Page 75 of Trust and Obey

With that, she rose and kissed me on the forehead. “I’m so proud of you. Not only are you a brilliant businessman, but you are a good man. Never forget that.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

* * *

I paced the length of my apartment, feeling like the biggest asshole in the world.

My emotions had done a complete one-eighty. My mother’s special brand of compassionate wisdom echoed in my ears.

He was just as much of a victim as we were…

The truth was, Kendall was possibly even more of a victim. Yes, times had been tough after the trial. And yes, my father’s passing had created a wound on my soul that would never quite heal. But at the end of the day, I had risen above it all. I had moved forward and rebuilt the company brick by brick until it was stronger than it had ever been before.

Meanwhile, Kendall had left everything in his life to go into hiding. Despite being intelligent, handsome, and honorable, he’d had to give up all he had, including his own last name. He’d had one job and short-term relationships his entire life.

And the one time he had fallen for somebody, he’d had his past thrown back into his face.

I had to fix this.

I pulled out my cell phone and started scrolling through my list of contacts for the company I used to charter flights. If I boarded soon, I could be at the resort in time for breakfast tomorrow.

Maybe Kendall never wanted to see me again, but he should at least hear from my lips how very sorry I was.

Just as I was about to press send, my phone vibrated with an incoming call. It was from my doorman downstairs.

I swiped to answer. “Yes? Deacon here.”

“I’m sorry to bother you, Mr. Helman, but I have someone who is very insistent on speaking to you. He says his name is Kendall Langston. May I send him up?”

My mouth went dry. Kendall? He was here? “Please, let him in.”

23

KENDALL

I had tried to let Deacon go. Really, I did.

Throughout the days since he’d left, my emotions had passed through the entire rainbow spectrum, from blue depression to red-hot anger, with spurts of green jealousy for good measure.

After all, I hadn’t failed to notice that Deacon had left the resort on the same plane as his ex-wife. Maybe they were kissing and making up right now.

But… no, I knew him better than that.

I wasn’t truly angry with Deacon. In fact, I had known this day was coming since the moment I’d found out who his father was.

It was my fault. I’d had so many opportunities to tell Deacon the truth, to find a way to break the news gently.

Instead, I had let Lauren swoop in and expose me in the worst way possible.

I didn’t blame Deacon one bit for reacting as he had. The look of betrayal on his face tormented me every night as I tried to fall asleep. It was the first thing I thought of when I got up in the morning. His presence haunted me like a persistent ghost around the resort.

Everywhere seemed to hold a separate and distinct memory of our time together. That beach was where we had gone tide pooling, and where we’d spent that glorious afternoon in the cave. Over there was the trail we took up to Mount Doom—I remembered telling him the story of the Phoenix Pool and the golden idle under Three-Eyed Falls, his skepticism, and the sound of his laughter. And there was a pathway that led to the villa where we had made love.

Needless to say, my attention plummeted.

I cursed as I bobbled the lunch tray on my arm. The water glasses sloshed, one slid to the edge. I tried to compensate but was forced to watch the disaster play out in slow motion as the entire tray of water glasses tumbled to the sides.

The crash was loud throughout the kitchen. The silence that followed was absolutely deafening.

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