Page 73 of Burn With Me

It is.

Jackson Tailor doesn’t lose deals.

Scott Tailor doesn’t like to lose money.

“Fuck!” Throwing my phone against the other side of thecouch, I go upstairs to take a quick shower before heading to the office.

When I arrive, my uncle is waiting for me. He’s turned around in his chair, staring out the floor-to-ceiling windows as I walk in. “You wanted to see me?”

“Are you really going to act like this isn’t a big deal?” he asks as he spins around and fixes me with a hard stare. He looks tired—angry—but worn down, nonetheless.

Shrugging, I continue into the room and take a seat in the chair across from him. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what the appeal was with the other company. I didn’t deny too many things they asked for, and we offered a hell of a lot more money than they were worth.”

“You walked out in the middle of a fucking meeting with them because Ginny showed up?!” he roars back.

Opening my mouth to respond, I quickly shut it because I have nothing to say. Eventually, I nod with a sigh. “Yeah, I did that.”

“What the fuck, Jackson?”

Shrugging sheepishly, I reply, “She surprised me. And I wanted to see her?”

His eye twitches as his teeth clench, causing me to swallow hard.

Any other day, any other time, I am calm, cool, and collected. But sometimes, my uncle intimidates the ever-living fuck out of me, and it humbles me real quick. This is about to become one of those times.

“When are these childish games of yours going to end?” His tone is stern, nothing I haven’t heard before.

Only this time, I have a different answer.

“It’s not like that with her. She’s different.”

“Oh, really?” he bites back. “If she’s so different, tell me why you’ve been sneaking into the club under yourfather’sname to book her?”

At my silence and look of utter shock at the revelation that he knows, he barks out a harsh laugh. “Oh, yeah. I know,Jackson. For someone who is supposed to only be there on Sundays, I noticed you were a little too friendly with the staff. It only took a little digging and the threat of people losing their jobs to find out what you’ve done. Probably would have gotten away with it longer had you not destroyed a room last weekend.”

I have the grace to look embarrassed. That cost me a pretty penny, but I settled up before leaving that night. I should have known word would have gotten back to him about it.

Before I can say anything, he delivers the question that makes me feel even worse. “Does she know it’s you?”

“What does it matter? You have no idea–”

“DOES SHE KNOW?” He slams his hands on the top of his desk as he shouts. He hasn’t raised his voice to me like this in years. With all the shit I’ve pulled, I haven’t seen himthismad in a very long time.

“What does it matter to you? What is thedealwith you two? She claims nothing has happened, but there’s somethingoffabout the way you treat each other.”

“Don’t do that, Jackson. Don’t deflect. Ginny is a good girl. She doesn’t deserve the shit you’re pulling.”

“I told you things aredifferentwith her!”

“If they are so different, then why are you playing your bullshit games with her?”

His question makes me freeze, recalling that Stacey said that exact thing to me the night Ginny proposed our deal a month ago. An entire month and I still hadn’t brought myself to tell her the truth about our time at Désirer—about me being her stranger. But there are reasons I haven’t come clean about it. We’ve only just gotten to a place in our relationship—if you can even call it that after the way she was talking at the club last night—where she’s beginning to trust me.

I’m not ready to throw that all away.

Her trust is fragile.

“I’m not playing games with her. I know it seems like it, but that isn’t what’s going on. You wouldn’t understand.”Crossing my arms, I focus my attention out the window behind him.

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