Page 96 of Trustfall

I bite my lip. “You’re right. You shouldn’t have meddled in my life. Nate has done enough meddling for ten lifetimes.” My tone is clipped, but I soften a little when I see the guilt in my father’s eyes. “But Ashton is pretty cool. He’s become a good friend.”

“I’m glad to hear that. And Emory…” He clears his throat. Either something is stuck in it or he’s holding back tears.

“Yeah?”

“I admit to orchestrating that lunch with Ashton, but I never intended to set you up with Jaxon. He really was there to discuss business. It was bad timing on my part, and I apologize. I didn’t know, but…I’m so sorry.”

I nod. “I know.” It’s all I’m willing to say right now. I have no doubt I will forgive my father in time, but it will take just that—time.

Then something hits me.

“Does Nate know? About Marshall?”

“No. After he told me everything, I figured I should come to you with it first.”

“Thank you,” I say, and for the first time during this conversation, the ice between us begins to thaw. I don’t know why, but of all my father’s words and actions today, that one means the most to me.Hecametomefirst. For once, my opinion was more important than Nate’s.

“Of course,” he stands, rolling up his sleeves as if he is getting ready to go into battle. “You can meet with him yourself, but we need to take some precautions. I know he’s never…physically hurt you.” It takes everything in him to even get the words out. I guess he does care about me.

“But from what Nate said, he was aggressive with you at the gala. I don’t want to take any chances.”

“That’s fine,” I agree. “But Dad?”

“Yes?”

“Nate does care about the company. You two have more in common than you think. You should give him more freedom.” He nods, and I exhale slowly. “That said, let's keep our plan to ourselves for now.”

Dad gives me a slight smirk because he apparently knows my brother better than I thought. “Fine,” he says. “For now.”

“Okay then,” I say with a confidence I don’t feel. “Let’s do this.”

32

EMORY

As I paceback and forth in the library, I think of all the things I would rather do than call Jaxon. Get a root canal. Swallow razor blades. Show up to work completely naked. But I know he won’t trust any texts from me after what happened with Luke. My dad offered to stay while I made the call, but I told him I wanted to do it alone. He left over ten minutes ago and told me to let him know when I was done. My finger hovers over Jaxon’s number for another minute before I finally tap it.

It rings four or five times, and my stomach flips with each ring. I can’t decide if I want it to go to voicemail or not.

Then he answers.

“Emory?”

“Yeah, it’s me.”

“I knew it wouldn’t be long,” he says smugly.

“I need to talk to you.”

“I’m sure you do,” he replies. “Today isn’t good for me, though. Maybe another day.”

“Jaxon.”

“Yes, Princess?”

“You’re in more trouble than you think.” I don’t want to give all my cards away, but I need to convince him to meet with me.

“Oh yeah? I didn’t thinkIwas the one in any trouble. Your boyfriend, on the other hand…”

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