Cherish Hard
Page 23
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Ísa wondered if Nayna had ever had a conversation like this with her mother. “Maybe we should talk about my duties as VP,” she said, the topic of Sailor Bishop fraught with far too much danger.
“I was getting to that. I want you to handle the Fast Organic project from here on out.” Jacqueline began to bring up the files.
And Ísa decided there was a silver lining to being blackmailed into being a VP: given the workload, she’d have no time to give in to the temptation to see Sailor Bishop again and finish what they’d started.
* * *
SAILOR COULDN’T STOP THINKING ABOUT his redhead… and that single flash of hurt he’d glimpsed in her expression before she went all mad Fury on him. What Cody had done, the cruelty and planned humiliation of it, had really, badly hurt her. Enough that the shadows lingered to this day.
He stabbed his shovel harder into the earth, his shoulder muscles tight. “Asshole.”
Sailor truly didn’t consider the other man a friend of any kind. The idea of being associated with a guy who’d done what Cody had was abhorrent to him. Sailor’s mother and father would tan his hide if he ever disrespected a woman that way—hell, Sailor would tan his own useless hide.
But Cody, it appeared, had gotten away with it.
Sailor had never heard a word about anyone confronting the other man on the subject. He’d considered doing so himself, but he’d been on his own confused path back then, and getting arrested for assault had simply not been on the agenda. Not even for a beautiful redhead whose tears haunted him.
Only now she wasn’t a mysterious redhead.
She was Ísa, his glorious, fiery spitfire with skin of moonlight and a heart that carried scars still from that night. Scars that had almost put a halt to their relationship before it began.
So, even though he had a hundred things on his plate, he picked up his phone and managed to find someone who had Cody’s number. The other man was understandably startled at hearing from Sailor but agreed amazingly quickly to meet up with him for a drink after work.
Sailor was waiting in dirt-streaked khaki shorts and a light brown Bishop Landscaping T-shirt, dirt-caked work boots on his feet, when Cody drove into the small parking lot behind the bar where they’d agreed to meet. The other man parked his shiny white Audi in the spot next to Sailor’s battered truck, Cody’s car the newest model on the market.
Sailor knew that because his brother Jake was a gearhead. Jake was mostly into grunty muscle cars, but he kept up with all kinds of car news and had a habit of sprinkling car facts into the conversation. He’d also left a couple of his magazines behind at Sailor’s place the last time he’d hung out there.
So Sailor knew the car Cody was driving was worth in the vicinity of a hundred thousand.
He’d have been impressed if he didn’t know the Audi was courtesy of Suzanne’s parents’ money. Cody did work—as a financial consultant, whatever that was—but it was in Suzanne’s family’s business. As far as Sailor was aware, the other man had never held a position totally independent of his fiancée’s family company.
Getting out of the vehicle, the suit-and-tie-wearing male with a modelesque jawline and impeccably cut hair of rich brown shot him a smile. “Hey, Sailor. It was great to hear from you.” There was something too enthusiastic about the greeting, directed as it was to a man Cody had only ever run across when their teams played one another.
“I have to tell you,” Cody continued before Sailor could respond, “I haven’t had a chance to catch up with the any of the boys for a while. My fiancée, Suzanne—you might’ve seen her at some of the interclub functions—likes me at home.”
Sailor wondered exactly how long a leash Suzanne permitted Cody. From the way Cody was tugging at his tie, it looked like the other man was contemplating an escape. Sailor didn’t think he’d get very far before he remembered the fancy car and the fancy house and the fancy yacht. “I’d say it’s good to see you Cody, but it isn’t.”
Face falling, Cody appeared to only then notice the otherwise empty parking lot. “Hey, is the bar not even open?” A hint of trepidation.
“No. It opens in an hour.” Which was why Sailor had asked to meet now.
Cody took a step back. “Look, Sailor”—he lifted up his hands, palms out—“whatever you’ve heard, I didn’t do it. I haven’t even thought about you in months, not since that last game.”
That last game where Cody’s team had been beaten to a pulp by Sailor’s. And where Sailor might’ve taken a little too much pleasure in tackling Cody facedown into the muddy earth.
He always had the most fun at the games that involved Cody. He hadn’t consciously realized why until this instant. No one could arrest you for assault on the rugby field. Not when body-slamming contact was part of the game and bruises expected.
“Back in college,” he said, “do you remember Ísa?”
