“When I was seventeen, I had a girlfriend,” Cam started, giving her a reprieve.“Teagan.We were young and stupid—I was young and stupid.You always think it won’t happen to you.Don’t get me wrong, we were careful but…”
“At that age, we’re invincible.”
“All my life I was told stories of how Colliers always got what they wanted.”
“And you wanted her?”
“People are part of the package.”From nowhere, his fingers linked with hers to guide her down onto the couch.“We’re surrounded by the most loyal, the most hungry, the most dishonest.My father could smell it, anyone with bad intentions got within ten feet of us and they’d be kicked out seconds later.”
“He protected you.”
“The family, the company, we were protected from all sides.Always have been.Risks are calculated and mistakes never made.”
“That’s a lot of pressure.”
“It wasn’t,” he said on a freeing laugh.He put the coffee down and scooped up her legs to drape them over his lap.“Colliers got what they wanted, did what they wanted, and fuck, we did it with style and charisma, ‘cause we had Mimi on our ass if she got word otherwise.”
Another point in Mimi’s favor.
“Our parents didn’t only protect us, they raised us right.Casp’s dogged, Knox is sharp…”
“And Camden Collier?What’s he?”
“Uninterested.”
“They were motivated.All in.Dedicated to it.I couldn’t have cared less.I didn’t resent it, it was just, there, in my life.Didn’t matter how many meetings I went to or how many wins we celebrated.Don’t get me wrong, I was happy for the success but… it meant nothing to me, not like it did to them.”
“Is that why you walked away?They didn’t cut you.Was it Teagan?She pushed you to stand up to them?”
“That’s not the way Colliers work.We say our piece, we speak our mind, but we support each other.Even if we disagree.”
She shut her eyes for a second.“I don’t understand.”
“I could do whatever I wanted because they trusted me.The family, Mimi, they trusted me like they trusted in all of us.They’d give their last, you know.Not many people see that truth, but I lived it.Colliers make each other proud, we don’t disappoint each other.”
“And being with Teagan disappointed them?”she asked, trying to figure it out.“Sorry, I still don’t get it.Was it a tax bracket thing or…?”
“No,” he stated.“It was an I knocked her up thing.”Oh boy, well, huh, that made more sense.“Telling Knox was one thing, Casp another, but neither of them hesitated to stand at my side when I went to face my dad.If one Collier celebrates, we all celebrate.If one fucks up, we all fuck up.”
“Because Colliers support each other.”
“Right.”
They were careful but…
“I’ve been here for weeks and never seen a child, is that why you left LA?”She couldn’t equate abandonment with the man she’d come to know.“You’d never desert your child.”
“We lost the baby.Teag started getting pain… She ignored it, didn’t want to go to the hospital.We knew people—I knew people.We’re Colliers and…” The pressure of the base of his fingers increased as it ascended her lower leg.“If we’d got there an hour later, she’d be dead.”
“The pain—”
“Ectopic pregnancy,” he said.“We lost the baby and she lost a tube.After that, she couldn’t look at me, at anyone.I don’t blame her.There was nothing—what could I have said?Nothing was going to take that pain away.We were young… What did we know?”
“And your family?”
“Were with me every step of the way.Her family weren’t so understanding.Money changed hands, I know it did, though my father kept the details from me.As a kindness.No judgment, no punishment, only support and understanding.
“Some part of them were pleased, I think, when I threw myself into architecture.It saved me at a time I needed saving.Gave me something my family couldn’t substitute.”
