Chapter
Thirty-Eight
LILY
I’m preparing dinner when West sneaks up behind me and wraps his arms around my waist. “Hey, princess. Something smells good.”
My hands are covered in sauce, so I rub my cheek against his. “I’m making lasagna.”
“No, not that.” He runs his nose along my jawline. “Pretty sure it’s you.”
Zeke strides into the kitchen and rolls his eyes. “Oh, let her the fuck go, West.”
“Yeah, I’m starving. Let Lily make dinner, and then we can fuck her after,” Xander adds with a cheeky laugh.
West slaps my ass and takes a seat with the others at the island.
“You do anything interesting today, buttercup?”
I freeze for a second, but then I remember that they always ask me about my day when they get home. Guilt sits on my chest like a lead weight every time I lie to them, and it’s making me paranoid. “Just work. It was all kind of boring really. Tell me about your day.”
Xander starts telling a funny story about a cold call he got from a guy offering to help him grow his business, but once he figured out who he was speaking to, the guy asked for a job. I only half listen, my mind wandering to Nico and Doc and all the secrets I’m keeping from the men I love most. I wish more than anything that I could just tell everyone the truth. It feels like the burden of carrying so many secrets by myself will crush me if I don’t. But how do I confide in them without putting them and other people I care about at risk?
I swallow down the confession that’s forever perched on the tip of my tongue and join their conversation instead.
Chapter
Thirty-Nine
ZEKE
I pace up and down Julian Barnes’s office, unable to sit calmly like West, who’s taking point on the questions. Lily’s been lying to us, and I have no fucking idea why. Surely Bree was wrong about this though. She can’t be writing an exposé on us. She wouldn’t.
“What exactly can I help you with?” Julian asks.
“Lily Sloane is writing an article for your magazine, yes?”
Julian eyes him warily. “Yeah.”
“What’s it about?”
He scowls. “That’s between Lily and me.”
West bangs his fist on the desk. “What the fuck is it about, Julian?”
“I just told you, it’s between Lily and me.”
“If you like your job here …”
“If I like my job, what? Are you fucking threatening me, Mr. Archer? Otherwise, allow me to remind you that you might own this company, but I am still the editor of this magazine. As long as my name is on that issue, I will not be bullied by men who can’t handle that their girlfriend has a life that doesn’t revolve around them.”
Let me beat the shit out of him, West. Just say the fucking word.
“That’s not what this is,” he says, his tone a little calmer. “I just want to know what her article is about.”
“Ask her.”
“I’m asking you.”
“And like I already said, I’m not telling you. So, please leave. I have a magazine to run.”
I bounce on my toes, ready to tear this prick a new asshole, but West stands and shakes his head at me, leading me out of the office.
I stop just outside Barnes’s door. “What the fuck was that?”
“There are other people we can ask,” he says, keeping his tone level while his eyes tell me to drop it. “Let’s go.”
He stalks down the hallway, and I fall into step beside him, ignoring the worried glances of the staff as we pass. West stops at an office at the end of the hall and walks inside.
“Andy,” he barks.
The guy in question sits behind his desk, twiddling a paperclip, and he looks like he’s about to shit his pants. “Y-yeah?”
“You have your finger on the pulse around here, right?”
That makes Andy sit up straighter, and he puffs out his chest like a peacock. “Yeah.”
West closes the door behind us and takes two menacing steps forward. “What article is Lily Sloane working on?”
Andy swallows, his eyes darting between the two of us. “Why? What have you heard?”
Fuck. I don’t have the time or the patience for this. “That it’s about us.” I narrow my eyes. “An exposé.”
Licking his lips, he leans forward. The way his head bobs up and down reminds me of a weasel. “That’s what I heard too.”
“So she is writing about us?”
He shrugs. “Julian’s keeping it pretty close to his chest, but yeah, that’s the rumor. I mean it makes sense that he wouldn’t tell anyone if it’s about his new bosses. An article in your own magazine wouldn’t look good, would it?”