Billionaire Best Friend [Complete]

11. Sutton

I was going to strangle Jameson. Wrap my hands around his stupid neck and watch his last breath come out.

Breckin and Elliott, too.

I told them numerous times that I wouldn't pull Gracie into the kind of shitshow I knew attending this retreat would be. We were all privy to the fact that she and Jason were over, but this isn't what she needed right now.

My brothers didn't care. Why the hell would they?

Molten lava. That's the kind of heat that filled my entire body when Breckin voiced the biggest detail of all. The fact that they wanted Gracie to be my girlfriend.

It'll ward off Taryn, Jameson promised.

You'd have something nice to look at the entire time, Breckin snickered.

I'm just interested in how the hell you're going to convince her to go along with it, Elliott pondered.

The three of them were going to wish they worked for someone else. Because Gracie and I were not going to be putting on a fake show. There was no way in hell. It didn't matter that this was Rolling Hills. That Taryn would be there. I had a goddamn job to do, and that was closing in on Otis and Marilyn Montgomery so we could check this deal off the list and get school-aged kids what they needed.

I could handle Taryn.

I'd done it before. I could do it again.

"Don't listen to them," I told Gracie. Rosie and Cole had seemingly disappeared from my vision altogether. They were still there, but all I could physically see was my best friend and my blood-brothers, who I was strongly considering orphaning.

Gracie had yet to say something, but her eyes flicked to Rosie who gave a lazy shrug and agreed with my brothers. "I think it's a great idea."

I sucked air through my teeth as discomfort swept over me.

Rosie was as much of a troublemaker as them. Of course, she'd agree. If it weren't for the fact that Cole was sitting next to me, I'd have told her to piss off just like I'd done thousands of times when we were teenagers.

"Why are we doing this again?" questioned Cole. He was a down-to-earth guy, but he had a level of crazy in him that turned him into a protective beast when it came to the people he loved. That was why I got along with him so well. The two of us had that in common.

Outside of the times I wanted to smack my brothers upside their heads, I'd go down fighting for them. Everyone at the table knew I'd do the same for Gracie, too.

Elliott recapped the important bits, sharing the basic details about changing the nutrition plan for schools, the retreat, and how my cheating, manipulative ex would be in attendance.

"Ah. Well then, yeah. I'm with Rosie on this one."

I gave him a look. "You'd agree with her even if she were wrong."

Cole gave the table a cheeky grin. The stupid fuck was blinded by the love he had for the woman. "I think that much is obvious."

She nudged Gracie, and I couldn't help but watch her myself. I was dying to know what was going on in that head of hers. Was she considering it? Did she think it was a good idea? Or did she want to run from the table because it was the worst idea on the goddamn planet putting two friends in a fake relationship for the sake of a business deal and ex-lover?

"Do it," nudged Rosie again, her elbow driving into Gracie's side.

"I don't know," Gracie finally said.