Beautiful Broken Promises(6)

Audrey’s body locked up underneath the covers at the sound of her husband’s voice. I quickly leaned in so only she could hear. “I saw his face when he first saw her and if I had seen anything other than annoyance, you know I would have knocked his lights out. Trust me, the way he looks at you, even with bags under your eyes, messy hair, stretch marks, and... ouch!” I yelped when she pinched the shit out of my stomach. “You said it first!”

“That doesn’t mean you get to list it all!” she whisper-shouted back.

“Fine, fine. But there is no comparison. He looks at you like you’re his whole world and his only reason to breathe. A random topless girl is not going to pull his attention. Besides, so what if he looks at naked tits? The day he stops looking at tits is the day you should start worrying.” She laughed quietly but gave me one more hard pinch under the covers. “Cut that shit out, Audrey!” I chuckled.

“Alright, play time’s over. Outta my bed and hands off my girl, Parker,” Jace grumbled while climbing in on the opposite side of Audrey. He immediately pulled her across the bed toward him in his typical possessive fashion.

I began to climb out from under the covers and said, “This kind of feels like that one time we almost slept together, doll. Remember during your freshman year?” I could barely contain my cheesy-ass grin because I couldn’t help but f*ck with Jace on a daily basis.

“Lane, he doesn’t fall for your terrible lies anymore. Go to bed,” Audrey giggled. And that was all I needed to feel better. If she was happy, we were all happy.

Jace glared at me on my way out but didn’t say anything. As soon as I hit the hallway, I heard him softly ask her, “That didn’t really happen, did it?”

I silently chuckled, so I wouldn’t wake up the baby again. It never failed with that guy—he was way too easy to rile up. Right before I stepped into my room, Jace jogged down the hall toward me.

“It was a joke, dude. I couldn’t resist.”

“Nah,” he whispered. “I know that. It’s just that she told me you’re heading out of town again?”

I sobered and told him, “Yeah, I got a call a little while ago. I have to go.”

“What about the Nolan job?”

Jace and Jaxon Riley were twin brothers who came into a lot of money when their father passed away. Immediately after they graduated college in California, they took ownership of his security company, The Riley Group. Their best friend, Cole, had family money as well so all three of them and their wives built houses on a big plot of land here in Texas, which is where they are originally from.

After graduation, Jace and Jax hired Cole and me to join them in Dallas, and we all left the Golden State behind. It was a hard choice, considering my original reasons for being there in the first place. But I couldn’t imagine being away from Audrey and I knew I would make decent money and be able to make my random trips whenever I was called.

My job title was a little more unconventional compared to the others. I oversaw a lot of the financing, because that’s what I was good at and I had recently acquired Texas CPA license. But I also flew out to meet potential clients that were considering using The Riley Group for security purposes when they came to Dallas. Most of our customers lately had been high-profile, so they expected a face-to-face consultation before they trusted us to safeguard them. I couldn’t seem to stay in one place for too long, and didn’t have anyone to come home to, so taking on that responsibility just made sense.

“I’ll hand the Nolan case off to the rookie,” I answered his question.

“You’re going to trust Ethan with a quarter-of-a-million-dollar job?”

“We gotta loosen the reins at some point. I’ll be in touch with him throughout the entire deal. Look, I have to go. He’s going to be there.” I tried to hide the pleading in my voice.

Jace’s type-A personality required him to keep a close eye on his employees, and even more so on his family. Audrey was like my sister, so when he married her he gained a brother at the same time. He didn’t spy on me, but he started asking all the right questions and one day I had to break down and spill before I lost my job. He knew everything now. It wasn’t something I enjoyed keeping from Audrey, but Jace had agreed with me that she didn’t need that stress put upon her, especially now with the baby.

His voice turned stoic and he asked, “You’re sure he’ll be there?”

“As sure as I can be. Charlie got me a spot in the ring and says he’ll be there.”