Page 84 of Deal with the Devil

“I’m married to one of your closest friends,” I say by way of an explanation. “I thought I’d get to know you, too.”

“Have you heard of Taviera cruise lines and shipping?” I shake my head. “My mother inherited part of the company from her father when he passed. She married my father and together they built it into what it is today. A mega corporation that my mother maintained until the day she passed, leaving my father with her twenty-two percent of the company. Before her passing, she’d been in the middle of divorcing my father. It was messy and long and it killed her. She had a soft heart,” he smiles sadly, “in spite of her strong head for business. Sadly, for her, she loved my father.”

“You don’t feel the same?”

“He’s worthless.”

“And the company?”

“My brother and I hold majority shares, me at forty-two percent and my younger brother at thirty-six percent, gifted to us on my grandfather’s passing. My father holds her twenty-two percent. It’s too muchfor us to push him out, even though we both want to after what he did.”

I pull a candy from my bag and pop it into my mouth, hesitant to ask, “What did he do?”

Tav watches me for a long moment as I suck the sour sugar from the treat. “My father not only cheated on my mother with a woman my age, but he left her for that woman. That woman was one of the daughters of a very close family friend and—” he curses low under his breath, hand sliding over his short hair. “She was also mine. Or I thought she was mine.”

Horror strikes a lash at my heart, because there’s pain lingering in the deep of Tav’s dark eyes. I want to make it better, but it’s not my place. Still, I whisper, “Tav.”

“My father’s relationship with her, as toxic and selfish as it is, ruined not only my family, but our relationship with people who may as well have been family. It ruined my relationship with a woman I thought I loved.”

A waitress stops by our table to take our order, and when she leaves, I offer him a sad smile. “I’m sorry.”

“My first name is Cole.” He tells me, warning quickly, “but don’t call me that. My brother’s name is Darius. My mother was American, and my father is African, immigrated to America in his early twenties where he soon met my mother, married her, and had myself and my brother.” He looks away, his lips curlingin on a memory. “We had a good childhood. I thought we had a good family, strong family friends. I thought I’d marry the first girl I fell for—planned to, even. Then I found out she’d been sleeping with my father behind mine and my mother’s back.” He smirks, but it’s bitter. “It’s like fucked-up porn.”

“That’s awful.” I force my treat down my now dry throat. “But I know what it feels like to realize you’ve been betrayed like that. Not by my father, thank God. But—my best friend and my ex-fiancé.”

“People are shit.”

“A lot of them are, yeah. But a lot are really good.” I hesitate to ask but do anyway. “What about the company? You’re a majority owner but you’re the drummer in a seriously successful rock band—how?”

“I’ll never give up my shares of the company as long as he lives. I want nothing to do with it—it’s not me—but I won’t give it to him, and I won’t give it to my brother. It’s the last thing I have left of her. Thankfully, my brother is happy to manage it with him. How he looks him in the eye every day, I’ll never know.” His fists curl on the table. “Just thinking about him makes me want to—” He shakes his head, fists uncurling as he lays large hands on the table, inhaling through his nose. “We should talk about you.”

I nod. “I’m the only child to people who will never make millions.” I laugh. “Unless they win the lottery,which could happen because Mama has a bad addiction to scratch tickets, but it’s unlikely.”

“Your parents are nice.”

“They really are.” I offer him a small smile. “I’m lucky.”

“You are, Nevaeh.”

Our food appears and I shoot him a little grin. “So, there’s no woman in your life?”

He gives me that look down his nose again and I have to swallow my giggle. “There are plenty of women in my life.”

I roll my eyes. “Any special women?”

“That’s not for me, either.”

I blink. “Love is for everyone.”

Tav shakes his head. “Not me.”

At his tone, I know the conversation is done. I don’t want to press, but I have to admit I’m curious about Tav—and I want him to know what it feels like to really have love. All of it.

I decide I’ll chat with Wren and Candace. Between the three of us, we must have someone who would be perfect for Tav.

thirty-four

Nevaeh

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