Page 48 of The Southern Thirst Trap

Zander owning up for his part in something he wasn’t directly involved in? Again, what the fuck? I just stare at him in disbelief, not sure I could speak if I tried.

“I didn’t even know you showed up at Olympus until recently, but why would I? It wasn’t in my nature to want to know back then. He wouldn’t have told me. My brothers thought they were cleaning up my messes like they always did. I didn’t want to know what they were doing on my behalf.”

“I thought as much,” I say, looking down. “You didn’t want anything to do with me once you walked me off that jet and put me in a car.” I swallow hard, thinking of him returning to the plane without once looking back at me. The crushing reality of knowing it was likely the last time I would ever see him.

“I’m so sorry,” he says, cupping my face and looking into my eyes. He’s so earnest and full of yearning I can feel my resolve cracking.

I shake my head, pulling out of his hands. “This isn’t the place to be having this conversation. We’re supposed to be out there at a table together supporting a charity, not hiding in a room hashing out five-year-old wounds. We can talk about this later.”

When Zander starts to pull me back into his arms, ready to protest, I smile at him and press a soft hand to his chest.

“I’m listening now. Give me time to absorb it all. I have a date out in a ballroom giving a very nice speech that he worked hard on. The proper thing would be for me to be out there to listen to him speak now, not getting felt up and making out with someone else in a—” I finally look around Zander’s broad shoulders and catch the buttery soft light spilling from lamps on small tables at groups of chairs clustered around a room that is paneled in rich wood tones, with a crackling fireplace at one end, “—a study of some sort.”

Zander’s face grows dark with rage and I smooth a wrinkle from his forehead with my thumb. He catches my hand and presses his face into my palm, calming at the touch. “I really fucking hate him, Lowe, but I know this is your choice. As much as I want to make it for you, I’ll just have to prove I’m the better man for you.”

“Fine. I’ll tolerate your asshole brother, and you can tolerate Knox. We’ll both be miserable together. If you’re lucky, I may even find your leg and play footsie with you under the table.” I give him a wicked smile, and the one he returns is just as devilish.

“Goddamn, I love your smart mouth. Challenge fucking accepted, Wildcat.”

twenty-eight

Zander

“Where’syourheadbeen?I can't believe what you just let slide in the meeting. How dare you not talk them down from walking away when you had the chance,” Hayes growls at me.

Things have been strained between us since the gala last weekend. It’s been a tense week of work, more so than normal with the big grumpy baby holding a grudge against me for upsetting Paige at the gala she worked so hard to plan and put on. It was as much his fault as mine, and I’m not helping matters with my own feelings toward him for what he did to Harlowe.

I’ll never get that instant defensive posturing she took and the outrage that entered her tone when she saw him out of my head. Knowing what put her on the defensive in the first place is enough to make me crack a molar from the strain of grinding my teeth not to deck him every time I think of it now.

I turn to glare at Hayes as we leave the conference room we have spent the better part of the day in. We’re negotiating the purchase of another manufacturing company to replace the Rosenthall deal we lost due to the cyber attack. The Pegasus engines will never get off the ground if we don't increase our capabilities in this industry, and our timeline is extra tight.

“I’m playing the long game, Hater. They’ll come around in the next meeting. Kanisarek needs a bailout, and we’re the only option with deep enough pockets to make a worthwhile offer.”

“So why did they dismiss ours and end negotiations just now? We need this, Zander.”

“Just trust me. They want this deal as much as we do. They will come crawling back to us accepting the offer in a few days. We won’t have to capitulate or sweeten the deal any more than we have, and we’ll be able to make any demands we want.”

I turn to meet Hayes’s angry green gaze, like his eyes have Hulk rage, and I stifle a laugh at his expression. I learned all about Hendricks’s favorite Marvel characters while we built tracks and now I’m thinking in those terms at work. Is that how fatherhood works? I play with my kid one time and now I’m changed forever? I think I’m good with that.

“What’s so fucking funny?” he snarls as we enter the executive boardroom to reconvene with our team and run a quick analysis.

“Your fucking face is funny.”

“Get serious, Zander.” The big grump takes a seat at the table, continuing to glare at me.

I sit across from him and smile, because I know it’ll drive him crazy. I finally look away and address the assembled team. “Listen up. The clock is ticking on Kanisarek. They will be reopening negotiations tomorrow, or within forty-eight hours, max. We need to have everything ready to go for a much quicker timeline than anticipated, because we’re going to demand a shorter close time since they walked away. I want Pegasus ready to go as soon as we have Kanisarek under our umbrella. Any questions?”

“You’re that confident they’ll change their tune?” Luca asks, his tone cool, matching his icy stare. That motherfucker has sociopath vibes, but Payton vouches for him being semi-normal, so there’s nothing I can do but deal with his penchant for cold affectation.

“That question doesn’t warrant an answer, given what I’ve just said. Anyone else?” I look around and catch Payton’s appraising look. I nod my head in his direction.

“I’ll have the team start working on the press releases and get legal rewriting the contract.”

“Finally, someone who is thinking proactively. Good. You all know what to do. Make it happen and don't be surprised if they reach out even sooner than expected. They’re salivating for this deal, no matter what they said today.”

When the teams have broken off and everyone but my brothers and the executive team has left, I rap my knuckles on the conference table, waiting for one of them to challenge me. It doesn’t take long.

“You’re insane if you think Kanisarek is coming back and will be looking for anything less than what they originally asked for,” Hayes growls, flattening his hands on the table and standing. “You shouldn’t have let them walk out today.”

---