Calling the Shots

by Christine d'Abo

  “I don’t think he’s going to take to being bossed around in the bedroom.” Oliver smiled. “He’s more the in-charge type.”

  “Believe it or not I wasn’t talking about sex.”

  “What then?”

  “I don’t know. I just feel like we need to do something.”

  “Are you two done conspiring up there?” Josh’s voice reached them easily.

  Beth sighed, closing her eyes. “Not conspiring. Just talking.”

  “Where the two of you are involved, I find it hard to tell the difference.”

  When he returned, Josh stared at them for a moment before letting out a sigh. “Put that shit down for now. Let’s get a drink.”

  Beth had known about Josh’s special room in the club from almost the first week she’d started working here. She’d not once seen the inside, even though she’d filled a few supply orders for him and done her fair share of picking up the laundry. The sound of him pressing the security code to the room had her stomach flipping and her pussy clenching in anticipation of what might be beyond the door.

  The walls were dark, midnight blue masquerading as black. Beth was immediately drawn to the giant bed pushed off to the corner. How much sex had been had between those sheets? How many men and women had writhed and moaned, screamed with pleasure as Josh pounded into them?

  How much did she want to be the next and final one on that list?

  Pretty damn much.

  “I keep the good stuff hidden away up here.” Josh moved to the bar that she only now noticed. “Do either of you want something?”

  A nice hard fuck. You? “Have any wine?”

  “Yup. Oliver?”

  Oliver flopped back onto the bed. “I’ll have what you are.”

  Josh carried two glasses in one hand and her wine in the other. Beth watched him, trying to pick up on any changes, anything that would give her a hint as to what the hell was going on in his fool head. Even the smile he gave her, with a gentle caress of his fingers against hers as he handed her the wine, didn’t reach his eyes.

  “What’s wrong?” Not waiting for him to give Oliver his drink, Beth slid her hand along his arm. “There’s something bothering you, and I don’t think it has to do with the attack. So what’s going on?”

  “Beth, he’ll tell us when he’s ready.”

  “No, he won’t. Both of you are stubborn idiots and try to bottle everything up.” She took a deep drink of her wine before moving in to press against his chest. “Please?”

  Josh didn’t brush her off the way she half expected him to. He might have been stubborn, but not once could she ever have accused him of being a liar. Transferring Oliver’s drink to his free hand, Josh took a drink of his own, his gaze locked on her.

  “You’re too smart for your own good.”

  “One of my many faults.” Beth knew she only had one shot at this. Once chance to win Josh over to her side and keep Oliver fixed there. If she misstepped, played the wrong card or pushed the wrong way, there was a chance she’d lose them both. “Josh—” she closed her eyes for a moment, knowing if she pushed too hard he would balk, “—you’ve been off ever since the club was hit.”

  “No.” Oliver leaned back on the bed, resting his weight on his forearms. “He’s been off ever since that lawyer showed up.”

  “You never did tell us what he said.”

  Josh closed his eyes. His breath came out in slow, deep breaths through his nose. “I didn’t tell you because it didn’t matter.”

  “It mattered to you.” Beth pressed her hand to his heart. “So it matters to us.”

  “Beth, I don’t want to drag you into—”

  “Dammit, Josh, you’re not dragging us into anything!” She was shocked by the force of her voice, the frustration and self-doubt clear in her tone. “We’re here because we want to be here. But we can’t help you if you keep pushing us away.”

  She turned on Oliver even as he voiced his agreement. “And you’re no better.” Shit, this was a bad idea. But the floodgates had been opened and, right or wrong, this had to be said. If not, they would never be able to figure out if what they had among the three of them could actually work. Oliver snapped his mouth shut on whatever response he’d had.

  Beth gulped down the rest of the wine, needing the extra courage. “I’ve been beside both of you for a long time now. I’ve been killing myself trying to work out what I feel for you. And every time I try to get close, one or the other pushes me away. I’m sick of it.”

  Neither man moved. The insane feeling of déjà vu washed over her, as though in one fell swoop she was replaying every bad relationship she’d ever had. Resigned to the idea of making a final stand, Beth moved closer to Josh. She could hear his heart beating and feel the shallow pants of his hot breath across her face. Curling her fingers into the fabric of his shirt, she tugged him closer still.

  “Talk to me,” she whispered.

  His lips tightened as he sucked in a breath. He clenched his jaw and, for half a second, Beth thought he might actually give her what she wanted, no matter how painful. Instead, Josh shook his head and covered her hand with his.

  “Hon, I know you want to help. You are helping, by taking over the day-to-day shit so I can focus on catching this jackass. Greg’s story is going to bring the issue to the forefront and make people take notice. It should be enough to scare off whoever is doing this. Or pull him out into the open. If that happens, it might get messy.”

  Dammit, why couldn’t things ever be easy? “You’re cutting us out. Why?”

  “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

  “Why?”

  Josh growled and moved away, back toward the bar. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Too bad, boss-man.” Oliver sat up. “I don’t think she’s going to stop until she knows.”

