Obsessed: Part Three (The Obsessed Series) (6 page)

"Why are you getting dressed?" he asks. He shakes his head as he playfully grabs at the hem of my dress.

"I need to take care of a few things today." I pull back and slip on my heels. "I'm meeting Nathan shortly."

"Let me get ready." He pushes past me to his closet and rips a shirt from one of the padded hangers. "It won't take me long."

I tap him on his shoulder trying to divert his attention away from the wardrobe. "You aren't coming with me," I giggle.

"Yes, I am," he says boldly before stepping into a pair of slacks. "I'm not letting you out of my sight. Besides, I don't like the way he looks at you."

"Jax." I reach to button the white dress shirt he's pulled on. "I'm meeting my attorney to talk about my business deal with you. Do you see how that might be just a bit of a conflict?" I tilt my head to the side.

"Ah…" He masterfully ties a blue bold-patterned tie around his neck. "You two are going to scheme to get more from me, aren't you?" he asks teasingly while pulling out the empty pockets of his slacks. "I'm all tapped out, Ivy. You ran me dry with your list of demands."

I laugh loudly as I swat him on the forearm. "It's just to finalize some things with Madeline."

"I heard about that." He kisses the top of my head before he continues, "I'm proud of you, beautiful. You told Madeline who was boss."

"Hardly," I scoff. "I just don't want to suffocate my business anymore. I need it to grow and getting out from under her wing is a good start."

"I'm glad you see that." He walks over to his dresser and loops one exquisite cufflink through the arm of his shirt. "I knew buying into Veray would pay off. It bought you some time."

The comment jars me. Why would he say that? "What?" I blurt out. "What do you mean it bought me some time?"

He turns as he fastens the other cufflink into place. "Veray is on the verge of bankruptcy."

Startled, I don't say a word in response.

"I've known Madeline for years." He's standing in front of me now, adjusting his suit jacket. "She's a horrible businesswoman."

"When did you know it was in trouble?" I inhale sharply. Why hadn't he mentioned this to me before? Is this why he was so reluctant to sell his shares in Veray to me?

"The day after I read in the Dialogue piece that you had an exclusive contract with her," he says it so easily. It's as though the details of that knowledge are lost on him. Does he not understand that I've placed the success of my entire business into Madeline's hands for the past few years?

"I had no idea." My skin is burning in frustration. I feel as though he's been orchestrating my life behind my back for the past year.

"Why did you think I bought into it?" The smile on his face has faded into a frown. "I did that so you wouldn't get stuck in limbo when the creditors came looking for their money."

I'm losing my footing. The room is spinning. I reach behind me to find the edge of the bed. "When were you going to tell me this?"

He stares at my face. "Sit down, beautiful." I feel him push me down until I'm sitting on the edge of the bed. He sits next to me, holding my hand in his lap. "You were so intent on wrestling those shares away from me." A light smile crosses his lips. "I was thankful when Gilbert told me you'd given up on that."

He's throwing so much information at me that I'm having difficulty absorbing it all. "But before I saw the video, but that night…" I pause before I continue, "you agreed to sell those shares to me."

"You fought so hard for that." A ghost of a smile waves across his lips. "If the deal would have gone through that way I would have just bought Madeline out and closed the business."

I feel overwhelmed. He's controlling everything. He's been hiding so much from me. It's as though I'm the puppet and he's pulling all of the strings. I pull myself back onto my feet. "I need to go. Nathan is waiting for me."

He nods in agreement. "Signing those release documents today is a fantastic start. Then we'll work on getting you a studio and maybe a shop of your own. Do you think Tribeca is good or something closer to Chelsea?"

"I put an offer on a space in Boston," I whisper while holding my breath.

"You didn't say Boston, did you?" His question makes me tremble inside. I knew we'd need to have this conversation but I wasn't expecting it to be this morning.

I face him directly. I don't want to appear meek to him. "Yes. I've made plans to move there."

"You made those plans before last night?" He motions towards the bed. The sheets are still rumpled, casting a hint of what took place there.

I stare at the bed for a moment before I respond. "Yes, I did, but I'm determined to make it on my own and Boston is home to me."

The veins in his neck tighten and I can tell that the territorial part of him is quickly sprinting to the surface. "You can't just pick up and move there."

