He turned his troubled gaze away. It tore me up to see him so down.
“Maybe I should talk to her,” I offered.
He tilted his head back to look at me. “How is that supposed to help? You two don’t get along.”
“I’m not a fan,” I admitted. “But I can work around that. A woman-to-woman talk—if it’s done right—could help. It really couldn’t make things worse, right?” I hesitated before saying more. I meant well, but my good intentions did sound naïve.
He snorted. “There’s always worse.”
“Way to look on the bright side,” I chastised. “Does Trey know that you talked to Tatiana and she’s not moving in?”
“I texted him. Got nada back. But I really didn’t expect to.”
“Give him a little more time.”
“Eva, at the end of the day, he wishes I were totally gay. In his mind, being bisexual means I have to sleep around. He doesn’t get that just because I’m attracted to men and women doesn’t mean I can’t be faithful to one person. Or maybe he just doesn’t want to get it.”
I blew out my breath. “I don’t think I helped with that. He brought it up to me once and I didn’t explain things well.”
That had been eating at me for a while. I needed to reach out to Trey and set that straight. Cary had been in the hospital recovering from a vicious assault when Trey approached me. My mind hadn’t been at its sharpest at the time.
“You can’t fix everything for me, baby girl.” He rolled over onto his stomach and looked at me. “But I love you so much for trying.”
“You’re part of me.” I struggled to find the right words. “I need you to be okay, Cary.”
“I’m working on it.” He scooped his hair back from his face. “I’m taking this weekend in Westport to deal with the possibility that Trey might be out of the mix. I have to be realistic about that.”
“You be realistic, I’ll be hopeful.”
“Have fun with that.” He sat up and put his elbows on his knees, his head hanging. “Which brings me back to Tatiana. I guess I am clear about that. We can’t be together. Baby or not, it wouldn’t work for her or me.”
“I respect that.”
It was hard not to say more. I would always give my best friend the support and reassurance he needed, but there were some hard lessons to be learned here. Trey, Tatiana, and Cary were all hurting—with a baby on the way to join them—because of Cary’s choices. He pushed those who loved him away with his actions, daring them to stay. It was a test rigged for failure. Facing the consequences might just get him to make a change for the better.
His grin was wry, one beautiful green eye peeking through the fall of his long bangs. “I can’t pick and choose based on what I’m going to get out of it. Sucks, but hey … I gotta grow up sometime.”
“Don’t we all?” I gave him an encouraging smile. “I quit my job today.”
Accepting what I’d done got easier every time I said it aloud.
“No shit?”
Looking up at the ceiling, I replied, “No shit.”
He whistled. “Should I break out the bourbon and some shot glasses?”
I shuddered. “Ugh. You know I can’t stand bourbon. And really, Cristal and flutes would be more appropriate for my resignation.”
“Seriously? You want to celebrate?”
“I don’t need to drown any sorrows, that’s for sure.” I stretched my arms out over my head and let the last of my tension go. “I’ve been thinking about it all day, though.”
“And?”
“I’m good. Maybe if Mark had taken the news differently, I’d have second thoughts, but he’s leaving, too, and he’s been there way longer than the three months I’ve been there. It wouldn’t make sense for me to be more upset about moving on than he is.”
“Baby girl, things don’t have to make sense to be true.” Grabbing the remote, he turned the speaker volume down.
“You’re right, but I found Gideon at the same time I started at Waters Field and Leaman. Practically speaking, there’s no comparison between a job you’ve had three months and a husband you’re going to spend the rest of your life with.”
He shot me a look. “You went from sensible to practical. This just keeps getting worse.”
“Oh, shut up.” Cary never let me get away with the easy explanation. Since I was often good at deluding myself, his no-bullshit policy was a mirror I needed.
My smile faded. “I want more.”
“More what?”
“More of everything.” I looked his way again. “Gideon’s got this presence, you know? When he walks into a room, everyone straightens up and pays attention. I want that.”
“You married that. You get it de facto with the name and the bank balance.”
