Texas Wedding (6 page)

“You know what, though, if they pass the ruling about legalizing same-sex marriage, you think we could do it again, for real? A big wedding so we can slap it in the faces of everyone that thinks us being married is wrong? We could be loudly, proudly married in our home state, the place we love.”

“You want to do that?” Jack was surprised at that, and if he admitted it, a little bit hurt. “I loved our day.”

Riley was quick to answer. “I did, but I want a big celebration, to show the world what you mean to me.”

“Really?”

Riley leaned into Jack. “With no shadows. With Hayley in a dress, and the twins, and Max in a little tux—can you imagine?—with all our family around us, and friends.”

Jack shook his head. “I always knew you were the girl in this relationship,” he teased.

“Ha-freaking-ha.”

“You want to do that, we can do it.”

“Really?”

“It’d be one hell of a party.”

“Yeah.”

“Texas won’t let it happen, though, whatever the vote says.”

“It might not have a choice.”

Jack shrugged. He wasn’t holding out hope that the state he loved would ever love him back in the same kind of way. “We’ll see.”

CHAPTER FIVE

The day of the board meeting dawned bright and clear, and Riley had to fight to get his head around what he had to do today.

“I really don’t want to go to this,” he said as Jack walked into their bedroom. Jack was still in boxers, and hadn’t shaved. Not that Riley wanted Jack to shave; he hadn’t been joking about loving Scruffy Jack in the Boardroom. Part of him, a small selfish part, wished Jack would be at the meeting.

“There’s still time for me to get dressed and come with you,” Jack said. He gestured down at his bare torso.

Riley fought against saying yes. He couldn’t put Jack in the meeting. Jack would go if Riley really needed him. He would lean back in his chair around the huge oval table, and look relaxed. But if you knew him as well as Riley did, you could see the twitchiness in his expression. Add in the fact it was Hayes Tower, and Jack very rarely attended the meetings.

“You’ll distract me with your cowboyness.”

“Is that a word?” Jack teased.

Riley hugged his husband hard. “It is so a word.”

When they parted, Riley saw the papers Jack had strewn over their bed. “What’s that?” he asked, peering at them.

“Some plans I have, ideas for the house and a smaller….” He glanced up at Riley. “I’m sorry,” he murmured. He looked Riley up and down. “I know I should be going.”

Riley huffed. “I wouldn’t put you through it. Anyway, I get to chat with Josh and get to know more stories of Jack as a boy.”

Jack winced, then shuffled the papers into a pile, and proceeded to kiss Riley the best goodbye he could.

Now Riley was in Dallas, staring up at the glass and concrete building and readying himself for going inside. Riley stood on the street outside Hayes Tower for at least five minutes and psyched himself up for walking in.

I hate this place
.

He’d come to that conclusion a long time ago, long before he’d stood in his father’s office and been given an ultimatum: marry for love, or lose your full percentage share. A lot had changed since then. He’d blackmailed Jack into marrying him, and for some crazy reason, Jack hadn’t ended up hating him but loved him as much as Riley loved Jack.

The Hayes Oil that existed now was a different animal to what it had been with Gerald and Jeff at the reins. None of that mattered. He still didn’t want to walk into the building. His own company, CH, had different offices, and he managed to stay away from the Tower as much as he could, but he was a prominent shareholder, and Jim was in charge now. Between them, Hayes Oil had become the spearhead for ethical oil exploration. The change was slow. You couldn’t turn a juggernaut in a tight one-eighty, you had to do it in increments.

His dad’s voice cut through his thoughts. “Thought I’d find you out here,” Jim said with a hint of laughter.

Riley looked sideways at him. “Too many memories.”

“No Jack, then?”

“No.” Riley could have given all kinds of excuses. Jack had said he would come, had said he would rearrange everything on the ranch so he could be there with Riley. After all, he was representing the Campbell family, who also had a percentage in Hayes Oil. But Josh said he’d attend instead, and had already gone in and up. Riley had been so relieved; Jack hated this building even more than he did. The building, and all it represented. “I couldn’t torture him that way. Anyway, Josh is here instead and has his proxy.”

