“Haley?” Wrapping the towel around his waist, he made his way down the hallway into the front of the apartment. She was nowhere.
He sighed, relieved that he wouldn’t have to deal with it now. After all, if he didn’t hurry he would be late for work and now that Haley was going to help with the investigation, maybe the FBI would let him . . .
Panic hit Sean as he noticed out of the corner of his eye that the top drawer to his curio cabinet was slightly open.
“Dammit!” He rifled through the drawer, but he knew it was a waste of time.
Everything he had on the case was gone. He had nothing. When he saw Haley Chase, this time, after all she had done to him, he was going to kill her.
9
Carter wasn’t really sure why he got a five-hundred-dollar-a-night Crown suite at The London West Hollywood hotel. It was habit, he guessed. He liked the modern look of the place, it was easy to get to from both View Park and downtown L.A., and there was something about the interior of the room that made him think it would be a good place to meet Avery. The decorations lent a sensuality and sophistication to its colors and textures.
It seemed appropriate. This was mostly about sex. He couldn’t wait to get his hands on Avery again, and ever since she agreed to meet him there, he’d been aroused. He was starving for her and imagined he always would be. Yes, there was something very exciting about the secrecy, but he didn’t need anything to get him excited about Avery.
Still, despite the sex, he wanted to be with her. It was the one thing he shared with Avery that he had hardly shared with any other woman; an enjoyment in just being with her. Whether they were dining on a yacht in Nice or hanging out on her parents’ back porch eating hot dogs, her presence soothed him and he loved talking to her.
Things were different now.
Avery hadn’t even finished knocking on the hotel room door before Carter opened it. All the butterflies in her belly disappeared at the sight of him. She had tried to ignore what she was doing as she showered, shaved, put on her silk panties and her mid-thigh pleated summer dress. She had tried to ignore what she was doing as she left Connor with her mother to “run some errands.” She tried to ignore what she was doing as she drove her car to the hotel and into the garage.
But there was no ignoring it now, and her body didn’t give her any time to care. The second she stepped inside, Carter grabbed her by the waist and pulled her to him with one hand while he slammed the door shut behind her with the other. Her purse fell to the floor and she felt an animal hunger surge through her as her hands went to his chest.
Their lips devoured each other as they stumbled against the door. Carter felt on fire as Avery frantically undid his buttons and lifted his shirt up. He separated his lips from hers for only a second before reclaiming them. Avery felt herself going insane as Carter’s hands greedily moved up her legs, squeezing her soft, creamy thighs and pulling on her panties.
Avery inhaled sharply as Carter lifted her into his arms and carried her over to the sofa only a few feet away. He kicked the wine stand out of the way and ice went everywhere. He couldn’t wait the five extra seconds it would take to get to the bedroom.
Having discarded her dress, Avery was now in her underwear, and as she ran her hands up and down Carter’s strong arms, she felt waves of pressing need begin to smother her. His mouth kissed her chest just above her breasts, then her neck and then her chin. When he took her mouth again, it was too much.
“Oh God, Carter,” she pleaded. “Please wait.”
“For what?” he asked.
“A condom,” she answered, turning her head away. They hadn’t been safe the first time, but she wouldn’t be that stupid again. She spoke to him between leaving kisses on his neck. “Do you . . . have a . . . condom?”
Carter wasn’t sure why that bothered him. He was a strong believer in safe sex. He even used a condom when he slept with Julia, mostly because he was sleeping with other women. The only time he’d gone uncovered was when he knew he fell in love with Avery. He’d thrown away his black book and he knew she would never cheat on him.
“You want me to wear a condom?” he asked, sitting up.
“You have to.” Avery didn’t like the look on his face. He was upset, and that was the last thing she wanted. She reached for him as he lifted off of her to sit beside her. “Don’t, baby. I just . . . Anthony and Julia. If we’re going to do this, we have to think about . . .”
“About Anthony and Julia?” Carter turned his body so his back was to her.
Avery sat up behind him and wrapped her arms around his bare chest as she leaned into his back. “It’s only safe. You know that.”
Carter nodded. “For now, I understand. But you’ll be leaving him and I’ll be breaking up with Julia, so . . .”
Avery gasped. “What?”
Carter turned to face her and the look on her face told him that she had no intention of leaving her husband and he was too angry to be hurt. “What did you think this was? An affair? A fling?”
“No, no, no.” Avery was shaking her head, not certain of what she thought this was. It was wrong and so right, horrible and beautiful at the same time. “You could never be that to me. I just . . .”
“Did you really think I would be your kept man?” he asked. “For how long?”
“Don’t let your ego ruin this moment, Carter.”
“You can blame this on my ego all you want, but there is no way I’m going to be your man on the side while Anthony plays the husband.”
“He isn’t playing the husband,” Avery said. “He is the husband.”
Carter ignored the pain of those words by not responding to them. If he said what he wanted, all hell would break loose. “I understand that this might be difficult and complicated, but . . .”
“Might be?” Avery asked. “He’s my husband!”
