Page 48 of Compelled Obedience

“I’m getting married.”

In the few months since he’d found the love of his life, I’d seen him blossom as a human being because of Alexandra’s love and that of his little boy. Now, seeing the tears in his eyes if only for a few seconds was a reminder that none of us were getting any younger. “Congratulations, my friend. I’m so happy for you.” I dragged him into a bear hug, slapping him on the back.

“And my two best friends will be at my wedding,” he said as he pulled away.

“In Italy,” I stated, already knowing the answer.

“What better place? It’s romantic, bro.”

I rolled my eyes. Then my thoughts drifted to Kerri. I wondered if I could convince her to get away. Hell, no. She’d find an excuse and that was if she even had plans on talking to me again. I took a deep breath, realizing I couldn’t get my thoughts off her. Maybe the thing to do was to leave after our meeting and go to her house. I’d stay outside until she agreed to talk to me. Then I’d make good on my promise of keeping her.

Way to go, Neanderthal man. Are you going to shove her in one of the cages waiting just for you as well?

I rolled my eyes and realized that two men were staring at me. “What?”

“You left the conversation,” Jameson snorted. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Why?”

He glanced at Lachlan, unable to keep a mischievous grin off his face. “Cause you didn’t return either one of our calls after your big humanitarian award so…”

“Fuck. You called Candace. Didn’t you?”

Jameson threw up his hands and backed away, heading to my bar.

“My idea,” Lachlan told me. “Don’t blame him.”

“I blame both of you. You flew out here because of that?”

“Nah, bro,” he added. “We needed a couple signatures.”

“That you could have gotten online. Come on.” I headed to the bar myself, yanking a glass from one of the shelves. “So I have a private life. Both of you do.”

“Who is she?” Jameson asked in passing, but his grin was close to turning evil.

“Just a girl. Okay?”

They both laughed like I’d just made the funniest joke. Granted, I was certain I’d done the same thing when they’d found the women of their dreams. It was hard to believe I was the last one to get involved.

Well, there was a very good reason. When you looked up bitch, my ex was the girl highlighted.

“So, how did you meet this obviously special girl?” Jameson grinned after asking the question and I glared at him. Granted, I’d teased him mercilessly when he’d finally found the right woman.

“She gave me the riot act for being a fake and fraudulent regarding the award. She challenged me to come to the school where she’s teaching.”

“Another teacher in our illustrious group,” Lachlan teased.

I shook my head. He was already assuming that Kerri was part of our group. Granted, the two of them knew me well enough to realize my interest was strong. “She’s a violinist, as talented as she is beautiful, but she can’t catch a break with getting an audition. She’s working at this crappy school but she’s making a huge difference in the lives of the kids she teaches. She knows how to deal with them. You know? Putting them in their places while encouraging them at the same time. She kinda did that to me, which maybe I deserved since I wasn’t paying attention to where the money was going with the funding.”

When I stopped talking, you could have heard a pin drop.

“I think our boy is finally in love,” Lachlan said half under his breath and I threw him a dirty look.

“Fuck that. After what Elizabeth did? I will never get into a relationship with anyone ever again.”

Jameson was smirking. “Famous last words, dude. It’s time to stop letting Elizabeth control your life.”

Maybe I should allow Candace a turn at dealing with her. “It’s not that. I just… I don’t know. There’s something going on with the girl and I think she’s in trouble with the LA Cartel.”

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