“Are you okay?” I patted Julian’s back to help.
He cleared his throat and coughed a few more times, snatching the phone out of my hands.
“Hey! I wasn’t done.”
“Yeah, you were up to no good.”
“I was not! She texted you as I unlocked your phone.”
He texted her back, and I glared.
What did he reply?
“Are you going to give her a piggyback ride?”
He chuckled, and Christian smacked him on the chest. I was the only girl he ever gave piggyback rides to, and I couldn’t help but feel jealous.
“This conversation is over, Autumn. Hey, dickwad!” Christian smacked him on the chest again, harder that time. “Don’t let her use your phone anymore.”
“I didn’t know she’d be texting me.”
“Since when did you start talking to her?”
He grinned. “Talking isn’t exactly what I’d say we were doing.”
Before I could ask if she was his girlfriend, my brother pulled into a gas station and got out of his truck to fill his tank.
“Kid.”
“What?”
Julian laughed. “What do you mean what?” He rustled up my hair with his fingers, making me giggle. “What’s your problem?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why aren’t you looking at me?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“You mad?”
“No. Why would I be mad?”
“Do you want my phone?”
“No. Katie might text again, and Christian will be mad that I’m reading messages I don’t understand.”
“Autumn.”
I deeply sighed, hating when he used that low tone with me.
“I’m not giving her any piggyback rides, okay? Those are only reserved for you.”
I looked up at him. “Promise?”
He made a cross over his heart.
“Then what is she riding?”
“I’ll tell you what…” He smiled. “One day you’re going to know the answer to that question, but today isn’t that day, kid.”
“So then what? Is she your girlfriend now or something?”
“Or something.”
“What does that mean?”
“Why does it matter?”
I shrugged again. “I’m just curious.”
“You, curious? Never,” he sarcastically joked.
This wasn’t the time to make fun. This was serious. I needed to know about my competition.
What if he loves her?
Before I could ask, Julian added, winking, “You’ll always be my number one girl, kid.”
I smiled. He always knew what to say to make me feel better, but I wasn’t naive, knowing he only saw me as a little girl.
Right now.
Christian jumped back into his seat, and for the rest of the drive, I didn’t say anything while they talked about Julian’s new baby.
I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the car they were speaking about. It was…
Well, it was a piece of crap.
The outside looked like someone scratched off all the paint, the doors and windows were missing, the interior had been removed, the tires were flat, and the front windshield was cracked. You couldn’t see through it. Those were just the obvious things. He hadn’t popped open the hood yet.
I knew a lot about cars because Julian had taught me. Sometimes I’d go with him to the junkyard. I’d seen him work on lots of vehicles, but none of them looked this bad.
“Uh, Julian.” My gaze found his. “I don’t think this car is going to work. I think it died.”
He smiled, I loved seeing him smile. It lit up his eyes.
“All the more reason to bring her back to life.”
“Do you think you’re going to be able to, though? I mean, she looks pretty dead to me.”
“Kid.” He tugged on the end of my pigtail, and for the next eight years, almost nine, he proved his next words to me on a daily basis.
Stating, “I never back down from a challenge.”
Chapter FOUR
—Autumn—
Now
The absolute nerve of that man.
I couldn’t believe the way he’d talked to me like he had a right to. If he thought I was going to forget everything he’d put me through, then he had another thing coming.
He was a job.
He was just another client.
Nothing more, nothing less.
I’d earned a shot at that partnership at High Society, I deserved it, and I’d be damned if he was going to mess it up for me.
By the time I stepped into my hotel room I was beyond exhausted, having back-to-back meetings here in Miami with other clients after what could only be identified as a power struggle between client and publicist.
It wasn’t like I hadn’t experienced this before. Sometimes influential men had to be knocked down a few notches. Their egos were as big as their bank accounts.
Mr. Locke wasn’t any different.
I could handle him.
I was a professional.
I wouldn’t let him get to me—not his words, not his devastatingly handsome good looks, not even the bullshit I was aware he was going to fight me on simply to stay in control. He’d always had an issue with authority, especially when it came down to telling him what he could and couldn’t do. I definitely had my work cut out for me.
“Hmm…” I groaned, sinking into the hot bubble bath of my suite.
This was how I usually ended most of my days. It didn’t matter where I was.