Chapter 4

Trent - Chapter 4

Max stood on the front stoop for ten minutes after ringing the doorbell eight times. Wherever the bastard was, he wasn't at home, he realized. And he needed to talk to Trent right now. He wanted him to bail him out like he'd said he would. Moving down the steps to his car, he wondered where the hell the man could be after leaving the hospital, and thought maybe he'd gone to his mother's house.

"I'd be no more welcome there than I have been anywhere else, I'm sure." His driver said nothing when Max spoke his thoughts aloud. The man had been trained not to ever speak or repeat anything he might hear as his driver, or he'd meet the same fate as his predecessor. Death was hard to overcome when you fucked up with him.

As he was driven home again, Max wondered why the deal had been suddenly stopped. He knew that he had covered his tracks well; hell, there were times when he couldn't remember where all the skeletons were in his own closet. But this man had figured out something that had been buried, hidden away or simply killed. Whatever it was, someone was going to pay for that mistake coming to light. Pulling out his little black notebook, he marked when he was at Trent's home and who was with him. He even put that the man didn't appear to be home. For all he knew that man could have been hiding in the hallway just where he couldn't see him. Then there was the matter of Noah Stark.

Noah had fucked with him years ago. Not that he didn't deserve it, but there had been no reason for Noah sticking his nose where it didn't belong. Which was just as Max was going to come into some big money via marrying a bitch that had more money than she did good sense. As was the case for most women he knew. Stupid women were his biggest victory, he thought. Except that one time…but he'd gotten her in the end too.

Max had spent a great deal of money and time on getting not just his appearance changed, but his prints had been burned off and his identity erased as well after that. He wasn't the same person he'd been all those years ago, and had the scars to prove it. Even his weight, which had been well over three hundred pounds, had been shed in an effort to keep Noah from finding him. And now here he was, right in the middle of his biggest money maker yet. Or at least that fucking woman was, and he knew that Joe was a good deal smarter than the average women. Maybe smarter than most men he knew as well. Max had dealt with her before and had come out the loser.

Benson Cartwright, the name he'd been going by back then and his real name, had been stupid. Only in the sense that he'd allowed himself to get caught. The plan had been brilliant and would have worked, had Noah not come upon him and the woman one night when he'd been about to convince her to marry him.

Sydney Carlin had been a hard sell. Harder than any other women he'd scammed before. He had tried his best to be friendly to her, even going so far as to court her, but the kid next door and the stubbornness of the stupid woman had made the deal harder and harder to close. Then Noah had shown up. Max had tried his best to stand between him and his intended, but neither of them seemed to notice him.

"Hello, Sydney. How have you been?" She told him that she'd been great and ignored introducing Max to the man. "I see that Benson has decided to pursue you in the worst kind of way. My dear, I do hope you have hidden away all of your jewels. He's a known rake and thief. Not to mention, he is more than likely a murderer as well."

"To say such a thing. I don't know you from anyone else." Noah said nothing but looked at Sydney. Max tried again to push his way between Sydney and Noah, but he just wasn't having it. "You should really leave us to our business."

But Noah didn't leave, nor did he stop. How he knew anything about Max was beyond him, but he knew and had taken it upon himself to tell Sydney all of it, even his plans for taking her money and her life. And he didn't stop there either.

"Sydney, don't marry this man. He really does mean to take your money and then your life. You would be better off going on and never talking to him, seeing him, or having anything at all to do with this man, period." Noah had glanced at him before looking back at the woman of his dreams, rich and stupid. "In fact, I would tell everyone you know. Spread his name and his picture to every one of your friends. Take out a small advertisement in the paper. Tell everyone what a scoundrel and a cad he is."

She'd done just that. After getting up from the table, leaving him with the bill, Sydney left him sitting there. Then Noah had walked away, laughing. The next day he'd not only been unable to see the woman, but the paper had put out a half page ad about him, including his financial information and that he was preying on others to line his pockets. Max had left in a hurry after women and men started showing up at his door to blast him. Some even threatened to tar and feather him. Max knew that it was all because Noah had told them to do it. Not even the brat next door had given him this much trouble.

But as with many things that he did, Max came out on top, and in a small satisfying way, he'd gotten some of what he'd wanted. Sydney was dead, and no one was none the wiser.

