The Ahern Brothers Collection - Claudia Burgoa Page 0,110
last days he’d be able to create a piece of art.
With all that he’d produced, I approached a gallery in New York and offered a few of his pieces. They agreed to display them immediately because not many galleries can boast an Ahern original, as he sells the bulk of his work over the internet. That’s when I came up with the idea of opening a gallery. Sterling loved it. It would mean he could show his work right after finishing each piece while simultaneously supporting other artists.
I regret planting the seed because here I am, organizing the opening of this baby. He convinced me to become his business partner. William, his father, might not have approved that I used some of the money he left me to support his son’s art. I don’t care though, because it’s one of the best things I’ve done with that money.
“As my friend, accountant, business manager, and agent, you’re obligated to be here,” he says. “This is your business too, so you have to tend to it.”
“Lucky me.” I sneer, pretending to be annoyed, but I’m sure he knows I’m just as giddy and excited about tonight as he is. “Don’t forget that I’m leaving early. You get to close. I’ll pay the caterer before I leave. The cleaning crew will be here at seven.”
He growls.
“I’ll be back early in the morning to receive them,” I announce, knowing that he won’t be able to wake up that early.
“Thank fuck. See? We work like a well-oiled machine.”
I arch an eyebrow and huff. “Or so you say.”
“So what if we had some hiccups?”
“Some?” I glare at him.
He makes it sound like nothing. I dealt with a crazy landlord who canceled our contract just a month ago, after we’d paid for the renovations and were about to move in. Thankfully, I found a beautiful place in the heart of Cherry Creek North. We own this land. If anything goes wrong, we won’t lose much money. We can lease this baby.
“Easy for you to say, you didn’t have to deal with that woman’s insanity,” I remind him. “Next time, please don’t fuck someone just because you have an itch.”
“She was hot and technically—we dated. I just wasn’t planning on settling down with her.”
He never plans on settling down with anyone. Sterling should come with a warning. A tramp stamp, not for sale, samples only.
“Are you ready, Abster?”
No. I’m jittery and waiting for the other shoe to drop if something goes wrong tonight. My stomach is queasy, and I’m avoiding the loaded question. Is your brother coming? Wes and I haven’t spoken in three long years. I corresponded with him during the time I lived in the center. Once I moved out, we parted ways.
My pulse increases each time I imagine him walking across the threshold with his beautiful girlfriend perched on his arm. Or is it his fiancée? Maybe a wife? Sterling and I have never discussed his brother. Wes is part of a long list of things we don’t talk about. Like my abduction or the scars on my hands.
Is there even a woman in his life? How can there not be when he’s never been single? He doesn’t know how to be alone. The guy always found the flavor of the month or the week. Then, later, he had me around. Now, I just hope that no matter who he’s with—he’s happy.
Thank God his mother won’t be here. She’s traveling around the world with her new boyfriend.
“Picture time,” he announces.
I fix my hair and regret not reapplying lip gloss after dinner.
He grabs his phone and puts his arm around me. “Say, Sterling is the best.”
“You wish,” I smile at the camera.
He captions it, hashtags it, and posts it. “You should have an account.”
“No, thank you,” I walk to the office. “I’m a behind-the-scenes kind of person. Showing two or three pictures of myself a year through your account is more than enough.”
“Where are you going?” he asks exasperatedly. “We’re about to open.”
“To my office.”
It’s the only place I have to myself. Everything else is Sterling’s domain. The back of this building houses a warehouse that he converted into a studio. He sold his old place and is now living in a penthouse close by.
“I need to touch up my makeup. I don’t want to be the washed-out partner.”
“If you want us to be partners, you just have to ask, babe.” He drops that cocky smile that works on so many women.