“How are you doing?” Jim asked. He bumped shoulders with his son, and Riley leaned back into the press.

“Good.”

“Ready to go in?”

“Do you ever think about what it was like back then? About the kind of person I was.”

Jim didn’t answer immediately, and Riley turned from the Tower to face him.

“You were always special,” Jim said. He placed a hand on Riley’s arm. “I was proud of you then, and I’m proud of you now.”

Riley’s chest tightened. His journey had been a long one to get to where he was now, but he wanted to be the son that would make Jim proud.

“And this Charlotte thing….”

His dad’s expression didn’t change. “What about it?”

“I get she’s good at what she does, I saw some of her work, but she’s Josiah Harrold’s daughter, and apples don’t fall far from the tree.” He released a noisy huff. “What about sabotage at Hayes Oil, or her exploiting the connection to CH and me? Are you sure you’re doing the right thing?”

“Riley, I would have thought you’d be a lot more understanding of a person trying to escape the way they were brought up.” Jim said this with a smile, but with a hint of steel in his voice.

“So, you’re saying trust you and everything will be okay?”

“Yes, exactly.”

Riley wasn’t exactly reassured, but he did trust his dad at the heart of it all. “Let’s do this, then.”

When they walked in through the main door and faced the security desk and the bank of lifts, the art-deco-style prism facets in two huge glass windows sent rays of colored light onto the marble floors. Riley let the mask slip into place. Here he was Millionaire Riley Hayes, representing the family at Hayes Oil. He wasn’t daddy, or husband, or friend. He was focused and ready to fight his corner if he needed to.

The journey to the Hayes Oil floor was fast, but long enough for Riley to critically assess what he looked like. He’d worn the gray Armani, his shoes polished to a high sheen, his white shirt crisp, and Jack’s favorite blue tie knotted perfectly. To be fair, he was already bored by the idea of the meeting. The management team was excellent, the company doing well, and he begrudged the time away from his own company to listen to all the things they would be discussing today. He really wished Jack was with him; at least that would alleviate the boredom.

Time to go, then.

An assistant met them at the elevator and guided them to the main boardroom. Riley couldn’t help but notice a number of new faces in the small groups, all standing around with coffee in hand. Things had changed with Jim at the helm. The management team welcomed him in, gave him coffee, and talked about impersonal things like stocks and shares and how CH was doing. All things he could answer without hesitation. CH was his baby, and it was growing exponentially.

Riley spotted Charlotte Harrold as he was taking his seat. She looked directly at him, smiled, then stared down at the papers in front of her before he could nod in acknowledgment.

The meeting started promptly. Josh was next to him. Riley had deliberately sat away from Jim. Riley was a shareholder, and he was here to listen to business, not to be any kind of reminder of the Hayes family if he could help it.

Riley doodled on his pad as various standard things were discussed. The minutes of the last meeting were read and agreed, various appointments voted on. Riley approved everything Jim had suggested in the meeting, because he trusted what his dad was doing. Josh was taking the same line.

The first break was definitely needed. An hour of dry talking was more than enough for Riley to wish he was at home. Josh followed him away from the table, and they chose a corner where they could talk. Josh was not only Jack’s brother, he was Riley’s friend. They spoke about the kids, but as Riley shared the usual news with his brother-in-law, he could see something was worrying him. He put it down to Josh hating being at these meetings as much as Riley did. He was wrong.

After they’d talked about Hayley and the whole dress request, Josh said, “Logan is turning our hair gray.”

“It’s a teenager’s job,” Riley said. He felt like an old hand now at this issue. They had the dress, and that had gone kind of okay. The dance itself wasn’t until this weekend, but that was another step altogether.

“He’s acting out worse than normal. I don’t know what’s going on with him.”

“I’m sure he’ll grow out of it,” Riley reassured.

“This is different.” Josh didn’t elaborate, and at that moment they were called back into the meeting, so they didn’t get to finish the talk. Riley made a mental note to mention to Jack what Josh had said. Maybe Logan could come to the ranch for the summer. He was a good kid, and he loved the horses. Not to mention Hayley would probably follow him around like a puppy.