And now here Noah was again, intruding on his business. But there was the added fact that Noah didn't know him. Or anything about this new person he'd come to be. Max thought that he might just have a little fun with the other man and see if he could ruin something for him while he was at it. Maybe even take away the one person that the man seemed to love more than he did anything else. Joe Samuels.

"Sir?" Max looked at the open door to his car and the man's face there. He had no idea how long they'd been stopped, but Max didn't care that the man seemed to be laughing at him. Lifting his foot up, he slammed his booted foot into the man's face and smiled when he stumbled back to the sound of breaking bones. Not even bothering to step over the man, Max made sure that he ground his foot into the softest part of his body as he made his way out of the limo to the house. He'd bet anything that the man would show up to work tomorrow with his face bandaged up, and without a word about what he'd made Max do to him. As soon as he was in the house, he told the butler to have the man fired and his things tossed out with his body first thing. Not waiting for an answer, Max made his way to his office. Things would be done the way he wanted them or there would be hell to pay.

He wasn't surprised to find his phone ringing the moment that he sat down at his desk. Things were progressing now, at least he hoped they were, and they would be finished before he moved on to the last phase of his plan. His plan to be one very wealthy and happy man living as far from here as he could.

"Where the hell have you been? I've been trying to contact you all day." He cocked a brow at the tone of the man on the other end of the phone and didn't bother answering him. The sooner this man was out of his life, the better that would be as well. "Did you see today's paper? What the hell are we going to do now? Huh? Answer me that. You said this was a done deal. It doesn't sound like a done deal to me."

"Perhaps if you gave me some idea as to what I might have missed while trying to line up a meeting with our Mr. Calhoun, then I could answer you." Jefferson Marshall only huffed at him. Pulling his gun from the top desk drawer and laying it on the top of his blotter, Max felt better just knowing that soon this man would feel the bite of his wrath too. "Jefferson, take a breath and tell me what I have missed."

"Trent Calhoun is out of town indefinitely." That certainly wasn't in the plan, but was nothing that couldn't be overcome. He asked him why that was so earth shattering. "Because, according to this morning's paper that you have not even bothered to read, he might be closing down his business. Sources say that he has had enough and won't be opening when he returns, if he even returns. I'm having someone look into seeing if this is true or not. But I'm telling you right now, this will be the end of us if he doesn't help us out of this hole you got us in."

Max tried to slow his mind down to the implications of what this would mean. What could have happened to Calhoun that he'd just forsake all his clients? And he had a great many of them too. Max had done his research on the man and knew that he had money enough to burn. And then some. Something had gotten to him...or someone. Noah Stark. Max thought for sure that Noah was behind this closure.

Max realized that Jefferson was still talking and asked him to please shut up. The silence was so abrupt, he'd thought he'd hung up on him. Jefferson didn't know the half of what was going on with their business. He had no idea that Calhoun had backed out of their deal, and he certainly had no idea that Noah was behind all of it, nor what Calhoun had said to him that day in the office.

"I'm sorry, but we're going to have to decline going into business with you." Max had laughed a little and the younger man only stared at him. "My brother and I have been looking into some of your dealings, and we've found that you're not telling the entire truth, are you? Like for instance, where is the money for the retirement funds for the people that work for you? Also, you haven't paid their insurance premium in months, and the company is going to cut them off soon."

"I don't know where you've found that information, but I assure you, none of it's true. We've been in business for a while now, and we've always kept up with those payments. I'll have to talk to my partner…perhaps he knows." Elijah said nothing, but slid a paper toward Max. Right there in black and white was his name on all the billings, as well as his address. "This can be taken care of when you and your firm bail us out. It's what you do, right?"

"No. We help companies grow…we don't keep them from prison. And we certainly don't get in bed with crooks." Elijah sat down just as the door behind him opened. "Mr. Edwards will show you out, Mr. Ford. Have a good day. And good luck with getting anyone else to loan you any money."

And Elijah had been right. No one else would touch him, not even enough for him to make an appointment to tell them what he needed. He really needed this to work. But he had to get rid of Jefferson for now.

"I'll call you back when I find out what is going on with this. I'm sure that we just have to figure out what their plans are for all of this. We can only hope that it's nothing more than an overzealous reporter with too much time on his hands." It would be just Max's luck if it were true and he'd be out all his money. Noah was going to pay for fucking this up for him. "I'll talk to you tomorrow when I go into the offices. In the meantime, just sit tight and let me handle this."

