FULL NOVELXO Between Never and Forever: Part 2 – Chapter 7
Keelani Hale shouldn’t have been on that stage. She shouldn’t have been in my resort, on my property, or even in this city. She wasn’t fucking welcome. I’d left behind our hometown, my life, and my damn heart to move on and away from her. Hadn’t I made that clear?
Yet, my brothers were meddlers. “We needed a band.” My new sister-in-law, Clara, smiled at me, her face bright with joy and love. They were trying to cajole me after they’d dropped the bomb she’d be here. “Dominic said she’s close to the family and he loves her voice.”
“You love her voice, asshole?” My blood was already boiling, red-hot with jealousy and rage and probably a little fear. I was in tune with what I felt when it came to Keelani, and I knew it wasn’t good. They wanted to play matchmakers, but they were playing with matches and dynamite instead.
“I’m fucking married, Dex. Get a grip.” My oldest brother’s jaw ticked. “She’s singing our first dance song. Then, she’s singing at this casino. Then”—he glanced at all of us and smiled like they’d come up with the best plan ever—“I put her in the same apartment building as you for the next six months. You know how Keelani is. She gets a bit crazy when she’s somewhere new. So, keep an eye on her. Mom and Dad love her, and you don’t want her parents thinking we didn’t take care of her while she was working in our—”
“I don’t need anyone to take care of me,” I heard from behind me. Her voice had changed over the years. It had more rasp, was distinctive and low in a sultry way that traveled straight to my dick.
She was stunning with dark-brown hair, tan skin, and eyes that were so dark you couldn’t tell the color.
“You don’t need to be in Vegas trying to take care of yourself,” I said to her through clenched teeth.
“Dex, honey, what could you possibly be worried about?” She smirked at me, but I saw the wobble in it before she turned to Dom and hugged him. She made the rounds hugging most of my family and then beelined away from me to Dimitri.
My fucking little brother was her safe haven. He had that spot in her heart, and I hated that I was jealous of him for that.
My date, Seanna, arrived back at my side with a flute of champagne. “She’s very pretty.”
She’d wanted to accompany me here tonight probably more for appearances than anything. We had a great relationship in that it was convenient. She climbed the social ladder by being on my arm, and we’d both relieved each other’s sexual frustration. It’d been a nice arrangement over the years.
But it wasn’t exclusive or emotional. I’d been clear about that.
I shook my head. “I don’t want to talk about her. You know this.”
She smiled. “That’s fine. You intend to talk with her tonight then?”
I growled and left my date in the dust to go confront Dimitri and Kee. These two weren’t going to do this. I couldn’t be around it for months, couldn’t stomach seeing her for that long. Yet, when I made my way around the corner, I just saw Dimitri at the bar. So, I confronted him right then. “D, I don’t want her here. Not at all. I’m not doing it after tonight.”
He turned to me as he scratched the back of his neck, which he only did when he was uncomfortable. “You are doing it, because we signed a contract with Trinity Records to have Kee singing here, bro.”
“So, dissolve the contract. Pay them off. Take a hit on the investment then,” I ground out.
“You’re forgetting that we’ve grown this empire because Carl Milton gave it to us with stipulations, right?” Carl Milton had given us all a shot years ago by letting us invest in his hotel chain.
“Stipulations for…” My words drifted off. Both my older brothers knew Carl better than I had. When he passed away, Carl hadn’t burdened Dimitri and me with much, but he had required in his will that we not go back on any contracts we signed in the next ten years. “You motherfuck—”
“I did it for you and her. So get your head out of your ass and get on board with six months. You haven’t seen her in years, and you’re both still not over the relationship you had. Either end it here or start it over.” He walked off; left me at the bar, alone in my thoughts.
A week after Keelani and I had our last rendezvous in her family’s lilac garden, my phone pinged me her location. She was with Ethan Phillipe at a fucking event. She’d gone back to singing and hanging on Ethan’s arm with my little brother as her best friend.
I’d deleted her contact out of my phone, stopped practically stalking her whereabouts then and there. Before that, I’d basically built software to track her every move. So, I cut it all off. I left behind my heart, closed the door on my life with her, and focused on work. I excelled at that.
My closure consisted of avoiding everything about her—news articles, my brother seeing her, my family discussing any of the Hales. Nobody brought them up for good reason. I’d been fine until now, until my brothers bombarded me with my past.