“Stop saying that word!” he demanded. “He never should have been that and now that I have you back, I won’t stand for it.”
“Stand for it?” Avery’s eyes widened in response to his arrogance. “You’re already trying to take control of my life? Tell me what I can and can’t do?”
“You can do whatever you want, Avery. But you can’t do it married to Anthony. I can be patient enough for you to break it to him as best you can, but I’ve wasted too much time sitting on the sidelines watching you married to another man.”
“Carter.” She waited for him to turn back to her, but he didn’t. She reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder. His skin felt soft and hot. She squeezed, and then harder, before he turned back to her. “Please, baby. I need you to understand. Everything has changed so fast. A month ago we were just friends, connected by Connor. We were both in love with other people and . . .”
“Were we?” Carter asked. He didn’t think it was necessary to tell her all he had planned these past six months. None of that meant anything anymore. “I know I’ve always loved you, Avery, and I got the distinct feeling that you’ve always loved me.”
“No matter what our feelings,” she said, “we weren’t together. Then you almost died and all these feelings just took over. Now we’re together and . . . it’s just so much.”
Carter took her hand off his shoulder and brought it to his mouth. He kissed it gently, knowing that he should be grateful that she was handling their affair this well. He had so much to be grateful for now that she was back in his life.
“I know what you’re saying, but I can only be so patient when it comes to you, Avery.”
She leaned forward and hugged him tightly. “I know. But I’m just getting my head around this. What about our families?”
As his blood pressure lowered, Carter could better understand the delicacies of what she was saying. Her parents hated him, and then there was his family.
Avery leaned away, taking his face in her hands. She kissed him on the lips twice. “No matter what we do, they’re affected and it won’t end there. You’re a Chase and everything that everyone in y
our family does becomes public. We have to be careful and not act too quickly.”
Carter nodded reluctantly. “But not too slowly, Avery. I want my family; you and Connor.”
“I know what you want,” she said. “I want it too, so much it makes me want to scream. But I have to think of Anthony and the sacrifices he made for me. What this would do to him. He has no one but me here. I care too much about him to just slap him in the face with this and walk away.”
Carter didn’t give a damn about Anthony, knowing it was his idea to lie about who Connor’s real father was. Because of Anthony, if Chief Jackson had not been shot, compelling Avery to come home, Carter might still not know Connor existed. Anthony Harper could go to hell.
“But you will walk away,” Carter said. “You will leave him and be with me.”
Avery knew she should nod to appease him, but it would be a lie. No matter what her heart told her she wanted, there was something inside of her, ingrained in her soul, that told her she had no right to turn her back on her husband.
“He’s so weak right now, Carter. He’s been beaten down and most of it’s to make me happy. I won’t . . .”
Avery was startled by the force with which Carter grabbed her and threw her down on the sofa. His mouth slammed down on hers with a power that overwhelmed her. She thought at first to push away, but the taste of his hungry lips reignited everything inside of her.
He kissed her again and again on her lips, her face, her neck and her chest as his hands caressed her breasts. He was moaning his hunger; his angry passion. He wanted to devour her, to keep her with him so she couldn’t go anywhere.
Avery felt waves of insanity rush through her as she yelled out his name over and over again. She wanted him inside of her now.
“Carter, please!” she begged, her nails digging into his back. “Now, baby.”
“Do you love me?” he asked, kissing her frantically.
“Carter!” The delay was becoming too painful to bear. “Please.”
“Do you love me?” he repeated, his voice sounding like a guttural groan.
“Yes,” she screamed out loud. “Yes, I love you!”
Then suddenly Avery felt him let go of her. It was like a slap in the face with a cold brick. She opened her eyes and in the haze of her passion she reached for him, but he pushed her hands away.
Carter waited until she was looking right in his eyes, and with the coldest stare he could manage, he said, “Go home, Avery. Your husband’s waiting for you.”
Avery was paralyzed with intense astonishment as Carter got up and zipped up his pants. She thought she called out his name once or twice as he grabbed his shirt off the floor and his keys off the console table, but she wasn’t sure. She couldn’t think clearly as her body was still taken by desire. She had been on the edge of a cliff, ready to completely descend into madness and then ripped back to reality with an icy rejection that made her feel angry, ashamed, and hurt.
She started crying the second she heard the door slam behind him. This was unworkable, she knew that now. She was living in a fantasy world where she could have everything she did want and keep everything she should want. Not with Carter. God had cursed her to fall in love with a man who was simply unable to be anything other than everything to a woman.
Could she choose him over everyone else? Anthony would be heartbroken and her parents’ disappointment couldn’t be quantified. Avery’s mother was her very best friend and she couldn’t imagine what she might say, not to mention the fact that Nikki never liked Carter even when it wasn’t a sin to be with him.
And what would she gain in exchange for all that she lost? The chance to once again live a life in the public eye and be surrounded by that dysfunctional freak show he called a family? Was he worth that?
She refused to answer that honestly, because she was completely devastated by what her subconscious told her that answer was. Yes, Carter was worth anything.
