Page 121 of Between the Lines

“He doesn’t doanythingsince he had to take over Titan. He doesn’t go out, doesn’t meet up with friends, barely goes up to visit Mom in Sonoma.”

“Mandy,” a deep voice says. Aiden strolls into the kitchen. His hair is damp, and he’s in a button-down and slacks again. But he hasn’t had time to shave, so there’s a rugged shadow covering his jaw.

I look away, or the memory of what happened not even an hour ago will show on my face.

“Don’t fill Charlotte’s head with lies,” he says.

“They aren’t lies. You don’t do anything social!”

Aiden shakes his head and comes to stand beside her at the kitchen island. “I work.”

“Balance, Aiden. There needs to be balance.” But she’s smiling as she says it, and I get the sense this is a conversation they’ve had many times before.

Judging from his face, it’s also one he’s tired of. Doesn’t surprise me. There’s a reason he’s working so hard, and it’s to restore something their dad nearly ruined. It’s easy to see thatAiden is annoyed at his sister for not realizing that. Or maybe just for ignoring it altogether.

I fill a glass with juice for him. He accepts it with a warm look cast my way.

“You’re still coming tonight, right?” Mandy asks him.

“About that,” he says.

Mandy turns from a glamorous, smiling blonde to annoyed little sister in a heartbeat. “Don’t say it. Youarecoming. You promised.”

There’s tiredness etched into every bone of his being. I canfeelit, standing across from him. For just a day, I’d like to give him space to be nothing but himself. With no one tugging him in a million directions—for interviews, for meetings, for decisions.

Not even me.

“Please come, even for just an hour or two. Several of my single friends will be there, and they’ll bring single friends, too.”

“Mandy,” he says. “It’s weird for me to come.”

“Of course it’s not. I asked Charlotte to come, too, and she just said yes! She’s going to write an article about it.”

Aiden’s gaze slides to mine. “You’re going?”

“Yes.”

His eyes darken, and then he looks back at his sister. “Charlotte has enough work on her plate without being forced to write an article about your business start-up.”

“I didn’t force her!”

“I don’t feel forced.”

Aiden runs a hand through his hair, mussing it again. It looks even better now. “Fuck. Fine. I’ll go tonight, but Charlotte…” His eyes slide back to mine, and he takes a deep breath. “You have no idea what party you’ve just committed yourself to.”

Mandy pushes the bag in my direction. “Dress code is lingerie. I brought you a few choice outfits from our latest collection, just in case you don’t have anything that fits theoccasion.” Her smile is so wide, it’s blinding. Like looking at the sun. “Can’t wait to see you there!”

CHAPTER 44

AIDEN

I arrive later than planned at Mandy’s party. The entire day had been spent with Eric and my COO Cynthia, working through the press strategy to combat the tax investigation.

“Make sure the biographer includes these baseless allegations in the book,” Cynthia had told me, hunched over her laptop during a quick lunch. “Make it a part of the narrative, like the bloodthirsty jerks just won’t stop taking potshots at us.”

It’s a good idea.

More and more, I’m starting to realize that letting this memoir be published might actually be… beneficial.

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