Treachery

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, the money never saw the palm of charity’s extended 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 has 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 has been a lesson in patience. Patience I only exercised because of Luca.

She not only has information I need, but a body that, like fine wine, has improved with age. I’m willing to do anything it takes 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 see it, is he had a responsibility: Luca. A responsibility he just barely managed from the minute she was stupid enough to say I do.

It doesn’t bother me that Clayton 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 free reign of other women’s available pussy while being married to her? Yeah, that set the last nerve I had on edge with the need to teach him some ma

Clayton is begging me to leave Luca pe

If Clayton thinks for one second I’m in this to help him screw over Luca Bailey, he has a lesson to learn.

Backing into the four-car garage of my home in Highland Hills, I shove the gear into park and kill the engine. My skull falls 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’ve had to stare at his smug face or listen to the nasally quality of his weak voice, I’ve resisted the urge of rearranging his nose with my fist.

He’s as much of a spineless coward now as he was at Yale.

My head spins left over the seat, my eyes staring at the first-floor windows that are softly lit.

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

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

Sure, her body reacts when I touch her. Those big blue eyes widen when our gazes lock, but like she has in the past, she hid behind a wall of stubbor

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

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

She’s the girl who thinks she got away, and fortunately for me, circumstances have landed her firmly back in my grasp. I’ll have her screaming my name before I let her go again - one way or another.

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

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

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

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

Their proximity to my personal life only means I’ll be forced to add a few more zeros to the check before they sign on the dotted line of the non-disclosure agreement. Thankfully, they’re Jase’s zeros to give up and I’m not going bankrupt as a result of his inability to keep it in his pants.

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

Gabriel speaks first.

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

Straight to the point. Gabriel isn’t the type to bother with small talk. Of my eight friends, Gabriel is the closest to me, a man with a black heart and remorseless mind. He doesn’t care who he has to screw over, or who he hurts, in order to get what he wants.

“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 bursts from the couch, Sawyer’s eyes tiny red slits as he blows out a smoke ring from what is left of a joint clutched between the tips of his fingers. It amazes me he’s able to practice law as well as he does when there isn’t one hour of one day that he isn’t high on something.

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

My eyes drag 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 slip it loose and unbutton the top of my shirt.

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

Of course, I’m angry. She’s been a thorn in my side without knowing it, an aggravation I don’t need that has ridden me every fucking day I haven’t sealed the deal I need with her.