CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“And I wouldn’t have lost this time around.”
THE CONFERENCE ROOM DOOR opens and Guy, our head of tech, walks in.
“You wanted me, sir?”
“Yeah.” I lace my fingers behind my head and lean back. “Put me through to that motherfucker.”
“Torin, sir?”
I cock a brow at him. “You know any other motherfuckers?” As he opens his mouth to respond, I add, “Aside from me, that is.”
“It’s 3:00 a.m. in Russia,” he tells me. “He’s—”
“Don’t give a fuck. Put me through.”
He nods and gets to it.
With the risky and sensitive nature of the job Torin’s on, extra precautions have been taken for protection. There’s only one secure, untraceable line to get to him, done via video only for visual veracity to eliminate possible subterfuge. And only Guy is authorized to make that connection, and only by the order of a Garza. Anything goes south and it’ll be his ass on the line.
After about ten minutes of puttering around with all the equipment, the connection is made and Torin’s tired face fills the flat screen ahead. We’ve woken him up.
“You have any idea what time it is here?” he grumbles groggily.
Guy looks at me then and his gaze drops to the floor. But I did this on purpose. ‘Cause fuck this motherfucker.
I glare at the screen. “Why’d you call her?”
“To get your attention. You’ve dodged all my attempts to talk to you.” He rubs his eyes with his fists. “Knew if I contacted her you’d come at me hard. Here we are.”
Manipulation is my forte. Not one I’m proud of but I’m exceptionally good at. And because I’m so damn good at it, people are rarely successful at manipulating me.
Except for Torin Garza.
Sonofabitch gets me every fucking time.
I should’ve known. Should’ve seen right through the play.
“Alright, you got me. Pulled my strings,” I admit defeat. “Now what is it that you so desperately want to talk to me about?”
“I didn’t cheat on Lexi.”
I clench my jaw. Why the fuck is he telling me this? What’s it supposed to mean to me? He knows Lexi is back here, with me, and all of sudden he wants to come clean? Is this supposed to be some kind of warning that he’s throwing his hat in the ring again? Are we about to go to war? Because I’m not falling back this time. I’m fighting tooth and fucking nail for her. She’s mine.
Actually, she’s always been mine.
“When I came to Redlands, it was hard for me,” he goes on, “and Lexi was the one person who made things easier, bearable. You all had a bond, moved as a unit, and I…I felt like an outsider. Like I didn’t fit.
“I connected better with Lexi since she understood what it felt like to be the outsider. Yeah, I knew you wanted her, but I didn’t care. Was maybe even a little bit spiteful with it. She was my only happiness, so I hung on to it, all while hurting you. Then dad died…”
He rubs his hand down his face. “And it all just became too much. Too much loss to process. I felt obliterated inside. Lexi was enough, but still not enough at that point. I started to crave something more than her. And I didn’t know what that was until Monica caught me having a nervous breakdown. She made me realize that what I needed was family. You, my brothers who wanted to know me, but I wouldn’t let them. What I needed was the strong bond you all had, how you were there for each other, protected each other.”
He sighs and leans back against the headboard. “So, I had to make a tough decision; you or her. Let her go and have a relationship with you or keep her and don’t? The cheating rumor was all fake shit I fueled. In the end, I chose you, my brother. I gave up the girl I loved for the family I needed. And for the relationship I have with you now, I’d do it again if I had to.”
Well, fuck me. Always full of surprises, this one. Don’t even know where to begin here.
“You’re an idiot,” I tell him. “Were it the other way around, it would’ve been her for me. Always her. Not your ugly ass.”
He bellows out a hearty laugh, a rare occurrence for him. “Oh, I know. Why do you think I kept tabs on her all these years? It was hard, but I fought my feelings for her and forced myself to start seeing her as family—like a sister. ‘Cause I knew, without a doubt, that she’d be that one day. My sister-in-law, your wife.”
“Damn straight.”
I flick my gaze to Guy who’s sitting slouched with his head down, motionless, as if trying to make himself invisible. He’s the epitome of ‘see no evil, hear no evil’—the reason we have no qualms discussing things in front of him, no matter how personal. And not because he’s bound by a non-disclosure agreement, but because he understands the meaning of loyalty.
“So, yeah,” continues Torin. “Just figured you should know the truth now that she’s back. And you can stop throwing me shit every time her name comes up. She’s yours, man. We’re good?”
“No worries. Was prepared to go to war with you if I had to,” I let him know. “And I wouldn’t have lost this time around.”
Again, he laughs. “I really loved Lexi, Trent, but I’m pretty sure she was just infatuated with me, so I was never gonna win anyway. No one got under her skin more than you. So even then I knew…it would always be you.”