“I doubt that,” I say carelessly. She has no idea what she is talking about.
“I can prove it.”
Huh? “What do you mean you—” She hangs up.
I toss my phone into my purse as I exit the highway. What in the hell was that about? There is no way he was with someone tonight. I mean, I guess he could have been with someone right after he got off work, before he came up to the bar. But I have more trust in Slade than to believe that is a possibility. She’s just trying to make me second-guess him and that’s not going to happen.
We pull into the garage and I step out of the truck. “You okay?” Slade asks when he looks at me.
“Yes.” I smile. “You wore me out.”
He holds the door open for me with one hand while the other slaps me on the ass as I walk by.
I turn and face him once I am inside the house. “Why did you come in and see me tonight?”
He frowns. “I wanted to see you.”
“But why did you stay so late? You have to work in the morning.” I hate that Jessica has me questioning him.
He walks past me, heading to the bedroom, chuckling. “That has never stopped us before, Angel.”
I pause as I watch him enter our bedroom. That statement held truth, but didn’t answer my question. Courtney did say he was worried about my safety. Maybe that is the reason why he came up there. I already told him I won’t work nights anymore until we get everything figured out.
I walk into our room to find him undressing in the closet. “But why? You have to be up early for work in the morning.”
“You act as if it’s the first time I came to your work to see you,” he says sliding his jeans down his legs.
I reach up and run a hand through my hair. “I just don’t know why you came up there. You have to be tired. This weekend was crazy.”
He comes to stand in front of me, now naked. “Get undressed and come to bed.” He leans down kissing my head and leaves the closet.
I drop the subject and head to the bathroom to get ready for bed.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
SLADE
“Congratulations, Slade.” Micah pats me on the shoulder as we walk out of the courthouse. “I could have seen that decision going either way.”
I look over at him with a cocky smile. “I only saw one outcome.” My client walks by and turns to face me.
“Thanks, Slade.” He reaches out his hand. I shake it with a small nod then he turns and walks off with his wife.
Was he really innocent? No! My clients usually aren’t, but the evidence wasn’t strong enough against him.
Many people have asked me how my family and I defend the guilty, or the most asked question, “How do you sleep at night?” Very easily actually!
Every person deserves the right to a fair trial. Every person deserves someone on their side, defending their freedom.
I’m that guy!
Micah steps to the right to shake the hand of a female attorney we know when I catch sight of a guy walking down the hallway about to enter a courtroom. I only get a quick side view of him, but he looks familiar. That’s not unusual here, though, we always run into repeat offenders. Sometimes they have the money to get their own attorney. Sometimes they are broke and get one assigned to them.
“Slade. Congratulations.” Natalie gets my attention.
“Thanks.” I say reaching out to shake her awaiting hand.
Natalie is an attorney at another law firm in town. They are a multimillion-dollar company that handles a bunch of pro bono accounts.
“It’s good to see you again. It’s been too long.” The way her brown eyes look me up and down I can tell she is referring to the last time we spent our time together naked.
I pull my hand away from hers and turn to speak to Micah but she speaks again. “How about I take you out to lunch to celebrate?” she asks, giving me a flirtatious smile.
“No, thank you.” Her face falls before she can mask her surprise at my dismissal. “We should get going,” I say to Micah. He smiles brightly at Natalie as he says his goodbye. I turn from her and walk to the front door with him following after me.
“What was that about?” he asks as we come up to my car.
“I’m not hungry.” I shrug. He gets into the car and looks over at me.
“You slept with her,” he states, not sounding surprised.
I laugh. “That’s not what I would call it.” There was no sleeping involved.
“So Natalie finally got her way, huh?” He smirks.
You have to know Natalie to understand what that statement meant. She gets anything and everything she wants. If her money can’t buy it, she will use her perky tits and tight ass to get what she wants. Although I slept with anyone I wanted, I never brought girls to the office or mixed business with pleasure. But I was working a case in New York City, where she is from, and I allowed her to take me out for some drinks. I ended up staying at her high-rise condo, having a three day sex fest with her.
“Yep. I had a lapse of judgment.”
Micah looks over to me. “So that’s what you’re calling the women of your past?”
I look over at him with a serious expression on my face. “Yes.”
He reaches over and pats me on the shoulder. “Well, just a little word of advice. You may want to make that more clear next time you see Natalie. She is not the type that takes kindly to rejection.”
I should have told her I was in a relationship, but if I know Natalie, she already knows my relationship status. It doesn’t matter how much of herself she wants to throw in my face, I would never cheat on Angel.
I pull my cell out of my pocket when I feel it vibrate. It notifies me that our house alarm was just set to away.
