Chapter 6

Grandfather taught me at a young age how to be the best businessman I could be, which is why it was a natural fit for me to take over the Dabney-Aparo hotel brand when I did. He taught Father how to be a businessman, but when it was time for him to take responsibility, he ran away like a cowardly chicken. Grandfather took that shame with him to the grave, and it was a fucking pity. He deserved better.

During the height of the Roaring Twenties, the Dabney-Aparo brand established itself and emerged as a leader during the stock market crash of 1929. My great-grandfather was well-prepared. He grew the company to great heights, and his son, my grandfather, took over in the 50s. He ran it until the 1990s when he handed it off to me. By then, I was lucky. Old money went a long way, and they had set me up for success.

However, over the years, I grew increasingly bored with just hospitality, so I branched out. I owned restaurants. I owned clothing boutiques. I owned clubs. Minutiae just so happens to be my latest venture. And all I wanted was to go tonight to take the edge off the frustrations of the day. Between the fiasco at the hotel and then the encounter at the restaurant with my parents, swimming could only do so much. Cooking a nice dinner could only do so much. Playing video games just wasn't what it used to be for me. With a call to Frenzy to take up some of the valet traffic for the club, I set out to be someone other than Elias Dabney-Aparo. Ford Vance isn't a lie. It's who I am. It's part of my name. Dressing casually and chatting up patrons is something I always enjoy doing.

But then I see her, and I swear the world stops making sense.

She takes a seat with her friend at the bar. The friend orders, and I prepare. And it doesn't take long for her to look at me and question life. I wasn't trying to hide, but I wasn't trying to be called out either.

Watching her now, I feel an anxious feeling wash over me. She knows Frenzy, and she knows him well enough to let him dance with her in a way that should be reserved for closed doors. They have chemistry, and that fucking guts me. This is all the more of a sign I need to squash these damn emotions before they get the fucking best of me.

But my biggest mistake? Looking their way again, and she's looking directly at me as Frenzy dry humps the shit out of her voluptuous ass. What I should do is give her an encouraging smile because this is what should happen. She should have a guy more attainable than me. But instead, I pull the towel from my shoulder, inform the other bartender, Marcus, that I'm heading away from the bar, and then I turn my eyes back to Cora. She thinks she's so proud of herself, and she should be. She's winning, and I'm very clearly going to lose. I give her a nod, but it's accompanied by a frown, and I leave. I tell Henry, the club manager, that I'm leaving for the night. We shake, and then I head out the back door. Out back, my motorcycle is waiting for me, an all-black Triumph Bonneville. I throw my helmet on, put my gloves on, turn the beauty over, and peel out of the alleyway.

I could go to the hotel. I could go to the apartment. And yet, I need to clear my head, so I go beyond both of those places. An hour later, after immersing myself in the stillness of the surprisingly warm night beyond the noise of my motorcycle, I'm pulling into the driveway of my home in the Hamptons. No one's expecting me here, but I know it's clean because I had it ordered clean three days ago. I need to unnecessarily stretch my legs in my stupid large house on my stupid large property in the middle of virtually nowhere.

I pull the motorcycle into the large garage and close the door by the entrance to the home. I type in the code on the door handle, and it grants me access to the house.

I disarm the security system and rearm it for its appropriate setting before I head straight up the stairs to my bedroom. I kick my shoes off and I collapse face-first, once more, into the bedding. I groan again as the stress shifts in my body and I feel the pain, once more, of getting old, which sucks. Getting old sucks. No one prepares you for that.

And I lay there, close to falling asleep, until my phone vibrates in my front pocket and I groan for an entirely different reason. Not bothering with the caller ID, I answer and bring the phone to my ear. "What?" I sigh.

"What's been eating at you?" asks a woman. I know immediately it's Evelyn. I'm surprised she took this long to call me.

"Life, sis. Always life," I answer solemnly. And she should know since she's finally on the up from a messy divorce. Thank God for prenups.

"But if you're calling me about our parents, then I'm hanging up," I quickly add before she even gets a chance to say something. I'm not going to spend any more time today wasting my breath on those ungrateful asshats.

