Page 27 of Scarred Heart

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“When’s thelast time we had a moment like this?”Lex looked around at the group and raised his glass, grinning.“Let’s thank Spencer for getting us together for drinks when he realized we were all in town.”

“No applause, please,” I murmured, inclining my head while everyone laughed.

Clayton Manning tested his drink, snickering.“They call this an old fashioned?”he asked with a smirk, holding up the glass to examine its contents.“And people ask why I pay for my bartenders to attend training classes.”

Nothing was ever good enough for him, but then that was the attitude that made him ten times the success of anyone in his family.He and his two brothers had divided the extensive number of restaurants, bars, hotels, and resorts after their father’s death, but only Clay had spun his inheritance into a legacy of his own.“I had dinner at your new location in West Hollywood on Saturday,” I told him.“You did well.”

“Oh, so that was you.”When I arched an eyebrow, he explained, “There was chatter about a last-minute reservation made by a personal friend of mine and how it meant pissing off the guest who already had that time reserved.”

“You pay attention to shit like that?”Travis Knight laughed, slouching in his chair and loosening his tie.“I didn’t know you were a micromanager.”

“I pay attention to everything,“ Clay retorted, narrowing his dark eyes that glittered dangerously.“Nobody gets away with slacking off when they know the boss is watching.”

“How do you have time to… well, do this?”Travis asked, touching his glass to Clay’s before drinking deep.As if he wasn’t just as busy, if not more, being stuck with his daughter once his ex-wife had decided to skip town.It meant his life was always hectic, though I would never have described himself as being stuck.Four-year-old Quinn was his little princess.

“Time management.You should learn about it.”Clay snickered, making Travis groan while the rest of us laughed.We used to joke that he would be late for his own funeral, and stepping into the vice presidency of his family’s shipping company hadn’t trained him out of it.He was the sort of person who needed four alarms in the morning.

“So…” I caught the way Lex winked at the others, then turned his attention to me.“How did things go with Rowan?Is she who you took to Clay’s new restaurant to show off?”

“Rowan?Who’s that?”There was curiosity in Clay’s question, along with a knowing snort that told me my friends expected the typical story.Meeting a woman, getting into her panties, rinse and repeat.The same tale we’d been sharing with each other from those early days when I first met Clay and Lex at school to years later in China when Travis worked at the desk across from mine as a favor between our fathers.

“Somebody I knew years ago,” I explained.“I happened to run into her while I was babysitting at an awards luncheon last week.”

“Fuck off,” Lex fired back, laughing.“Babysitting.You’re so full of shit.”

“Last I checked, you asked me to come along to keep you from either falling asleep out of boredom or drinking too much out of boredom and getting handsy with the wrong girl.Go ahead and tell me I’m wrong,” I challenged, knowing he couldn’t.

“Did you close the deal or not?”he settled for asking.

I’d done more than that.I found out I’m a father.

It was on the tip of my tongue—the looks on their faces would be worth it.Instead of blowing their minds and facing a hundred questions, I settled for a shrug.“We caught up over dinner.That’s it.”

Lex sighed.“I’m disappointed, but don’t be discouraged.There’s plenty of willing pussy around here tonight.”He was speaking to me, but his attention was focused on a curvy blonde standing at the bar.“Hey, she looks a little like Rowan.You can get it out of your system with her.”

I used to say things like that, didn’t I?Hell, I still would have if our positions were reversed.It was easy to make an offhand, smartass comment when I wasn’t the one going through shit.

Things were different now.The blonde did nothing for me.If it hadn’t been for the constant distraction of memories throughout the day threatening to get me hard at a moment's notice, I might have wondered if my dick was still working.

The strangest feeling swept over me, making me shift uncomfortably in the leather club chair.My friends were unaware, looking around the room, sizing up their options for when it came time to take the party elsewhere.All I could do was think about Rowan.

What was she doing tonight?What about Hannah?

“Where are you going?”Travis watched with the others as I stood, patting my pockets to make sure I had everything.

“I forgot a call I wanted to make tonight.The patent,” I added, since clearly they weren’t satisfied with my excuse.Let them think it was about business.

“Fuck, I was hoping you’d have better news about that by now,” Clay mused, swirling the ice in his glass harder than necessary.“That fucker.Some people would be doing the world a favor if they stopped breathing.”

“You sure your studio doesn’t have those mob ties it did back in the day?”Travis joked, nodding to Lex.“Maybe you could take care of this problem for our friend here.”

“Sorry to disappoint you.”Lex wasn’t joking anymore.I watched his jaw tighten and his eyes narrow.“We don’t fuck around like that in this day and age.”

“It was a joke, man.Didn’t mean to offend.”Sometimes, Travis didn’t know when to stop.It was almost enough to make me reconsider leaving when I did, in case Lex decided to retaliate, but they were big boys and could handle themselves.

Besides, I needed to go.Suddenly, an activity I had come to look forward to and even rely on at times as an escape had become tedious.

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