Page 31 of Clear Blue Sky

“I’ve got an idea,” Marcus said. “Why don’t we play here? That way if something needs your attention, one of you can deal with it.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Wonderful.” Marcus turned and followed Veronica to a table, his three buddies one pace behind.

Brandi stormed up the stairs and threw open the office door. She tossed her bag on the chair. Making her way to the window that overlooked the main bar, she folded her arms. “I don’t know why I’m so pissed, but I am.”

“At me or him?”

She laughed. “Both, but for different reasons.”

He sat on the corner of his desk and folded his arms. “Marcus and I are not friends. We never really were.”

“You had to have seen me with him the day I met with Delaney.”

He nodded.

“Why didn’t you tell me you knew a potential author of mine?”

“I didn’t think it was going to be necessary unless you signed him and even then, your publishing company has nothing to do with me.” He raked a hand across the top of his head. He had no idea how much of the truth he should reveal. There were things that legally he couldn’t tell. He’d have to dance around those topics carefully. “In all honesty, I figured he’d be gone before it mattered and I’d never see him again.”

“He leaves Sunday, right?”

“That’s what he says.” Nelson rolled his neck. “The last time he and I saw each other we ended up in a fistfight.”

She turned and scowled.

Again.

“Are you kidding me?”

“Not my proudest moment, but if it makes you feel better, I didn’t throw the first punch.”

“I can’t say that it does,” she said.

“I was shocked that of all the places he and his buddies could have come for a bachelor weekend, they chose Lake George. Call me paranoid, but I don’t believe in coincidences.”

“You believe he came here for you?” Her brows shot up. “That’s a little egotistical.”

“Our history is a complicated one and some of it I legally can’t get into. Much of what I did for the military is still classified.”

“That, I understand. But you grilled me about a submission I was reading and thinking back on it, you suspected it was Marcus’ manuscript.”

“Grilled is a big word and I didn’t pressure you into telling me anything about it, but yes, I knew Marcus had sent you a novel.”

“How?”

“He told me,” Nelson admitted.

“Why do you care?”

“Because I dated his sister.” His stomach soured. At one point, he truly cared for Roxy. She’d been the one girl in his past that he thought he could have fallen in love with, but Marcus always got in the way. He had his sister’s ear and he did everything he could to destroy his relationship with Roxy.

All because Nelson got a medal on a mission and Marcus didn’t. That set off a chain of events—in Marcus’ eyes—that lead to promotion after promotion for Nelson.

Marcus had become so resentful that Nelson outranked him and had been given his own command and that’s when the shit really hit the fan.

Next thing Nelson knew, Roxy had become jealous for no reason at all, always believing that he was cheating or lying to her about what he was doing and where he was going. If he left town to go visit his brothers, she believed both Maverick and Phoenix were covering for him while he visited one of his many girlfriends.

---