My brain scrambles, making links and connections, as it always does in a crisis.
“Hasn’t he got a massive roll-out next week? Has he pulled it?”
I haven’t heard anything, but then I’m away from the office.
“No, he won’t. Not yet, at least.”
Elijah’s firewall is impenetrable, or almost impenetrable. I never say anything is one hundred per cent, especially with the right skill set.
A thought crosses my mind.
“Does Elijah know you’re calling me?”
Silence descends.
“I’ll take that as a no.”
“I gave him twelve hours to sort out his shit.”
“If he came in this morning, that’s not twelve hours.”
“Semantics. It will be twelve hours or more before you’re in a position to actually help him.”
“He didn’t forbid you from calling me?”
“Even Elijah knows he can’t do this on his own. This could ruin him, Pen. His company is all he has left. Darra took him to the cleaners during their divorce.”
I squeeze my temple points, using my thumb and middle finger, before leaning forward and resting my elbows on the kitchen work surface.
I take a deep breath, already knowing the answer but wanting to hear him say it.
“Why are you calling me, Gabe?”
A sigh comes over the phone. “You know I wouldn’t ask you.”
“But you’re going to, anyway,” I add.
“You’re the best at what you do,” Gabriel says.
“Stroking my ego? You must be desperate.”
“I say it as it is, you know that better than anyone,” he says.
I roll my shoulders to ease the tension that’s building up.
“Why do you believe if I return to the UK, he will want or accept my help?”
“It’s not what he wants, Pen. It’s what he needs. This is your forte. You were his best friend. He trusts you.”
“Werebeing the operative word. That was a lifetime ago,” I tell Gabriel honestly.
“That kind of friendship doesn’t disappear. I know it was difficult between you when he was married to Darra. It was for all of us. But this is bad.”
I inhale and hold my breath before releasing it slowly. My mind wanders back to the man I saw by the pool on the night of Caleb and April’s wedding. There were flashes of my old friend.
“If you won’t do it for Eli, do it for me. I’m worried about him.”
His words are like a punch to the gut. Everything about Elijah Frazer affects me. It always has. From the moment we met, or as I uncovered years later. Bought his way to being my partner.
