Titan

“Diesel, you don’t need to come.” I folded my clothes and placed them in the suitcase on the bed.

He moved behind me, packing things for the trip. “I’m aware.”

“I’m serious.” I kept my eyes on my suitcase. Staring at him was always too much of a distraction. “We don’t need to do everything together just because we’re getting married.”

“I’m aware of that too.” His heavy footsteps shuffled behind him as he moved.

I rolled my eyes. “Then stay here. I’m just going to be working the whole time.”

He came to my side, his shadow stretching over me. He suspended a sparkly piece of lingerie in front of me then dropped it on top of the rest of my clothing. The panties and bra came with it, made with real diamonds.

I immediately wanted to squeeze my thighs together.

Diesel moved in closer to me, his lips coming next to my ear. “And when you aren’t working, you’ll be fucking.” He kissed the shell of my ear before he turned away and walked to his closet.

Goose bumps formed on my arms even though he’d turned me on so many times. I touched the sparkling lingerie then carefully folded it before placing it on top of the rest of my clothes. “I can always wear this when I get back.”

“Where you go, I go.”

I rolled my eyes again even though he couldn’t see me. “When you go on business trips, don’t expect me to come along.”

“You will be coming along,” he said coldly. “And your suitcase will be full of only lingerie.”

A smile formed on my lips.

He couldn’t see my face, but he predicted my reaction. “I’m being serious.”

“I know,” I whispered. “That’s why I’m smiling.”

He shut his suitcase then set it by the door. “Anyone coming along?”

“Autumn and Thorn are joining us.”

He sighed loudly, which told me it was on purpose.

“What?”

“I don’t like to share you.”

“A few hours on a plane is too much for you?” I asked sarcastically.

“Yes. A single hour is too much.” He was in jeans and a black t-shirt. He looked amazing in dark colors. It added to his quiet aggressiveness. He came to my side at the bed and stared at me openly, possessing me with a single look.

“Last chance to back out…” We had to leave in the next fifteen minutes. I set my bag of makeup on top along with a brush and some hairspray.

“I’m not backing out. Having me by your side only increases your power. I’ve seen the way people talk to you sometimes. People won’t say a damn thing to you while I’m there.”

It was sweet, but not to me. “I don’t need you to make my problems go away. I’ve established my power on my own, and I don’t need a guard dog to maintain it. I’ve earned my reputation by example, not fear. The second I hide behind a man, I forfeit that respect. So let’s get that straight right now. I represent my businesses on my own. It’s completely separate from you, as I’m separate from your businesses. We may be combined in every other way, but that’s where we draw the line. If you think I need you to come to my rescue…then you don’t know me at all.” I shut my suitcase then carried it to the elevator, moving around him and ignoring him.

He came up behind me, his heavy footsteps slow. He carried his suitcase with him then set it by the door.

I knew the argument wasn’t over.

He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at me as we waited in front of the elevator.

It was like waiting for a bomb to explode. Any moment now, he would snap.

I caved first. “What?”

“We’re a team, in all aspects. We’re joined completely. When people look at you, they think of me. Vice versa. We’re the richest couple in the world now, Titan. That kind of power shouldn’t be handled lightly. People are going to try to tear us down. I have your back, and you better have mine.”

“You know I do.”

“Then where you go is where I go. Your businesses are my businesses.”

“I don’t need your help running them.”

“But we’re a team now. I get that’s gonna be a difficult adjustment for you, but you need to accept it.” He stared me down with his fierce expression, obviously not happy about the attitude I just gave him.

We still hadn’t spoken of the legal ramifications of our union. We’d have to talk about finances, ownerships, trusts…a bunch of difficult discussions that I was dreading. We were getting married because we loved each other, but soon we’d have to treat it like a business acquisition.

The elevator beeped, and the doors opened to reveal Thorn. Dressed in jeans and a hoodie, he had one bag over his shoulder. His hair was messy like he didn’t bother styling it when he got out of the shower that morning. His eyes didn’t shine with their usual excitement when we traveled places. He stepped into the penthouse without giving us more than a nod.

Something was wrong.

“Out late with Autumn?” I asked.

Thorn set his bag on the ground. “No. When are we leaving?”

Judging by his clipped tone, he didn’t want to talk about Autumn. That couldn’t be good. “The guys will be here any minute. But if you aren’t feeling well, you don’t have to come along.”

“I’m feeling fine.” He helped himself to the bar and made himself an Old Fashioned…even though it was nine in the morning.

Diesel dropped his hostility when he realized Thorn was losing his grip on reality. He eyed him then turned back to me, having a silent conversation with me.

