Page 99 of The Spare
“Plausible deniability. Rishi asked me not to. Did you think you’d take it well?” I groaned and ran a hand through my hair. He knew why. But in the past, I’d have told him. “I’m sorry.”
I never wanted to get involved. But I needed to help Henry because I knew if the roles were reversed, he’d help me. I had years of evidence of that.
“Look,” Henry began. “I know you and my grandfather were close, but you didn’t know him like Sloan and I did. You saw the captain of industry, the one whose instincts were always right. The one who asked for forgiveness and never permission. As your friend, I am warning you, don’t be like him. Because Sloan and I saw the man who put us in competition with each other from the time we were kids. The man who loved us but put his own ambition ahead of everything. He saddled us with his impossible expectations. He was a good man, a great one, but you don’t owe him anything.”
His words hung in the air.
I knew my success was mine, logically, but I’d felt indebted to their grandfather. And a little guilty for how Henry and Sloan often shrank under his expectations. In the end, I put his wishes ahead of telling Sloan the truth.
I had made that mistake twice now, putting other interests ahead of Sloan. I couldn’t make it again.
“And thank you,” Henry said, turning his empty glass on the table. “You’ve always had my back. I’m sorry all ofthatgot out of hand.”
“It’s fine. We okay?” I asked.
He nodded, pushed his seat back, and got up from the table. “I think having to see my little sister in lingerie makes us even for your help with the board.”
“Those were pajamas, not her lingerie.” Low blow, but it was the last one. Besides, I had spent the last year helping him, even if it meant being a pretty shitty friend. He and Xander winced. “Now we’re even.”
He stuck up his middle finger and made his way to the door. “See you tomorrow, asshole.”
* * *
That left Xander and me at the table. I dumped my face in my hands. It had been a long few days.
“You can say it.” My hands muffled my voice.
“Say what?” Xander asked.
“That you were right.”
“You look like you’ve been through enough.” Xander sighed.
“I’m sorry.”
“You’ve been saying that a lot lately.”
“I mean it. I shut you out—not just now, but for years.” I began. “I thought I was protecting you, doing what was best. I didn’t want you to have to deal with certain things, so I kept them from you. I shouldn’t have done that.”
Xander sighed again and looked down at the table. “I know. I didn’t make it easy for you to believe I could handle it.”
He didn’t keep a lot of serious secrets; most were silly and a part of his infuriating I-owe-you game with Sloan. The few he did have surrounded his spiral after our parents’ death. There was another one I knew almost nothing about. He and Sloan sealed that off in one of their covenants.
“You ever gonna tell me about all of that?” I asked, referring to the times he spun out.
“Maybe.” He gave me a crooked smile and shrugged. “I’m guessing she got a little scary-angry today?”
“Yeah.” The only other time I saw a glimpse of that anger was the night of their surprise visit in London.
“I did warn you. Full-tilt Sloan is terrifying.” Xander looked up at me sympathetically. “When she gets that upset, it's a blind rage. She only says and does the things she knows will hurt.”
Like walking out.
I hoped it was out of spite or to hurt me because she knew it would. Not that she actually wanted an out.
“What do I do?” I hated that I had to ask.
His chest shook with a silent laugh. “You’ve been secretly sending her first editions of all of her favorite books, and you bought her a chalet in the place she loved because she spent time there with her favorite family member…and Henry.” He grinned. “I think you know how to show her she’s your priority.”
