Free At His Warning: The Billionaire's Beck and Call, Part 8 by Delilah Fawkes Page A

men. I was torn between being appalled and impressed,
especially since Lex had gotten a well-deserved beat down.
    “Come,
Isa. You’ve had a long night.”
    He
opened the door of the penthouse suite and gestured for me to enter. I shook myself
out of my   state of shock and made myself
move, planting one foot in front of the other until I was safely in the room
and deposited on the edge of the bed.
    Mr.
Drake sat beside me, breathing heavily. A cut above his eye was starting to
trickle red.
    “You’re
bleeding.” I grabbed a tissue from the bedside table and dabbed gently at it,
stopping when he winced.
    “I’ll
be fine.”
    I
lowered my hand, crumpling the blood-stained kleenex. “I’m so sorry.”
    I
looked down at his blood, staining my fingers, and noticed my vision beginning
to blur as the tears welled up.
    “You
didn’t do anything wrong.”
    Mr.
Drake’s hand cupped my chin, bringing my eyes up to his. A hot tear rolled down
my cheek, and he brushed it away, the rough pad of his thumb more tender than a
kiss.
    “He...
He just grabbed me. I tried... I tried to knee him, but...”
    “Shh,
Isa. I know. I believe you.”
    His
hand found its way into my hair, wrapping a loose curl around his fingers,
caressing my neck. His gaze softened as he touched me, each stroke of his
fingers through my hair releasing my tension until I felt like putty in his
hands.
    “Why
does he hate you so much?”
    The
question was out before I realized it, my thoughts spoken aloud when I’d meant
to keep them private.
    Mr.
Drake’s eyes narrowed, then focused out the window, over the twinkling lights
of the city.
    “He
and I have known each other since prep school. Did you know that? As boys we
were always together, our families close from summering in neighboring cabins
by the lake.”
    He
ran his hand absently over my shoulder and down my arm as he spoke, making me
shiver.
    “Lex
and I had so much in common, even though our personalities were so vastly
different. We were both ambitious and bright, but Lex had a knack for getting
into trouble. He loved pulling pranks and seeing how far he could push people
before they reached their limits. His father was a hard man. An authoritarian
with a penchant for drink.” He looked at me and cocked an eyebrow. “Let’s just
say, they didn’t get along.”
    His
hands covered mine, his warmth calming me like a soothing balm.
    “I
was the opposite, focusing on working hard and lending a helping hand to my
classmates. My mother used to say I saw the best in people... and that was the
only reason Lex and I were close, but I don’t know. I just thought he went too
far at times. His father used to praise me in front of him, talking about the
two of us to my parents like we weren’t standing right there with them...
Saying he wished Lex had my grades or my discipline.”
    He
paused, sighing, and I could see how the memory still pained him.
    “It
got to him. How could it not?”
    “That
would be terrible for any child. Being compared like that.”
    Mr.
Drake slipped his fingers through mine and squeezed them. “He pretended that he
didn’t care, and for a while, I believed him. I was young and foolish. I
thought we were as close as brothers when we founded this business together.”
    He
brought my hand up to his lips and kissed it softly. “But, as you know, things
change. These problems always have a way of coming to the surface.”
    I
looked up and brushed my fingers over his jaw line, tracing the lines that gave
him such masculine beauty.
    “Thank
you,” I said.
    “For
what?”
    “For
believing in me. For believing I wouldn’t betray you.”
    He
leaned in, kissing me in a way that stole my breath away.
    “Isabeau,
you don’t have a cruel bone in your body.”
    “And
how would you know that?”
    “Just
the way you are. How you took care of your family. How you take care of me,” he
said. “I’ll always believe in you. You make it easy.”
    I
kissed him back, releasing my