Page 3 of The Bet
“To confirm,” said Tobias, ignoring him and turning to Luke again. “Have you got the agenda?”
Luke nodded.
“And you’ve signed the agreement?”
“Yes. No talking to the press, no pictures, no exclusives for any of the papers or magazines. Understood and noted.”
Xavier suppressed a breath. His brother’s paranoia bordered on OCD at times. He took a swig of his drink and listened to Tobias and Luke discussing the wedding details. He felt like a third party in a business meeting for two.
He was happy for Tobias. Of course he was, and it was about time things turned around for him, especially after what had happened with Ivy. But honestly, apart from that huge life-changing event, things had always gone pretty smoothly for his brother.
Unfortunately, for himself, things weren’t so easy. Business had been slow lately. He didn’t have the smarts and the genius to run a hedge fund, but he’d had to find his own way.
He wasn’t living off of Tobias’s generosity, nor did he want to. The problem with starting and running lots of small businesses, trying and failing many times over before finding a few that worked, was that it wasn’t consistent. He was always looking for new business opportunities. But when he made money, and sold a business off, or made good with the stock market, he did pretty well. Well enough to afford a Ferrari and a loft conversion in Tribeca. Well enough to easily afford thousand dollar bottles of champagne when he needed to impress.
But things hadn’t been as great ever since he and Petra had broken up. She had been his lucky mascot but ever since the split, at Tobias’s party back in July, he hadn’t seen her. A week later he'd heard she was doing the rounds with a quarterback from the Miami Dolphins.
Not that he'd been lonely for long. Shacking up with Gisele, a cute B-list actress, had relieved him of too much wrist action.
He looked up as a gorgeous woman swept past their table, then stopped and stepped back, placing her hand on Luke’s shoulder and greeting him. Xavier eyed her butt as she talked to Luke, flirting with him like a nymph. Her hand slid down his arm, fingering his skin and tracing over his tattoos. “Come on over and say ‘hi’, when you’ve finished, stranger.” Her pomegranate red nails squeezed his friend’s bicep as a parting gesture. Xavier watched her until she was out of sight, and then turned his attention back to the conversation.
“I think we’re done,” said Tobias, getting up and shaking hands with Luke. “See you in Kawaya.”
“Thank you, for the opportunity.” Luke looked chuffed as he got off from his stool then excused himself.
“Lucky son-of-a-bitch,” Xavier sniped, watching Luke and the woman talking. “I bet he has everyone’s number.” It seemed like a waste because for all the phone numbers Luke might have had, Xavier hadn’t seen him with anyone for a long time.
Tobias gave him another one of his steely looks. “You’re like a walking hard-on.”
“This place is full of beautiful women, what do you expect?” The brunette on that table was giving him the come on. His mind was already in the gutter, and he could see by the way she licked her lips that hers wasn’t far behind.
“You haven’t confirmed if your girlfriend is coming.”
“Would you mind if she did?” His mother would give him a hard time, and he would have to make sure she didn’t get her claws into Gisele for too long.
“I don’t care if she does or not,” replied Tobias, icily. “But if her coming stops you from hitting on all my guests, then go for it.”
“You have the wrong impression of me, bro.”
“Do I?” Tobias sounded testy. “If she comes, she’d better stick to my privacy policy.”
That’s what he was worried about. He wasn’t sure Gisele could keep her mouth shut. She was easily impressed, and a little too text-happy. Each time they went out she’d take pictures and post them to her social media accounts before they’d even had dessert.
“If she’s not on Vivian’s list, she’s not getting in.”
Tobias and his goddamn lists. Xavier didn’t envy Vivian, Tobias’s new PA, the task of organizing the list of attendees. This ‘small’ wedding was turning out to be a security nightmare, and Xavier was still none the wiser as to what had happened to Candace, Tobias’s previous PA.
He’d had her once, in the supplies cupboard in The Vault, Luke’s club in the basement. He’d had her up against the door with her legs wrapped around his waist, and her panties around one ankle. Maybe he shouldn’t have, what with her being Tobias’s PA, but the girl was a flirt, and she’d wanted it. And he had been single at the time.
It had been a simple case of supply and demand.
Maybe it was as well that she had left, or had been fired, or whatever. Even Matthias, who had been a close friend of his brother’s for as long as he could remember, had gone at the same time, and Xavier was still none the wiser as to what had happened to either of them.
Tobias refused to discuss it.
Xavier ventured another try, at the risk of getting shot down, as he had on the other occasions. “Are Candace and Matthias coming?”
“No.” The tone of Tobias’s voice warned him against probing further.