  Beth didn’t move, didn’t look away or give any sign of weakness. For once in her life she wasn’t going to be the one to screw up the relationship. If Josh wasn’t willing to give her total honesty, then there was no point in going beyond where things were. She’d walk away, and eventually she’d get over him.

  Downing the rest of his drink, Josh closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Don’t you both see, just by involving you I’m putting you at risk. This nut job doesn’t give a shit about who you are, or how nice you’ve been to help me. He sees you as a perverted freak of nature who’s taking up the air that should be used by normal people. He’ll try and hurt you!”

  Beth’s blood ran cold. Those weren’t the words of a man who was concerned for his friends and lovers. They were too smoothly said to be anything other than long-heard slurs. He talked to his dad weekly, which left only one other option.

  “Your mom?” She cleared her throat against the sudden tightness. “Did she say those things to you?”

  He cut the air with his hand. “Drop it, Beth.”

  “Did she say that to you after she found out that you were bi? I can only imagine how she would react, given what little you’ve said about her.”

  “I don’t want to talk about this.”

  “I think you need to.” Ignoring Oliver’s protests behind her, Beth advanced on Josh until his back was against the wall. “You’ve been running from those words your whole life, haven’t you? You built this club as a way of getting back at her. A way to rub her nose in the fact that you don’t discriminate with your love. You want to be with men and women, then fine. To hell with your mom, she sounds like a bitch anyway.”

  Josh’s hair had fallen forward to cover his face, obscuring his eyes. Not that he was staring at her. “She called me a whore.”

  “What?” Beth felt nauseated. “She called you what?”

  “It was her favorite word for me for months. The only way I could get her to stop was to stop talk
ing to her.”

  “Shit, Josh.” Oliver ran his hand along the back of his neck. “I’m sorry, man.”

  “Don’t be. Dad divorced her ass years ago. I don’t even know where she is.”

  When the thought came to mind, Beth wanted nothing more than to forget it as quickly as she could. The chances that Josh’s mom would be involved in something like this seemed not only unlikely, but more than a little far-fetched. “Josh, you don’t think she would—”

  “No!”

  She flinched but held her ground. Let him be pissed. “It might not be her doing the actual damage. Maybe someone she knows someone who would do the act for her?”

  Josh pushed away from the wall, forcing Beth to step back. “My mother has nothing to do with this. Believe it or not, there are more sick fuckers out there than my mother.”

  “I didn’t mean—”

  “It’s not her style to do anything anonymously.” He sneered and, for the first time since Beth had met him, every one of his jagged edges were visible. He was hard, mean, like someone she didn’t want to be near. “She’s more of an in-your-face kind of woman. She’s pushy and doesn’t know when to back down, Beth. Remind you of anyone?”

  For a moment, Beth couldn’t hear anything. It was as if Josh’s hate-filled words had sucked every ounce of life from her body, leaving a void behind. She barely registered Oliver’s hand on her shoulder or the tears on her face. All she knew was she had to get out.

  Now.

  “Beth.”

  Now.

  “Beth! I’m sorry.”

  She ran.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Oliver stood stunned, staring, after Beth fled. She’d always been a strong-willed woman and wouldn’t back down from a fight when she thought she was right. In this particular instance, Oliver was siding with her.

  “Why the hell did you say that?” He tried to relax his balled-up hands. It wouldn’t take much of a prod for him to take his frustrations out on Josh. “She might have been pushy, but she’s never been anything but a friend to you. More than a friend, if you’d give her a chance.”

  Josh scratched his fingers through his hair and groaned. “Don’t start.”

  “What do you mean don’t start? You’re the one who’s been acting like an ass.”

  “I told her I didn’t want to talk about it. That hasn’t changed.”

  Malice bubbled inside him, making it increasingly difficult to have a rational conversation. Josh wasn’t the only one with an unpleasant past. It certainly didn’t give him the right to decimate whatever it was between the three of them.

  “Listen, I’m going to try and find her. I’m sure she’s marching down to the bus stop. You need to figure out what’s going on in your head and fix it. Beth isn’t who you’re really mad at. Neither am I.”

  Leaving at a far saner pace, Oliver strode from the pleasure room, regretting the turn of events. It would have been brilliant to have lost himself once more in a glorious round of sex with the two of them. When they were together, he was able to stop thinking, stop hurting. He was slowly learning to enjoy the touch of another person, knowing there wasn’t anything expected beyond mutual pleasure.

  Mallory had taken him for the universe’s biggest ride, stripping him of nearly everything that had made him who he was. He hadn’t even been able to go back to his massage therapy job, too embarrassed to face the coworkers and clients who’d shot him piteous looks.

  Oliver pulled the door to the club open, holding it there in surprise as he nearly ran into a woman standing there. For the second time that hour, he was shocked so deeply he could barely form a thought.

  “Mallory?” His voice caught as he squeezed the door. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  Shit, she was still beautiful. Her wide hazel eyes still drew him. It was as if the past year of loneliness vanished, and the year before that hadn’t happened.

  She studied him, taking stock of every detail. No doubt she was mentally discounting his physical appearance, his clothing, the fact he was in need of a haircut and shave. She’d claimed once that despite his financial security and old school family ties, he’d let himself drop far below her on the social scale.

