Page 183 of Bridesmaid By Chance
“Don’t.” And then he turns away and heads down toward the opposite end of the terrace.
With his back to me, he folds in on himself, effectively disregarding me. I don’t want to take it personally, but it does sting. I thought we were past that. But this distance feels like so much more than just space.
Chapter Twenty-Six
HUDSON
“I’m going to lose it,” I growl into the phone as I sit.
“I know, but seriously, this was such a good find, Hudson. What were we thinking? We should have checked the original contract to begin with.”
I slide my hand over my forehead. “Yeah, I think we’ve both been distracted.”
“I can admit to that.” He blows out a heavy breath. “I think we send the threat of a countersuit, have the lawyers list out all the damages, but then don’t really press for action. I think the threat will scare him enough.”
“I don’t think so. I think he’ll keep coming back.”
“He has nothing on us,” Hardy says. “And if we keep pressing and sue him back, it’s only going to end poorly for us. We promised ourselves we would do things the right way, that we wouldn’t sink to his level.”
“So we’re just going to let him walk all over us?” I nearly shout.
“No, we’re setting the standard for how business will be handled moving forward. He will know not to fuck with us, but he won’t be able to take any dirty laundry and air it out to potential business partners.”
I’m about to shoot back when that last part sinks in. I hate to admit it, but he’s right. If we were to countersue, he would make sure everyone in the business knew his boys were trying to sue him.
“Fuck, do you think that’s what he was trying to do all along? Get us so fucking angry that we’d turn around and sue him and then use that against us?”
“Yeah,” Hardy says. “I was talking to Everly about it, and she brought up the fact that this could have all been for show because he didn’t have anything on us and was hoping we would countersue.”
I grind my teeth together, thinking about the possible scenario. I lean back in my chair and drag my hand over my mouth. “I wouldn’t put it past him.”
“So I think we need to be level-headed about this. I think we need to put in a threat that will ensure he doesn’t try to fuck with us again, but not be messy about it so he can use it to his advantage.”
“Yeah, you’re right. It’s not what I want to do.”
“Neither do I, trust me. I’m feeling really fucked in the head right now.”
“Same,” I say. “I was actually thinking about coming home, to wade through all of this legal bullshit.”
“Oh, did the wedding happen already?”
“No.” I shake my head, even though he can’t see me. “But Sloane can stay here, and I can be back for the wedding. I just think I need to be there when we talk with the lawyers and decide how we handle everything.”
There is a pause on the other line, and I can already tell that he doesn’t agree with me.
“Is everything okay over there?”
No need to lie, he’s going to call me out either way, so I say, “No, but that’s not why I want to come back for a few days.”
“Really? Because you haven’t shown any sign of coming back. Hell, from the lack of communication between us, I could have sworn you were having a good time.”
“I have been, and like I said, coming back is to make sure we are on the same page with the lawyers; hard to do that with an eight-hour time difference.”
“Okay, so then why aren’t things okay over there?”
I glance behind me to make sure Sloane isn’t around. Hoping she’s in bed, I say, “Things have gotten intense. Too intense.”
“What do you mean…intense?”
