”
Carter ignored his goading and the bitterness in his words. “What the hell am I doing here?”
“I got a tip from a guy I know,” Max explained. “The fuckers who jumped me at the club: they’re doing a deal tonight.”
Carter lifted his shoulders. “So?”
Max’s eyes flashed furiously. “The deal should have gone to me. Thirty thousand cash. That shit will clear my debts. I’ve called Paul; he’s going to meet us there.”
“Meet us where?”
“At the deal.” Max’s face turned malicious. “We’re gonna show them not to fuck with me.”
Carter’s blood ran cold. “And how are ‘we’ gonna do that?”
Max gave a chilling smile. “I won’t be pushed to the side. I used to run this fucking bitch. I either want in on their deals, or they need to learn some respect.”
Carter blanched. “The hell are you thinking? Fuck, Max. This is the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard! And what if they say no to your proposal, huh? What are you gonna do, make them?”
Max scoffed. “Don’t get all fucking virtuous on me, Carter. I’m barely keeping the shop afloat. I owe too much! I can’t do anything else, man.”
“I’ve told you,” Carter replied in exasperation. “Let me help you. I’ll give you the money.”
Max shook his head. “No.”
“There’s gotta be a better way than this,” Carter pleaded. “Who’s this tip from, anyway? How do you know this guy isn’t gonna snitch? We could turn up at the meet and be faced with fifteen motherfuckers baying for blood. Look at what happened last time you fucked with these assholes.”
“The dude’s cool. He won’t rat,” Max placated him. “It’s fine. Trust me.”
Carter opened his mouth to argue, but realized there was little point. His trust in his friend was at an all-time low, and Max was as stubborn as he was. Add in the coke, and the bastard was impossible to dissuade. There was no reasoning, no coercing. He’d made his decision, and damn the consequences.
His cell vibrated, and he knew who it was before he even looked at the screen.
Wake me when you get back. Be safe. X
With fear gripping his heart like a vise in his chest, he pushed his cell back into his jeans. “So what am I here for?” he asked quietly.
“You’re the only person I trust to watch my back.”
Carter snorted. “Lucky me. This is a mess, dude. Are you sure there’s no other way?”
Ignoring Carter’s question, Max moved around him and approached the wall safe hidden behind a picture of a Shelby GT. Once opened, Max reached in and pulled out two Glocks. He held out the first to Carter.
Carter’s hesitation had Max’s brow furrowing.
“I’m on parole,” Carter said slowly. “If I’m caught— What the fuck do you think I can do with that?”
“You don’t have to use the fucking thing,” Max snapped. “Take it.”
With a deep breath, Carter took the gun, thankful that he was wearing gloves. Ordinarily, it would have felt good. Guns always made him feel strong and undefeatable. Now the metal felt alien and dangerous in his hand.
He swallowed.
Now, he realized, he had Kat to help him feel strong. She made him feel greater than any gun, any drug, any boost, any deal. She gave him more strength than he’d ever thought possible. With her, he was truly invulnerable.
Holding the Glock in his palm and with the image in his mind of Kat warm in his bed, waiting for him to return safely, he suddenly understood the crossroads that lay ahead of him.
One road took him home, to his Peaches, his everything. The other took him back to where he’d been for so many miserable years. It was a dark place filled with bad memories, hopelessness, and fear. With Max on coke and holding a gun in his hand, that road took him straight back to Kill, back to being a worthless criminal with no prospects, no respect, and no future, all promises broken, all faith shattered.
It wasn’t a place he ever wanted to go back to. He’d worked too damned hard to get to where he was now, and he couldn’t give it all up. He couldn’t give up his Peaches. She was all that mattered.
Max dropped a large bag heavily onto the desk and started to retrieve all manner of weapons from its depths.
“I can’t,” Carter said quietly, snapping Max’s head up from the large knife in his hand.
“What?”
Carter shook his head and placed the gun next to the bag. “I can’t do this.”
Max’s face was baffled. “What are you talking about?”
Carter gestured to the gun. “This isn’t me anymore, man.”
Max’s eyes flashed in disbelief. “The fuck? I need you here.”
“You don’t, Max,” Carter implored. “Look, I can give you the money. You don’t need to do this shit. You don’t need guns and coke. I’ve told you—”
“I’m not a fucking charity case! I don’t want your money!” Max bellowed. “Why don’t you understand?”
Incredulous, Carter ground his teeth. “Okay. Why don’t you explain it to me? Let’s get this shit out there.”
“Yeah. Let’s get this shit out there, Carter.” With stiff shoulders, Max made his way around the desk. His steps were heavy, angry, but Carter stood firm. “You think because you have a woman who believes the bullshit you feed her about being a good guy, that you’re above all this.” He motioned around the small room with wide arms. “You’re not. You’re still the Wesley Carter you’ve always been. You’ll never change. You can’t.”
Though Carter knew it was mostly the coke talking, the urge to smack his best friend in the mouth still thundered through him.
