Breathless (174 page)

Her cheeks flame as red as her hair when the reality of me calling her out for being a shitty friend sets in. It only takes moments for her blue eyes to fill with tears, and that pisses me off. She has no damn right to cry. I was the one hurt, and just because I have a weakness, it doesn’t give her the right to dump our friendship and then cry about it later.

“Save your tears,” I say as I walk away.

***

Chapter Two

Killian

My entire perspective of Duncan and Emery dating has changed. The fact that I thought this was going to be easy infuriates me. I let my cocky attitude come out to play and it bit me in the ass. She is the one that isn’t going to make this easy on me, not Duncan. I can’t blame him, even though I want to. And fuck do I want to. But even though, deep down, I know I have no right to be angry, it doesn’t stop me from leaving the parking lot of Hadley’s Café to search for him. I am going to confront that asshole.

I peel out of the lot in anger, my tires squealing loudly as my hands turn bright red from my grip on the steering wheel. The color matches the fury I so deeply feel right now.

It doesn’t take me long to find him. He’s back at his family’s office, no doubt working on a stack of paperwork. I throw my Rover in park and jump out. I don’t even taking the keys out or shut the door behind me. My anger is that fierce, and it shows in my steps into the office building.

The receptionist happens to be Callie Carter, a girl I had cheated on Emery with. Just fucking great! How much do you want to take a bet that is why she was hired in the first place? She tries to put her hand on my chest to stop me, and that pisses me off. “Don’t fucking touch me,” I seethe out. Callie’s hand retreats as she tries to stand firm and I smirk. She is the smallest woman in this town, and yet she thinks her stance is going to stop me?

“Real intimidating, Callie. I have business with Duncan. You can try to stop me, but I’ll just pick you up by the arms and sit you right back in that desk chair,” I say as I nod to the chair.

“You’re an asshole. How I ever slept with you, I’ll never know,” she murmurs as she waves her arm for me to pass. I should retort with the same. How could I be so stupid as to fuck her when I had a great girl already?

I don’t even bother knocking on his office door when I reach it. I just turn the knob and let myself in.

And what I see pisses me off. Duncan is sitting at his desk with his feet propped up and his arms laced behind his head, swiveling his chair back and forth.

“I was wondering how long it would take you to get here.” He smirks.

Motherfucker!

I walk straight up to his desk and knock his feet down. “Who the fuck do you think you are,” I growl. “You think you all of a sudden have a right to what’s mine? And just in case you ain’t clear on what’s mine, I’ll tell you. Emery. Emery is mine, not yours!”

Duncan jumps up from his chair and circles his desk to get right in my face, and that just further angers me more.

“She isn’t yours anymore. Emery owns herself. She isn’t a fucking object, you fucking dumbass. You had her to yourself for five damn years, Killian. You fucked that up, not me. What’s the matter? A little competition in the dating department scare you?”

This joker is fucking with me. He has to be.

“Is she a game to you? Are you trying to get back at me because of that shit five years ago? Is that what this is?”

I am absolutely boggled. I didn’t ever think he was that serious about his feelings for Emery, but it is very clear now. And even though I won’t tell him, nor Emery, this, it bothers me. Regardless of our past, he’s a good dude, or he used to be. And if anyone could steal Emery from me, it would be him. The thought makes me sweat.

“You can’t honestly believe that. You knew how I felt five years ago, and that shit still rings clear. The problem now is she knows, and I finally get my chance with her.” He shrugs and walks back to sit in his chair.

God dammit!

“You’re seriously not going away, are you?” I ask as I slump down in the chair across from his desk. This situation is all kinds of fucked up. I haven’t spoken to this dude in years, and here I am about to be civil. All because of Emery, the girl who unknowingly broke up our friendship, is now the cause of me speaking to him again. Go figure.

“Nope, not gonna happen this time, Killian, I’d say I was sorry, but why bother. We both know I’m not.” He shrugs.

Asshole.

I need a solution. I can’t have him taking all the time I want and need with Emery. I have a feeling that, if I don’t do what I am about to do, I’ll end up losing time with her because of this douchebag.

“Fine. If you aren’t going away, we need a solution,” I growl in more frustration. “We need a schedule.” Fuck! That sounds bad. “I mean, I ain’t fighting over Emery. Like you said, she isn’t an object. I don’t want to play fucking tug of war with you.”

Duncan frowns for a moment before what I said takes meaning. “A dating schedule?”

I ball my fists against the arms of the chair and grit my teeth. “Yes.” I hiss. I hate that I even have to discuss this with him. Underneath my skin, my blood boils hotter as each moment passes.

“What, like an every other weekend thing.” He chuckles.

Prick ass fucker. “No asshole. Like you get Fridays and I get Saturdays. That sort of thing.”

Duncan laughs. “And we just assume Emery is gonna be all for this?”

I roll my eyes. “Yes. Leave the week for her to decide if and who she wants to spend time with. All of a sudden, she wants to find herself, and I imagine if that’s the case, she needs time alone. This gives us both what we want along with giving Emery what she wants. Win, win, I suppose.”

He gets back up from his chair, coming back around the desk. I stand and reach as he holds his hand out for me to shake. I do so firmly as we both nod in agreement.

“Now get the hell outta my office and apologize to Callie.”

I’d already planned to do that when my temper cooled, and how did he know I was rude to her? I look around the office for anything that would give him that knowledge.

“I hear everything that goes on in my office.”

I shrug as I turn to leave, not saying shit to him as I let the door slam behind me.

When I reach Callie’s desk, I lean against it, gaining her attention. “I want to apologize, Callie. I was a little hot, and I didn’t mean to take it out on you.”

Callie smirks, crosses her arms, and leans back against her chair. “Turning over a new leaf, Kill?”

Jesus Christ!

“Callie, just accept my apology or don’t. The choice is yours,” I say as I stand straight and walk away.

“I accept!” she yells, laughing. “By the way, Killian, this look is good for you!”

Good god. I must’ve been one hell of an asshole.

“Oh, by the way, Reid, I’ll be seeing you.”

What? “Pardon me?” I stop and swivel back around.

“Your family handles our accounts now.” She winks.

Oh no, no, no, and fuck no! What the hell did my parents do now? And shit! “Callie… I’m only with Emery now.”

She immediately erupts with laughter. “I’m not… oh, god… I’m not hitting on you, Reid.”

Oh. I shrug and turn back around, determined to find out what the hell my parents did. When I get in my Rover, I slam my fists against the dashboard. I not only have to deal with Duncan dating Emery, I have to do business with him, too?

Owning the South and East Lakes isn’t enough? They don’t need this crap. The tourist business is stressful enough, and now they want to do accounting for the Walkers? With the Lakes and the current clients of my mom’s accounting firm, we are more than okay financially. Why are they trying to stress themselves out with more work? More importantly, Callie is right. My parents will be throwing me to the Walker wolves. They won’t be handling any of it, and that is exactly why my meddling mother took this on. My dad could have stopped this and didn’t. Fucking Christ, this isn’t the old days. Our families don’t have to get along.

I start to cool down as the wind blows through the window and the different kinds of pine trees release their scent. The smell of the mountains has always calmed my nerves and welcomed me home.

I flip the signal switch right before I turn onto the long driveway of South Lake. My parent’s overly large cabin comes into view as the dust from the dirt road kicks underneath my vehicle. Normally this feeling that overcomes me would be welcomed, but being pissed at my parents is overshadowing the brief distraction of being back in Montana.

“Welcome home, Killian,” I murmur to myself.

***

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