  There’d been a time when they were in love. Oliver didn’t think she’d been faking the happiness. But something along the way changed, most likely when she met David. And while she hadn’t married Oliver for his money, in the end that was what she’d left with.

  “I am here because you won’t answer my calls or the emails from my lawyer.” She shoved a sheaf of papers into his free hand. “These are the divorce papers. I would like you to sign them. Now, please.”

  His normal response of no sat on the tip of his tongue. It was the one thing he could still hold over her, to make her miserable, to keep her from marrying another poor fool and taking his money along with his self-confidence.

  Instead, he caught her gaze and cocked his head. “Why?”

  “What do you mean why? I told you a year ago that we weren’t working. I’m in love with David, and I want to be free to be with him.”

  “So you can rob him blind too? Were you not able to take another trip to Germany, Australia, or wherever the hell it was you wanted to go next?”

  Her bright red lipstick shone out like a stoplight, too bright against her pale face. She’d cut her auburn hair into something semi-respectable, giving her the appearance of a businesswoman rather than professional leech. It made him sad that she’d changed from the sweet girl he’d fallen in love with into this woman he barely recognized.

  Beth wasn’t like this. Hell, Josh wasn’t either, despite his recent pigheaded behavior. Suddenly Oliver realized he had better things to do than spend another minute beating himself up about Mallory. That he was still tied to this poisonous woman was no one’s fault but his own. Squeezing the papers in his hand, Oliver snapped around and marched back into the bar.

  “That’s a low blow, Ollie.” The click of her heals followed him. “What the hell is this place?”

  He slapped the papers down on the bar and went in search of a pen.

  “You work here?”

  “I’m a bartender.” Where the hell was the goddamned pen?

  “Bartender?” She made a noise that could have been a laugh. “Why aren’t you giving massages? I thought you loved that?”

  Squeezing his eyes shut, Oliver moved to the storeroom and rummaged through the boxes. After having spent the better part of a year thinking he was avoiding everything to do with her, he knew now that he’d been the one hanging on. Keeping her in his life, however distantly. But all he wanted now was for her to go the hell away.

  He was going to buy a carton of pens and leave them here forever.

  “Do you have a pen?” he called out as he emerged from the room.

  Mallory was standing in the middle of the room staring at Josh. It was weird seeing him next to Mallory. She was posh and polish, too made-up to be mistaken for anything other than a high-class woman. Josh was leather and cotton, rough with an edge to him. Oliver had never wanted these two parts of his life to collide in any fashion.

  Josh faced him, his gaze locked and eyes narrowed, and held out a pen.

  Snatching it away, he tried to avoid Josh’s gaze. Nerves made his legs tingle and his hands shake. “Thanks.”

  The words of the documents were blurred. Blinking, Oliver took a few calming breaths and forced himself to focus. Fuck it, he should just sign it and be done. As he flipped to the last page, a hand on his stopped him from doing just that. Josh hadn’t made a sound as he came up beside him, a testament to how much he was freaking out.

  “Have you even read that?”

  “Yes. Two months ago.” Oliver took a breath and began to sign and initial.

  Josh didn’t move as Oliv
er finalized the end of his marriage. It was as though a weight had suddenly gone. Ordering the papers, he slid them back into the envelope and held them out for Mallory.

  “Have a good life.”

  She stared at him for a moment before snatching the envelope from him. “Thank you.”

  Oliver waited, but she didn’t move right away. “Yes?”

  “It’s just…” She shrugged. “This was the right thing?”

  Surprisingly, any malice he’d been feeling was slipping away faster than water down a drain. Mallory no longer had power over him. He could take control over his life and move on, find happiness.

  “This was the right thing. I hope your life with David works out for the best.”

  She nodded, an awkward smile twisting her lips. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry. What I did to you was wrong.”

  “Goodbye, Mallory.”

  Mallory nodded, her gaze shifting to Josh for a second before she turned and walked out of his life forever.

  Oliver didn’t have a chance to move before the iron band of Josh’s grip encircled his wrist. Oliver was scared his hand would break if he tried to move. “Josh, let me go.”

  “You were still married.”

  Oliver instantly stilled. “Separated. There was no going back for us.”

  “Still…married.”

  “She lost the right to call me her husband a year and a half ago when she had her affair.”

  “Look at me.”

  Oliver kept his gaze down, ignoring the increased pressure on his hand.

  Josh sighed and finally let him go. “Why hadn’t you signed before now?”

  Anger stronger than he’d ever experienced before rolled through him. Without thinking he turned and shoved Josh as hard as he could. “It’s none of your business.”

  Josh shoved back, sending him slamming into the bar. “It is my business since I started fucking you. Why?”

  “She cheated on me. Happy? She stopped loving me, found another man while we were on vacation and then took my money. Me not signing was my way of sticking it to her.” Oliver kicked the bar hard enough to send a jolt of pain up his leg and into his hip. Josh tried to reach for him again, but this time Oliver shook him off. “No! Don’t.”