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Chapter 10
Harlowe
"I wasn't talking about sex," denying that single event is my only option right now. "I was talking about when I was leaving tonight. I was backing out of my parking spot and someone, some man, dressed in all black was standing right behind my car staring at me. I almost hit him! When I got out to confront him..."
"Stop! Stop right there!" Rae held her hand up to stop the conversation. "Have you lost your mind? You got out of your car to confront him?"
Pushing my hair out of my face, I sighed. I should have known she would scold me about this. "It's my building, and no one who doesn't work there has access! Anyway, I walked around the garage, and don't lecture me about this, Rae. I know it was a bad idea. The point is, I couldn't find him. It was like he just disappeared," snapping my fingers to prove my point.
Rae shook her head at me and grabbed my hands. "You are an incredibly smart person, Lowe. But this was more incredibly stupid! You could have been attacked, raped or killed! Pull your head out of your ass and think about it! Obviously the building isn't as secure as you thought."
"I know that now! At the time, I thought it was..." it occurred to me then exactly what I thought and what I was thinking about.
"Who? That guy you fired? You don't think he'll try to get revenge or something do you?" Rae had a good point and one that I hadn't even thought of.
"No, I had his information deleted from the system. He couldn't get back in." At least not that I know of. I'm going to make a point to check that first thing tomorrow morning. "Easton. I thought it was Easton."
"Easton?" Rae took a long moment to think about that. Too long, because when her eyes narrowed in on me, she saw everything. "Holy hell, Lowe. You had sex with Easton again, didn't you? Don't deny it! I knew I saw the wild sex vibes on you. It was wild sex, right? I mean, it is Easton Bradford. Everyone knows how the Bradford Boys are."
Closing my eyes, I grabbed the throw pillow next to me and covered my face with it and screamed. I can't do this. I'm the boss and I slept, no, not slept. There was definitely no sleeping, no bed even, involved in what happened between us.
"You can't say anything, Rae. Nothing to anyone," I begged her. Yes, she is my cousin and she is a member of the Bradford family. This could be so bad if she tells the wrong person.
"I won't, but Lowe, you're his boss. How is that going to work?" It's not like I haven't asked myself the same question and I don't have any answers yet.
"Look, let's just order food and have a drink, or a few. I don't know what to do. And since Easton hasn't spoken to me since, I would say the moment we had is over with. I don't think there's anything to worry about." And that was the biggest lie I've ever told.
We dropped the subject for the moment and ordered dinner. While we ate and after several glasses of wine, I spilled my guts. I told Rae everything, linking it to what happened before and our little moment years ago. She listened as only a best friend could and let me get it off my chest.
It was thoroughly embarrassing to know that I was duped by the same guy twice. I told her how I was worried about the league and the team board finding out about it. It could hurt Easton's career and I could lose my team.
"I don't think so," she says, selecting another dumpling. "Easton is The Quarterback this year. He has a shit load of pressure on him to perform this year. I think this will get swept at least by your board. Maybe not with the league but you really think he could lose his position, could he?"
"I benched him," I announced, seeing the shock on her face, I had to clarify my response. "Just for the week."
"He was that bad?"
"No! I..." Oh, I should have known better. Rae bursts out laughing at the idea that a Bradford could be bad at sex. Of course they aren't. They're Gods. "Stop laughing! This isn't funny!"
"No, but I think you're worrying too much. He's been busy trying to get his spot back, right? Well, I think he's just laser focused on that. He knows he's got to work twice as hard to keep his nose clean, Lowe. He can't have you and screw up. It wouldn't look good for either of you."
I hadn't thought about it that way. I wasn't really looking at it from his perspective. And maybe I am overreacting and overthinking this. Rae is always so much better than I am at seeing the full picture.
We finished dinner and Rae headed home with the request that if I have any wild sex again that I notify her immediately. Especially if it's with Easton. She managed to lighten the mood I was in and talking about it with her really helped me. I should have called her earlier.
Locking up for the night, I made my rounds around the house, turning off lights and locking the doors. I set the alarm and headed to my bedroom with still plenty of emails to respond to and a couple contracts to read before I get to bed.
Going into the bedroom, I went to the bathroom to wash my face and noticed that my things were rearranged on the counter. I'm not OCD but I do like to keep my things in certain places. Assuming the cleaning lady had done it, I put everything back where it was supposed to be and made a mental note to talk to the housekeeper about it.
Going to my dressing table, I pulled off my earrings and necklace and started to put them back in the boxes. I opened my jewelry drawer and found the empty boxes weren't where I thought I put them.
"That's strange," I thought out loud and rifled through the drawer to find the right boxes to put my jewelry away. I know I left the boxes right on top. Perhaps another reason to talk to the housekeeper and see if she had someone new with her.
I've had the same housekeeper for over a year and I've never had a single problem with her. I love her. She always keeps everything just the way I like it. It's surprising that she would start moving it all around now. She must be training someone, and that someone needs to learn to stay out of my things.
Changing my clothes and climbing into bed, I pull my laptop out and get to work. Janitorial requests, vacation requests, uniform orders, marketing proofs, another email from Emma asking how many tickets I need for the fundraiser, office policies to deal with and a new draft pick, who I have to remind of the team policies about their hygiene. I could pass that one along to the coach.
