ODESSA

“I need a word with my brother,” Beckham says when we arrive at TEH headquarters. The flight was smooth and uneventful, and baby Sadie only cried once. We settled her in with Elizabeth at Golden Oak and headed to the office.

“Not a problem,” I say. “I’ll set my things in the spare office. Got some emails to return. That article from Charity Falls should be online today too.”

Beckham heads toward Dane’s office and I make a beeline for the ladies’ room to freshen up.

I plunk my bag on the counter and whip out some lip balm and hand lotion and a compact of touch up powder. Leaning over the sink, I hear what sounds like crying from one of the stalls behind me.

Eight stalls behind me are empty. The ninth has feet. I click across the tile until I get to that door, and the sobs pause.

“Excuse me, are you crying in there?” I ask.

It’s quiet just before it gets loud again. I’m worried that poor thing in there is two seconds from hyperventilating.

“Hello? I hear you in there. Open up.”

The sound of ripping toilet paper is the only response I get.

“I’m Odessa,” I say. “You going to come out?”

I stand on my toes.

“I’m really tall, and I can see over the door, so you better come out,” I say with a tease in my tone. “Okay, never mind. I’m not that tall.”

The click of the lock precedes the whipping of the stall door, and out emerges a baby-faced blonde in a cinched pencil skirt with shiny flaxen waves dripping down her shoulders. Her crystal blue eyes are rimmed in red and glassed with tears.

“Thank you. Yes. There you are.” I follow her to the mirror. “Got a name?”

She sniffs, staring ahead at her reflection. “Bellamy. You work here?”

My nose wrinkles. As soon as I get a chance, I’m accepting the job Beckham offered me. I quietly decided on the flight over here.

“Sort of. I’m based out of the New York office.”

“You work with Beckham?” The blonde asks.

“You know Beckham?” She looks like the type he’d go for, at least before fatherhood was thrust into his lap. “Or do you, like, know Beckham...”

“Not sure I follow.”

I bat my hand. “Forget I said anything.”

She washes her hands, drying them on a paper towel and dabbing her face with cool water.

“You’re crying over a guy, right?” I step closer.

“Maybe.” Bellamy’s eyes snap to the counter.

“He’s not worth it, whoever he is. They never are.”

“I know.”

I smirk. “If you know, then why’d you let him get you all worked up?”

“It wasn’t really him; it was mostly the way he spoke to me. It was hurtful, and he wasn’t supposed to hurt me. At least he said he wouldn’t.”

My eyes roll. I could strangle the asshole that disrespected this adorable little angel. She has naive written all over her, which makes her an easy target for heartbreak and rejection. “That’s what they all say, and you know what? They’re all a bunch of fucking liars. Pardon my French.”

Bellamy’s lips almost twitch into a smile. She draws in a cool breath, her shoulders shaking as she exhales. Her cheeks are less red than they were a minute ago, which is good.

“You want to get coffee or something? Are there any good coffee places around here that don’t have a green mermaid as a logo?” I point to the door.

Bellamy’s jaw falls, her lips dancing in hesitation. “I don’t know. I should get back to my desk. My boss is probably wondering where I am. I’ve been in here a while.”

“Who do you report to?”

“Dane.”

“Oh, I’ve got this. You’re going with me. I’ll deal with him if he gives you any shit.” Dane might intimidate everyone else, but not me. He’s harmless. A kitten. Rapists and murderers are what keep me up at night, not affluent businessmen who rarely smile.

I take Bellamy by the arm and lead her out of the restroom and toward the elevator.

“I don’t have my purse,” she objects as we stride in step.

“Good thing I have a company credit card.”

* * *

“How long have you been working here?” I pull up a chair at a table next to the front window of a small coffee shop.

“This is my first week.” She sits down and takes a sip from her small latte. “I’m his concierge.”

Her emphasis on the word concierge tells me everything I need to know. One of my friends back in the city did the same thing, only the man paying her was old enough to be her grandfather and married and everything was on the low. I bet she’d have killed to be on her knees for someone as striking and virile as Dane Townsend.

“You’re shitting me.” I place my cup on the table, sitting up and squaring my shoulders. The corners of my mouth curling a delayed moment later.

She shakes her head. “No.”

I study her, trying to picture what might make a young, beautiful girl like Bellamy agree to be a bought-and-paid-for, modern-day courtesan.

Her hand claps across her mouth. “Odessa, please don’t tell anyone what I just told you.”

“Were you crying over Dane then?”

Her chin dips, and her see-through blue gaze drifts toward the window.

“Please, tell me you weren’t crying over Dane.” Poor thing. He should’ve picked someone older, more experienced. Someone who wouldn’t have let her heart get in the way of a business arrangement.

“He’s intense.” She squirms in her seat like she’s unable to get comfortable. “We have an agreement, and I’m just not sure I’m what he needs, and I need this job.”

“You’re probably his type.” She angles herself in her chair, and her tone is flat. “Blonde. Blue eyes. Pretty. An innocent ingénue ready to be shown the world…”

What hot-blooded man wouldn’t want that?

“I didn’t know he had a type.”

“Why do you need this job so bad? There are millions of other jobs out there. Don’t work for someone who treats you like crap. You’ve got to have more respect for yourself.”

“It’s complicated.” She lifts her Styrofoam cup and swirls it around to gauge how much is left. “Again, just please don’t tell anyone, okay?”

“Anyone I might tell probably already knows.” I shrug and peer outside, my eyes following a striking man in a gray Macintosh jacket and wayfarer sunglasses who passes by. Our eyes lock and he smiles.

And then he’s gone forever.

