Page 31 of Tripp

“Hey, Sully.”

“Oh. Hi.” A brief silence ensued before she spoke again. “Who is this?”

“Sorry, it’s Tripp.” Trigger stared at me, disbelieving that I’d actually answer Marek’s phone. He shook his head and walked into the kitchen, most likely not wanting to be part of me going behind our prez’s back.

“Is Cole there? Why do you have his phone? Is he okay?” she asked, her words coming out faster and faster the more she spoke. “Did something happen to him?” Short pants of air hit my ear and I knew I had to calm her before she really freaked out.

“Marek is fine. He’s just. . . .” I trailed off, not quite sure what to say to her.

“He’s what?”

“Drunk.” Short and to the point.

“Drunk? Why? What happened?” Before I could answer I heard someone in the background—Adelaide. Then I heard Stone’s voice.

“Sully, give the phone to Stone. I need to speak to him.” I thought for sure she’d give me a hard time, insisting I tell her about Marek, but she didn’t.

“It’s Tripp,” I heard her say before Stone came on the line.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

“Not really. Marek’s at the club, drunk and mumbling all sorts of craziness.”

“Can you blame him?” he whispered. I heard the women’s voices fading into the background and knew Stone had walked away from them for more privacy.

“Not at all. But you need to calm Sully down before she freaks out and makes things worse. Whatever you do, keep her away from here.”

“Yeah, I got it.”

“Good. Hey, did you give Adelaide that shit to get tested? Did you tell her whose it was?”

“I’m not an idiot, Tripp.”

“Well, that’s debatable.”

“Fuck you. And no, I didn’t tell her anything except that I needed her to put a rush on it. She knew enough not to question me about it.”

“And by that you mean she asked and you had to promise her some kind of sexual favor to let it go.” I laughed because I’d witnessed the dynamic between the two of them, Adelaide certainly giving our VP a run for his money.

“Fuck you,” he repeated before hanging up on me.

I’d been distracted from the call and didn’t notice Reece walk up behind me. She gently touched my arm to let me know she was finished and ready to go.

“Hey, babe,” I greeted.Babe? Where the hell did that come from?

She looked as shocked as I felt, but smiled nonetheless while stepping back when I stood up. Guiding her toward Chambers, I asked her to wait for me while I disappeared inside. Once I’d retrieved the keys from Marek, who was slumped over the table while simultaneously yelling at me because I didn’t have a bottle of booze with me, I took hold of Reece’s hand and led her back outside.

“What the hell, Tripp?” someone yelled across the courtyard. When I turned, I saw Hawke jogging toward me. “You still got my truck,” he accused.

“I know. You were too damn drunk last night to drive so I did you a favor.”

Glancing behind me, he jerked his chin at Reece before looking back at me.

“Who ya got here?”

Now that my brother was sober, I guessed it was time for official introductions.So help me if he tries any slick shit, I’ll put him on his ass.Although he’d told me he was done with steppin’ out on Edana, he still had a long way to go before I actually believed it.

“Hawke, this is Reece. Reece, meet my younger, uglier brother, Hawke.”

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