Page 16 of Blindsided

“Second?” Easton’s eyebrow crept up his forehead, the only sign that he was remotely intrigued with what I’d told him.

“Second. Aston’s first. When my mom retires, the entire business will go to Aston.” Given he was of sound mind and body. I had to force myself not to shudder at the thought of the family business going to me. No matter how hard I worked, nothing was good enough. It had become a habit to live for my job. By giving everything I had to Barrington Holdings, my mom and grandfather stayed off my back. Well, stayed off my back until Aston fucked up and they needed me to fix it.

“And Lincoln?” He crossed his arms, his muscles rippling with every move, and in my mind, I could see a flogger in his hands.

I shook my head to clear the image, hoping it looked like I was more disinterested than trying to erase a never-going-to-happen fantasy from my mind. “Lincoln is who I am outside of home. Outside of work. Lincoln is the person who doesn’t have the Barrington name weighing me down or multimillion-dollar accounts resting in my hands.”

A bottle of wine appeared with our server and I was thankful I’d kept my voice low as I’d talked.

“Can I interest you in a bottle of sauvignon blanc, gentlemen?” the man asked, displaying the label of an expensive wine the hotels always tried to push thanks to the price tag. It was a decent wine but unless pigs had actually begun to fly, Easton had always preferred red to white.

I shook my head, glancing quickly at the man’s name tag before responding. “No, thank you, Andrew. Actually, could we please get the Chaix Cuvée Royale? Preferably the twenty seventeen, if you have it.” It wasn’t expensive, probably one of the least expensive on the menu, but I enjoyed the flavor and thought Easton would too.

“Of course, sir. I will be back in just a moment. Can I bring you anything else?”

“Water, please,” Easton said before Andrew could turn away and I nodded my agreement.

Andrew left without another word, bowing slightly before disappearing to the cellar for our wine.

Easton looked less amused after Andrew’s departure than before his arrival. “You’re just full of surprises.”

Lifting a shoulder, I looked around the restaurant. “I was raised with this. My mom is very particular about the wines served at each hotel. She goes to a wine tasting with the sommelier every year to pick what will be offered.” I was about to continue but clamped my mouth shut. Anything that came out of my mouth would only taint Easton’s opinion of me further.

I’d been right. Easton scoffed. “My mom still works her ass off on a ranch seven days a week despite my assurances that she can hire someone else. My dad still goes out on cattle roundups regularly. Oh, and my name is still Easton Samuel Lafferty.”

I fought a wince at his sharp tone. “I can’t help the family I was born into, Easton.”

“But you can help lying about it.”

“I didn’t lie.” My jaw was clenched so tightly it ached.

Easton’s mouth opened in retort, but Andrew returned with two wineglasses and our wine. We each ordered the special that evening, though I wasn’t sure either of us had actually listened to what he’d rattled off.

Andrew’s back had barely turned and Easton was rolling his eyes. “They fucking bow to you here. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that royalty is all the same. More money than sense, more ego than Narcissus, and more out of touch than politicians.”

That time I did wince. I was quickly realizing what a huge mistake this meeting had been. Maybe it wasn’t too late to get Jackson to take over as owner. He couldn’t do worse at this than I was doing, and at least he hadn’t had my old job long enough that he’d had time to fuck up my accounts.

“I never lied to you, Easton. I used my middle name and my dad’s last name in college to escape the Barrington family. I didn’t want to be seen for my money. For once in my life, I wanted to be seen as a person and be free to make mistakes. Free to date who I wanted. Free to do what spoke to me.”

“Free to vanish without so much as a word.”

There was a chance I’d heard pain in his words, though he’d delivered them with so much venom I couldn’t be sure that I actually had. Maybe I’d just wanted to hear it. It would be easier to know he hated me for hurting him than having him hate everything about me.

My eyes fell to the table and I picked the knife up and began rolling it between my fingers. “It was for your own good.” The words sounded worse out loud than they had in my head. I’d frequently been told the same thing by my mother and every time I’d hated the reason.

Easton might have liked it less than me because true anger filled his voice and it rose enough I worried we were about to draw attention to ourselves. “Really? So on top of everything else, you also know what’s good for me? Without ever consulting me? Without ever giving me a fucking chance?”

He stood abruptly, the chair skittering slightly on the carpet before nearly toppling over. “This dinner was a mistake.”

“Wait!” The word was loud enough that I was aware of heads turning in our direction. I dropped my voice to keep other patrons from overhearing me. “We shouldn’t have this conversation here.”

Easton rolled his eyes and his nostrils flared, but thankfully he kept his voice quiet when he responded. “We shouldn’t be having this conversation at all. This was a mistake. This time, I’m making my own decision to walk away. I’ll tell Tom thanks but no thanks.”

The thought of Easton leaving was like a bucket of cold water being poured over my head. It was hard to breathe, hard to think, and hard to speak. We’d been apart so long I’d almost been able to convince myself those years in college had never happened. Then yesterday he was sitting in my office and I hadn’t been able to get him out of my head since.

“Please.” My voice came out as a whisper. “Please don’t.” I wasn’t stupid enough to think we’d be able to pick up where we left off. I couldn’t even hope we’d form a friendship. But in college, Easton had given me so much more than he’d ever known. Not only had he shown me what unconditional love was, he’d been the first and only person to send me flying to a place where nothing else mattered. A place where my head was clear and the stress and pressure of the real world didn’t exist. The least I could do was make sure he knew he had a job if he wanted it.

And that meant we had to talk—but not in the restaurant. I was already bracing myself for a screaming match. The anger, hurt, and confusion in Easton’s eyes told me this wasn’t something we could talk out over a drink or two. The hotel restaurant was not the place to have this discussion.

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