His henchmen were rough looking, but this man oozed wealth. Even the gun in his hand looked oddly elegant. He was dressed beautifully, with blond hair and pale skin, but his crew was a motley mismatch of street thugs. “I don’t really want anything with you, dear, but I’ve found it’s always best to go into these situations with a little leverage. I believe Mr. Stark will begin to negotiate with me if I have his lover. You will come with me. You will come and then Mr. Stark and I will have a little chat about a man who my boss wishes to find.”
Georgia stood up, forcing herself to leave Win’s side. “I’ll come on one condition. You leave my brother here and you don’t shoot him again.”
“Or I could shoot him anyway. I would still have you.”
“You will find me very difficult to deal with if you touch him again. I don’t know why you’re here, but I will make your life a living hell, and don’t think I can’t do it. I’ll make damn sure you have to kill me, and then there won’t be anything on the earth that will make Seth give you what you want.” She’d been in this position before. She had to get through these few minutes and then she would start working on a way out. One step at a time.
“I believe you.” He looked to his men and said something in Spanish. They all moved back, one opening the door to a massive SUV and gesturing her inside.
She gave one last look at her brother, praying he would survive.
As they pulled out of the parking lot, she thought to ask one last question. “What do you want from Seth?”
The man with the easy smile turned, his eyes so cold she thought she would freeze. “John Bishop, of course.”
Well, of course. She wracked her brain but couldn’t come up with the answer to the one question now rolling through her head as the armed escort began to drive toward the cabin.
Who the hell was John Bishop?
Chapter Sixteen
Seth paced the floor and wished he could get the pilot back earlier than tonight. It would be perfect if he could just be gone. Georgia and Logan had made their intentions clear. They wanted each other. Not him.
Was Logan so pissed off with him for going to college that he would steal away the only woman Seth had ever really wanted?
And Georgia. She just wanted a Dom, but Logan couldn’t take care of her the way Seth could. Logan would do all the big gesture things, but he wouldn’t know how to take care of her on a day-to-day basis because Logan was still a coddled infant when it came to things like that. Sure he could top her in the bedroom, but would he remember how she liked her vodka tonics made? How she loved fresh lilies? And presents. She loved little presents because growing up she’d had all the creature comforts, but her parents never just brought her gifts. They’d forgotten her birthday half the time, the same way his parents had.
Was he doing the right thing? The situation seemed to call for a strategic retreat. Or should he start treating Logan like the enemy and come at him hard and fast and utterly annihilate him? It was what he would do to anyone else. He would zero in on a weakness and ruthlessly twist the knife.
He could point out all the ways Logan wasn’t good for her. Right down to the fact that he had a drug dealer in the past.
He heard the sound of crunching gravel and knew that he wouldn’t. Because Seth Stark had a weakness, and his weakness had two names. Logan and Georgia.
He was going to be a self-sacrificing idiot who just walked away. Maybe in a couple of years he might be able to look them up again.
Fuck.
“Seth!” Logan shouted as he walked in the back door. “Dude, what’s up with all the luggage? Did Georgia get back yet?”
Just get through the next couple of minutes. Just play it cool. They don’t need to know how much it hurt. Seth was good at masking his emotions. He was an iceman. “You’re a motherfucker, you know that, Logan? Do you know what a son of a bitch you are?”
Yeah. That was real cool.
Logan stopped, his expression going completely blank. “What are you talking about?”
Laugh it off. Tell him that your job is done here and then get the hell out. He doesn’t have to know. His inner voice was so rational, and he listened to it ninety-nine percent of the time. But not today. “I was standing right outside the door, asshole. I heard every word you said to her. Tell me something. Were you going to try to kick me out of my own cabin or were the two of you just going to use me for cash for a while?”
Yeah, that was a direct hit. He could see plainly the way Logan blanched. “What are you talking about?”
He was totally out of control. Seth knew he should be cool as a cucumber, but he was eight years old again and just lashing out. “I thought you didn’t take charity, Green. You wouldn’t let me pay for college, but you’ll let me pay for your drug habit.”
It was so clear now. Logan wouldn’t let him pay for college because he hadn’t really wanted to go with him. He hadn’t taken him up on the roommate offer because he hadn’t wanted to live in New York. Oh, sure, he’d head off to Dallas with a dude he barely knew, but he didn’t want anything to do with his best friend.
“Ah, now I know why Win is here. So big brother dug up some dirt, huh?” Logan pulled off his hat and set it aside. “Well, I was planning on telling you anyway, so I guess this is as good a time as any. Why don’t you sit down?”
“Fuck you, Logan. I’m not sitting down. I’m not listening. I’ve finally got the message. I’m the little city prick who trailed after you every summer. I’m not masculine enough for your world. I’m not the kind of friend you need, and you won’t be bought. Because that’s what I do. I buy friends because I can’t just make them. So I get it. You’re going to be Georgia’s Dom, and I’m going to go back to New York where I belong. Actions. I should have really looked at your actions and then I would have known where I stood.”
God, he sounded like a whiny chick trying to justify a breakup. He was everything his father had said he was. Not manly. Overly emotional. Useless.
Logan put his hands on the bar and stared for a minute. “What were my actions, Seth?”
Logan was so calm, but then Seth was just starting to understand that he didn’t value the friendship. Seth had managed to turn it into some mythic story. Best friends forever. Such bullshit. Real men didn’t act like that. Real men had golf buddies and shared a beer with their “friends” right before fucking the other guy’s wife. They didn’t get emotional about some other dude.
Seth took a long breath and then let it out. He needed to walk out of this with as much dignity as he could muster. “I’m sorry. I’ve been acting like a kid again. This place meant so much to me growing up and I think I’m foolishly trying to get that feeling back again. I’m using you to do it.”
“What were my actions, Seth?” Logan repeated the question, but his voice was softer now as though he felt sorry for Seth.
Why the fuck had he started this? “Fine. You got in trouble and you didn’t call me. I should have known. You had better friends. I just…you were always my best friend. I was a weird kid.”
A hint of a smile curled up Logan’s lips. “You still are, buddy.”
“It was hard to make friends, but I found that after I met you, I didn’t need them anymore. I was content to have one person.”
“And I was mad that you didn’t come back here to go to college,” Logan said softly. His face flushed just a little. Maybe he wasn’t as unemotional as Seth had first thought.
“What?”
“I was angry that you didn’t come back here so we could go to Adams State together,” Logan explained. “That was our plan. We came up with it when I was twelve and then you went to MIT. You left me behind. I was angry for years about that. You didn’t even come back for the summers.”