32. Simon

CHAPTER 32

Simon

As I listen to an old codger, aka my father, drone on angrily about dividends, I stare at him and the rest of the board of Armstrong Enterprises in total irritation.

This could have been a fucking Zoom call.

I did not need to fly back to London to hear doomsday bullshit from old men.

I’m excellent in my position, in spite of my sometimes casual attitude. I can be a shark when I need to be, but I’ve always found I gain more traction using my charm than playing the heavy. My father is the opposite of me and he never trusts my abilities.

It’s always frustrating, but even more so right now when I would much prefer to be back in Chicago in bed with my boyfriend and Elise.

And Wilder too, if he wants to be there.

I can never tell what exactly that man is thinking.

“Simon, you’ll take the lead on that,” my father says.

“Of course.” My phone starts vibrating in my jacket pocket.

I pull it out and hide it under the table. We’re in a private dining room at an exclusive club the Armstrongs have belonged to for generations. Dinner is laid out in front of each man or woman around the table, though no one is really eating. They’re too busy getting worked up into a panicked frenzy over a dip in the market.

I glance at my phone. It’s Aidan, calling me.

I frown. He’s supposed to be at work. He doesn’t usually call when he’s at the firehouse. It’s early afternoon in Chicago. I don’t answer because my father’s head will explode if I do, but I text Aidan surreptitiously.

In a meeting. Everything okay?

Not really. This happened.

An image suddenly pops up.

It’s two hands, a woman’s laying over top of a man’s. That’s Elise’s hand, with the engagement ring Blake gave her. I’m used to seeing it now on her finger.

But that is also Blake’s hand, next to hers, and he’s wearing a wedding band.

The caption below from @OfficialBlakeWilder says, “Did a thing today…”

I stand up so fast my knees hit the underside of the table and everyone’s silverware and glasses rattle.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” my father asks, astonished.

“I have an emergency. I need to make a phone call.”

I’m striding out the door before he can even respond.

“My heavens,” Dorothy Wilkinson, who has to be at least a thousand years old and has more money than God, says. “These young bucks today are just shockingly rude.”

I don’t even take the time to appreciate being called a young buck before I’m calling Aidan back.

“They got married?” I demand, when he gives a rough hello. “When the devil did they do that?”

“Apparently a few hours ago.” Aidan says. “They didn’t think it was a big deal, according to Wilder.”

“You talked to him?” I am heading for the front door of the club before I’m even really aware that’s what I’m doing. “How could he justify not telling us?”

“He said that we always knew they were engaged.”

“ Fake engaged. Was this a fake wedding?” I wave off the concierge, who jumps up to open the door for me. I shove it open, angrily.

I’m jealous.

Furious.

And hurt.

“No. It was real. They went to the courthouse and got married. Legally.”

It’s a gut punch.

Elise is married to Blake and Aidan and I didn’t factor in it at all.

I thought we were a team, all four of us. I thought we were all together , on the same page.

“I’m fucking gobsmacked,” I tell Aidan. “I can see Wilder not bothering to tell us, but why didn’t Elise? Was she afraid we’d talk her out of it? Have you spoken to her?”

“No,” he says tightly. “Wilder says she can’t find her phone.”

“Of course she can’t find her phone.” I step onto the sidewalk and pace back and forth. “Bloody hell! Let me ring you back. I need to arrange my flight to Chicago.”

“You’re coming back? You just got there. Don’t you have important business?”

“Business can wait. I think the four of us need to sit down and talk about the horseshit that is two people in this relationship running off and getting married behind the other two’s backs.”

“Blake said Elise heard us the other night.”

My mind goes blank. “Heard us what? Having sex?”

I don’t see the relevance of that.

“Telling each other I love you.”

I pause in my pacing. “Oh. Well, that wasn’t really a shock to her, was it?” I ask, a little bewildered.

My relationship with Aidan has been progressing quickly.

Thinking about that moment when he confessed his feelings, even in the midst of this debacle, warms me from the inside out.

“I guess so. I don’t know. Wilder was just speculating.”

Then that means nothing.

I feel frustrated to be halfway around the world when I really just want to be face to face with Elise and ask her where her head was at. Where her heart is.

“Do you think she’s in love with him?” I demand. “Is she heading north to rusticate in the woods with him?”

“I don’t know, Simon. All I know is that I’m in love with her and I think you are, too.”

He’s right. I am in love with Elise.

What started out as just fun has deepened into friendship and much, much more.

“I do love her,” I say gruffly. “And I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

I’ll never tire of hearing those words from him.

Aidan is an amazing man. Being loved by him feels like I’ve accomplished something great.

“Maybe this is terrible timing, but I feel like it needs to be stated. I want to be with you, Aidan. Forever. I know the plan was for me to return to London, but plans can be changed. I want a real, permanent relationship with you.”

“That’s what I want too. I just wasn’t sure if I could ask you to do that. You know I can’t leave Chicago.”

I blow out a breath, relieved. My voice softens. “I would never expect you to leave your career, your family. And you can ask me anything, just so you know. I’ll jet across the world weekly to be with you if I have to.”

Aidan laughs. “We’ll figure it out. It’s worth it.”

“It is. You’re worth it to me.”

“And so is Elise. Now get your ass on a plane and come home to us.”

Home.

I’ve never had much of one.

But if home is where the heart is, then my place is with Aidan, Elise, and Blake.

In freezing fucking Chicago.

I give an emphatic nod that he can’t even see.

“I’ll be there in ten hours. Then we’ll go get our girl and talk some sense into her.”