CHAPTER EIGHT
Xavier
“According to Vanessa, if the numbers work out well, we should be seeing an increase in revenue by September. I’m e-mailing you last week’s reports now. Did you see the Forbes article I sent? Mr. Fields?”
I jerked in my chair and turned to look at Kenneth. My assistant blinked back at me from over his laptop. “Is everything all right?” he asked. “Would you like another coffee?”
I looked down at the barely touched cup on my desk and cleared my throat. “No, I’m fine. What was… what was that about the reports?”
Kenneth plunged on, giving me this number and that number. His words quickly became an endless stream of meaningless babble. It wasn’t his fault. The whole morning had been that way. Ever since I left Riley at my penthouse.
The image of her sleeping came back to me. The way she curled up on her side, one hand clutching the edge of the pillow… I wanted to burrow back under the sheets with her and never leave. I’d thought of waking her before I rolled out of bed so that we could have a quick repeat of last night’s activities, but she looked so perfect laying there I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
It wasn’t often that I had such desires. Usually, only the most special women made me want to go for a second round. But, when it came to this case, I really couldn’t be surprised. I knew Riley was different the second I first set eyes on her.
All morning, my mind had been occupied with ideas and plans. I was going to take Riley out again, but our next jaunt needed to happen on a whole new level. Dinner and a dance on a rooftop wasn’t enough. Any man with half a brain could come up with such a basic date. Riley deserved more. And I wanted to give her more.
At least for a little while. I couldn’t keep her all to myself for long. I wouldn’t be able to. There were… rules… stipulations.
Eventually, she’d need to go on the list, just like every other woman I’d slept with. It was a promise I’d made to myself, Davis, Julian, and Seth. And it was one I’d never once gone back on. As far as I knew, the same was true for the three other men. We may have had our occasional issues with each other, but the list was sacred. It was the holy grail of our small group, and we didn’t disrespect it.
Once Riley’s name was added to that list, she’d no longer exclusively be mine. She’d be fair game, subject to the attention of the three other men. If one of them saw her picture and decided he wanted her, all he’d have to do was look up her information and make a move.
My hands curled into fists at the idea. I had absolutely no plan to make Riley my girlfriend, but the thought of some other man putting his hands on her made me see red.
“Mr. Fields?”
I looked over and found Kenneth staring at me again. Sitting up straighter, I folded my hands on top of my desk. I had no clue whatsoever regarding what was going on.
I cleared my throat. “Let’s take a break. Go to lunch early.”
Suspicion entered his eyes, but he just nodded. It wasn’t his job to question me, and he knew that. “Yes, sir.”
“You can make it a long lunch. I might take off for a while.”
“Yes, sir. Let me know if you need anything.”
Once the door fell shut behind him, I pushed my chair back and went to stand at the window. Squeezing my eyes shut, I pinched the bridge of my nose. I’d never worried about mental illness before, but maybe this was what it was like to go insane. Try as hard as I might, I couldn’t go twenty seconds without Riley crossing my mind.
I needed a distraction. Work wasn’t doing it, so that left only one option. I needed to fight. I needed to channel all of this unchecked energy into my fists, put it somewhere it could be of use. Because it wasn’t doing any good stuffed inside of me.
Pulling out my cell, I scrolled down and found the last text I’d sent to Enigma’s head of security. Before I could type anything, though, Davis called.
“Hello?”
“Xavier. You have a moment?”
“I do.” I stepped away from the window and sat back down at my desk. There was a tightness in Davis’ voice that suggested an urgency. “What’s going on?”
“Seth brought a girl into Enigma’s office.”
The news sent annoyance shooting through me. “You’re serious?”
“Yes. One of the staff saw him bring her in there last night.”
I let out a low whistle. Not even attempting to hide his charade was so like Seth. “Have you talked to him?”
“I did, but you know that little prick.”
I barked out a laugh. “You get to say that because you’re related to him. The rest of us only get to think it.”