"Don't tell me what to do." My response is quick and intuitive. The words shoot out.

"Why would you leave me?" There's pain in his voice.

I sigh heavily. "My decision isn't about you, it's about me." I cast my eyes down to the bed. "We had a beautiful night. I understand more but I still have a million questions."

"Like what?" he snaps. "What do you want to know?"

I shake my head. "Much more than you can explain in the next five minutes. I need to get to my meeting."

His face hardens before he speaks. "Fine. We'll have lunch afterwards and you can ask me anything you want."

"I hope you realize what that means." I pick up my phone from the bed, turn towards the door and march out of the apartment.

***

"My mom was talking about your sister yesterday when I called her." Nathan reaches over his desk to point to yet another dotted line that I need to sign on.

"How's your mom?" I smile brightly when I ask about Gloria. She was the mom that everyone could depend on to have an open door. Her refrigerator was always full of lemonade and brownies and her heart filled with love when I was a kid.

He turns the page scanning the document. "She's really good. I told her you're moving back and she's excited to see you."

I hesitate before I respond searching for the right words. "I'm reconsidering that move."

"Because of Jax?" The question is loaded and comes with just the right amount of spite in his tone.

"I thought you were on his side."

He puffs out a breath. "He was pretty torn up at our meeting. I take it you watched that video that he was talking about?"

I nod. "I did after coaxing by you and my neighbor."

He cocks an eyebrow. "Your neighbor?"

"Not important," I say quietly.

"What was on it?"

I stare out the window behind him. "Jax and a woman." I finally answer. "She was plotting to take over the company with him."

"Mark's company?" He pushes back into his chair.

"Yes or Jax's father's company I guess depending on who you ask." I shrug my shoulders.

"So blackmail was mentioned?" he asks tentatively.

"Off the record?" I joke.

"I hereby evoke client, attorney privilege." He laughs as he waves the pen in his hand in the air mimicking a magic wand. "We're good to go."

I smile weakly. "The video started with the two of them in bed. I thought he was going to make love to her." I shudder as I think about what I felt the moment I first saw them in together.

"That's all you initially saw?"

"Yes. I stopped it at that point when Jax walked in." I stand and walk to the windows. "I finished watching it yesterday."

"And they didn't?" His words are clipped.

"No." I stare out at the expansive view. All the people milling about the city's streets look so small and insignificant. There's so many of them. Hundreds upon hundreds at any given moment. "Do you think it's odd?"

"That he didn't fuck her?" His voice is on my neck now. I shiver at the sensation.

"No." I turn and look up into his vibrant blue eyes. "Do you think it's odd that the only two men I've ever loved own a company together?"

His eyes scan my face. I know that he still sees that shy and vulnerable seventeen-year-old girl that stared at him across the baseball field. "You're doubting him still, aren't you?"

I shrug my shoulders. "Maybe or maybe I'm just doubting myself."

"I think that you're a beautiful woman who needs to listen to this…" he gently grazes his finger across my forehead before he continues, "instead of this." His finger hovers above the space between my breasts. "Get all your questions answered, take some time and then everything will make sense."

"How did you get so smart, Nate?" I ask tapping my finger to the tip of his nose.

He blushes. "Law school, Ms. Marlow."

"Are we done here?" I move past him back to where my purse is resting in a chair. "I have a lunch date."

"You've signed everything I needed you to sign." He gathers together the papers that now cover his desk.

"Did you know Veray was in financial trouble?" I throw the question at him as I reach for the door handle.

"Jax's lawyer was pretty insistent that I talk you out of taking over his interest in the company," he says. "So I had a pretty good idea there were some issues with the company's structure."

"I found out today he bought into it to save it from bankruptcy because I sell my stuff there," I admit.

He lowers himself into his chair. "How do you feel about that?"

I slowly open the office door. The sound of people milling about is mixed with a cell phone ringing in the distance. "Numb."

He nods as I turn to walk out the door.

"How's Moore?" The loaded undercurrent that is swirling beneath the question doesn't slip past me.

"Dreamy," I say with little emotion as I sit down across from Jax.

"Dreamy?" he repeats. "Who even uses that word anymore, Ivy?"

I pull my eyes into a squint. "Obviously, I do."

"You just say those things to get under my skin." He raises his wineglass to his lips.