I go to my recent calls, find Angel’s name, and hit send.
*****
SAMANTHA
I throw Nadia in reverse and back out of the driveway. How could I have missed that last night? How did I not hear my phone beep from a message?
I put the truck in drive when I hear my phone playing Slade’s ringtone. “Hello?” I say, pulling out of the neighborhood.
“Where are you going?”
I look around to see if Slade decided to come home for lunch or something. “Just leaving the house,” I reply when I don’t see his car.
“Where are you going?” he asks again.
“What’s with the interrogation?” I snap. His questioning is adding to my already pissy mood.
“I just got notified that you set the alarm to away, and I was wondering where you are off to. You are off work today,” he states.
His statement makes me pause. “Why were you notified?” I ask slowly.
“I have the security system linked to my phone.”
Of course he does. Sometimes I hate technology. “I’m heading to your mother’s house for lunch with the girls.”
“I see.”
“How was court?” I try to get the image of him and the other woman out of my mind.
“It went well,” is all he says.
I don’t usually ask him about work, and he never offers much information about it. I haven’t figured out why he keeps most of that from me. I guess he is just one of those people who likes to keep work separate from his home life, and I can understand that.
“That’s good. Are you done for the day?”
“No. Micah and I are heading back to the office right now.”
“Okay. Well I hope you have a good day.”
“You too, Angel. Call me when you leave.”
I can’t quite put my finger on it, but something seems to be off. He seems really short. Maybe court didn’t go as good as he said it did.
“I love you,” I say, trying to cheer us both up.
“I love you too.”
I hang up and drop my phone in my lap. As soon as I do the picture of him and the blonde comes to mind. I woke up this morning and discovered that Jessica had sent me a message last night after we had hung up. I nev
er looked at my phone again after that or I would have seen it. As soon as I opened it, I closed the picture. I couldn’t comprehend what I saw. He was not with someone before he was with me last night, I don’t believe it.
I pull up to Vivian’s house and walk up to the door. Holly opens it and steps aside for me to enter. “Hey girl,” she says cheerfully.
“Hey,” I respond with a lot less enthusiasm than she had.
“Something wrong?” She tilts her head to the side as her brown eyes lock onto mine.
“Just a little tired.”
She links her arm in mine and starts to drag me off to the kitchen. I put a smile on my face as I see Vivian pulling muffins out of the oven.
“I tried to get Courtney to take a late lunch today and come over,” Holly says as we sit down at the island.
“You know she told me her bank has a job opening.” I look at Holly.
She nods. “I told her to tell you. I thought you would take it.”
I frown. “Why would I take it?” Holly knows how much I like working at the bar.
“She meant she thought Slade would make you quit.” Vivian looks at us. “If so, you could go and work with Courtney.”
“Well, that won’t happen.” I shake my head stubbornly. “If I quit Larry’s, it will be because I choose to.”
Vivian gives me a warm smile. “Have you guys heard anything from the police about the break-in?” Holly asks, taking a bite of her muffin.
“No, if you ask me, they have no idea who it was and I don’t think they’re going to find out either.”
“I just find it odd,” Vivian says with a frown on her face.
I shrug it off, break-ins happen every day. We live in a very expensive neighborhood. It was storming and the power was out. Someone saw that as an opportunity. It’s not as if someone has a vendetta against us.
I pick up my phone when I hear it beep. I bite my lip when I see that it is a picture message from the bitch. I stand up from the table and walk to the hallway.
It’s a tad on the dark side, but I can tell the man on the bed that is lying on top of the woman is Slade. He has one arm holding up one of the woman’s legs and his face is in the crook of her neck.
The woman underneath him has her arms around his neck and her head thrown back.
I feel my body run cold. “What the fuck?” I whisper. This is not like the picture she sent me last night. It was much more blurry and they weren’t in the act. I could tell it was Slade, but he still had boxers on.
There is no doubt in my mind that they are having sex in this picture. I can’t place who the girl is. It could be Jessica, but I’m not one hundred percent sure.
As I continue to stare at the image, my phone beeps again informing me of a message from her. It takes me several minutes to pull my eyes away from Slade to read it.
Jessica: Told you. He can’t be faithful.
I feel like my chest may explode from my heart pounding so hard. I shake my head slowly. There’s no way this is real. I mean, I’m seeing it with my own eyes, but this can’t be.
I hurry to read the last part of her message.
Like I said. You’re not the only one he crawled in bed with last night.
I close my eyes as relief washes through me. He was with me last night. I feel stupid for even considering anything else when I received the original pic.
“Everything okay?’
