Lost in Paradise (Paradise Club #2)(68)

“Ivy showed me some design ideas that she threw together, and they are perfect. So, I’m getting a new office.”

“First your office, second your home, giving it all a female’s touch,” Daniel teases. I flip him off then head to the bar to grab a drink. It’s a busy Friday night, so everyone’s in the pub for after-work drinks.

“Enjoying my sloppy seconds, Lewis,” a deep voice sneers from behind me. I turn around and see Steve Holdsworth standing before me, his dark eyes filled with hatred.

“Excuse me?”

“You like fucking Holdsworth seconds, don’t you? First Claire … now Ivy,” he says with venom laced in his voice.

“What the fuck did you say?” I ask, pulling myself up to my full height, and straightening my back as my eyes narrow on the man I want to kill.

“You fucking heard me … I’m not surprised Ivy is fucking you, she never had great taste,” he spits.

“Keep Ivy’s name out of your mouth.” I move toward him.

“What you going to do to me, Lewis? Punch me in front of all these people? Come on … I fucking dare you. I’d love nothing more than to press charges and see you behind fucking bars.”

I burst out laughing. “You’ll be behind bars before I ever will. How is business going?” I raise an accusatory brow at him. He takes a step forward as if he’s going to hit me. “Did I strike a nerve?” I ask, grinning.

“Please … I’ll be able to get Ivy back just as easily as I was able to steal all that business out from right under your stupid nose.”

“Stay away from Ivy or else,” I warn him.

“Or else what? It’s been a while since I’ve seen my favorite girl. Is she looking well? Maybe I might pay her a visit. Rekindle the flame we once had.”

My hand shoots out and wraps around Steve’s shirt, and I pull him toward me. “Stay away from her, you fucking hear me,” I yell in his face as I push him a couple of feet from the bar back through the pub’s crowd.

“He’s not worth it,” Jasper says behind me.

At Jasper’s words, I let go of Steve’s shirt with a shove, and he stumbles back while laughing in my face.

“Fucking pussy.” He chuckles.

“Keep walking, dickhead. I’m not as polite as my friend,” Jasper sneers at Steve, who scurries off like the limp dick he is. I stomp back to the booth like an enraged teenage boy and slump into my seat. Someone hands me their beer, and I throw it back in one long gulp.

“What the fuck, dude?” Alistair questions me.

“Who the hell was that?” Daniel asks.

Jasper joins the table and places a hand on my shoulder trying to calm me the hell down. I’ve never wanted to smash someone’s face in more than Steve’s right at this moment. That smug, sneery face and beady eyes have me raging with violence. What did Ivy ever see in that guy? He’s a fucking asshole.

“That, boys, was Alex’s nemesis …” Jasper answers for me, “… Steve Holdsworth. You might know his brother, Kevin, from the Claire saga.”

Cusses fall from the lips of my friends as they remember that time in my life when I was beyond help, but somehow, they were all there and pulled me through it.

“He’s also Ivy’s ex,” I add.

The boys all fall silent.

“I don’t know what he did to her, but from the snippets and how she reacts to things, it wasn’t good. She has serious scars from that man.” My hands ball into tight fists, turning my knuckles white with rage.

“The fucking Holdsworths are scum,” Jasper adds.

“Nate and I are working on something to take them down,” I confess to my boys. “Seems Steve and Kevin haven’t been running Daddy’s business very well.”

The boys all give me knowing wide smiles.

“Whatever you need to take them down, I’m all-in,” Alistair adds.

“Me too,” Daniel agrees.

“You know I’m in.” Jasper smiles beside me.

“Thanks, fellas. I’ve got this for the moment, but if it starts falling through, I’ll let you know.” I am so thankful for their friendship and the way they can calm the raging bull inside of me so easily.

“Dan, how’s your brother doing?” I ask, changing the subject.

Daniel rolls his eyes and curses.

His brother’s wife left him for his protegee, and now he’s lost it and has been in self-destruct mode since.

“I think I’m going to have to hire a babysitter … I can’t look after him anymore. He’s a full-time job. His art sucks. He’s refusing all these opportunities, all the while his ex and her boy toy are the toast of the art scene and rubbing it in his face.” He huffs out every word in frustration while shaking his head.

“Might be time for an intervention. It’s been months,” Jasper adds.

“Yeah, I think you’re right. I thought he would channel all his hurt into his art, except he’s channeling it into drinking and women.” Daniel sighs.

“Guess there are worse things …” Alistair chuckles.

“He’s in self-destruct mode, and I can’t pull him out of the downward spiral,” Daniel says sadly.

They have a complicated relationship as half-brothers. It hasn’t been easy between them, but before all this they were super tight.