A sudden blink… followed by a tide of creeping red. “Yeah.” Cody dropped his head to stare at the oil-stained concrete of the parking lot. “She was sweet. She never ragged on me like Suzanne does.”
“So why were you such a fucking asshole to her?”
A long silence before Cody sighed. “Suzanne told me if I said those things, she’d go out with me.”
“Are you kidding me?” Sailor’s hands fisted. “You’re blaming your fiancée?”
“I was just going to break up with Ísa when Suzanne… when she told me she wanted me, but Suzanne has this thing against Ísa.”
Because Ísa was blindingly beautiful in both body and spirit. Something Suzanne’s jealous little mind couldn’t handle. “And you went along with this plan to hurt Ísa, hurt the girl you were supposed to love? What the fuck kind of man are you?”
Cody looked up with a befuddled frown. “I didn’t know she was your sister.”
That was when Sailor decided there really was no point to the conversation. Instead, he said, “This is for Ísa.”
And then he punched Cody.
15
Ísa the Barracuda
THE MAN HAD A GLASS jaw. He crumpled to the asphalt with a whimper.
Sitting up afterward, his suit jacket torn at the elbow and his hair no longer so flawlessly combed, Cody cradled his jaw as blood poured from his nose. “What the fuck?” Pinching his nostrils shut, he tilted back his head. “You punched me.” The words came out whiningly nasal.
Sailor flexed, then fisted his hands. “Tell me you didn’t deserve that.”
Going pale when he lowered his head and saw Sailor’s hands, Cody gulped. “Jesus. Yeah, yeah I did.” Weirdly, the words actually sounded genuine.
Sailor watched as the other man sat up on the concrete with his back against his fancy car and dug around in his jacket. Finding a wadded-up tissue, he tore it up and began to plug his nose.
“I think I made the wrong choice that night, Sailor.” A pitiful moan, the torn tissue sticking out from his nose like a fungal growth. “I’ve been thinking about Ísa for months. Ever since I saw that photo of her on Trevor’s page. She was at some theater event with her mother that Trevor’s cousin put on.”
Sailor had no idea who Trevor was and he didn’t care. “You’re too late,” he said. “I don’t think she’d give you a chance even if you turned up with a truckload of chocolates and diamonds.” The idea of Cody going anywhere near Ísa ever again had him seeing red.
“I was getting to that. I want you to handle the Fast Organic project from here on out.” Jacqueline began to bring up the files.
And Ísa decided there was a silver lining to being blackmailed into being a VP: given the workload, she’d have no time to give in to the temptation to see Sailor Bishop again and finish what they’d started.
* * *
SAILOR COULDN’T STOP THINKING ABOUT his redhead… and that single flash of hurt he’d glimpsed in her expression before she went all mad Fury on him. What Cody had done, the cruelty and planned humiliation of it, had really, badly hurt her. Enough that the shadows lingered to this day.
He stabbed his shovel harder into the earth, his shoulder muscles tight. “Asshole.”
Sailor truly didn’t consider the other man a friend of any kind. The idea of being associated with a guy who’d done what Cody had was abhorrent to him. Sailor’s mother and father would tan his hide if he ever disrespected a woman that way—hell, Sailor would tan his own useless hide.
But Cody, it appeared, had gotten away with it.
Sailor had never heard a word about anyone confronting the other man on the subject. He’d considered doing so himself, but he’d been on his own confused path back then, and getting arrested for assault had simply not been on the agenda. Not even for a beautiful redhead whose tears haunted him.
Only now she wasn’t a mysterious redhead.
She was Ísa, his glorious, fiery spitfire with skin of moonlight and a heart that carried scars still from that night. Scars that had almost put a halt to their relationship before it began.
So, even though he had a hundred things on his plate, he picked up his phone and managed to find someone who had Cody’s number. The other man was understandably startled at hearing from Sailor but agreed amazingly quickly to meet up with him for a drink after work.
Sailor was waiting in dirt-streaked khaki shorts and a light brown Bishop Landscaping T-shirt, dirt-caked work boots on his feet, when Cody drove into the small parking lot behind the bar where they’d agreed to meet. The other man parked his shiny white Audi in the spot next to Sailor’s battered truck, Cody’s car the newest model on the market.
Sailor knew that because his brother Jake was a gearhead. Jake was mostly into grunty muscle cars, but he kept up with all kinds of car news and had a habit of sprinkling car facts into the conversation. He’d also left a couple of his magazines behind at Sailor’s place the last time he’d hung out there.
