Jason felt his stomach flip. Of course they’d followed him. It was exactly what he’d do, and he was the most self-involved of all of them.
“Where are the others?”
“Langdon went after Grant, probably to beat the crap out of him, so that’ll be fun to deal with tomorrow.”
“We need to stop him. You don’t know how dangerous Grant can be.”
“I think we’re all aware of how dangerous he is given what’s happened in the last few months, but this is Langdon. Grant has a soft spot for him, and you it seems.”
“Gregory didn’t leave his wedding, did he?”
Jason felt awful about Grant turning up and causing a scene when it was Gregory’s special day. It wouldn’t have happened if Jason had spoken to him sometime over the last few months when Grant had been trying to contact him.
“We told Gregory to stay put. He’s probably railing Oscar in the office again.”
Jason snorted. “They weren’t exactly quiet, were they?”
“It didn’t help that you called us all over to listen,” said Paolo.
“You couldn’t get over there quick enough,” said Charlie. “Max must be rubbing off on you.”
“He does most days.”
“What. The. Fuck!” squealed Jason. “Did Paolo just make a sex joke? Has the world ended? Please tell me the apocalypse is coming, so I don’t need to speak to Patrick again.”
“What did he do?” asked Charlie, his face full of concern.
Jason loved his brothers so much. They knew Jason wasan over-the-top drama queen, but their immediate response was to assume Patrick had done something wrong. He hadn’t. Patrick was the perfect man. It was Jason who was defective.
“He did nothing wrong, but when he sees what’s in that envelope, I don’t think he’ll ever speak to me again.”
“What’s in the envelope?” asked Charlie. “And before you deflect, remember, we love you no matter what. Even if it’s a list of all the people you’ve murdered, we’ll stand by you.”
Jason was overwhelmed, but he still didn’t want to tell them. They’d judge him, because despite everything people said, opinions are like arseholes – everybody has one. He knew it better than most because he worked in HR and had to always remain neutral, yet no matter what the situation was, he still formed a view in his head of which side of the argument he believed more. The challenge was to fight against his own biases and focus on the facts. It was a daily challenge not to call people out on their bullshit.
“Jason!” prompted Charlie.
“Grant thinks I cheated on him when we were together.”
Charlie looked shocked. Paolo had his usual calm expression. He sat on the bed next to Jason and took his hand.
“Tell us your side, Jason,” said Paolo. “That’s all we’re interested in hearing.”
“Your hands are soft and pretty.”
Paolo chuckled, but then turned his intense blue eyes on Jason, prompting him to take a deep sigh. He needed to be honest with them.
“The first two years were amazing. Grant was around all the time, so attentive, and he looked after me, and I don’t mean with money. He was always there to help me when I got overwhelmed. He’d just listen if I needed to have one of my rants. Grant always kept his business interests away from me, but I wasn’t stupid. I knew who he was when I agreed to marry him, but he always said he didn’t want me to betainted by his world. He could always come home and I’d be there, all pure and innocent.”
Charlie snorted. Jason glared at him, but then couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Grant knew I was a bit of a slut at university.”
“A bit?” said Charlie.
“Did I turn the commentary on for this episode?”
Charlie laughed and nodded at Jason to continue.