As she watched her sons with their trainer in the twenty-five-meter heated swimming pool at the Beverly Hills Country Club, the last person Kimberly expected to see was Elisha Fisher, but that was exactly who approached her at her patio table. Kimberly didn’t get a chance to speak before Elisha sat down across from her at the table.
“I thought it was time we meet,” she said, never looking away from Kimberly as she waved away the waiter on his approach. “Don’t you?”
Kimberly offered a smile that could win her an Emily Post award as she gently placed the book she was reading on her lap. “I hope you’re wearing sunscreen. That painfully pale skin of yours won’t last a second in this sun. And I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you.”
Elisha’s smile slithered across her face. “How kind you are. So much more civilized than Michael described you to be.”
Kimberly laughed sarcastically. “Look lady . . .”
“My name is Elisha Fisher.”
“Do I look like I care what your name is?” Kimberly asked, satisfied by the woman’s fading smile. “You’re just a number; one of many that he uses to try to forget me.”
“Is that so?” Elisha asked. “Does he usually ask his . . . numbers to move from New York to L.A. to be with him?”
Kimberly’s expression stayed frozen. “You’re a liar.”
“What I am,” she responded, “is the number that he needed to finally forget you. What I am, is the creator of the deal that will make him the golden boy to his daddy again. None of those other numbers can say that, can they?”
Kimberly laughed, wondering what this whore would think if she really knew the deal. “Let me guess. You think he’s going to divorce me and . . . marry you?”
“Why else would he ask me to change my life for him?”
“Because he’s a selfish son of a bitch, and I mean that literally. His mother is a super bitch and she will not let you anywhere near her last name.”
“People have a way of warming to me,” she responded, looking extremely proud of herself.
“Yes, but what about the ones you don’t fuck?” Kimberly asked. She turned her attention back to her sons before saying, “I know there are very few of them, but Janet is one that you don’t have what it takes to deal with.”
“You don’t know me,” Elisha said flatly.
“I don’t need to.” Kimberly continued to focus on the pool. “You don’t count, so why bother?”
Kimberly smiled as she heard Elisha huff and push away from the table, but that smile faded in seconds. She didn’t give a damn that Janet would eat this slut alive. What she did give a damn about was the possibility that Elisha could be right. If there was anything Kimberly knew about Michael it was that nothing on this planet meant more to him than his father’s favor, and he had certainly lost it. Was it possible that whatever he was working on with Elisha could redeem him? If so, he would certainly give Elisha whatever she wanted. He certainly would want to keep her happy until the deal was done, and Kimberly realized that this fact made Elisha very useful to her. Maybe she could be Kimberly’s key to breaking free of Michael. But first, she had to find out who Elisha Fisher was and what deal she had brought to Chase Beauty.
Lying out in the lounge chair by the pool at home, Haley had almost fallen asleep before her cell, placed on the table next to her melting margarita, sounded the loud flute that announced a text message. Her eyes flew open and the People magazine in her lap fell to the side.
“This better be good,” she said as she reached for the phone. She looked at the caller ID and a crooked smile formed at her lips. “Very good.”
She flipped the phone open and, as she expected, Sean’s message was short and boring.
I know what u did!
She quickly texted back a row of question marks, hoping he would get pissed enough to be more creative.
U stole my files
Ur files? u stole them 1st
Y
Sorry. Have 2 protect myself
How?
If G gets n trouble, so do I.
It’s a trust fund thing.
Where r files?
Shredded -
FBI has originals
Yes but ur the 1 wants 2 help sis – not FBI
U think u can stop me?
Slow u down while I figure out what 2 do
Do u care re any1 but u?
No, but ur still good in bed
Ur a bitch
Right again.
Haley waited for his response, but there wasn’t anything. He gave up so quickly. How disappointing.
As she was grabbing the files and sneaking out of his dingy apartment, Haley had felt a little bit of something that she thought might be considered guilt. But it passed quickly, as did most emotions she didn’t have patience for. It wasn’t personal really. She’d gone over there to get information and had been willing to sleep with him to get it and hopefully convince him to keep her out of it. She hadn’t expected the files, and she imagined the more Sean understood of them, the more determined he would be to clear Taylor, which meant putting her and Garrett in a lie connected to a murder.
Haley just knew that until her business in Australia was taken care of, she needed access to her trust fund. And as things were a little too touchy-feely at home since the plane accident, she didn’t want to get shipped off to Europe again.
Whatever it was that Garrett was involved in, she had hastily interjected herself, and she needed it to go away. She figured her best bet was to do as Garrett said, stick to their story. Sean and Taylor were the ones determined to crack their alibis and she had taken away Sean’s ammunition. He’d admitted that he hadn’t figured it all out yet. Now, he wouldn’t get the chance to. As for Taylor trying to help the FBI, Haley would figure out how to deal with her next.
Haley tossed the phone back on the table and reached for her margarita just as two shadows blocked out the sun’s rays. She took her sunglasses off and pouted.
A Price to Pay Page 16