The rest of the meeting passed in a blur. Nothing too controversial was decided, and Riley was on his third page of doodling when it ended. Small groups chatted in corners at a buffet lunch, and Riley began to make his excuses. He really wanted to go home. Unfortunately the plan fell apart when Charlotte cornered him. She’d been efficiently excellent all morning, but Riley couldn’t help the resentment whenever he considered how he knew her, and the images he held in his memories.

“Can I talk to you for a moment?” she asked.

Riley couldn’t think of a reason why he shouldn’t speak to her. She was on the Hayes management team, and this could be a work matter. He caught Jim’s gaze and telegraphed his caution. Jim nodded, then turned back to the group he’d been chatting to.

“Of course.” Riley was polite and tried not to think about how uncomfortable she made him feel. She’s good at her job. Dad hired her. He must see something in her. I should give her five minutes.

“Would you…?” She looked left and right at the people near them. “Could we find a quiet space?”

Riley’s stomach sank. A quiet space meant this wasn’t work, and fuck, he wasn’t ready for talking about what he’d seen. Instead he put his Business Riley mask in place and nodded. He led them out of the main board space and down the corridor to what used to be his old map room. The memories were good ones—so many days sitting t cross-legged on the carpet pouring over massive geological mapping surveys. The room hadn’t changed, it was still being used as a map room, but he wondered how many of the geologists now working at Hayes Oil sat on the floor like he used to. The door shut behind them, and abruptly Riley was left with having to face a moment from his past that he resented having in his head.

“I wanted to talk to you,” Charlotte began. She crossed her arms over her chest, dropped them, and then paced to the nearest map table and back again.

“Go on.” Riley felt like he needed to add something there because she was staring at him.

“I think I owe you an apology.”

“No, you don’t,” Riley snapped. “Lisa maybe, but not me.”

Charlotte closed her eyes, and Riley saw the change in her posture. No longer uncertain, she seemed beaten. “An explanation, then,” she said.

Riley opened his mouth to say something, then shut it again. An explanation was something he could handle if that is what she needed to get off her chest.

“Heroin,” she began. Her posture changed again, she stood taller, her shoulders back, and determination was written in her expression. “That was my poison. We all have them, from self-doubt to anxiety all the way through to dependence on drugs, the doubts plague us. I chose heroin as the way to escape… everything.”

By everything, Riley assumed she meant the family she’d been born into. He could understand that.

“I was never as good as JJ. He was the golden boy—” She stopped. “I don’t expect you to know.”

Riley huffed a laugh. “Older brother, asshole, favorite son? You’d be surprised.”

Charlotte’s eyes widened momentarily. “Yes, I guess you do. I didn’t do what you did, though, I let it eat away at me and drugs became my way of proving to everyone they were right and I was a fuck-up.”

Riley held his tongue. He’d chosen sleeping around and acting out as his way of showing the world that his father and brother were right about him. He’d been no paragon of virtue—blackmailing Jack was a case in point—and only by luck had he never chosen narcotics to emphasize who he was.

She continued. “That was when Jeff came back into my life again. We’d had this on-off relationship, a toxic thing.” She touched her throat and hesitated, bleakness filling her eyes. “I let him hurt me. Part of me expected it.” She looked back at Riley. “I can’t believe I’m telling you this.”

Riley held up a hand, then held it out to her. She took it cautiously, and he encouraged her to sit on the carpet. He joined her, and they sat opposite each other, leaning back against the table legs.

“I used to sit in here on the floor all the time,” Riley said with a fond smile. “Jeff never actually came in here, and my dad despaired of me.”

“I used to hide in the kitchens at home. I learned to cook that way.”

Riley nodded. “We both had our coping mechanisms, and we came out the other side.”

“I never meant to hurt Lisa,” she blurted out. “I don’t know why I did that…. Jeff and I had been apart for so long, but he said she couldn’t give him what he wanted, and all he wanted to do was hurt me.” She dipped her gaze, “he liked to hurt. And I was this desperate mess who believed that was what she wanted…” She buried her face in her hands. “Lisa must hate me.”

“Lisa doesn’t know,” Riley admitted.

Charlotte looked at him, her eyes glassy. “You didn’t tell her?”