As my mind is stuck on the panty-melting smile I was just gifted by that gorgeous stranger, it occurs to me that I haven’t thought of Jeremiah all day.

I’m not even sure that I miss him.

“Who would you tell?” Bellamy asks. My gaze jerks back to her.

“Well, Beckham.” I shrug. “We tell each other almost everything.”

Or at least it feels that way.

“Are you and Beckham together?” she asks.

A robust laugh originates deep inside, as if it’s the funniest thing I’ve heard in a long time. “Absolutely not. And please don’t ever ask me that again.”

Bellamy watches me laugh. So do the patrons at the next table over.

“Been there. Done that. Got the t-shirt.” I pull my small clutch from my lap and yank out my phone. “Speak of the devil.”

Beckham asks where I am and tells me Dane wants a quick meeting with me before they leave to visit Leo.

“I guess we have to head back. I have to go with Beck to see his uncle in hospice.”

I may not be invited, but I’m tagging along anyway. He needs my strength. He was silent the entire flight this morning, wearing nothing but a casual linen suit and the solemn face of a soldier going to war. Inside he’s got to be falling apart.

“Oh?” Bellamy rises.

“That’s why we’re here,” I say, standing up and tilting my cup back to get the last drop. After I toss it in a nearby trashcan, I whip out a tin of Rosebud Salve and coat my lips before popping in a stick of gum. “Want one?”

“Sure.”

“So Dane didn’t tell you about Uncle Leo?” I ask.

“No.”

“I’m shocked. The man practically raised them, well, since they were teenagers.” That’s pretty much all I know. I’m sure he’d have opened up to me more had I not been so adamant about not being friends.

We leave the coffee shop and stroll back to the office. A break in the clouds above allows for sunlight to filter through and warm the chilly air. Inside, I’m filled with warm coffee and sadness. My heart breaks for Dane and Beckham.

I need to call my dad later.

We used to talk on the phone every Sunday night. I stopped picking up the phone the second Jeremiah walked out. I can’t talk to him about it. He loves Jeremiah. On a larger scale, my heart knows that Dad’s waiting for me to marry off before he departs this earth. He’d never admit it, but he doesn’t need to. I see it in his eyes. I hear it in his words.

“I wish you could’ve met Uncle Leo in his better days.” I sound like I go way back with him. Despite only meeting him two weeks ago, he’s the kind of person who leaves their footprint in your heart. Warm and outspoken and dispensing unsolicited advice with every breath he takes, he’s the old bachelor version of a stereotypical Italian mother.

“Is there anything I should do for Dane?” she asks. “Anything to help him cope?”

My lips purse as my pointed heels click the cement sidewalk with steady strides. “I doubt it. If he hasn’t mentioned anything to you yet, he probably doesn’t want to talk about it. The doctors say it’s going to be any day now. If Dane’s a little more on edge than usual, that might be why.”

“I see.”

We trek into the lobby and approach the elevator, and when we hit our floor, we walk side by side past the reception desk where a gaggle of gawking girls stare us down. I shoot them my best New York bitch glare, and they all glance away, convincing me they share a brain.

“You ready?” Beckham rounds the corner and hooks his arm into mine. There’s a streak of misplaced playfulness in his stormy eyes. Maybe he had a chat with Dane that lifted his spirits? Or maybe he’s pretending, for his own sake, that everything isn’t actually falling apart. “Where’d you go?”

“Coffee.” My arm retracts. “And it was on you, so…thanks.”

“My pleasure,” he teases, one eyebrow arched.

“It was great meeting you, Bellamy.” I place my hand across the side of her arm. “I’m not sure how long we’ll be around this week, but I’m sure I’ll run into you again.”

I follow Beckham to the conference room where Dane waits, scrolling through his phone with a furrowed brow and pursed lips. He’s frustrated about something, Bellamy perhaps. His uncle.

God, these men are resilient. And stone cold. Their personal lives are in shambles and yet they’re sitting here ready to discuss work as usual.

“Let’s make this quick,” Beckham says. He doesn’t want to be here. I see it in his eyes. I spy him pulling out his phone. His expression falls as he reads a text. Everything about him feels a touch darker than before. “I need to see Uncle Leo.”

Dane puts his phone aside and starts the meeting. I fire off answers, my attention tuned to Beckham. He gazes to the side, his fingers mindlessly toying with a silver ball point pen.

He’s somewhere else entirely.

Before the meeting concludes, I bring up the job offer, asking for a six-figure salary. Dane doesn’t as much as blink before declaring we have a deal. We shake on it, and I thank them for the opportunity, before Dane checks the time and mentions a two o’clock conference call. I’m not sure how he can be so focused and robotic with so much on his plate.

“Ready?” I say to Beckham. He snaps out of his fog and squints at me from across the polished table. “I’m going with you. You’re not doing this alone.”

He rises. “That’s really not necessary.”

“It’s okay to ask for help sometimes.”

His expression darkens, hardening as if he takes offense to my offer. “I’m perfectly capable of visiting my uncle on my own.”

“No, you’re not.” I fold my arms though I may as well be hugging a cactus.

He tucks his pen into a pocket behind his linen lapel and strides along the lengthy conference table like a man on a mission.

“You’re seriously just going to walk away right now?” I should go easy on him. I know. But the burn in my chest is causing a rapid boil of words in my head, and they’re all coming to the surface at once. “Let me be a friend here. It’s all I’m trying to do.”

“What’s the point?” He storms toward the door. I lurch forward, half-wanting to chase after him but knowing I should let him go. My feet plant, and I watch as he stops. His fists clench and release as he grips the doorway.

I hold my breath, waiting for him to speak.

But he says nothing.

And in an instant, he’s gone.