Ashton Scott

“Go, Bradley!” Alessandra calls out, drawing my gaze to the field in time to see him score a goal.

My heart swells with pride, and I’m reminded why I’m here. I manage to spend the rest of the game watching my nephew and keeping all distractions out of focus. Mostly out of focus. Every now and then, Lorelei cheers Bradley on, bringing my attention back to her. I can’t help but be captivated by the way she has welcomed my family into her heart. Sharing these family moments with her is something I look forward to in our future together.

“What’s going on with you and Lorelei?” Alessandra asks as Lorelei and Malcolm leave us to go find Bradley after the match has finished.

“What makes you think something is going on?” Getting into this with my sister is the last thing I need today. Especially when the noise from the crowd is roaring through my head, interfering with my thinking.

“It’s obvious to anyone who knows you two that something’s going on. Lorelei’s distracted and can’t keep up with a conversation, and you keep watching her like you’re afraid she won’t be there each time you look over. I have never seen you like this. The Ashton I know doesn’t deal in fear. So what’s going on?”

“Fuck,” I mutter, glancing away from her scrutiny for a moment. If Aly gets involved in this, who fucking knows where it will end up. My sister likes to help when she senses problems between other people. I’ve always thought of it as her way to avoid her own problems, and she has enough of them to deal with at the moment that I can see her focusing on mine instead. “Can we not do this, Aly? Lorelei and I just need a little time to get our heads around some stuff. We’ll be fine.”

“Your idea of fine is a lot different to a woman’s idea of fine. You really should tell me what’s happened so I can help you to not make a huge mistake here.”

“I’m not going to make a mistake here. I’m going to sort something out. That’s all.”

Her eyes widen. “Jesus, this is worse than I thought. No wonder Lorelei is distracted. Honestly, Ashton, why have you never learnt that sometimes people don’t need you to sort stuff out? Sometimes we just want to be left alone to figure it out on our own.”

“You’re being dramatic, Alessandra. Lorelei simply—”

“Just tell me what happened. When you use the word simply, I know the shit’s about to hit the fan. No woman ever wants to hear a man try to downplay a situation that way.”

We could stand here for hours arguing over this and I know she’d never cave. When my sister wants information badly enough, she’ll never give up the fight. So I give her what she wants and hope to hell she doesn’t make matters worse between Lorelei and me. “Her ex is sniffing around and she kept the fact from me that she went to him to ask him to leave her alone. She also kept from me that he has no intention of doing that. We’ve discussed it today and I’ve told her I’ll take care of the problem.”

Her face softens and so does her voice when she says, “Oh boy, this is all new territory for you. I should have known it was something hurtful like this that would cause you to—”

“I’m angry, Aly, not hurt. I don’t appreciate information deliberately being kept from me.”

“Yes, I know you’re angry, but where do you think that anger is coming from? You’re hurt by her choices, and it’s okay to admit that. You should tell her this is how you feel.”

“I’ve made it clear to Lorelei how I feel on this matter. And as far as I’m concerned, the discussion is finished.”

She cocks her head to the side. “So you told her you’d take care of Boston?”

“Yes. Her attempt didn’t work. I’ll make sure the job gets done.”

“Oh God, did you say that to her? The bit about you getting the job done after she didn’t?”

I nod. “She doesn’t want him in her life anymore. I’m going to help her with that.”

“You seriously have no clue about women. You’re good at getting them, just not so good at keeping them. You’ve basically told her you don’t think much of her ability to achieve her goal. And that, little brother, is a sure-fire way to upset a woman.”

This conversation is pointless and I’m finished with it. Alessandra doesn’t know the finer points of my relationship with Lorelei, and I don’t have the inclination to explain them to her. Glancing behind her, I spot Malcolm coming our way. Lorelei and Bradley are right behind them, and the smile on Lorelei’s face gives me hope she’s moved past our earlier discussion.

Lifting my chin towards Malcolm, I say, “They’re back, so can we drop this? I’ve got a handle on the situation.”

“I truly hope so, because I’ve never seen you happier than you are with Lorelei in your life.”

My eyes meet Lorelei’s as she comes closer. The smile in them disappears. And when she moves next to me and says, “Malcolm has invited us to hang out with them this afternoon and have dinner at their place tonight, and I said yes,” I know she hasn’t moved past anything.

I frown. “We have plans for tonight.” At her request, we’re sailing out of Sydney at four this afternoon on a private yacht. We’ve both blocked out Monday so we can have two nights out to sea with no distractions.

“Cancel those plans, Ashton. We have more important things to do this weekend.”

48

Lorelei

I watch Ashton pace his living room as he talks to Cassia over the phone. We left Alessandra’s and arrived here about fifteen minutes ago, and they’ve been on the phone since then. From what I can work out, something’s going on with his parents, and Cassia’s trying to get Ashton to go over to their house and intervene.