Page 60 of Untethered Heart
***
I managed to get a seat next to my dad, finishing my whiskey as we chatted about the charity ball H&H Mining is hosting in a few weeks.
“Heart.” The gruff voice causes my eyes to close. I should have just sat next to Beth. Any inquisition of hers would be preferred to what’s sure to come next.
“Huxley,” I say, turning my head to stare daggers at the guy I wish didn’t have so much hold over me. I guess I have a little ammunition up my sleeve when it comes to him, too, but to use it could come back on Gage. So, I’ll regrettably hold my tongue.
He takes the open seat next to me, motioningfor a waiter.
“Hi, James. We were just talking about Smoke and Barrel,” Dad says as he leans over me.
“Thomas,” Huxley says with a nod. “The boys and I are excited to see where the project takes us. Your daughter has done a wonderful job with the design. As has your lovely marketing manager, Isabelle,” he says to me now. “You have a way of surrounding yourself with talented women, Heart.”
This fucker better not start talking about Lex.
I offer a restrained smile. “I’m very proud of my team. And I’m very optimistic about the success of Smoke and Barrel.”
“Indeed. Especially with Alexis’s whiskey brand developing a special bottle for Gage. I was chatting to her about doing the same thing for the High Rollers.”
My teeth grind together, and my eye twitches. He calls her Alexis. Why? I’m certain it’s just to piss me off. I knew he’d do that. Find a way to bring her up and rub in the fact that he knew her first.
Well, guess what fucker? I’ve been working my way in, too. I haven’t gone a day for the last week without speaking to Lex.
“As Legacy Malt’s investor, that’s certainly something I can facilitate for my client. Help them decide if it’s a good move for their brand. Dylan is the recipe developer. He needs a bigger team and premises before taking on a project of that size, but I’m sure he’d be interested.”
“Alexis thought the same.” James smirks.
My chest burns as possession winds like fire through my veins. When is he having these conversations with her? When she’s talking to me? In the moments I don’t have her? I want all of her moments, every one. They’re mine.
I possibly also need some professional help.
“Lex was the lovely redhead from the party the other week, right?” Dad asks, rejoining the conversation.
“One and the same.” James speaks over me to Dad. “I know Alexis quite well. She’s one of the managers at my sister’s nightclub.”
You do not, arsehole.
I distinctly remember her calling him Mr Huxley at the party.
“What a small world. So she works for you and with her brother?”
“Her brother runs their family tavern down in Killara Bay. Over the last few years, he’s extended that to a small batch distillery. And Alexis has just completed her business and marketing degree here in the city. She has plans to move back home with her brother once the new distillery is closer to completion.”
Panic breaks out over my skin, like the walls are closing in. She’s moving? Why hasn’t she told me this? Why the fuck does James Huxley know before I do?
Waiters interrupt any further thought as they come to deliver our meals.
“Does that bother you, Heart?” James says under his breath.
I say nothing. Anything I say, he likely wouldn’t believe.
“I noticed you’ve been into Hallucinogens quite a lot recently,” he continues, the tone of his words proving he knows he’s getting to me. “I do hope you’re not messing with my manager’s feelings. Alexis is a nice girl. I’m sure if she were looking, she’d want a man more capable of love than what you know of it.”
I try to hold back. I really do.
“You mean like Anna?” I meet his eyes with a smirk of my own, feeling satisfied as I watch that hard exterior slip, just for a moment.
James looks away, clicking his tongue as he picks up the whiskey glass a waiter just put in front of him, throwing it all back in one go.
