“Better now that football season is about to start. I think the Cowboys will go all the way this year.”
“I hope you’re right.”
The elevator arrived. “Have a good night,” he called before the doors closed.
The ride up seemed to take forever. Nick knew that George would have phoned ahead to let Garth know he had company so Nick wasn’t surprised when he saw the front door standing open. He stepped inside and pushed it shut behind him.
“I just got home,” Garth called from the kitchen. “I picked up takeout from the Chinese place. There’s plenty. Want some?”
Nick ignored the question and stalked into the kitchen. “You said it wasn’t about the sisters. You said you only wanted to get Jed Titan. You implied they wouldn’t be hurt and you lied. You lied to me, Garth. What the hell is going on?”
Garth turned and the overhead light cast shadows on his face. His eyes were unreadable, his mouth a thin line.
“What are you talking about?” he asked, sounding unconcerned.
“You went after all of them. Lexi and her spa. Skye and her foundation. Now Izzy.”
“I never touched Izzy. She doesn’t have a business I can fuck with. Which is kind of a shame, I admit.”
“You blew up the oil rig. You could have killed her and everyone else there.”
Garth walked out of the kitchen. Nick followed him into the large living room with its floor-to-ceiling windows. Garth crossed to a cabinet on the wall and pulled out a bottle of scotch. He poured a generous serving into two glasses and picked up one.
“I didn’t have anything to do with the explosion on the rig,” he told Nick, then took a sip. “I’m interested in taking down the Titans-all of them. But not by putting anyone’s life at risk. Yes, I did my best to trip up Lexi and I might have set the D.A. and the press on Skye and her foundation. I took advantage where I could. I’ve used people-exploiting their weaknesses. Especially Jed’s. But blowing up an oil rig? Not my style.”
“Why should I believe you?” Nick demanded, still furious.
“To me the more interesting question is why should you care, but we won’t go there. You should believe me because you know me. You’ve always known me. Come on, Nick. We’re family. I didn’t blow up the oil rig. I had nothing to do with it. But, according to my sources, it was deliberate, which means someone else is involved. Maybe to set me up. Either way, I’m going to find out who’s responsible.”
Nick didn’t know what to think. He’d never been in a position not to believe his friend before.
“What’s your end game?” he asked at last. “How much destruction will make you happy?”
“I haven’t decided.”
Another lie, Nick thought grimly. Because Garth always had a plan. So was his friend using him? Or had Nick simply been caught in the cross fire?
“You lied to me,” Nick said.
“I didn’t tell you everything. There’s a difference.”
Semantics. Misrepresentation. Lies. They were the same. “You used me.”
“I asked you to look after Izzy. Aren’t you helping her? Isn’t she getting better?”
“Yes, but that’s not why you asked me to do it.”
“Does it matter why, if she gets better in the end?”
The expected answer was yes. Did the road matter if Izzy got where she needed to go? If she had the surgery and got on with her life, wasn’t that enough?
He didn’t want this to be Garth. He didn’t want to have to doubt his friend. He didn’t want to have the questions. But they had been planted and taken root. Now he didn’t know how to make them go away.
“It’s been a lot of years,” Garth said, holding out the second glass of scotch. “We’ve been through more than most. I trust you with my life and I’d like to think you’d say the same about me. Don’t let this come between us.”
Nick ignored the glass. “I’m not the one who made the decision to put our friendship on the line.”
Garth returned the glass to the cabinet. His expression was still unreadable, but tension crackled in the air.
“You’re either with me or against me,” Garth told him.
Nick smiled. “What a cliche.” His smile faded. “Don’t make me choose. You may not like the outcome.”
“You’d pick a woman you barely know over me? Over all we’ve been through? Have you forgotten I’m the one who helped you survive college? I’m the one who taught you how to get the girl?”
It was true, Nick thought, sad that he and Garth had to have this conversation at all. His friend had saved him countless times. Nick had been a geeky, innocent kid. He’d been picked on unmercifully until Garth had stepped in to protect him. Nick might have all the smarts, but Garth knew about getting along in the world.
Later Nick had tried to repay him by figuring out how to exploit one of the largest untapped oil reserves in South America. An expedition that had nearly killed them both. To this day, the majority of Nick’s wealth was tied up in Garth’s collection of companies.
“I haven’t forgotten anything,” Nick told him. “This isn’t about choosing you over her. It’s about what you’re doing and what that says about you as a person. When did you change?”
Garth’s lip curled. “Maybe it was when I rotted in a South American prison, getting tortured day after day.”
Nick knew he deserved that. “Blame me if you need to. Just know that I’m not someone you want as an enemy.”
“You don’t scare me,” Garth told him.
Nick walked toward the front door, before pausing. “Then I guess you don’t know me any better than I know you.”
THE RANCH WAS QUIET after the corporate types left. Izzy was still busy, working in the stable, but she hadn’t realized how isolated she’d become until everyone was gone. She didn’t go anywhere, talk to anyone other than Nick, Aaron, Norma or Rita. Occasionally her sisters called, but they were busy and didn’t have time to chat very long.
Maybe she should speak to Nick about going somewhere. The problem was she didn’t have a destination.
She couldn’t drive, there wasn’t bus service, even if she could figure out how to use it. The ranch was isolated-she didn’t even know the neighbors, so a drop-in visit wasn’t going to happen. What on earth was she going to do with the rest of her life?
Unable to answer the question, she went into the house after dinner and made her way upstairs to Aaron’s room. He was busy getting ready for his date with Steve, but she wanted to talk to someone and for the past couple of days Nick had kept to himself. Every time she was around him, she had the feeling she’d done something wrong. But she couldn’t figure out what.
Sighing heavily, she walked down the hallway and knocked on Aaron’s door.
“It’s me,” she called.
“Come in. I’m nearly ready. You can tell me how fabulous I look.”
Izzy laughed as she pushed open the door. “Hardly. I can’t see anything. You know that.” She stepped into the room. “But I am confident you are beyond fabulous.”
“But you don’t know for sure, do you?” Aaron snapped. “We both know it’s time for you to get the surgery so you can get on with your life. Have a little courage, Izzy. It’s so exhausting having to deal with your world of self- pity.”
CHAPTER TEN
AARON’S WORDS WERE an actual slap. Izzy felt the heat on her cheek, as if he’d hit her. She stood frozen for a moment as they echoed inside her, then she turned and ran.
She took the stairs two at a time, then paused at the bottom, not sure where to go or what to do. Tears- hateful, weak tears-filled her eyes. They made it even harder to see in the dim light of a few lamps. She wanted to scream that this wasn’t her fault, that she was doing the best she could. But she didn’t. Wouldn’t that simply be
