Page 50 of The Bourbon Bargain

“What, I couldn’t stop by the most prestigious nightclub in town looking to talk to an old friend?”

“We both know your motives aren’t that pure. You want something.”We’re certainly not friends anymore.

“Actually, I have a proposition for you. Something that may make your life easier. I know it can’t be fun watching your good name and the business you’ve built get dragged through the mud.”

I don’t trust Rex as far as I can throw him, and having him clocking in at an inch taller than me, it wouldn’t be far at all. There is a catch in whatever game he is playing right now, and it’ll likely fuck me over in some fashion. He’s a cunning devil. I would know; we were forged into the men we are now through the same gauntlets of our youth.

“What will this proposition of yours cost me?” I lazily take a sip of the remaining bourbon in my tumbler, my eyes not leaving him.

“Certainly not your soul, you don’t have one to bargain with.” He smiles, and it actually reaches his eyes, something I haven’t seen from him in years.

“You’re stalling,” I drawl. I smell weakness. I feel my lips curling up into my own smile, though it likely will just make my eyes appear hungry instead of happy. “You actually need something fromme.”

Rex stretches his arms to his sides and shrugs in ayou got meway. “I happen to know who is behind the lawsuit you’re facing, and I have exactly the leverage to make them drop it. Think that’s enough of a bargaining chip?”

It certainly is, though I doubt he’d give that information to me without demanding far more in return. I still think he has something to do with the lawsuit, and this could be his way of setting me up for more hurt. I tilt my head and study him, seeing the friend he used to be and feeling a pang of loss that my actions and ambitions changed forever. Paige is in my head even now, demanding empathy from me when I need to be more calculating than ever.

“Come with me.” I gesture for him to follow and turn, walking to the hidden door to my office. I hear his steps following on the gravel path and know I’ve won, despite not knowing what he needs in return. I’ll figure it out and I’ll make him pay to get it. If he thinks I don’t have a soul now, it’ll be him leaving his behind tonight.

I open the metal door and lead Rex through the short hallway to my office, letting him follow me in, and close the door. I settle myself at the large mahogany desk and gesture for him to take one of the leather chairs facing me across it.

I plant my elbows on the desk and steeple my fingers. “What do you want from me?” I feel a giddiness that only surfaces when something of value is at stake. When it’s mine to own if I play my hand well. The risk makes it more enjoyable.

Rex crosses an ankle over his knee and leans back, looking far too comfortable despite what this may cost him. “I have a line on another mine that would replace your holdings in South Africa and make you even more filthy rich.”

“We just acquired a handful of mines a month ago. Why would I need more, even if South Africa isn’t panning out?”

“You were intentionally sabotaged with South Africa. You need to bring the culprit to justice and cut your losses.”

“And what makes you so keen to provide this information, if it’s even true?”

“I want a seat on the board.” Rex leans forward, elbows on his knees, and levels a calculating look on me. He is deadly serious and thinks whatever information he has is worth putting a fox in the hen house to get it.

I let my hands drop and flatten against the desk, holding Rex’s gaze as he seriously asks to be made a part of Olympus, and not just in any old VP or C-suite role, but on the board—the supreme governing body where our company is concerned, and the only thing that could stop me or my brothers from doing as we please with the direction of the company.

“What sort of delusional mindset would have you think we wouldeverconsider adding you to the board of any of our holdings?“ I ask, pushing the request off onto a subsidiary rather than Olympus, hoping that’s the extent of his reach.

Rex leans back and scoffs at me. “Not just on the board of one of your paltry holdings. I want on the Olympus International board.”

I scowl at him. The current board of Olympus International is made up of my brothers, me, my father, and two of his colleagues who were given their places when my brothers and I took over the company. It was a way for the older generation of my father’s mining operations to still be a part of the company as we charged forward into diversifying and making a name for ourselves on the global stage. They have kept us conservative in certain situations and allowed us to go all out when it benefited the company most. Adding a seventh member to the board could more than disrupt the trajectory of Olympus, and Rex would have more opportunities to stand in our way.

“You can’t possibly be that delusional. Why are you asking now?”

“There are plenty of reasons I can give you, but the most important one is that you took the only path I had away from me when you bought Rex, Inc., and you owe me something in return. That, and I can make your current legal issues disappear and make things right in your world again.”

“From where I’m sitting it looks like I did you a favor and made your worries disappear when we took over Rex, Inc. I’m sure your father is enjoying a comfortable retirement, and you’ve learned how to build an empire of your own off the ruins of something that would have sunk you had you stepped into the role you were slated for.” Though I speak with conviction, I have a nagging sense of guilt for the situation I caused and hope I can make him see it the way I’ve painted it now.

Rex casually waves away my reasoning. “Hayes, Hayes, Hayes. Always looking to be the savior despite your ulterior motives. You didn’t actually think you were helping me when you forced your way in and made my father sell. You did it because you were greedy and wanted the company that was built on the back of my family. It wasn’t to make my life easier, that’s for damn sure, and it’s in spite of your actions that I made something of it rather than because of it.”

I stand and walk to the bar by the window overlooking a slice of the Savannah River, grabbing the bourbon and pouring two fingers worth into a couple of cut-glass tumblers. I hand one to Rex and lean against my desk in front of him before taking a sip. The fire is clarifying, stinging away the guilt I feel, and the absurdity of what Rex is asking. I need to know his motives, know what’s making him reach for this like Icarus for the sun.

Would I do anything differently in his position?The thought surprises me, and it sounds a lot like Paige. I shake my head and huff out a quiet laugh. My wife isn’t just my obsession, she’s becoming my conscience as well.

“What you’re offering still wouldn’t make me let you anywhere near Olympus, let alone give you a seat on the board, but I am sorry I let my ambition ruin our friendship.” The words are like broken glass in my mouth, hard to swallow but good to get out after all this time.

Rex tilts his head, studying me. “I might actually believe that you are, but it doesn’t change what happened.”

And this is why apologies are just for the one doing the apologizing. The mere fact that I’m contrite and admit fault can’t make him accept the apology or make anything right between us. That’s a lesson I’ve learned only too recently with what I did to Paige.

---