Working On Love (The Griffin Brothers Book 6) (12 page)

“After the divorce, I
left Chicago. I needed to be away, and I also couldn’t bear to see
Martin going on like nothing happened. Mitchell knew what had
happened, but his hands were tied. Because he’d always wanted to
have Corrigan & Co. be a family business, he’d written certain
things into the charter. One of those was that two Corrigan men had
to be part of the company at all times, unless there was no one who
wanted the job. Miles was too young, and Matt was away, so he was
forced to keep Martin in the company.”

“I tried to make him
quit. The bastard spit in my face, and called me some names. He knew
there was only so far I could go with him, because no one wanted him
killed.”

“Motherfucking
bastard.” I look over, and Matt looks like he wants to kill his
father himself.

“Yes, he is. But he
was behaving because he had his precious job.”

“Until Miles and I
took it from him.”

“Yes. When Mitchell
died, and you took over, Martin wasn’t worried. It was when Miles
decided to give up his baseball contract and take the other spot in
the company, that he was pushed over the edge. He hid it well. We all
thought he was ready to go, and live his life of luxury without the
work. We were so wrong.”

She bursts into tears,
and Matt pulls her into his arms, hugging her close. Jane takes a
deep breath, and then looks at me. I see regret, and guilt on her
face.

“I thought he was
over it. I would’ve had him monitored more closely if I’d had any
inkling of what he was planning.”

“Why are you looking
at me?”

“Because his revenge
was all about you, Alex. He saw how Miles had behaved with women over
the years, and figured out that he was still in love with you. He
wanted to hurt him, and prove to him that although he was now too
strong to be scared of him, Miles could never protect you from him.”

“But it was Nick, and
his friends who hurt Miles. And me.”

“When you saw Martin
at the hospital, he had just told Miles the truth.” She takes
another deep breath. “Martin hired Nick to pursue you, and to do
the other things he did. It was all planned out. He even knew Miles
would beat Nick up, although I don’t believe he shared that with
Nick. He had those men camp out in your apartment, knowing you’d
come back at some point. It was all a sick plot to hurt Miles. To
show him he couldn’t protect you from his father. He didn’t care
who he hurt.”

“Oh my God. That’s
why he broke up with me.”

“Yes. What Martin
told him, along with watching that man kiss you and touch you while
he was being beaten, has nearly destroyed Miles.”

“We’re killing him,
right? Please tell me we’re killing Martin.”

“We don’t use that
word, Scott. Ever. You know that. My son will be neutralized, but he
will live. I-I can’t order anything more. I’m sorry.”

My grandma walks over
to her, and hugs her. “Don’t be. None of us expect you to order
that. He’s still your son, even if he’s not who you raised him to
be. As long as he can’t hurt anyone again, we’ll stand behind
your decision.”

“Thank you. We’re
cleaning out his accounts, cutting off his money, and dropping him
somewhere remote. He’ll have shelter, and we’ll drop food to him
monthly, but he’ll be on his own.”

“What if he escapes?”
Zane asks.

“My son is too lazy
to get far. If by some miracle he does, the tracker in him will let
us know, and we’ll pick him up, and drop him back at the starting
point.”

“Wow. You don’t
play around.”

“No. We don’t.”

“Who’s doing this?”

“I am, Matt,” Reina
tells him.

“I’m going with
you, Princess. You’re not facing that bastard alone.”

“I’m taking Jade
and Audrey with me.”

“Take me too. Please.
I promise I’ll follow your orders. I’m smart enough to realize
that I can’t lead this mission, but I need to be part of it.”

“Okay. Let’s go.”

They walk out of the
room, and then I turn to everyone else. “I’m going to need help.
From all of you.”

“What are you
planning, Alex?”

“I’m going to woo
Miles. Show him how special and important he is. I know just what I
need, but for some things, I’ll need help.” I look to Jessica,
and she smiles. “I need the cards.”

“I know where they
are. But we’ll need Martin for them.”

“I can get into any
place they could be hidden,” Darcy tells her.