I take a small sip of the ice water in front of me. "I say it because it's true. Nathan is hot."

"You're goading me now." He pushes his body into a more upright stance. "Why?"

I motion for the waiter and order myself a martini. "This territorial, I caveman, you woman thing is wearing on me."

"Excuse me?" he tries to stifle the laugh that accompanies the question but it's useless.

"I'm being serious." I don't break a smile. I don't even really know who this man is. Our entire relationship has been nothing but a series of lies, betrayals and corporate maneuverings. Last night was a start towards the truth but I'm craving more and I'm not afraid to ask for it.

He studies my face as if he's gauging whether or not I'm sincere. "It's just who I am," he says dryly.

"Were you always that way? With the women you bedded?" I nod as the waiter places the martini on the table. I drink from it, savoring the taste, anticipating the slight buzz it will give me. My courage always seems to make an appearance when alcohol is involved.

"The women I bedded?" He looks past me pretending to do a search of the room with his eyes. "Where's the Ivy that left my apartment this morning? You're an imposter, aren't you?" The laugh that follows the questions irks me.

"None of this is funny to me." I take another swallow of the drink. "I told you this morning that I have a lot more questions."

"Ready. Set. Go." He points his hand at me as if he's shooting a revolver. "Ask away, beautiful."

"Who was the woman you said cheated on you? When did that happen?" I lob both questions effortlessly at him. He doesn't bat an eyelash.

"Maria. I can't recall her last name right now." He pauses to sip from his wineglass. "It was right after college. She was blowing our boss for cheap favors and a dollar more an hour than what I was getting."

"You're joking," I say sarcastically. "That's who broke your heart?"

"I was crazy for her," he admits. "The day after she told me about their affair, I quit and took off."

"Took off? As in left the job?"

"As in left the city. Hell, I left the continent." He shrugs. "I guess I was running from the pain. It was the first time I was rejected."

"You're over her now." It's more a statement than a question. "Do you think the possessiveness stems from that?"

He stares intently at my face. "I've never been possessive. I'm only that way with you."

I chuckle before I respond. "I clearly recall you saying something to Brooke in that video about her belonging to you."

His face rushes crimson and he scowls at the words. "I said that to her to make her feel safe enough to confess what she was doing. The words slipped out."

"It's strange." I shift my gaze past him to a couple seated behind him. I envy the simple way they are holding hands, the way he leans in to listen to her speak. "The words hold less meaning to me now. Now that I heard you say them to her."

"They meant nothing before you." He reaches casually across the table to place his hand over mine but I retreat.

"What about my shares in the company?" I slip into a new topic, not wanting to dwell on the loss of our connection's innocence.

He stares at my hand as if it's left a trail behind it on the table when it dodged his grasp. "What about them?" he asks nonchalantly.

"Is there a reason you just didn't tell me who you were and then ask to buy them?" I ask before raising the glass to my lips again to finish the drink.

"Mark cheated on you."

His statement is unexpected and I grip the stem of the glass, wishing the waiter would stop by with another. "That's common knowledge, yes."

"Do you honestly think that you would want anything to do with his business partner?" he asks without emotion.

I don't know how to answer that. Until a few weeks ago I assumed that Tom Walker's widow was Mark's irrelevant and silent partner. I had no idea that his son, my new lover, was the man who held Mark's company's future within his hands. "I don't think that that's relevant." I pause before I continue, taking the time to carefully craft my response. "I think what matters is that you didn't give me a choice. You just swooped in, pretended to be something you weren't and almost snatched Mark's company away from him."

"Why do you insist on calling it Mark's company?" His words are biting. "It belongs to my father. It's mine now. Why can't you see that?"

I don't react. I don't want him to see how weary this is making me.

"Mark has driven the company into the ground. He's taken everything my father built and tossed it aside because he couldn't focus enough on the business at hand. He was too busy fucking anything that passed by him in a skirt," he fumes.

I sit rigidly letting the words soak into my skin, my heart and my soul. Mark. It's all about Mark. It's always been about Mark.

"Christ, Ivy." He pushes his chair and stands. "I didn't mean that."

I silently watch him walk around the table. He crouches before me. I close my eyes. "Please, just go," I whisper as I wave my hand thoughtlessly in the air.