“Ask Karla for access to the conference room. She’ll be more than happy to help you.”

“Thank you,” Dwayne says, standing from his chair.

He makes his way out of my office, and the moment the door clicks shut, JP asks, “What the actual fuck? Dave knows?”

“First I’ve heard of it,” I say, pushing my hand frantically through my hair.

“How the hell does he know? You didn’t say anything, did you?”

“Are you insane? Do you think I’d tell him the truth while trying to secure this deal with him? A deal it seems as though he has no intention of taking, seeing he has plans to capitalize on our goddamn idea.” Angrily, I stand from my chair and start pacing the room.

He knows.

Dave fucking knows.

And he’s telling people, people I work with, ruining my reputation.

My worst fears come to the surface, pinning me in the chest with mortification.

“Who else do you think he told?” I ask. “Fuck, this could be bad.”

“This could be really bad,” JP adds. “If he told Dwayne, then he’s told others. Dwayne is cool enough to laugh it off, but I couldn’t say that about everyone we work with.”

“Especially people we might want to work with in the future.” I grip my hair with both hands now. “Fuck, he’s probably turning us into a laughingstock with everyone. What the hell do we do now? I have a meeting with him tomorrow.”

“What the hell for? Clearly, he’s not going to sell us the properties,” Breaker says, his face contorted in a worried expression. My stomach plummets from that one look.

This is what my brothers feared would happen, that my mistake and ignorance would come back to bite us in the ass. I’m not only fucking over myself, but I’m fucking them over as well, and that hurts more than anything.

Through thick and thin, they’ve been there for me. We’ve created this business together, from the ground up. We’ve grown, we’ve been through the aches and pains together, the ups and downs, and the successes with minimal failure. If this lie took me out individually, that would be something I’d have to live with, but taking out my brothers . . . fuck, I can’t imagine carrying that burden on my shoulders.

“I . . . I don’t know.”

“I think you need to figure out how he found out,” JP says.

“And how do I go about doing that?” I pin my brothers with a look, and I can see it on their faces. The same thought is going through their minds that passed through mine.

“Dwayne said Ellie knew,” Breaker says gently. “I think—”

I shake my head. “Don’t say it.”

“You need to ask her,” JP says. “You need to confront Lottie.”

And there it is, the elephant in the room, the one thing I didn’t want to consider.

“I don’t think she said anything,” I say, defending her.

“Didn’t she hang out with Ellie in the beginning? Before you two were a real couple?” Breaker asks.

“Yes, but she wouldn’t have said anything.”

“You don’t think she might have said something out of spite? You two fought a lot in the beginning. I’m pretty sure you said there were times when you thought she actually hated you.”

There were times when I think she could barely look at me. Didn’t even want to be around me.

But . . .

“She was under contract.”

“Sometimes that doesn’t matter to some people,” Breaker says. He glances over his shoulder to see if Dwayne is coming. “Either way, you need to ask her, because if it was Lottie, we need to know exactly what she told Ellie.”

“Fuck,” I say as a nervous tension fills my muscles.

“I hate to say it,” JP adds, “especially since I like Lottie so much, but he has a point. We need to get to the bottom of this. She’s the only one I can think of that would have that close a connection to the truth and tell Ellie.”

I drag my hands over my face. “And what if she did say something? Then what?”

Breaker leans back in his chair. “Then I think we call it like it is—we were fucked over. And not sure if we’re going to recover.”

And that right there sends a cold chill of resentment through my veins.

Fuck with me—fine.

Fuck with my brothers—that’s a different story.

OceanofPDF.com

Chapter Twenty-One

LOTTIE

“What do you think about this dress?” I ask Kelsey, holding it up to my body while looking at it in the mirror.

“That color does nothing for you, which surprises me, since Huxley seems to be perfect at picking out clothes that showcase your best features.”

“This is one of my dresses.”

“Then that makes sense.”

Rolling my eyes, I toss the dress at her, which makes her laugh.

“Remind me why you’re getting dressed up for dinner, again? Isn’t it just another normal night in this crazy, dreamlike life you’ve been living?”

I pick up a purple dress that has a deep V-cut in the middle and hold it up to my body. This one makes my eyes stand out, and it’s sexy—just what I want.

“No particular reason.” I smirk and take the dress off the hanger.

“Uh, I don’t believe that for a second.”

Not caring if my sister sees me in my bra and underwear, I remove the shirt I borrowed from Huxley and toss it on the bed, then slip the dress over my hips and up my torso. I situate the straps on my shoulder, adjust my boobs, and then look in the mirror.

Yup. This is it.

“Can you zip me up?” I move my hair to the side so Kelsey has easy access to the zipper.

She stands from the bed and grips the zipper of my dress but doesn’t pull it up right away. “What are you planning tonight?”

Then she zips up the dress, and I watch as the fabric clings to my silhouette. God, it’s perfect. Huxley will tear it off in seconds, no doubt in my mind.

“Nothing,” I say, even though that’s not the truth.

Kelsey, being the intuitive sister that she is, turns me to face her and grips my shoulders. “Talk to me, now.”

Sighing, I lie back on my bed and stare up at the ceiling. “I love him, Kels.”

“What?” she asks, her voice coming out high-pitched. “What did you say?”

I lift up to look her in the eyes. “I love him.”

Her jaw drops as she blinks a few times. “You love him. As in, you love Huxley Cane, your fake fiancé?”

“Yes, exactly. I love him.”

“What? When? How? I mean, I know you’re dating and things have progressed, but love?”

I nod, totally sure of it. “Yeah, I love him. It feels as though it came out of nowhere, but there’s no doubt in my mind. You were right—there’s a thin line between love and hate. I crossed that line.”

“Wow, just . . .” She pauses, and when my eyes connect with hers, she smiles and then reaches out and pulls me into a hug. “I’m happy for you, Lottie.”

“Thank you.” I return her embrace.

“Are you planning on telling him? Is that why you’re getting all dressed up?”

“Yeah.” I bite down on my lip, nerves shooting up my arms. “Do you think that’s too forward?”

“No.” Kelsey shakes her head. “Because I think he has the same feelings for you.”

I perk up. “You think so?”

“I’ve seen him before you two were together and since, and I’m telling you right now, I’ve never seen a man so into a woman as Huxley is into you. He worships you, Lottie.”

“I think worship is a strong word.” But I still smirk, thinking about how he was reluctant to leave me this morning after I played with him in the shower. I can still hear his deep groans as he came on my chest while I ran my vibrator along his balls.

It was one of the hottest things I’ve ever seen, his godlike body contracting, straining. Every muscle vibrating as he lost control of all his senses. I’ve been replaying the visual in my head all day, to the point that I sent him a dirty text letting him know exactly what I wanted to do to him when he got home. He hasn’t replied yet, but then again, he’s a very busy man.