Boy in the Club a boy & billionaire novel - Rachel Kane Page 0,94

of what would happen if Colby ever knew the truth about me.

Terrified that maybe, just maybe, Jimi is telling him about it now.

And that could end everything.

I wouldn’t even have a say in it.

Colby would just come back, tell me it’s all over, and that would be that.

I inject more bravery into my voice than I actually feel. “I will,” I tell him. “I’ll be careful.”

26

Colby

Nothing against my brother—I love him, he’s all I have left of my family—but he’s honestly the last person I want to see right now. I’m shaken after that encounter with Jimi, and I just want to go back home and take a long bath.

Dalton texted me to meet him downtown at a restaurant he likes. I really don’t want to be around people, but I show up, I let the maître d’ show me to the table.

“Good to see you,” I say to my brother, hoping my voice is not as hollow as I feel.

I wish I were back with Finn. I need to tell him everything that happened…and I don’t want to. It’s going to break his heart to know what Jimi had in store for him.

We order drinks, and I don’t even pretend things are normal. “Scotch, double, neat, and keep them coming,” I tell the waiter.

Dalton is staring at me.

“What?” I ask him.

“Colbs, is there anything you need to tell me?”

“What, about work? About the meetings? The steel guys tried to stiff us on the deal the other day, but—”

“Not about the company. About you.”

With a dawning realization of what he means, I look around to see if my drink is coming yet. Goddamn it, Noah, why couldn’t you have kept your mouth shut?

“About me,” I say noncommittally. “Me and Finn, I assume you mean.”

He reaches up and smooths out one of his eyebrows. Dalton’s always had the best eyes. I was so jealous of them when we were younger. They’re this strange sea-green, and I got stuck with dull dark brown. “Jesus, Colby. When Noah told me—”

“It was none of his business.”

God, Noah, tell me you didn’t mention that it was in the kitchen.

But if Dalton knows that part, he’s keeping it to himself.

We nod at the waiter as he places drinks in front of us.

Mine is gone in an instant.

Dalton lifts his wine to his lips, then sets the glass back down. “I’m worried.”

“Well, don’t worry. I’m a grown man. I can take care of myself.”

He scoffs. “I’m not worried about you. Jesus, Colby. It’s Finn I’m concerned about. What the hell are you doing with him?”

“Why should you be concerned about Finn?”

“Because what’s going to happen when you get tired of him? What happens when you get bored?” Dalton leans in, glances around and whispers, “He’s a temp. You’re going to kick him to the curb. I don’t like it. He’s a nice kid. He deserves better than that.”

“Why the hell would I get rid of him?”

Dalton blinks. “Because that’s what you do. You use people, then you toss them.”

I signal the waiter that it’s time for another drink. “Fucking…just fucking wow, brother dear. I didn’t realize you had such a high opinion of me.”

I’m ready for a fight after that horrible talk with Jimi, and Dalton doesn’t realize that he’s in the path of the storm.

“Sure, Colbs, right. Tell me how serious you are about him. Great. I know you. You pride yourself on having no feelings at all.”

I never prided myself on that.

Well, maybe I did, in the past.

But after Dad died, things changed.

That lack of feeling became a kind of pain in itself, an aching hollowness that I couldn’t fill with anything.

I don’t know how to say that to Dalton. We’re brothers, we’re close, but we don’t talk like that.

How can I say it to him?

“This is different, man.”

He’s staring at me steadily, his eyes unblinking.

“Different. How?”

“I… You remember how you fought me and Dad over Noah?”

“Oh hell yes, I remember.”

“How I thought he wasn’t right for you? And you moved heaven and earth to be with him?”

“That was a rough bargain, I gave you everything in this company that you wanted…but it was worth it, to be with Noah.”

I nodded. “That’s what I’m telling you. I think… I think I feel that way about Finn.”

“You do?”

“I don’t know. It’s hard, because I’ve never felt like this about anyone, I don’t even know how to name it, you know? But the minute he’s in trouble, I want to protect him, I just want to wrap