Max smirked at Carter’s silence. “You think you’re so fucking perfect with your grandmother’s piggy bank. Not all of us have a fucking trust fund like you, Carter. Some of us have to pay our way.”
Anger carved through Carter’s chest. “Are you serious with this shit? You know what that money means, what I’ve been through over it. It means exactly dick. It always did! Jesus! Do you even know what you’re talking about, or has the coke finally killed off what brain cells you had?”
“Respect is more important than money, Carter.” Max held up the Glock, pupils black and menacing. “This is more powerful than owning sixty percent. This is more important than some Upper East Side bitch who sucks your cock—”
Carter’s index finger snapped up to Max’s face. “Don’t you fucking dare,” he spat. “You don’t know a thing about her.”
Max sneered, “You said you had my back. But you don’t have shit.”
“You selfish son of a bitch,” Carter murmured, shaking his head slowly. He breathed, his temper starting to loosen. “I don’t even know who you are anymore.” He swallowed. “Do you remember the night you saved my life?”
“Of course I do. How could I not? I took a bullet for you.”
“I’m glad you do.” Carter’s chest grew tight. “Because we’re even now, Max. I’ve paid my debt. I did the time for you. I owe you nothing.”
“Carter—”
“No,” Carter snapped. “I’m done. I have everything I want in my life.” He turned to go.
Max’s eyes widened in disbelief, stopping him. “You’re leaving to go back to what? To a woman?”
“I’m in love with her, Max. Don’t you get it? She’s enough for me. She made me realize I’m better than this.”
“I don’t believe this! She’ll leave you, man,” he spat. “Once she’s done with you, she’ll be gone like they all are. They take from you what they want, and then they’re gone without a fucking word or care! Can’t you see? That bitch is slumming it for a while, just like your mother did—”
Carter’s fist connected hard with Max’s face. His nose exploded with an almighty crack. He stumbled back, arms flailing, while Carter stood over him, filled with a rage so furious he could barely breathe.
Finding his bearings, with a face covered in blood, Max grabbed wildly for the Glock Carter had set on the desk and pointed it at Carter’s head. His eyes were wild.
“Are you gonna shoot me, Max?” Carter asked, pinning his friend with a white-hot stare that dared him.
“Touch me again and see,” Max growled, cocking the gun. “You owe me a bullet.” He spat blood onto the floor.
Grief twisted in Carter’s stomach. It was fucking tragic that it’d come to this. His best friend was lost in the depths of a drug that was slowly driving him crazy, insane with his heartbreak but too stubborn to ask for help. They’d traveled the same road for so many years, brothers in arms, but now they were headed in completely different directions.
Slowly, Carter turned toward the door of the office, the sensation of the loaded gun blistering through his leather jacket.
“You’re leaving?” Max asked without inflection. “Just like that? You’re … You can’t. I need you here! Carter! CARTER!”
Carter reached for the handle. “I love you, brother, but I have to think of Kat now.” He shook his head. “You’re better than this shit.” He pulled the door open. “When will you realize that?”
“Carter, I—”
When Max stayed silent, Carter turned back. His mouth dropped open when he saw a tear fall down Max’s face. The Glock in his hand shook.
He gasped for breath. “You can’t leave. Everyone leaves me. Not you. I’m— It’s … Don’t. Fuck, man.”
The blood from Max’s broken nose dripped onto his T-shirt, and Carter was immediately remorseful. “I need help. It hurts.” They’d fought before, but never to the point where blood was spilled.
“I’m sorry I punched you, but—”
“No.” Max took a deep, shuddering breath. “My fucking heart hurts.” He closed his eyes. “I’m … It kills me that she’s not here.”
Carter took a tentative step toward the crumbling man, afraid to say anything.
“Every day I wake up, and she’s not there,” Max continued. “And I feel like I’m dying all over again.” The gun in his hand dropped to the floor. “My baby, my son”—he gasped—“he would be … almost two. If he was … and she … and my mom’s gone, dad’s gone, and you’re with your girl. And what do I have?” He looked around himself, helpless. “I have hangovers and nightmares that … terrify me, and I can’t sleep. The coke … keeps me awake. It makes me forget for a while, and I can finally breathe.” He gripped his hair and sobbed. “And then I remember again, and I’m suffocating without her.” He groaned. “Christ, I miss her so fucking much.”
Carter’s chest cracked wide-open. “I know.”
He’d die without his Peaches. She possessed his heart. If she walked away from him or gave it back, it would surely destroy him.
“Oh God,” Max whimpered into his forearm. “What happened to me? I thought I’d forget, but I can’t find myself. I’m so fucking lost. I mean … look at me. Make it stop, Carter. Please make it stop.”
Carter reached out and pulled him into a tight embrace as Max sobbed into his jacket. “Don’t leave me like she did. Help me,” Max begged. “You’re all I have left. Please. For Christ’s sake, help me.”
“I will,” Carter promised. “I swear I will, brother.”