“A bank vault?”

“Piece of cake.”

I outline the rest of
my plan for them. They all agree to help with their parts of it. I
thank them, and then get started on what I have to do. I’m going to
fight for Miles, even though he’s the one I’ll have to beat to
get him back. I won’t let him go again.

Miles

It’s my first day
back to work, and even my secretary gives me a smile when I walk in.
Or hobble in. I’m still not moving too fast, even two weeks after
being released. Broken ribs and internal injuries will do that to
you, I guess. I walk into my office and stop in my tracks.

Paper cranes are
hanging from the ceiling and there’s one sitting in the middle of
my desk. I know there’s 1,000 of them. Alex and I read that book
and then made 1,000 of our own cranes that year. I go to my desk and
see the note underneath that crane.

I’m
wishing for another chance with my King.

I
love you,

Xandy

I suck in a breath as I
drop to my chair. She only wants that chance because she doesn’t
know. She doesn’t understand that everything was my fault. If she
did, she’d never want to see me again.

* * *

It has been two days
since the cranes; all of which I carefully took down and boxed. I
can’t have her, but I’ll keep those. It’s been a long day of
work, and I have Landon’s baseball practice tonight. I haven’t
been much use as a coach the last month, but they’ve been doing
really well. The championship game is on Saturday. I think I’m more
excited than the guys are.

I walk slowly out to
the field, casually glancing at the stands. I do a double take when I
see Alex lounging on the bleachers. She’s leaning back with her
elbows on the bench behind her, looking hot as hell. She has on a
baseball cap from the team I was supposed to play with—in fact, I
think that’s
my
hat
with the number I was assigned before I had to leave the team. Holy
shit. Where the hell did she find one? They only made like 100 of
them. And then that shirt with “I’m with the coach” stretched
across her beautiful tits. Hell yeah she is. No wait, she isn’t.
She can’t be. I shake my head and walk out onto the field.

The little guys all run
up to me. “Hey. You guys have done awesome while I was gone. Thanks
for keeping up the good work.”

“You’re okay now,
right?”

“Yeah, Land. I’m
good.”

“Alex told us she
thought you were, but she’s been really sad while she watches us
play.”

“She’s been coming
to practice?”

“Yep. She comes to
the games, too, just like she said she would. Some guys tried to talk
to her once. I was going to tell them to go away, but she handled it
herself. She cries a lot, though, so now everyone leaves her alone.”

Fuck. I don’t want
her crying. And I definitely don’t want some assholes hitting on
her. I look back to the stands where I meet her eyes. She gives me a
smile that lights up her face and melts my heart. I want to run to
her, but then I remember all the ugliness I brought to her life. I
can’t do that to her again. And I know my father won’t ever stop
trying to destroy me. I turn back to the kids and get on with
practice.

* * *

Alex

I almost had him the
other day at baseball practice. He started to smile at me, but then
his walls came back down around him. I’m hoping I can chip away at
that armor he’s hiding behind. This isn’t my final surprise, but
I think it’s a good start. I’m really nervous, but I’m also
desperate for Miles to see how much I love him.

The announcer welcomes
everyone to Cashman Field for the championship and then starts
talking about me. “We have a special guest tonight who is going to
get things started by singing the National Anthem. Please welcome
Alex Roberts.”

I hear clapping as I
walk out. I look for Miles and see that his eyes are wide. They
should be. I’m wearing his jersey, as well as his hat tonight. When
he was supposed to be playing in the Major Leagues, I immediately
bought everything with his name and number on it. Several of each,
actually. I hadn’t worn anything until now, but it really
is
time for me to pull out all the stops.

I walk up to the
microphone and sing my heart out. I have one of those rare
performances where everything goes right. I hit every note and stay
in tune. I had some help from above tonight, so as I finish singing,
I close my eyes and thank God and my parents for it.

