Agreements With Mr Rich Boy | ✓

46 | Foiled Plan

I DIDN'T HAVE the strength or conviction to keep the shock off my face. Looking at him, a man I'd cherished for so long only to have him walk away, stung. Especially when mum was at home, in pain and suffering, whilst he was at some fancy party with a younger replacement of her on his arm.

"Jolene?" He said, tightening his face once again. "What are you doing here?"

What are you meant to say in a situation like this? Good to see you?

I bit back my repulsion, but that, too, seared my insides, a poison running through my veins.

"I should ask you the same," I said, voice steadier than I felt.

"I—"

"Jolie," Archer's voice came from my side. "Let's go, come on." I nodded, numbly, and put my hand on his arm so he could guide me away, not trusting my feet to withstand my weight.

"Archer Redwood," my father's voice said. "You're not usually one to show your face here."

The arm beneath my fingertips immediately tensed, and I felt the distinctive ticking of a muscle. Or maybe that was me.

"Julian Dubois," Archer answered, curtly. "Perhaps I had a change of heart."

I stared between the pair of them in shock. Each radiated anger, flames spitting between the glare they bestowed upon one another, whilst Annalise and I stood in shock. But, I assumed, for very different reasons.

"You two know each other?" I was the first to speak out of the two of us.

"Archer is my biggest competitor," my fath— Julian said. His eyes never left Archer's, neither man willing to back down.

"What do you mean?" I asked, hands slipping from his arm.

"Jules owns Dubois Industries," Annalise said, having adjusted to the situation. "And of course, Archer controls his father's business, so they're rivals, hey Jules?" She was attempting to make light of their rivalry, but if anything, it seemed to spark a new fury.

"Rivals?" I asked, though it wasn't really a question. My voice lowered. "For how long?"

I could feel the gazes of those around us. They stared, not worried if they would be caught or not.

"Years," was Julian's curt reply. "Ever since he father died."

"You mean ever since you killed him."

I stumbled backwards slightly, before steadying myself.

"Your father," Julian spat. "Was a raging drunk. What happened to him was no one's fault but his own."

Archer stepped forward, back muscles flexing dangerously. "Say that again," he said, words spilling with the threat he'd coated them with. I'd never seen him like this. It terrified me. This was the big, bed wolf everybody had claimed him to be. I hadn't believed them. Stupid.

My hand reached for his arm again. The muscles continued to flex and contract under my fingers, but his breathing began to slow down, if only a little.