"Letting you handle things is what got us into this in the first place." Max started to tell the man to fuck off, but didn't get the chance before he spoke again. "You fuck this up, Max, and I swear to you I'll not work with you again." Big threat. He wasn't going to be around to work with anyone.

After he hung up, Max tried to think of what he could do now. He didn't even have enough to leave the country right now. All his money had gone into making a good impression on the stupid dog and to Max's accounting firm overseas. His plan to leave the country with a great deal of ready cash was slowly falling apart. Calhoun had really fucked up his plans in backing out. Max wanted to think of a way to make him come up to the plate with money in hand, or he was going to have to think of more creative ways to get the money from someone else. He wasn't above kidnapping and holding someone for ransom at this point.

"But it wouldn't get me nearly what I want in all of this. And there is the risk of it not working. Then I'll be fucked too." There was money, a great deal of it. Just where he couldn't get to it just now. Max had thought as he was sending his money out that he should have some rainy day money and he'd had a little, but he'd spent it. Lavish dinners, limo drivers, and a few new suits had taken care of that. He had travel expenses to gather, and he wanted to go out with a bang. When he left this country, he was going to make sure that everyone knew that he'd been here.

Max knew that he could call and get money wired to his bank here. And he'd thought of it several times over the last few days. But doing that would be evidence that he had money elsewhere. Not to mention the penalties and fines that he would incur when he did that. Max looked down at his new suit and smiled. Being broke right now had really given him a fine set of clothes.

When his phone rang a little before seven, Max actually thought about not answering it. He was in the middle of making plans, poor ones, but making them all the same, and finally reached for it with a bark of his name. When he was greeted with silence on the other end. It took him several seconds to realize that he might have pissed someone off, like he even cared.

"Mr. Ford?" He felt his balls crawl up into his body. No one had this number but his business partner and his butler. They were the only two that could call him directly. The voice at the other end of the line had a tone that made him think that they'd gone to great links to get the number…and not only that, they had enjoyed it too. "Mr. Max Ford, correct?"

"Yes." Max thought he knew the voice. It was eerily quiet on the other end, but he was pretty sure that Noah was calling him. "Who is this?"

"Oh, I'm sure you've figured it out by now. Please tell me that you've not forgotten our little play time together. I will be very hurt if you have." Max wanted to hang up, but fear made him pull the phone tighter to his ear. "What do you think you're doing, threatening my friends? And lying too. You should know that liars always get what's coming to them. And you are one of the biggest ones I know."

"Look, Noah. I don't know what she told you, but I just wanted to hire her as my...to come and work for me." He had no idea what the woman could do other than predict the market better than most men he knew. But getting her in his home had seemed like a good plan at the time. "I had no idea that she was related to you."

"Then why did you tell her that you were going to need to talk to me? What reason could you think that I'd want a thing to do with any of your business dealings?" Max tried to think what he'd told the woman when he'd seen her on the streets that day and again at the hospital. "Come now, you must have had a reason to have one of your henchmen hold her while you spit on her with your anger. Bad move on your part, that. You do know that I can trace a man through his scent, no matter what he might have done to his physical appearance?"

"What do you mean you can trace someone through their scent?" He was trying to think if he'd ever heard that Noah was a shifter, and hadn't. The man was a recluse and a pain in his ass, but he'd never known anyone to say he was anything but a human. "Did you have someone take my DNA, Noah? Is that what you've done?"

"No, my dear boy. I tasted it. And that alone gives me all kinds of information that most people I know would never have realized about you." Max tried to think what the fuck he was talking about when he spoke again. "Being a vampire affords me all sorts of gifts that you should be finding out about soon enough. But I will tell you right now, I have a memory like a steel trap. You can change your looks, but I know you better than you do yourself."

The laughter echoed in his head long after the man hung up on him. Max laid the phone back in the cradle, and his hands shook. He also felt the beads of sweat as it rolled down his back and pooled at his spine. He was in so much trouble here. More than he would ever thought he'd be in. Noah Stark was a fucking vampire. And he knew everything.

~*~

Trent tried to make the stupid pole work, but all he seemed to be able to catch was the trees around him or some hidden log or weed in the bottom of the lake, just waiting to tangle him up. He looked over at Joe when she laughed. Who would have thought that someone having fun at your expense would make you feel so good?

