“So what is everyone up to today?” She asked casually as we all cleaned up after breakfast. She stood next to Owen at the sink, washing the dishes and handing them to him to dry. Their shoulders were lightly brushing against one another and I found myself jealous again. I made a mental note to get more one-on-one time with Eloise.
“I need to head into the office for a bit,” I replied as I pushed the stools in and wiped down the countertop. “I’ll be back early today if you want to grab some dinner?”
“Ooh yes,” Eloise brightly smiled at me, her brown eyes sparkling with excitement, “I was looking up new places for us to try—there’s an Ethiopian food place on the pier we could try.”
“Sounds good. I’ll pick you up around four? Guys, do you want to go too?” I asked, hoping they’d say no.
“Nah, I’ve got some things to do that I’ve been putting off.” Owen gave me a knowing look before placing a quick, chaste kiss on Eloise’s cheek. She seemed surprised but pleased by this and I gave a mental fist bump to Owen.
“I’ll be at the office until Leon decides to come home for the day.” This came from Gage.
“Okay, well I’ll be here working on my paper.” Eloise gave us all a wave as she headed back up to her room. I wished I could skip work and stay here all day and watch her write her paper, but alas Leon would skin me alive for skipping work today. So I got dressed and headed for the office.
I had only been at my desk for an hour when Gage stepped into my office carrying a tablet.
“What’s up?” I asked, turning away from the document on my computer that I was reading before the afternoon meeting. It was about our profits and investments for the quarter—real riveting stuff.
“I found him.” Gage said, holding the tablet out for me. It took me a minute to remember who exactly ‘him’ was but then it hit me. The beta that Eloise was hung up on.
“Jesus Gage. That took you what—forty-five minutes? How’d you find him so fast when Eloise has been searching for him for years.”
“Eloise only has access to google. I don’t have that problem.” Was all the giant man said reminding me that he was the head of security at our company and had a skillset that would scare most people and he didn’t look very happy about that fact.
“I thought you’d give it at least 3-5 business days.” I joked but could tell that the joke fell flat by his stormy expression..
“Just read the damn report, Ric.” Jeez he was grumpy. I looked down at the report and immediately understood what was making him so pissed off.
A picture of an attractive blond man was the first thing in the report. He was dressed in a suit and looked at the camera with a stern expression. He looked to be built like a swimmer—wide shoulders and slender hips. His blond hair was pushed out of his green eyes and stylish. He had an incredibly sharp jawline and full lips.
“Oh no, he’s hot.” I realized after a minute that my thoughts had come out of my mouth and I gave a little cough and scrolled past the picture and began reading:
‘LINCOLN SAWYER. 27. Beta. Works at Simmons & Whitlock a corporate law office as an associate lawyer. Born as Lincoln Vendrick, changed name at age nineteen. Born to Lillian Vendrick—father unknown. Graduated top of class from his high school, full scholarship to Stanford and continued education at Stanford Law.’
“His name is Lincoln Sawyer and he’s a lawyer?” I asked incredulously. It was one thing to be born into that name but to choose it andthenbecome a lawyer? I snorted at my own inner thoughts and decided to refer to him as Lincoln Sawyer the lawyer from now on in my head.
“Keep reading.” Was all Gage responded with.
‘Currently residing in San Francisco, CA. Linked with Pack Ruiz which contains: Ellen Ruiz (alpha), Mark Aldoni (alpha), and Celeste Resendiz (omega). Relationship length: 6 months.’
Shit.
Shit. Shit.Shit.
“The bastard has another pack? What the fuck?” I looked up from the tablet to Gage whose jaw was clenched, his beard twitching as he glared at the tablet as if he could blow up Lincoln Sawyer the lawyer through it if he stared hard enough.
This was going towreckEloise. She’d spent her life waiting for an asshole who wasn’t coming back for her.
“We have to tell her.”
“No.” Gage said, reaching forward and grabbing the tablet out of my hands.
“What do you mean ‘no’? She deserves to know about this asshole and move on.” I couldn’t believe we weren’t on the same page about this. Didn’t he want her to stay with us? This was a surefire way for that to happen.
“I’m worried it will hurt more than it will help. She still doesn’t fully trust us yet. I think we should wait.” Gage had already made the decision. I could see it in his eyes. I could, of course, go against him and tell her anyway. But I’d known Gage since I was nineteen years old. I knew I couldn’t break his trust.
“Fine.” I agreed with a sigh, “But if she finds out that either of us knew about this guy, I am throwing you under the bus faster than a sprinter at the olympics.”
“Fine.” Gage agreed and turned to go but stopped, “By the way, your assistant is crying. I think I scared her when I walked in. I was pretty angry.”
