Free Confiscating Charlie by Lucy Leroux

Chapter 1
    The door to the hospital room creaked open, waking him up. Can ’ t get any fucking sleep in this place, Noah thought, cracking an eyelid.
    At first he thought the tall man in the suit was his father, but the blur in the suit was too tall and muscular and its hair was the wrong color.
    “ Alex, ” he said hoarsely as he recognized his cousin.
    Alexandros Hanas clucked his tongue as he examined the cast covering Noah ’ s left leg, which was currently suspended with a complicated looking contraption over the bed.
    “ Glad to see you ’ re mostly in one piece, ” he said. “ I saw the footage of the crash online. It looked pretty nasty. ”
    “ Yeah, ” Noah said. “ I did sort of get knocked around this time. ”
    Alex nodded. The concern in his eyes made Noah ’ s chest tighten up, which also hurt, since he ’ d cracked a couple of ribs in addition to breaking his leg and sustaining a mild concussion.
    He squinted up at his cousin. Alex was a taller, darker version of him — older by a decade. Noah had always looked up to his dynamic and imposing cousin. People said they resembled each other, but he didn ’ t see it. Alex was more muscular with more classical features. Noah was a mixture of his blond father and Greek mother, who ’ d been sisters with Alex ’ s mother.
    Both their mothers had passed away years ago.
    “ Has your dad been by? ” Alex asked, taking a seat next to the bed.
    “ He came yesterday. After determining there was no permanent damage — nothing to keep me from fathering a grandchild who will turn out better than me — he went back to work. ”
    Alex winced. “ Your father loves you. He ’ s just worried about your future. You can ’ t race cars for the rest of your life, ” he said sympathetically. His eyebrows rose. “ You don ’ t plan on doing it forever, do you? ”
    Noah sighed. “ I had already decided to try something else when the accident happened. My heart ’ s not really in it anymore. ”
    Truthfully, he hadn ’ t been into much of anything lately. But instead of feeling apathetic and bored, he felt restless, as if his skin was too tight. And this time he didn ’ t have some other outlet like racing already picked out to channel his energy.
    Alex exhaled loudly. “ That ’ s good. I thought I was going to have a hard time talking you into giving it up. ”
    Noah grinned. Alex had always been good to him, but he was one to talk. His older cousin had set the standard for reckless daredevil behavior — or at least he had until he ’ d gotten married to Elynn. Now Alex was all about spoiling his wife and making babies.
    “ Any idea of what you want to do now? ” Alex asked.
    Noah ’ s smile fell away, and he let his head fall back onto the pillow. “ Not sure. ”
    Alex ’ s head tilted as he studied him. “ You remind me of myself a decade ago. Know what worked for me? ”
    “ Getting a hot wife and knocking her up? ”
    His cousin ’ s grin was a touch embarrassed. “ Well, basically yeah. But you don ’ t necessarily need a woman. More like something to channel your energy into — a creative endeavor. You need to build something you can touch with your two hands. Trust me, there ’ s nothing like it. And you could finally start putting that business degree to use. ”
    “ If you ’ re about to suggest I go work with my dad, I may have to chew this broken leg off so I can escape. ”
    Alex rolled his eyes. “ Nothing so dire. I was thinking of something local for Hanas Industries, but if that doesn ’ t work for you, then something outside the family. I ’ m sure Sergei would love to have you at Damov Industries, or you could think about working in one of Calen ’ s clubs. ”
    Before he ’ d hit the racing circuit, Noah had spent a lot of time with Alex ’ s friends, Sergei Damov and Calen McLachlan — more than his cousin, actually, since Alex divided his time between London and Oxford. Both of his friends were good men who