"You've never done this before, have you?" He shook his head and handed her his pole again. She had a magical touch with it. Every time he was tangled, she just make a few adjustments and he'd be free to get it messed up again. "How could a man that has such a lovely home here not know how to do something as basic as fishing? Not to mention baiting a hook, or even untangling a line when it is just above your head?"

"My dad tried to teach us when we were boys. He'd haul us up here and we'd make a weekend of it. It never was a very good adventure for us. We'd fight and whine and he'd end up coming out here to fish on his own. I think it was simply a way to give my mom a break. She needed it with us. Not to say that she didn't love us, but I would imagine that six boys running full tilt around a house would make any woman a little tense."

He watched her rather than try to cast out again. Twice now he'd had to go out into the warm water and retrieve his pole, and both times she'd stood on the dock and laughed. Tomorrow they were going to go out in the boat. He was terrified to think how that would end. Sure, the water was warm and it felt good on his poor beaten body, but he just knew he was going to tip them and he'd drown her trying to save her. He wasn't the outdoorsman type.

"When Noah and I were on the run, we'd do this for my food. It was less fun then, wondering if I'd be able to get a meal or not." She cast her line in and watched the tiny bobber on the end as she continued. "Then one night while I slept, he went into town and got me some food. I woke the next morning to eggs and other treats that we usually could not have carried with us after we fled his home. It was hard at times, but Noah always took care of me. And I him. Michael has been with us forever, as well as Meggie's relatives. We're all the family we ever needed, I guess."

"I would imagine that you had to run a great deal. Do you still?" She shook her head and smiled at him. "Christ, you're beautiful."

"Thank you, but you're not going to eat if you don't catch something." He nodded and tried his best to imitate what she was doing. "Slowly. Cast it out slowly, remembering that there are trees above you and things lurking beneath that you can catch but not eat. Take your time and think about putting the bobber out there, not above you."

He tried what she suggested and was quite proud of himself when he had not snagged the branches that seemed to jump in his way, or his body. Twice now she'd had to come and cut the line from his arm or his leg. It was most embarrassing to say the least. Keeping his eye on the little red and white ball out further than he'd ever been able to make it go, he spoke to Joe.

"Tell me about your life with Noah. I'm sure it's been an adventure living with a vampire." He wanted to ask her if he'd fed from her, but he was pretty sure that was how she'd saved his life. Noah had told him that he was indebted to Joe more than he could ever repay her. "How long have you lived with him?"

"Nearly eight hundred years." He glanced in her direction when she said that. "Careful. I was about seventeen at the time. I was never sure of my birthdate, but I think that was about right. He was being hurt by a man that I knew. Abraham. He was going to kill him for some of his money. It wasn't much, I don't think, but we were always so hungry. I bargained for their lives."

"And he was killed later. I think Noah mentioned that." She nodded and pulled on her pole. A fat fish nearly leapt up on the shoreline as she reeled it in. She'd be eating well tonight while he was going to have potatoes at this rate. He was really hungry too. Eating smart had a way of not—

"Trent, you have a bite." It took his fuzzed mind a few seconds to register what she'd said to him, and he looked at the ball as it went under again.

He nearly dropped the pole in his excitement. The bobber was nowhere in sight, and the string on his pole was as taut as he'd ever seen it. Reeling it in as he'd seen her do, she told him to set the hook.

This was where he had problems. Setting the hook in the mouth of the fish meant jerking on the line hard enough to make it stick in the fish, yet not pull out so that he would escape. This time he tried for gentle and laughed when the fish took off again, still at the end of his line.

Reeling and pulling was a lot more work than he'd thought it would be. Joe just seemed to bring the fish right in, but he was having to pull and reel over and over. When she went to the water's edge with the net, he knew it was going to be the smallest fish in all the lake despite the fact that he'd been working so hard.

When she laughed, his embarrassment grew until she pulled the net out of the water. He stood there with his mouth open as she turned and laid the net with his catch in it on the bank. He'd caught a monster. His first thought was that she'd blown up a fake fish and put it there for him.

"I think he weighs a bit more than seven pounds." She pulled it from the net like an expert and put it on the small scale that she'd unearthed from the tackle box. It was real, he knew it then, as it flopped and jerked to get away. Trent had no idea what most of the crap in the tackle box was for, but she seemed to know what she was doing. "Oh Trent, he weighs nine pounds, four ounces. Here, hold him so that I can take his picture with you."