Rubbing my eyes, I look at the clock and see it's just after two in the morning. Five A.M. is just around the corner and I'm going to be very tired once again. Just as I'm about to shut down, my email notifies me that the house security system has detected movement in the backyard.
"Probably Mrs. Newsome's cat again," Pulling up the app, I click on the camera link to see what was happening. "So what are you getting into tonight, you little fluff muffin?"
Watching the ten minute video, I don't see anything wrong. Figuring I was right about the cat and it zipping by the camera, I didn't look close enough to the details. Then, just as I was about to click out of it, I saw it. The shadow slipping across the back wall.
Sitting straight up, I'm no longer tired and wide awake with a rush of adrenaline. Someone is on my property. Rewatching the video, I see the figure come out of the pool house and slink into the shadows, where I can barely see him.
It is a him. I can see that much just from the broad shoulders and narrow waist. A man who looks to be at least six feet tall and built like a tight end. Light on his feet, he moved cautiously around the yard like he knew exactly where everything was.
Flipping screens, I activated the security lights around the house and lit everything up. I'm not going to have some crazy person sneaking in here for a picture or some seedy story they want to sell to one of those gossip papers.
I go through every camera angle and find the same dark figure on two different videos. One coming onto the property over the back wall and the other of him leaving. He didn't come into the house. He didn't get close to either of the main doors or pass in front of those cameras. Just the pool house.
Thinking about what I have in the pool house, I can't imagine anyone wanting to steal some pool noodles and cushions for the lounge chairs. There's chemicals for the pool, cleaning equipment and supplies in there but nothing else that would be worth stealing.
"So who are you and why are you in my pool house?" I wonder with the shadow figure frozen on my screen.
A bit unnerved by the idea of someone breaking in, I notified the police, and saved the video. The last thing I want is to deal with this tonight but sleep just isn't in my near future. Getting up, I put on my robe and get ready for the police to show.
Whoever decided to trespass is going to regret it.
Easton
I ordered the pizza and wings as requested and iced down a tub of beer. Not that this is going to be a friendly dinner with Max. Not at all, but I might as well have something on hand to ice down the black eye I'm anticipating.
By the time Max got to the house, I had run through several scenarios on how this would go, none of which ended well for me. I have to come clean with him. I know he's not going to like what I have to say, but he's going to have to deal with it.
Lowe is a grown woman and she can make up her own mind on who she wants to sleep with. The idea of her being with someone else makes me feel a little sick. Not that she hasn't been with anyone else. At least no one I know of, but I'm sure she has. I just don't like to think about that idea.
I was Lowe's first. That means something to her and me. I know I didn't handle it well back then, but I was a kid. I'm handling it better now. I told her it wouldn't be the same as before, didn't I? I told her that I wanted her too. I didn't say anything like that before.
When the knock came on the door, I thought I was ready for every argument Max could come up with. Haven't I been running it through my head for weeks now? Of course, I hoped to talk to him before I got another chance with Lowe, but it didn't happen that way. I also hoped to tell him the truth before she did. That didn't happen either.
Maybe I should think about this a little more.
Opening the door, I prepared for Max to hit me. He did. A solid right hook to the jaw. I owed him that one. I should have told him, not Lowe. So I took the first punch like a man. The second one, a jab to my gut, took me by surprise and the third, another right, knocked me on my ass.
Rubbing my jaw, I forgot how hard he could hit! I felt the blood on my lip and knew he split it. He didn't do much more than knock the wind out of me with the gut punch, but damn, two good shots right at the money maker. I'll have a bruise tomorrow.
"God Damn it, East! You broke my fucking hand!" Shaking out his right hand, he kicks me in the ass. "You've got a fucking jaw of steel!"
"Matches my abs," I joke, lifting my shirt and showing off my six pack. He decided that was an invitation for another punch to the gut. "Oof! Cut it out! You got your shots in! No more freebies! You hit me again, I'm hitting back!"
All of that before I could even say hello. Yeah, I really should have owned my actions. I was a stupid kid.
"You deserve a proper ass kicking. You screwed my baby sister!" Max will inevitably always see Lowe as his baby sister. No matter how old she is.
"No! I had sex with Lowe!" I argued, getting to my feet. "She wasn't a baby either. She was old enough to make the choice. And just so you know, she could have said no and it wouldn't have happened! I didn't push her to do anything she didn't want to do! You can ask her about that if you don't trust me."
"She is still my sister and you're... You! You had girls falling at your feet, Easton! You could have had any of them, you did have them, and you decided to screw my sister!" Max raged, walking past me and into my house.
"I didn't screw her!" I wish he would stop saying that. It makes it sound cheap and dirty. Not that cheap and dirty is always a bad thing, but still...
Fuck! Now I'm thinking about Lowe and the hood of my car. Rubbing the back of my neck, I can't help but see the images of her laid back on the hood and letting me take her. I wonder if I should just dump the ice down my pants to stop this reaction?
