18
Slade swallowed the strong amber liquid sitting at the bottom of his glass as he waited for Aaron to enter theroom.
“How is she,Aaron?”
Aaron sat down in front of Slade’s desk, taking his time to cross his legs and smooth out the wrinkles on hisclothing.
“Hello to you too,” Aaronanswered.
“I’m not in the mood, Aaron. I asked you a question. Answerit.”
Aaron met Slade’s cold gaze with an unyielding one of his own. Slade had been around Aaron long enough to recognize hisyou’re-getting-on-my-damn-nerveslook. But the despair resting in Slade’s gut was so pervasive, he couldn’t bring himself to give an actualfuck.
“I’ve been in New York every week for three weeks straight checking up on Mandisa because you’re too chicken shit to do it on your own, Hamilton. I’m your lawyer and your friend. I am not your errand boy. You want to keep tabs on her? From now on, you do ityourself.”
Aaron stood up and headed for the door. Never one to speak more words than necessary, he’d said his piece, and now he was on his way. When he reached for the doorknob, Slade lifted his eyes from the empty tumbler in his hand and looked at his friend’sback.
“I can’t,Aaron.”
He hated how small his voice sounded to his own ears. He was a charmer. Everything about his personality and physique was larger than life. How could he sound so weak and fragile now? How could Mandisa have ruined him sothoroughly?
“She doesn’t want me. She left me. I can’t just go toher.”
The pain sitting in his chest grew with each syllable. If he kept it all inside, then maybe it wasn’t real. But hearing those words vibrate through the air into the universe made them as solid as the wooden desk he satbehind.
“You are an idiot, Hamilton. She wants you. She just wants you to stop being a selfish prick. You know everything she said to you was true. You manipulated her for your own gain. No, it wasn’t for money. But manipulating someone into staying with you is stillmanipulation.”
Aaron’s words did nothing but dig a bigger hole inside Slade’s gut. Everything and everyone in his life that he loved, he’d lost at the hands of his father. He could label Bull the big bad monster responsible for all those tragedies. But this one, the most important loss of his life, was all on Slade’sshoulders.
“I know Aaron. I was afraid, and I let my fear get the better ofme.”
Slade walked to the mini bar in his office and poured himself another two fingers of scotch. He stood in front of the window looking out at his beloved Downtown Austin, and he ached. Even the beauty of his city couldn’t dull the hurt ofloss.
“She sees me as tainted. I don’t want to bring her any more hurt. I just need to know she’s safe. Bull may be out of this company, but that doesn’t mean he won’t aim his sights on her to get back at me.” Slade turned around to watch his friend still standing at the door, waiting to get away from the pity party Slade was hosting for himself. “Please.” His voice quivered. “Just watch out for her for me. I need to know she’ssafe.”
Aaron kept his back turned to Slade as he released a loud huff of breath into the air. “Fine, I’ll make sure she’s all right. But if this is what love does? Turns a man into a sorry, whiny version of himself? You can keep thatshit.”
* * *
Slade walked to his car in the executive parking lot. Fire singed his skin when he saw his father leaning casually against hisvehicle.
“Hey there, boy. Bet your daddy was the last person you expected to see waiting for youtoday.”
“I’m busy, Bull. What do youwant?”
“Oh, I’ve got everything I want. The question is, do you? That’s no by the looks of that hangdog expression dripping on your face. What happened? Your pretty little Dr. Avery leaveyou?’
Slade was too tired to attempt to pretend. He couldn’t muster up enough strength to play the bluffing game with Bull. “I’m sure it makes your day to know that shedid.”
Bull let out a loud cackle of laughter. “Actually, itdoes.”
Slade held on tighter to the keys in his hand, trying to weigh the consequences for smashing them in Bull’s face. “Why does it bring you joy to steal from me? I can’t think of anything I’ve done that would ever justify all the hate and venom you’ve poured into mylife.”
Bull shrugged his shoulders in a nonchalant fashion and pushed his hands into his pockets. “You were born. Your birth signaled the loss of everything that ever mattered to me. Your mother and I had decided to be a childless couple. Not for selfish reasons—your mama was born with a congenital heart defect. She was supposed to stay home, and I was supposed to run her father’s company. But she decided she had to have a child, no matter the cost. She stopped her birth control without me knowing and hid the fact that she was carrying you until she was too far along to do anything aboutit.
“The strain of giving you life took more of a toll than she’d figured. And once you were here, your grandfather had a natural heir to give his company to. He didn’t need me anylonger.
“But even after all that, I was happy to have a son. If I lost my wife and business because of it, I still had a boy of myown.”