So Sailor knew the car Cody was driving was worth in the vicinity of a hundred thousand.
He’d have been impressed if he didn’t know the Audi was courtesy of Suzanne’s parents’ money. Cody did work—as a financial consultant, whatever that was—but it was in Suzanne’s family’s business. As far as Sailor was aware, the other man had never held a position totally independent of his fiancée’s family company.
Getting out of the vehicle, the suit-and-tie-wearing male with a modelesque jawline and impeccably cut hair of rich brown shot him a smile. “Hey, Sailor. It was great to hear from you.” There was something too enthusiastic about the greeting, directed as it was to a man Cody had only ever run across when their teams played one another.
“I have to tell you,” Cody continued before Sailor could respond, “I haven’t had a chance to catch up with the any of the boys for a while. My fiancée, Suzanne—you might’ve seen her at some of the interclub functions—likes me at home.”
Sailor wondered exactly how long a leash Suzanne permitted Cody. From the way Cody was tugging at his tie, it looked like the other man was contemplating an escape. Sailor didn’t think he’d get very far before he remembered the fancy car and the fancy house and the fancy yacht. “I’d say it’s good to see you Cody, but it isn’t.”
Face falling, Cody appeared to only then notice the otherwise empty parking lot. “Hey, is the bar not even open?” A hint of trepidation.
“No. It opens in an hour.” Which was why Sailor had asked to meet now.
Cody took a step back. “Look, Sailor”—he lifted up his hands, palms out—“whatever you’ve heard, I didn’t do it. I haven’t even thought about you in months, not since that last game.”
That last game where Cody’s team had been beaten to a pulp by Sailor’s. And where Sailor might’ve taken a little too much pleasure in tackling Cody facedown into the muddy earth.
He always had the most fun at the games that involved Cody. He hadn’t consciously realized why until this instant. No one could arrest you for assault on the rugby field. Not when body-slamming contact was part of the game and bruises expected.
“Back in college,” he said, “do you remember Ísa?”
A sudden blink… followed by a tide of creeping red. “Yeah.” Cody dropped his head to stare at the oil-stained concrete of the parking lot. “She was sweet. She never ragged on me like Suzanne does.”
“So why were you such a fucking asshole to her?”
A long silence before Cody sighed. “Suzanne told me if I said those things, she’d go out with me.”
“Are you kidding me?” Sailor’s hands fisted. “You’re blaming your fiancée?”
“I was just going to break up with Ísa when Suzanne… when she told me she wanted me, but Suzanne has this thing against Ísa.”
Because Ísa was blindingly beautiful in both body and spirit. Something Suzanne’s jealous little mind couldn’t handle. “And you went along with this plan to hurt Ísa, hurt the girl you were supposed to love? What the fuck kind of man are you?”
Cody looked up with a befuddled frown. “I didn’t know she was your sister.”
That was when Sailor decided there really was no point to the conversation. Instead, he said, “This is for Ísa.”
And then he punched Cody.
15
Ísa the Barracuda
THE MAN HAD A GLASS jaw. He crumpled to the asphalt with a whimper.
Sitting up afterward, his suit jacket torn at the elbow and his hair no longer so flawlessly combed, Cody cradled his jaw as blood poured from his nose. “What the fuck?” Pinching his nostrils shut, he tilted back his head. “You punched me.” The words came out whiningly nasal.
Sailor flexed, then fisted his hands. “Tell me you didn’t deserve that.”
Going pale when he lowered his head and saw Sailor’s hands, Cody gulped. “Jesus. Yeah, yeah I did.” Weirdly, the words actually sounded genuine.
Sailor watched as the other man sat up on the concrete with his back against his fancy car and dug around in his jacket. Finding a wadded-up tissue, he tore it up and began to plug his nose.
“I think I made the wrong choice that night, Sailor.” A pitiful moan, the torn tissue sticking out from his nose like a fungal growth. “I’ve been thinking about Ísa for months. Ever since I saw that photo of her on Trevor’s page. She was at some theater event with her mother that Trevor’s cousin put on.”
Sailor had no idea who Trevor was and he didn’t care. “You’re too late,” he said. “I don’t think she’d give you a chance even if you turned up with a truckload of chocolates and diamonds.” The idea of Cody going anywhere near Ísa ever again had him seeing red.
