Treachery Prequel

TANNER

Three years I’ve wanted her.

Three years I’ve had to choke down the bitter truth she actually agreed to marry a dickless sycophant.

Three years I’ve sat back and patiently bided my time while following every article about Luca and her son of a senator husband in the paper, including the exclusive photos published by a trendy magazine from the day she married that jackass.

They made a big deal of donating the money from that exclusive to charity.

Luca, I’m sure, was proud of having done so. But from what I learned over the past week playing attorney to her piece of shit husband, that money never saw the palm of charity’s extending hand, more like her newlywed husband’s pocket before he gambled it away.

I’d had higher hopes for Luca when I first got to know her. She was the first person to attempt to put me in my place, the first woman I’d met who preferred to be real rather than some fake made-for television version of herself in order to appease the other fake people around her.

I’d actually grown to respect her as an opponent in our game, but then she’d made the stupid decision to marry Clayton Hughes.

Had that decision worked in my favor? Of course, it had. But did I have to like it? Fuck no.

Luca Bailey had always been better than that.

Listening to Clayton rattle on about his less than honest endeavors over the past few days without dragging him out of my office and leaving his decaying body in a remote curbside ditch had been a lesson in patience. Patience I only exercised because of Luca.

She not only had information I needed, but a body that, like fine wine, had improved with age. I was willing to do anything it took to see it up close and personal again.

After a few drinks and an hour or so of pretending to like the man, I suffered the waste of time listening to Clayton’s tongue go from rigid to loose, his banter that of a college frat boy regaling his glory days of easy pussy and rebellious, responsibility-free days.

The only problem, at least how I saw it, was he did have a responsibility: Luca. A responsibility he just barely managed from the minute she was stupid enough to say ‘I do.’

It didn’t bother me that Clayton had made Luca’s life hell. Breaking her was just another factor that worked to my advantage. But listening to him prattle on about how much he enjoyed having the option of choosing between her pussy or someone else’s? Yeah, that set the last nerve I had on edge with the need to teach him some ma

Clayton was begging me to leave Luca pe

If Clayton thought for one second I was in this to help him screw over Luca Bailey, he had a lesson to learn.

Backing into the four car garage of my home in Highland Hills, I shoved the gear into park and killed the engine. My skull fell heavy against the headrest, my hand clenching over the gearshift in both anger and anticipation.

For five days, I’ve been playing a game against Clayton Hughes, and each time I had to stare at his smug face or listen to the nasally quality of his weak voice, I’d resisted the urge of rearranging his nose with my fist.

He was as much of a spineless coward now as he had been in college.

My head spun left over the seat, my eyes staring at the first floor windows that were softly lit.

At least three of the guys were in the house waiting to hear how court went, and now that Luca had agreed to meet me tonight to discuss my terms, I had to make sure they were out of sight and out of mind when she arrived.

Her reaction to me in the courthouse was quite telling. She didn’t miss me. She didn’t think of me. And I was the last person she wanted to see after what happened at Yale.

Sure, her body reacted when I touched her. Those big blue eyes widened when our gazes locked, but like she had in the past, she hid behind a wall of stubbor

Meeting me tonight would be difficult for her, but seeing the guys, specifically Jase, would be too much.

I couldn’t care less if she hated me, but I wouldn’t let that son of a bitch with his roaming cock and devil-may-care attitude ruin the one chance I had to bounce Luca on my dick again.

She was the girl who thought she got away, and fortunately for me, circumstance had landed her firmly back in my grasp. I’d have her screaming my name before I let her go again - one way or another.

As soon as I walked into the house, a cloud of Sawyer’s pot smoke collided against my face, the faint tinkle of ice being dropped into Gabriel’s crystal tumbler caught my ear, and the not-so-quiet moans of a woman getting her body rode hard by Jase hovered over it all like a familiar song welcoming me home.

The pot smoke and drinking didn’t bother me. The bitch now screeching out an orgasm did. Not because I took issue with a man getting his dick wet, but because I somehow knew the woman was another of Jase’s employees, a woman I would have to pay off to keep her from suing our firm for sexual harassment.

Why he thought it was okay to bring her here was beyond me. I assumed it had something to do with his inability to understand I didn’t need his sexual harassment mistakes leading to my door.

How in the hell was I supposed to protect the firm and pay off these women to stay silent when he committed the act three doors down from my living room?

Their proximity to my personal life only meant I’d be forced to add a few more zeros to the check before they signed on the dotted line of the non-disclosure agreement. Thankfully, they were Jase’s zeros to give up and I wasn’t going bankrupt as a result of his inability to keep it in his pants.

Shoving my hand through my hair, I yanked in frustration before turning a corner to find Sawyer on the couch and Gabriel standing near the side bar.

Gabriel spoke first.

“How did it go? Is Luca going to give you the information we need?”

Straight to the point. Gabriel wasn’t the type to bother with small talk. Of my eight friends, Gabriel was the closest to me, a man with a black heart and remorseless mind. He didn’t care who he had to screw over, or who he hurt in order to get what he wanted.

“I don’t know yet. She’s coming over tonight at seven. I’ll need the three of you to find another house for your get together.”

Laughter burst from the couch, Sawyer’s eyes tiny red slits as he blew out a smoke ring with what was left of a joint clutched between the tips of his fingers. It amazed me he was able to practice law as well as he did when there wasn’t one hour of one day that he wasn’t high on something.

“You owe me two grand, Gabriel. Be sure to pay up.”

My eyes dragged from Sawyer to Gabriel to see him shrug his shoulders.

“I should have known better than to take that bet.”

“What bet?” Tugging at the knot of my tie, I slipped it loose and unbuttoned the top buttons of my shirt.

Sawyer stabbed the joint into an ashtray on the coffee table beside him.

“I bet two thousand that you wouldn’t be able to seal the deal without dragging Luca into bed.”

He canted his head toward the bar. “And Gabriel took the bet thinking you aren’t still angry that Luca dodged you.”

Of course, I was angry. She’d been a thorn in my side without knowing it, an aggravation I didn’t need that had ridden me every fucking day I didn’t seal the deal I’d needed with her.