That was when he’d have taken a big gulp of beer if he’d had one in front of him. He’d had two already that night. The first in months. He wasn’t going back down that road again.
“And?”
He turned as Gabrielle asked the question. Her brow was raised in concern now. Because it was late and he was tired, he allowed himself to wallow a moment in that look. And then said, “He told me that George Costas, lead attorney and top executive at Connelly, knows his business better than anyone. That he trusted George with his life—and mine. And that there was talk regarding the land, though he didn’t say who was talking, and they had to have investors lined up and ready because if the time came to move, the window of opportunity to do so would be very small.”
“Sounds legit.”
“Yeah.”
“So what’s the problem?”
Right. He was probably overreacting. “Problem is, the only way he’s going to get that land rezoned anytime soon—and there’s still no development agreement with the tribe, I checked—would be to back a politician who we both know takes bribes.”
“A particular politician?” Marie asked now, poking at his beanbag seat with the tip of her toe.
“Yeah. A state senator who’s up for reelection in the fall.”
“Let me guess, your dad’s a new campaign contributor.” Gabrielle’s dry response washed over him.
Liam shrugged.
“You didn’t ask?” Gabrielle again. Sounding more than a little surprised.
“I asked. He told me to mind my own business,” Liam relayed. But he left out exactly how his father reacted to him daring to question the old man or implying that George was not trustworthy, in light of Liam’s own lack of support.
“He can’t contribute through the corporation.” Gabrielle joined Marie on the end of her bed. “It’s against Colorado law. He’d have to do it as an individual. And the candidate is required to report it, including name and employment, within a specified period of time depending on the office being sought, but it’s usually within a month.”
“I’m not worried about the legalities of the contribution,” Liam said. “Not with George watching over everything with his eagle eye. But the one thing I really admired about my dad was his integrity. He might not be around when you need him, or care about what you need as opposed to what he wants from you, but you can count on him to speak the truth and stand by his convictions. It is, I hope, the one way I take after him. This senator is a snake. I can’t believe my father would ever get into bed with him. Yeah, money rules him, but it’s always only gained legally, and he’s always drawn the line at bigotry. Which is how he made it from pauper to millionaire in ten years. People know they can trust him.”
“He made it from pauper to billionaire because he made savvy investments at a time when real estate was booming. And then invested with uncanny cleverness.” Gabrielle’s expression was droll.
She was repeating his words back to him. Words spoken in previous late-night sessions. Usually after he’d come back to Boulder from time in Denver with his father.
“And he built his reputation on integrity,” he added, though why he was defending the man, he wasn’t sure. “He was faithful to my mother until the day she died.”
His junior year in high school. Of heart disease. Something they’d discovered she had when she was pregnant with him. Which was why he was an only child.
“Are you afraid he’s changed?” Marie’s question brought him back to the present. Where Gabrielle focused on the practical, Marie always homed in on the emotional aspect of things. They made a great team for him.
And for each other.
He wanted to tell Marie he wasn’t afraid. But these were his best friends. The one place he was completely honest with himself. “Maybe.”
“So playing cards tonight...that was to get back at him for it?” Gabrielle’s derogatory opinion was clear.
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
“Don’t throw your life away because of him.” Marie spoke next. “Don’t throw your life away for anyone.” Her tone took on a bitter note that had him studying her more closely. And then he remembered something. She never went to bed with her hair still in a ponytail. He’d woken them up enough times to know that. The three of them had probably had a late-night conversation somewhere along the way about getting ready for bed, too. They’d talked about everything else in the world over the past three years.
“You guys weren’t asleep, were you?”
“No.”
He sat forward, studying the two of them as he jetted himself out of the self-pitying fog he’d allowed himself to sink into.
“What’s going on? What happened?” he asked, ready to get up and go find whoever had upset them.
At one in the morning.
Gabrielle looked at Marie, as though waiting for her to tell him. As if it was Marie’s story to tell. Which meant...
“It’s the med student, isn’t it? What’d he do?”
Marie’s lower lip started to quiver.
“He has some big presentation coming up Monday and was going to be studying tonight, so Marie agreed to cover for a coworker who wanted the night off,” Gabrielle said. “As it turns out they were slow and Marie got off early. She made jerk face’s favorite coffee drink and took it over to his place to surprise him.”
“He was...with the girl I was covering for at work.”
Now he understood the edge Marie was carrying. It hadn’t been about the hour of his visit, or him at all. “They knew you wouldn’t find out because they made sure you were busy,” Liam summarized, watching Marie fight with heartache, wondering what on earth he was supposed to say to her.
This was why he could never even think about getting involved with either one of them. He’d rather die than be the cause of that look on Marie’s face.
And then it occurred to him. “You know this isn’t about you, right?”
Marie and Gabrielle exchanged a glance. One of those glances. The ones that left him out in the cold.
“You’re gorgeous, Marie. That blond hair and brown eyes...”
“I’m too short.”
She was shorter than Gabrielle, who was long and leggy, but— “You are definitely not too short.”
“It’s not about her looks,” Gabrielle interrupted, with a sound resembling a snort. She was gorgeous, too. Not an obvious showstopper like Marie. But more in line with the kind of girl he went for. He was more of a leg man.
“What is it with men?” Marie’s derisive tone wasn’t directed at him, but he sure felt as if it was. And took