“It’s getting increasingly harder to call him anything else. Can you do me a favor? I’m still in L.A., and I won’t be back until next week. Talk to him, if you can. He needs to know how serious this is. I came down pretty hard on him, but if you say something as well, it’ll help out.”
“Of course. I can’t believe he did something so stupid. Actually, no. Scratch that. I can believe it.”
Davis sighed. “He’s still young. And he doesn’t have as much riding on the line as we do. If he gets involved in a scandal, all it’ll mean for him is an embarrassing headline in the New York Post. Fuck, that might even make him happy. It would stroke his ego.”
“He doesn’t have businesses to think about,” I murmured.
“Exactly.”
We didn’t have to discuss precisely why Seth was playing with fire. No one was allowed in our shared office. No one. The exception was the maid who cleaned it, and she only entered the room when one of us were available to supervise. Tucked away in that office, on one small but dangerous hard drive, was the biggest secret of the four of our lives.
If the list were to be leaked, it would be disastrous. Like Davis said, Seth could probably ride the repercussions out, but the rest of us wouldn’t be able to. It would be straight-up character assassination. Our reputations would tank, and along with them, our businesses. We’d be done for in every way possible.
“I’ll text him right now,” I promised.
As soon as we hung up, I sent Seth a text and told him to meet me at the club in thirty minutes. It was the middle of the workday, but that didn’t mean jack shit to Seth. If he wasn’t still in bed, he was probably at some girl’s apartment or snorting coke at The Plaza.
The timing happened to be somewhat good. I felt eager to get out of the office and find something to do, so I rushed over to Enigma and let myself in. No one was there yet, not even the security guards or the bartender. The place was guaranteed to be empty for a few more hours.
While waiting, I checked the bar over, just to make sure everything was in working order and looking good. There was a leak in one of the sinks, so I grabbed the toolbox from the broom closet and took care of it. Working with my hands always proved to be a nice change of pace. It was kind of meditative in a way, helping to clear my head and relax me. I was probably too worked up to rationally talk to Seth right then anyway, so taking time to cool my jets was a good idea.
Seth arrived fifteen minutes late, an annoyed look on his face.
“What’s up?” he asked, taking a seat at the bar.
“I talked to Davis.”
Seth groaned. “I don’t need you to play Daddy too. I already got my lecture from him.”
I crossed my arms and glared at him. “And I’m sure you took it oh so seriously.”
He defiantly lifted his chin. “Speaking of being serious, you both take things too seriously, man. So what? I took a girl into the office. She was there to give me a blowjob, not hack our computer system. This chick locked herself out of her iPhone. Trust me, if you’d seen her, you would know she wasn’t any trouble.”
“That’s not the point. Something could have happened.”
“Like what?”
“She could have seen something.”
“The computer wasn’t open. It’s never open.”
“But it could have been!” I slammed my fist down onto the bar. “It could have been!”
Seth’s face grew red. “You need to chill.”
I pointed my finger at him. “And you need to grow up. Start thinking about others for once. It’s not just this group you put in danger with every action you make, it’s your family.”
A long moment passed. Seth knew what I was getting at. His parents were the crème de la crème of Manhattan’s upper class. His mother had been one of the most famous supermodels of the eighties and his father, after two stints as a senator, currently invested in everything from fast-food chains to film production companies. People knew who they were, and people were watching. All. The. Time.
Seth worked his jaw around, looking like he was about to retaliate again, but instead, he shook his head. “Fine. I won’t do it again.” He stood up. “Thanks for bringing me all the way over here just for this. Next time I’m in trouble, maybe you can skip ahead and just call my parents.”
He left without another word, letting the front door slam loudly behind him. Anger filled me and blurred my vision.
“Fuck!”
With no one there to hear it, my curse echoed in the empty club. I pressed my palms against the cool bar and steadied my breathing. I needed to do something before I exploded. If it were nighttime, I would find a deserving guy on the floor and have security send him outside so I could pummel the shit out of him. Since it was only noon, I didn’t have that option. It would be hard to find an out of line perv in the corner Starbucks.
But there was one other thing that I knew would calm me down for sure. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled my phone out and called Riley.