I look to Miles once
more before I walk off the field to my seat. The game is a nail
biter, but the guys end up losing by two runs. I know they’re
upset, so I go down to hug them all. I’ve come to love these kids
the last few weeks. Their parents and the other coach all thank me
for coming, but Miles is still ignoring me. I only have a couple more
tricks up my sleeve, and if they don’t work I’ll have to give up.
I just hope one of them does the trick.

* * *

Miles

I’ve managed to keep
myself in control through all of Alex’s surprises. The cranes, the
taffy from Disneyland that I love, the singing last week, the packs
of card games that we used to play, and even my baseball gear.
Tonight may be too much, though. She’s throwing a party for the
kids and their families. At our condo. Well, her condo now. But
still.

I can’t go there
alone, so I picked up a chick at the casino to take along. She’s
been trying to kiss me all the way up the elevator, even though I
told her tonight was hands off. I just need her with me to get Alex
to back off. She doesn’t know how bad I am for her. If she did,
she’d back off on her own. I can’t tell her what my dad did, so
this will have to do.

I don’t have a key
anymore, so I ring the doorbell. Scott Griffin answers and his jaw
clenches when he sees that I’m not alone.

“Fuck no. You’re
not coming in here with her.”

“What’s wrong,
Uncle Scott?”

Alex comes into view,
and I lose the ability to speak for a moment. She’s got on an off
the shoulder turquoise dress that goes just past her knees. There’s
an opening right across her chest, and the fabric is doing some
gathering thing on one side. She has on sexy black heels with swirls
and sheer panels, and her hair is up in a messy bun with loose curls
in front.

She’s smiling until
she sees my date and I. A visible shudder wracks her body and her
green eyes flash as she steps up next to her uncle.

“What else could I
have done, Miles? What wasn’t good enough?”

“What are you talking
about?”

“I’ve spent the
past two weeks trying everything I could think of to show you how
much I love you and how special you are. Obviously I was lacking
since you’re bringing another woman into our home. Just know that
this is it. I’m done. If she comes through the door we will
never
be together again. I mean it.”

“If you
knew…things…you wouldn’t want to be with me.”

“I know everything,
Miles.
Everything
. I
have since before the cranes.”

“No. You can’t…”

When I look past her to
where my mom and Matt are, they both nod. Oh my God. She
does
know. And she doesn’t hate me. Well, actually right now I think she
might. She shakes her head at me as tears well up in her eyes and
then turns to walk away.

Scott goes with her,
leaving me with my date. She starts to walk in, but I put my arm out
to stop her. There’s no way I’m letting her walk through this
door.

“I’ll give you some
money for a cab. They’ll call for you downstairs.”

“Are you kidding me?
You promised me a party.”

“And now I’m
telling you to leave.”

She starts to protest
again, but Matt steps forward and throws her over his shoulder. “I
got this little brother. Go try to win your woman back. She’s sure
as hell done more than her part.”

Yeah, she has. I thank
him and walk towards the living room. Landon stops me before I get to
the door. “She’s not in there.”

“Where is she,
buddy?”

“You’re a jerk. She
wore your jersey and your hat, but you don’t care.”

“I
do
care.”

“Then why did you
make her cry again?”

“Because I was scared
of her love.”

“Are you going to be
nice to her now?” I can’t help but smile at the protectiveness in
his tone.

“Yes. I promise.”

“She ran upstairs.”

“Thanks.”

I run up the stairs and
burst into our bedroom. She’s not there. I look around and notice
she hasn’t been sleeping in here. I walk out, trying to figure out
what room she might be in. I honestly have no clue since we’d only
lived here for a day before everything went to shit.

I walk into the hall
and start with the nearest door. It’s when I open the third door
that I hear her sobbing. My heart sinks as I step inside and see her
curled up on the bed. “Don’t cry, Xandy. I’m so sorry.”

“Where’s your
date?”

“Gone. She never set
one foot inside. I swear.”

“Why not? She was
practically on top of you. You could’ve had her in our bed.”

“I only want you in
our bed. Or anywhere else. I wasn’t going to sleep with her. I just
needed for you to stop. It’s been getting harder to resist you, and
I knew I couldn’t have you.”