Dirty Sexy Alphas (Twenty Book Box Set) - Hannah Ford Page 0,108

not that simple. Most of my staff signed non-compete clauses, so it’s not like I can just hire everyone over. It was hard enough to start the center here. Building a new one with Prestige as direct competition? It wouldn’t work. The market for a sports medicine center of that caliber just isn’t big enough for two of them to exist in one metro area.”

“You could try,” I said.

Landon shook his head again, going to the fridge. “I know what it took to build the first one. A second is impossible, especially without the established brand name of Prestige.”

“The brand is you,” Julius said. “Anyone in the business knows that.”

I was beginning to like these two.

“Just think about it, okay?” Trevor said, standing. “Because if this keeps up, we’re going to need a new sports center soon, and I can bring along fifty-three of my closest friends.”

Landon chuckled as he popped another beer open. “Sure, I’ll keep that in mind.”

“See ya later, boss,” Julius said.

The two of them were gone in seconds, peeling out of his driveway in what looked suspiciously like a Ferrari.

Landon and I were left in the kitchen, as he mulled over the news the two men had brought. He sank back down onto his stool, sighing as he came off his feet.

“What do you have planned for the rest of your day?

He shrugged. For the week I’d been at his house, he’d seemed listless. The center didn’t need him. Well, scratch that. It did need him, apparently, but he’d stayed home nonetheless.

It should’ve been more like a relaxing vacation, but Landon was a man who needed a mission. A man who had worked and worked for the last several years, and was suddenly untethered.

I wished he’d been more receptive of the idea of opening a new center, but instead he’d replied with only defeat, so unlike the man I knew.

“You can come up to the UW with me.”

He glanced up, the scowl finally slipping from his expression. “You registering today?”

I nodded. “I have a meeting with one of the academic counselors, to figure out if I lose any of my credits when I switch to biochemistry.”

“Oh.”

Silence stretched between us.

“You built one empire,” I finally said, “And you can build another.”

He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. I’d been worried all week about how he was coping with the lack of purpose. Not to mention that his mom had arrived home yesterday, and he was set to see her today, for the first time since he’d gotten her settled almost twenty-four hours earlier.

“I can go with you to see your mom before I head up north.”

He twisted the silver watch on his wrist. “You don’t have to do that.”

“I want to.”

“Okay,” he said, standing. “I’m sure she’d like to see you.”

I wasn’t so sure, not since I’d left that funeral alongside Landon. But I wanted to be there for him now, and that meant going with him to see his mom.

Halfway through town, Landon turned left where I was sure he’d turn right.

He didn’t miss my look.

“The new house closed while she was in the hospital,” he said, flicking a blinker on. “I had her things moved over.”

“Oh,” I said, thrown off. It would be strange to leave one house and come home to another. “Was she okay with that?”

“She was surprised. And maybe not totally thrilled at first,” Landon said. “I should’ve consulted her, I guess. Let her pack her own things. But once I pulled up at the house, and she saw it, she fell in love.”

I rolled down the window, letting my hand float along in the hot summer air. “That’s awesome.”

“I think It helped that her best friend was there, welcoming her to the neighborhood. It certainly makes it easier for me, knowing someone is nearby if she needs them.”

When we pulled up at the house, it was easy to see why his mom loved it. It was more of a cottage—a doll house, maybe--pale pink with ivy growing up a trellis on one side. The lawn was perfectly manicured, the flower beds filled with rosebushes.

“It’s adorable,” I said, grinning. “No wonder she loved it. I feel like I need to wear a flowery dress and have a tea party.”

“The crews will be at the old house on Monday. I’m having it gutted and remodeled. If she wants to move back home, she can, but I’m hoping she settles in here. I like the idea of a fresh start for her.”

We crossed