Catching Sam: Book 2 of 5: The MacDonald Brothers Emily Matthews (good books for high schoolers .TXT) 📖

competition. He had everything. Wayne wasn’t even in the same league. It was just good old common sense that she wouldn’t go back to Wayne if Sam were an option. He was good-looking, rich, kind, and apparently so humble, he thought she’d choose an ex-con over him.

Rather than go straight home, she drove along Lake Washington Boulevard until she found a place near the water to pull over. It wasn’t the ocean, but it would do in a pinch. Sitting on a park bench, she stared at the water and hoped that listening to the soft waves lap at the shore would calm her down and help her figure out what to do next.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Now he’d gone and done it. What an idiot. He knew better than to storm into Annie’s office before thinking things through. If he’d just taken two seconds to calm down and think about it, he might have avoided that entire mess. Of course he didn’t believe Wayne over Annie. He didn’t even know Wayne! And what he did know was not impressive. He was an asshole, just like Annie had said.

Now what? Annie was good and pissed, that was for sure. But how pissed? Would she give him a chance to explain? Let him tell her he was an idiot for going off half-cocked and that, of course, he didn’t mean the things he’d said or implied? He still didn’t know how Wayne knew about their relationship or why Annie had been ignoring him, but those things could probably be explained.

He’d more or less accused her of being pregnant with his child, when in reality she’d lost her baby. That was something he never would have guessed in a million years. The raw pain he’d seen in her eyes nearly broke his heart. She probably set up that room in honor of her baby’s memory or something.

Why did he immediately have to think everyone had sinister motives? Why couldn’t he assume the best in people instead of the worst? What the fuck was wrong with him?

The book he’d read on trusting people was sitting on the corner of his desk. “Fat lot of good you were,” he said, throwing it into the garbage can.

He picked up the phone and hit one of the speed dial numbers. He only knew of one person who might be able to help.

“Hey, Matthew. What’s up?”

“What’s wrong?” Matthew responded without preamble.

“What makes you think something’s wrong?” asked Sam.

“I know you. I can hear it in your voice. Plus, you rarely make social calls. Is it the Denali project?”

“No. It’s personal.”

“Wow. Um, okay. That’s new.”

“Shut up, man. What are you doing right now? Can I come talk to you?”

“Holy shit, you’re serious. I’m golfing, but I can be back at the clubhouse in fifteen minutes. Meet me there?”

“I don’t want to interrupt your golf game,” Sam hedged.

“Eh, I’m doing shitty anyway. It’ll give me an excuse to walk away. You’ll be doing me a favor.” Sam knew that was bullshit, but appreciated his friend’s willingness to drop everything to help him.

“See you in a sec.” Sam hung up, texted Steve, then laid his head back on his chair. Matthew was happily married and had three adorable kids. He was the only family man Sam knew well and trusted implicitly. There must be some secrets to keeping a woman happy that Matthew could share.

Thirty minutes later, he was in the clubhouse bar sitting at a table across from Matthew, nursing a Jack and Coke. He’d spilled his guts and told him what had been going on with Annie. How he’d broken all the rules, was dating an employee, and had now really fucked up.

“You’re not worried about the company, are you?” Matthew asked.

“Of course I’m worried about the company,” Sam exclaimed. “Think of the story she could tell. She could have a legitimate lawsuit of sexual harassment. Who knows how much it could cost me? Cost the company. I mean, the company itself is isolated, but a scandal involving the CEO would have repercussions on the stock price. You’ve got something to lose here too.”

The reality of what he’d done set in, and he hung his head. “Look, if I have to, I’ll resign and say it had nothing to do with Samatrix. You can do damage control and be back on track. Or if I settle with her…it would only cost me but save the company.”

“You’ve never settled on anything before. Why now?” Matthew frowned.

“I’ve never fucked up so royally. This is different. I don’t settle when people lie about me or try to blackmail me, but this wouldn’t be a false accusation. I did sleep with her, even after finding out she was an employee. I did break into her spare bedroom. I did threaten to have her transferred. She could tell the honest-to-God truth, and I’d be fucked. Why didn’t I just stick to the damn rules?”

Matthew stared silently out the window for a minute. Good. This was what Sam needed, a second person to look at this from another angle. See if he was missing anything. Figure out a way to get him out of this mess.

“Do you love this woman?” Matthew finally asked.

“What?” Sam’s brows narrowed in confusion. “What’s love got to do with it?”

“Got to do with it, got to do with it,” Matthew sang the next few lines of the Tina Turner song and then chuckled.

“Dude, focus.”

“You asked me for help, here’s my advice. Quit being an idiot. From everything you’ve told me, this woman sounds great. She must mean something to you, or you wouldn’t have broken all your stupid rules, and you wouldn’t be here asking me for help.”

Sam nodded.

“Well, here’s more advice. Stop assuming the worst. She’s not going to sue the company. She’s not going to accuse you of anything. You need to focus on your real problem.”

Sam looked up, surprised. “And what’s that?”

“After everything you’ve said and done, she may not take you back. You invaded her privacy,