The Rules by Delaney Diamond Read Free Book Online Page A

recommended by Blake’s mother. By the way, how was your date?”
    “Fine,” Gavin said shortly, noting Xavier’s smile across the table. He was going to kill Trenton.
    “Well, Celeste is back from vacation, so I’m going into the spa to get a facial. This winter weather makes my skin so dry. I think it gets worse every year.” She touched a hand to her cheek.
    “You look fine, Mother.”
    Xavier nodded in agreement. “He’s right. You don’t look a day over thirty-five.”
    Constance laughed. “ That I know is an untruth, but I appreciate it.” She turned to Gavin. “When will you be leaving? Of course I don’t want you to go, but I expected you would be gone by now. You mentioned you would leave after the specialist said you no longer needed therapy.”
    “I did, but I think I’ll stick around a little bit longer.”
    Xavier held out his cup, signaling Alicia for a refill of coffee. “Really? What prompted that change?”
    Gavin shrugged as another servant came in and set a plate of the same breakfast in front of him. “Nothing, really. It’s no big deal.” An image of Terri entered his mind. Her pouty lips, her flirty smile.
    “So you’re enjoying your stay?” His mother smiled.
    A boulder of guilt settled in Gavin’s chest. She probably thought he intended to stay indefinitely, but in all honesty, he wasn’t sure how much longer he’d stick around. He had barely made it through the Christmas holidays, the time of year when other people were celebrating and festive, but not him.
    His mother, as she always did, flew back to Texas to spend the holidays with her parents. Unable to tolerate remaining in town because he remembered the accident that took his father’s life during the same time of year, Gavin went to the family’s property in Hawaii with his entourage and a few young women who wanted to party as much as they did. Under the warmth of the Maui sun, he shut out the bad memories between the legs of a set of nubile twins and drank to the bottom of a thousand dollar bottle of limited edition Absolut vodka.
    “I’m enjoying my stay,” Gavin confirmed to his mother.
    “What are you going to do to stay busy?” Constance asked. “You can’t play all day now that you’re back to one hundred percent.”
    “I’ll find something to get into.” There was plenty to keep him busy—his friends, keeping track of his investments…Terri. A little smile touched his lips when he thought of her voluptuous body and sexy little smile.
    “Why don’t you come into the office?” Xavier suggested.
    “Oh, that’s a wonderful idea.” Constance clasped her hands together and looked from Xavier to Gavin.
    “I don’t know if—”
    “It’ll be good for you,” Xavier said, a twinkle in his eye.
    His brother knew that he didn’t want to work at Johnson Enterprises. According to the terms of their father’s will, Gavin received a handsome monthly allowance, which allowed him to travel and fund his escapades around the world. Coupled with his own investments, a traditional job was completely unnecessary.
    His siblings worked at the company to continue the family legacy and collected multi-million dollar salaries and bonuses for their efforts. At the helm, Cyrus Junior efficiently ran the entire conglomerate as the CEO. Xavier worked directly under him as the COO, a new position he was still learning. Ivy controlled the restaurant group operations as the COO, and Trenton oversaw a large department in his role as senior vice president of sales and marketing.
    After avoiding the same fate for years, Gavin was now being railroaded right in front of their mother. All because Xavier knew that if Constance wanted him to spend time at the company, it was going to happen.
    “I’ll consider it,” Gavin said, hoping his smile appeared more genuine than it felt.
    “You’ve been sitting around doing nothing for the past few months. Might as well come in and learn something.”
    “This is your