I sat up. “I want it because I’ve earned it, Cary. Geoffrey Cross left behind a lot of people who want some payback from his son. And Gideon’s made his own enemies, like the Lucases.”
“The who?”
I wrinkled my nose. “The bat-shit Anne Lucas and her equally insane husband.” Then it hit me. “Oh my God, Cary! I didn’t tell you. About the redhead you messed around with at that dinner a few weeks back. That was Anne Lucas.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Remember when I asked you to run a search on Dr. Terrence Lucas? Anne is his wife.”
Cary’s confusion was obvious.
I couldn’t go into how Terry Lucas had examined Gideon as a child and lied about finding signs of sexual trauma. He’d done so in order to shield his brother-in-law, Hugh, from prosecution. I would never understand how he could do that, no matter how much he loved his wife. As for Anne, Gideon had slept with her to get back at her husband, but her physical resemblance to her brother had led to sexual depravity that haunted Gideon. He’d punished Anne for the sins of her brother, leaving both himself and her mentally warped in the process.
That left Gideon and me with two very vicious enemies to contend with.
I explained as much as I could. “The Lucases have this whole twisted history thing with Gideon that I can’t get into, but it’s no coincidence that you two ended up together that night. She planned it that way.”
“Why?”
“Because she’s nuts and she knows it’ll fuck with my head.”
“Why the hell would you care who I tangle with?”
“Cary … I always care.” I heard my mobile phone start ringing. The “Hanging by a Moment” ring tone told me it was my husband calling. I stood. “But in this case, it’s the calculation behind it. You weren’t just some random hot fling. She targeted you specifically because you’re my best friend.”
“I’m not seeing how that accomplishes anything.”
“It’s flipping the bird at Gideon. Getting his attention is what she wants more than anything.”
Cary arched a brow. “The whole thing sounds loopy, but whatever. I ran into her again not too long ago.”
“What? When?”
“Last week, maybe.” He shrugged. “I’d just wrapped up a shoot and my Uber was waiting outside the studio. She was stepping out of a café with a girlfriend at the same time. It was totally out of the blue.”
I shook my head. My phone stopped ringing. “No way. Did she say anything to you?”
“Sure. She kinda flirted a little, which isn’t surprising considering the last time we saw each other. I shut her down, told her I was working on a relationship. She was cool about it. Wished me luck, said thanks again for a fun time. She took off down the street. End of story.”
My phone started ringing again. “If you ever see her, walk the other way and call me. Okay?”
“O-kay, but you’re not telling me enough for this to make any sense.”
“Let me talk with Gideon.” I hurried toward my phone and answered it. “Hey.”
“Were you in the shower?” Gideon purred. “Are you naked and wet, angel?”
“Oh, God. Hang on a minute.” I dropped the phone to my shoulder and walked back to Cary. “Was she wearing a wig when you saw her?”
Cary’s brows shot up. “How the hell would I know?”
“Was it long like when you first met her?”
“Yeah. Same.”
I nodded grimly. Anne wore her hair cropped and I’d never seen a picture of her otherwise. She’d worn a wig when she pursued Cary at the dinner, which had thrown me off and hidden her from Gideon.
Maybe it was a new style for her.
Or maybe it was another indication that she had special plans when it came to Cary.
I put the phone to my ear. “I need you to come back over, Gideon. And bring Angus up with you.”
Something in my tone must have relayed my concern, because Gideon showed up with both Angus and Raúl. I opened the door and found the three men filling the hallway, my husband front and center, with both bodyguards flanking him. To call the sight of them intense would be an understatement.
Gideon had loosened his tie and unbuttoned his collar and vest but was otherwise dressed as he’d been when we parted earlier. The slight dishevelment was sexy as hell, sending an instant tingle of arousal through my blood. It was a temptation, an enticement for me to finish taking off those expensive, elegant layers and reveal the powerful, primal male underneath. As smoking hot as Gideon was with clothes on, there was nothing like the sight of him purely nude.