She'd been allowed to bring her phone. Not that they'd made much use of the phone itself, but they had taken a great many pictures with it. And last night, after their dinner, she'd pulled out her laptop and they'd downloaded them onto it. After he posed for a half dozen pictures with the fish, he asked to see them.

"I look like a kid." She told him he was to her. "I suppose so. Can you send them to my parents? I was supposed to be up here relaxing and taking pictures of me doing that. She gave me this antiquated camera that I was supposed to use, and then.... Ahh. She knew you were coming. See, this is coming to light more and more. Relax, Trent, she said to me."

"You feel relaxed?" He told her he did. "You do look better than the first time I saw you. I was afraid for you, if you want to know the truth."

She'd told him last night that she had been the one to give him CPR. He might have been told that before, by his dad or doctor, but he didn't remember. But now, even if he had known, it meant more to him.

They fished for a little while longer. He heard her phone go off once or twice, but he never thought to ask her if it was important. Trent found he didn't really care if anyone came to see them again. He'd already contacted his brother and asked him not to come up, and had found out that he'd been wrong about his dad. He'd known about the plan to throw Joe and Trent together, of course, but it had not been solely his plan.

"Mom planned this? I don't believe it. She's not the devious type." Sterl laughed when he did. "I thought I was in deep shit when she told me to get out of the house that day. I guess she knew all along that this is what I needed."

"Apparently. Oh, before I forget to tell you, the paper ran a false story two days ago. About the time you left, as a matter of fact. Anyway, it says that you've closed your doors. Elijah has been working to find out who might have done it. But for now, instead of trying to get a retraction, he's letting it ride. I think he thought it would give you both a much needed break. I guess he thinks it might be the work of that guy, Ford, anyway, a way to get back at you for turning him down." Trent said he could see him doing that. "Whatever happens, he's got it under control, so don't worry about it."

And he hadn't. Not even to worry about whether or not this would hurt his business. Trent was loving every single moment he was up here even if it was under dubious reasons. He looked over at Joe when she said his name.

"This house, does it belong to you or your family?" He told her his parents. "I love it here. Would they sell it to me, you think? I could live up here forever with all the quiet and no neighbors. I know that I have a job, but this is a place I could come and let go."

"Me too. Although when I first came up here, all I could think about was going home again." He moved over to where she was standing and put his arm around her. He'd put his pole away when she said she was tired, and was glad now that his hands were free to do this. Looking out over the lake, he thought about the house he'd just bought and wondered what he'd do with it if his parents would sell the cabin to him and Joe. "I don't have a lot of on-hand cash right now. But I'll ask them. Would you live up here with me?"

"You don't have to worry about money now." He said he rarely did anyway. "What I mean to say is, I have enough for us. We're mates now, and what's mine is yours. I know that much about your kind. I think I like that rule too."

"I don't need your money." He felt her stiffen in his arms and remembered something that had happened between his parents long ago regarding money.

His mom had a great deal when she and dad had first gotten together. She'd inherited it from her family, and his dad had been a little touchy about it. He'd had it in his head that he was the provider, his mom had told him years later, and she'd had to point out to him that they both provided for their family. They were a team on this.

But one day, Scott had needed some money for a class trip. It hadn't been a great deal, if he remembered correctly, but his mom had gone to the bank and taken it out of the account, her account as it had turned out, because his dad had been stubborn about signing the card to give him access. His dad had been livid. Apparently, he'd thought it was fine for him to go to the bank and ask for a loan rather than to just simply admit that the money would have been all right, no matter the account it came from. So his mom had gone to the bank that afternoon, withdrawn as much as she could, and put it in the fireplace. When Dad had come home that night, she started a fire with some of it and told him if it wasn't their money, there was no point in keeping it. As far as Trent remembered, it was never brought up again, and the money had been put in the family account. Now he'd done the same thing with his own mate.

"What I mean is, we don't need to spend it on this place. I'm pretty sure that they'll cut us a good deal. And if not, then I'll let you buy it for me." She turned in his arms and looked up at him. "I don't want to ever fight with you about money. It's ours. Right?"

"Yes. It's ours. Thank you." She turned back to the water, and he felt her laughter. "You can make it up to me by cleaning the fish for our dinner."

He felt his heart sink. Trent would rather have fought about the money. He knew less about cleaning fish than he did about catching them. They might have to order a pizza if he was in charge of it.