Page 20 of Love to Hate You

“I mean, what are the odds?” Randy chucked nervously.

Wes crossed his arms and shot a death glare Randy’s way. “Whatarethe odds, you wanker.”

Randy nodded and then stomped his foot, throwing his head back like a three-year-old having a tantrum. It wasn’t nearly as cute as Summer’s tantrum a few weeks back. “God, I didn’t figure it out until the other day, and I knew if I told you you’d get all paranoid and say that Autumn is trying to worm her way into our family as some kind of corporate espionage ploy.”

Wes hadn’t gone that far, but now that his brother mentioned it, it sounded like something Summer would do. What if her surprise act was exactly that—an act—and this was her plan all along?

Randy pointed at him like they were two kids on the playground arguing over who’d dealt it. “See, you’re doing it. You’re falling down the conspiracy-theory rabbit hole. You really think that she’d be able to guess I’d be at a Tay-Tay concert in Paris? Paris! And I came on to her, not the other way around. Plus, Autumn doesn’t even know who we are.”

Wes shook his head. “You’re saying she has no clue that you’re the heir to BookLand?”

“Well, I’m sure she does now, since Summer yanked her aside before I could explain.” Realization appeared in Randy’s eyes, followed rapidly by panic. He shoved Wes out the door and shut it behind them. “What if Summer told her? What if she dumps me because I didn’t tell her first?”

“What did you expect? That Summer and I would act like we didn’t know each other?”

“I didn’t really think past meeting her parents. I guess I thought I’d say, ‘Surprise, our siblings already know each other. Your Best Sister in the World and my Best Older Brother Known to Man are neighbors of sorts!’”

“Jesus, mate. You’re in worse shape than I thought. What kind of woman excuses a lie?”

“I didn’t lie to her. It was more of an omission.”

Wes couldn’t really judge the guy. He had an omission of his own, and it involved BookLand and the terms to the estate. Terms Randy knew nothing about.

Wes hadn’t been just shocked that his estranged father had left him part of his company, he’d also been irate at the attached conditions—conditions that once again forced Wes into living a life where someone else held the power. He and Randy had just another three months to grow the company or ownership would be passed to the board.

Again, another reason to walk. Honestly, Wes didn’t give a piss about his dad’s legacy, but Randy did—and Randy was the only family Wes had left. Without help, his trust fund of a half-brother would run the company into the ground in a month, tops, and forfeit his birthright.

Not that Randy was aware of the conditions. That had been another stipulation from dear old dad—that only Wes and the board knew of the one-year clause. So Wes had faced a choice: either walk away from his own life to step in, or watch his brother fail. And Wes knew how that felt so, against his better judgment, he’d relocated, taken the title CEO, and now he was standing in front of the enemy’s front door—three things he’d never imagined doing.

“Now you see why I need you here. One little omission turned into a bunch of little omissions and . . . she’s going to dump me, isn’t she?”

“All you need is your charm and Dad’s last name.”

Randy got serious. “I told you. She isn’t like that, bro.”

As far as Wes was concerned, all women were like that. In fact, his ex-fiancée, who’d dumped him after his start-up had failed, had come crawling back the moment his old man croaked and left him a massive legacy. Even Wes’s mum had chased all that glittered. It was why she’d gotten pregnant, hoping that Randolph would set them up for life, or maybe even leave his wife for her.

Well, the joke was on Mary. Not only did Randall Kingston the Second had zero intentions of leaving his wife, he also didn’t want a bastard son. His wife was trying to get pregnant back in the States with a child who would rightfully take the birthright just because he was born on the right side of the sheets.

“Fine. I’ll stay, but no more omissions,” Wes said.

Randy flopped into Wes’s arm and gave him a big bear hug. Unused to that kind of display of affection, Wes let his arms hang at his sides and endured it.

When Randy finally pulled back, his smile faded. “Wait, are you staying to help me or because you think Summer is somehow behind the best coincidence of my life?”

“Both.”

Chapter 8

no effing way

Everything will be the same, my ass.

It had been less than an hour since Satan and his leave-it’s-mark-on-the-environment, omission-heavy trust-fund-on-wheels had pulled up, and nothing was the same. In fact, nothing had been the same since his business had moved in next door.

The plants in her apartment had died from the lack of sun since she now lived in the shadow of a batholith eyesore. Her gorgeous view of the quaint downtown was now a brick wall. And the royal blue ballbuster dress Autumn had lent her was too snug in the chest because of all Summer’s stress-eating.

“God, can anything else go wrong?” she groaned as she pulled off the dress and walked to her closet to see if she’d brought one of her Big Chick Energy outfits.

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