Going straight to the ice bucket, Max pulled out a bottle of beer and popped the top. Drinking half the bottle down before he took a breath, he turned back to me. "You blew her off when you knew it was her first time, Easton. You were a dick to her."
Closing the door, I got my own bottle and sat across the room from him. He isn't wrong about that. I can't defend myself against that and I won't. I can't.
"You're right." I agreed and rolled the bottle over my jaw. "I was wrong, Max. I know that and I plan on handling it better this time. I told Lowe it wouldn't be like that. I promised her..."
"Back up! What do you mean by this time? And what the hell are you doing making her promises you know you won't keep?" Max glared, not giving me a chance to finish my sentence.
"Stop interrupting me and let me explain, will you!" God, he's really pissed over this. I don't think I've ever seen Max this mad. "I apologized to Lowe about how I messed up with her. She accepted it. You need to step back about it. And what do you mean I won't keep my promise to her? Who are you to judge me for that?"
I'm not a liar or a cheat. I don't do that. I also don't make any promises that I don't plan on keeping. My word, my promises are solid. Max has a lot of balls to suggest otherwise.
"I'm her brother!" He said as if that was good enough for him to judge me.
We sat staring each other down at an impasse. The pizza and wings sat on the table between us, forgotten. This wasn't a friendly talk about the past. This was much more. I finished my beer and set the empty bottle on the table. My appetite was gone.
"You act like I use women and dump them when I've had enough of them. I've never done that, Max. You know that." I tried to calm things down. This yelling at each other wasn't accomplishing anything. "I care about Lowe. I would never intentionally hurt her."
"You did!" The hard growl told me just how much I didn't know about what I did to her. "You didn't see how devastated she was after her birthday party. I thought she was bummed out because you didn't stay over. She didn't tell me what happened between you. But everything changed after that night. I'm only just now seeing the full picture. You have no idea how much she loved you."
No, I don't. I didn't know. I didn't think she felt that way. Not back then. Not before that night. Afterwards, after that night, I think I saw the hurt I caused her and I didn't know how to fix it. I didn't know how to handle it or just how much that night meant to both of us.
"Have you talked to Lowe?" I wondered if she had said anything else about that night to him.
"Not yet. I wanted to hear it from you first. I wanted you to have the chance to defend yourself." Max rubs his head like he has a headache. He probably does. I'm sure he's not been happy about any of this. "You promised me that you wouldn't touch her, Easton. You made a promise to me to be a brother to her. You promised you would protect her from this kind of thing. I trusted you, I believed you meant your promise and you broke it. Now you want me to believe that you promised her what? That you'll keep your hands off her now and not break her heart again?"
Shit, this is worse than I expected. Tugging at my hair, I got up and started to pace around the room. I can't sit still and look at the disappointment on his face. He's my best friend and I royally fucked this up.
"I'm sorry. I can't tell you how much, I'm sorry. But Max, you aren't seeing the whole picture." He didn't like that. Well, he's going to like the rest that I have to say even less. "Lowe is awesome! She was then and she's just as amazing now. I respect what she's doing for herself. I can't tell you how much I admire her drive. She's beautiful, and smart, and talented. She has the best sense of humor and the most gorgeous smile. I like the way she talks to herself when she's working something out and how she hides under the covers after a horror movie. She can have the entire world and she chose to be in mine. How could I not see all of her and not want her?"
He thought for a long moment, thinking about all I've said. "You still want her?"
"Yes."
"Does she know this?" He took a harder look at me and saw the truth on my face. I knew the moment he realized that I had already made my move and that shutter on Max's emotions slammed into place. "You did it again, didn't you? You slept with her again and didn't tell me."
"We didn't sleep."
When he tossed the bottle across the room, aiming for my head, I knew it was too soon for that.
"She doesn't need your permission or approval to have sex with me. And I'm not asking you for it. We aren't ten! She's a grown woman and can decide what and who she wants!" Now I'm getting pissed.
What does he have against me dating his sister? Then it hits me. It's not about Lowe. This is about me.
"You just don't want me to date her? That's what this is about, isn't it? You don't think I'm good enough for Lowe?" The knife went straight into my heart. My best friend doesn't think I'm good enough for his sister. I'm okay for a boys' night out, a pick up game on the court, or tickets to the big game, but I'm not good enough for her.
He didn't get a chance to answer me. His phone rang and as soon as he looked at the caller id, I knew who it was.
"Lowe? It's pretty late for you. What's up?" As he listened to her tell him whatever she wanted to say, he turned away from me and walked into the kitchen to finish the call.
I knew then I messed up again. Me. She's talking about me.
"I have to go," Max rushed back in and grabbed a slice of pizza for the road. "Lowe needs me."
"What happened? I'll go with you," Grabbing my jacket, I was ready to go to her. "I can talk to her and fix it!"
"No! You've done enough." Max stopped me in my tracks. "Stay away from my sister, Easton. I don't want her getting hurt by you again."
I don't like ultimatums. Narrowing my eyes at the man I thought I knew, I ask the question I'm dreading the answer to. "And if I don't?"
"Then you aren't the man I thought you were. You aren't my friend. I have to go," he says, walking out without giving me a chance to fix anything. This is only more screwed up than I thought.
Now what do I do?
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