Page 9 of Fierce Love
Pity those gorgeous hazel eyes are the same. They held my gaze likeIwoundedher,making the whole encounter worse. She ghosted me. Whatever ache she still feels is her own doing.
Perhaps I’m reading too much into our brief encounter, wishing to see what I feel reflected. Maybe the look wasn’t even about me. Maybe it was about what a shithead Otis Williamson is.
He’s sitting behind his desk, and I’m leaning against the wall, not even bothering to sit down. This won’t take long.
“It’s customary to make an appointment, even when you’re a Tucker,” Otis says, linking his hands together on top of his desk, trying on the tough-guy persona that he doesn’t really possess.
“I caught wind of you overcharging some clients,” I say. “I wanted to let you know that I’ll be going to the Better Business Bureau of Bellerive with a formal complaint tomorrow.”
“Did a client complain, or is this a Nathaniel Tucker complaint?” His tone is dry, as though he already knows the answer. My reputation is well-known and earned.
“Any complaint is worth investigating. The rich-poor divide on the island is already concerning. There’s no point in exacerbating that by inflating your prices based on what youbelievepeople can pay instead of having a firm price list.” His lack of consistent pricing is legendary. Whoever comes to him from the island knows what they’re getting, but Otis banks on his prestige, on the illusion that anyone who uses him is too rich to care that they’re being ripped off.
“Who do you believe I’m overcharging?” he asks.
I ease my hand along my jaw, hesitant to answer truthfully. If I hadn’t run into Hollyn, I would have used her name freely, butOtis saw how stiff we were with each other. It’s not believable that we’re friendly enough for her to have shared his rates.
“The people who came to me asked for confidentiality, but I can tell you it is one of the clients you have coming up. Not a past client,” I say.
He grumbles as he flips through the appointment book on his desk, and when he looks up at me, I can tell he’s mulling over his options.
“I’m not bluffing,” I say. “If you don’t adjust your prices and create some consistency, I’ll be at the bureau every single day until they sanction you—heavily—for every infraction I can find, not just this one complaint.”
“Fuck you, Nathaniel,” he mutters. “I don’t understand why you’re so opposed to other people making money. The Tuckers are billionaires, for fuck’s sake.” He moves between two pages in the book. “Does adjusting over the next two weeks cover this current complaint?”
“Seems reasonable,” I say, pushing off the wall. A funeral home can’t possibly be booked much further out than that, can it? “A pleasure, as always.” I duck out the door before he has a chance to respond. He’s pissed off, and I get it, but I need to get to the hospital for my kidney testing. Bigger, scarier things are weighing on my mind.
As I walk toward the entrance, I fire off a text to Sawyer and Maren.
Either of you hear about Mickie Davis having a baby just after Hollyn left the island?
The message delivers, but neither of them responds right away. Hollyn’s sister’s age has been nagging at me. Hollyn didn’t seem nervous for me to meet her or like she was trying to keep me from talking to her. But the timing…
Yes,Sawyer replies,I had to ask someone, but yeah. Apparently she was visibly pregnant at her trial, the one that sent her to jail.
I wondered too,Maren says,if your brain went where mine did, Nathaniel. Must have been a shock to see her.
Since I’d deliberately avoided any news about the Davis family in the years I was at college, in the years after Hollyn left, seeing Kinsley was definitely a surprise, and for a minute I wondered if Kinsley was the reason Hollyn had vanished. But even if Kinsley was mine, it wouldn’t have made sense for Hollyn to disappear. Before any baby’s birth, I’d have had my part of the Tucker trust. We would have had ample wealth and resources. Hollyn wouldn’t have had a reason to hide a baby from me, and even if I hate the way she left, it’s impossible to imagine Hollyn hiding a pregnancy from me when she already knewI’dbe happy about it.
She’s not mine then, right?I type out.That’s what we’re agreeing?
Hollyn went after full custody when Kinsley was five. Caitlin says the court documents have been sealed, but her office handled it, so someone had knowledge.Sawyer sends another message right after the first.Once Hollyn got out of school, maybe?
That would make sense,Maren agrees.
As far as I know, Hollyn never actually went to college, and the rest is none of my business. As long as Kinsley isn’t mine, I can stop obsessing about the past. Our cousin, Caitlin, is a very good lawyer, so she’d be able to access all the right details. There’s really no reason to dig more up.
You okay, Nathaniel? Want us to stop by?Sawyer asks.
I’m good. As long as I’m not a surprise baby daddy like Gage, I’m completely fine.
I just had Caitlin double check Bellerive’s birth records to be completely sure, and Mickie and Niall are listed as the parents.All seems to be on the up-and-up. No surprises—other than that you didn’t realize it happened.Sawyer sends a hug emoji at the end of the message.
My phone buzzes with a reminder from my mother about the hospital appointment. Thirty-one, and my mother takes more notice of what I do now than she did when I was a kid. Of course, these tests could directly impact her life, so I suppose it makes sense. If more than one of us is a match, we’ll have to rock-paper-scissors to see who goes under the knife.
A joke, mostly.
As the oldest, if I’m a match, I’ll be the one to give our mom my kidney. I haven’t discussed it with my siblings, but that’s the way things have always been. If there’s a sacrifice to be made, I’m the one making it.