I shook my head in response, unsure what to do about Thorn. The guys would be here to escort us to the airport any second, and then Autumn would join us for the flight. If there were something else on Thorn’s mind, he would just blurt it out. So it was obviously about Autumn.

He downed the glass in less than a minute then came back to us, reeking of booze.

We were off to a great start…

The elevator doors opened again, and my team stepped inside to collect my things. They grabbed my bags, along with Diesel’s and Thorn’s, and then we went down to the lobby and boarded the black SUV waiting for us.

Diesel didn’t sit beside me and moved into the very back row, assuming I would want to sit next to Thorn during the ride.

Damn, he knew me well.

Thorn sat beside me, buckled his safety belt, and then faced forward like we were two strangers on the bus. His normally good-natured expression was wiped away and replaced by a painful look of irritation.

He didn’t look like himself at all.

“Thorn?”

“Hmm?”

I hit the button and raised the center divider so the guys couldn’t hear us. “What happened with Autumn?”

We hit a pothole in the road, and his body swayed slightly with the movement. He kept his gaze out the window and didn’t break his stare. “We aren’t seeing each other anymore.”

“Why?” If he was so miserable without her, why go their separate ways?

“Doesn’t matter,” he said quietly. “You don’t need to worry about our business relationship. We’re fine.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about.” Couldn’t care less about it. I’d never seen my friend looked so upset in my life. Even when I’d been shot, he didn’t look this pale. He plastered a smile on his face while he sat at my bedside and played cards with me. “What happened?”

“It’s a long and boring story…”

“We have time before we pick her up.”

He stared out the window, ignoring me.

I grabbed his hand. “Talk to me. You know I’m just going to bug you until you open up.”

He pulled his hand away. “She basically told me she couldn’t have a fling anymore because she was falling for me…she wants all of me instead of some of me. I couldn’t give her what she wanted, so we called it off.”

It didn’t surprise me Autumn wanted something more from Thorn. He was an incredible man with a heart of solid gold. He was greedy for power and extremely ambitious, but he was also compassionate about people who didn’t have what he had. He helped me get to where I was now and never expected anything in return. He was extremely selfless. “If you couldn’t give her what she wanted, then why are you so miserable right now?”

He didn’t answer.

“Thorn, just give it a chance. What do you have to lose?”

“It’s not gonna go anywhere, Titan. I’ll just waste her time and hurt her in the end. She’ll tell me she loves me, and I won’t say it back. It’ll kill her. I could never do that…not to her. She deserves something so much better than me.”

“Then be what she deserves, Thorn.”

He shook his head, his eyes still out the window. “I’m not gonna repeat myself.”

“You wouldn’t be miserable over her if you didn’t care about her.”

“Of course I care about her,” he said quietly. “Never said I didn’t.”

“Then keep caring about her…everything else will come naturally.”

The guys pulled over to the curb, stopping in front of Autumn’s house.

“Let’s drop it,” Thorn whispered.

The front door opened, and she appeared with her suitcase. The guys got out to help her, and I finished what I needed to say. “Let me break this down for you, Thorn. If you let her go, someone else is gonna get her. Then you’ll watch her be happy from a distance, wishing you were the guy sleeping beside her every night. Don’t let that be you, Thorn. Take a risk. You have more to lose by doing nothing than by doing something.”

She was almost to the SUV.

Thorn didn’t say anything.

“Just think about what I said.” I squeezed his hand then pulled away right when the door opened.

Autumn was dressed nicely, and her hair was done. But she held the same sadness in her eyes that Thorn did. She did a better job at hiding it, though. “Morning.”

“Morning.” Diesel gave her a hand and helped her inside. They sat side by side.

“Hey, Autumn,” I said. “How are you?”

“Great.” She buckled her safety belt. “I’m excited to see Chicago.”

Thorn didn’t say anything to her. He didn’t turn around to look at her.

I tapped my knee against his.

Thorn cleared his throat. “Morning…Autumn.” He said her name like it actually caused him pain deep in his gut. It was like he’d never really said her name before or addressed her that way.

Autumn took a long pause before she said it back. “Morning, Thorn.”

I could feel the tension in the air, the sadness between them both. Neither one of them was taking this breakup well. Thorn was miserable, and she was obviously distraught too.

I wanted my best friend to have what I had, a love that had no boundaries. I’d found everything I ever needed within Diesel. He completed me in a way money and success never could. He was my partner for life, the future father of my children. Finding someone that remarkable who loved you unconditionally was worth more than all the money in the world.

And I didn’t want Thorn to lose it.