She sighs. "I know better than to bring them up," she replies. "I'm just calling to confirm our trip to the city."

"It's still on," I assure her. "Dealing with a teensy bit of drama at the hotel, but it should be sorted by Monday morning and everything good to go by Tuesday."

"Teensy bit of drama, eh?" she asks. "Did you shag the help?"

I want to... "No. Fucked up a newbie's thirty-day test," I reply. "It's a long story, and I don't want to rehash it. Basically, she caught Kenny and me disobeying a direct rule that she let herself get roped into disobeying, and since we wouldn't fire her, she quit."

"Yikes," she sighs. "You think it'll all get sorted by Monday, then?"

"I'm hopeful. But this is for me to worry about and not you. Are you bringing both kids?" I ask.

"Of course," she chuckles. "Jessie is looking forward to adulting by herself in the city, and Caleb is looking forward to learning more about the family business. Wants to be your shadow."

Both are good kids. Jessie just graduated from high school, and Caleb from Cornell. He reminds me of myself at his age. The only difference is that I'm running this hotel until I'm on my deathbed just like Grandfather.

"He's going to see the good, the bad, and the ugly. Is he prepared for that?"

"I think so," she replies. "He could handle his asshat father. Suppose he could handle this."

Never a truer statement.

"But what's really got you down tonight?" she asks. "There's a sound of defeat in your voice. The Elias I know doesn't surrender to defeat."

For the first time, I roll onto my back. I stare up at the boring cream ceiling and try to gather my thoughts, but it's pointless. I just sigh and bring a hand to my forehead.

"I'm fucked no matter how I spin this," I mumble. "There's a woman, and I can't have her and that's that."

"Why can't you have her?" she asks. "Did you fuck things up so badly it's not salvageable?"

I shake my head. "I don't do that, Evie. I'm not the type of guy to fuck things up so badly it's not salvageable."

"Then what is it, Elias?" When she uses my name like that, I know she's frustrated, and I don't blame her one bit for feeling that right now.

When I don't answer, she comes up with her own scenarios.

"She's old and crusty, isn't she? Afraid to show her off because of that?"

I chuckle. "Absolutely not." Cora is the complete opposite, and I want to keep it that way.

"She's a snob, and you're afraid she'll just want you for your money?"

"Nope," I reply. "Not even close." Cora wouldn't drain me of my money. I feel she's too humble for that.

"Wait," she mumbles. "Wait, wait, wait. She works for you, doesn't she?"

I grimace. I want to bury my face back into the mattress, but I don't. And my lack of response has her laughing her ass off.

"This is priceless!" she howls. "Oh, this is so rich."

"Thanks for your support," I grumble.

"I'm sorry," she says after calming down. "This sounds like a big deal, since you sound so depressed. Is there anything I can do for you? I know you're rarely like this, and I hate that you are."

"No," I sigh. "I'm just trying to figure it all out myself. Thank you, though."

"She must be really something, then, for you to be torn up like this. It's been a while since this has happened."

She's not wrong. My last relationship ended three years ago. The woman played me for a damn fool. It pathetically crushed me. I don't want that again. But I know Cora is different, and I want things to be different. I know she deserves better than me, but I want to be selfish.

"I'll be fine," I reply. "Taking a couple of days away from the city in the Hamptons. I need the silence."

She chuckles. "I might need to steal away there myself. I'm so over two young adults arguing with me."

"Well, I will gladly give you the keys," I say, chuckling to myself. "But you should definitely check out the spa at the hotel before you really do anything else."

"Oh, I absolutely plan to," she replies. "Going to do everything I can because I have an awesome brother who loves me."

I smile. "That you do."

"Take it easy, Elias," she says softly. "Be nicer to yourself, too."

I frown. "I'm trying. I love you."

"I love you, too."

There is silence on the phone for a moment before she hangs up, and I put my phone on the charger. I remove my watch and put it on the nightstand. My wallet and keys join it before I grab a pillow, lay my head on it, and exhale a heavy sigh. This comfy bed is all I need right now.

Okay, I'd enjoy Cora in this comfy bed, too, but all I'd need from her is feeling her nearby. I'm not that big of a pig.