I jump at the sound of Holly’s voice and drop my phone. I laugh a little at my jumpiness. “Yep,” I answer cheerfully, though I now want to kill Jessica even more. The bitch is not going to give up.
Holly bends down to pick up my phone and I snatch it out of her hand.
I give her a smile as Vivian comes into the hallway to check on us. “How about planning that Bachelorette party?” I say.
Vivian returns the smile, but Holly looks at my phone in my hand and then to me with a frown.
“I’ll explain later,” I say linking my arm through hers as I drag her back toward the kitchen.
She slams me to a stop and whispers, “Was that a picture of Slade in bed with another woman? It has to be a lie. A fake,” she says in a rush. “He would not do that to you.”
“I know, Holly. If you promise to keep it between us, I will tell you everything later.”
She looks at me with those soft brown eyes and I get the feeling she’s going to start crying. “Hey, it’s okay. I promise you. Slade and I are great! I don’t believe for a second that he would do that. Let’s go plan your party.”
I don’t wait for a response as I walk us into the kitchen where Vivian sits with her laptop and several Las Vegas brochures for us to look through.
I feel bad for the lie. I was guilty of thinking for a second that Slade had been in bed with someone else. The only thing that picture proved was that Jessica wasn’t going to give up. I’ve never wanted to fight for a man before. Even when I had caught Jax in bed with Bridgette, the thought didn’t even enter my mind. I was willing to walk away and let her have him. But for Slade, I will fight dirty and that’s exactly what I’m going to do. Jessica has no idea who she’s playing with.
*****
“Explain,” Holly starts in as soon as we walk out of the Longs’ front door.
“Jessica sent me that picture just to piss me off.”
“I don’t understand. Why is she sending you pictures of him in bed with another woman? You know he used to sleep around.”
“She tried to tell me that was him last night.” Holly goes to speak but I place my hand up. “I was with him all night last night.”
I turn to look at her as she opens the passenger door to Nadia. “What are you doing?”
“I’m going with you. Micah can bring me back later.” She jumps into the truck without another word.
I walk around the truck and get in. As soon as I start the engine, she speaks again.
“Let me see the picture.” She holds out her hand for my phone.
I dig into my purse and pull it out. Once I bring up the text, I hand her my phone.
She squints as she brings my phone closer to her face. “That doesn’t even look like Jessica.”
“I don’t think he even ever slept with her from what I understand.” I lean my head back against the headrest. “Of course, I don’t have a list of every chick he has slept with, so there is a possibility he did.”
“I don’t think so,” she says, still observing the picture. “I remember Micah telling me the night she slashed his tires that the first time he had met her was the night you called interrupting them in his bed. I’m pretty sure he never met up with her again.”
I knew he slept around, but the thought of him being in bed with someone had never crossed my mind. I feel a smile creep up my face knowing that she didn’t get her way that night.
We sit in silence as she goes back to looking at the picture. “Isn’t that Bridgette?” she says in surprise.
I grab the phone from her hand and look closer. Sure enough, the girl taking the picture is standing across from a mirror. You only get a side view of her and even though it’s dark, her blonde hair stands out enough for you to see that it’s her.
I laugh. “Man that picture must be really old.”
“What are you going to do?”
I smile as I look over at her. “I’m going to fight fire with fire.”
“How are you going to do that?” she asks with a matching smile.
“I have an idea. With your help.”
“Anything you need,” she says before I put the truck in gear and pull out of the driveway.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
SLADE
I pull up to our house and get out of my car. “Why are you following me?” I ask Micah as he gets out of his truck.
He lifts his phone up. “Holly texted me earlier and said she was over here. She wanted me to pick her up.”
We walk into the house to find Holly and Angel sitting in the living room. They both look at us with big smiles on t
heir faces.
“Hey, baby,” Angel calls sweetly, standing up from the couch and walking over to me.
“Hello, ladies.” I wrap my arms around her and she reaches up to smash her lips to mine. Her lips make contact and she doesn’t waste a second as she pushes her tongue into my mouth. She kisses me as if she hasn’t seen me in days and my body instantly reacts. I push my hardening cock into her stomach and grab a hold of her hair, pulling her head back to deepen the kiss.
She pulls away panting and looks over at Holly. Holly beams at us and gives a little laugh. “I’m ready to go. I’ll see you tomorrow at work, Sam.” She then tosses a cell phone onto the couch and turns to walk off as Angel waves goodbye.
Micah and I look at one another puzzled for a second before he shrugs and trails after a bouncing Holly.
Once they’re gone, Angel spins around walking off toward the kitchen.
“Where are you going?” I ask somewhat confused that she is no longer mauling me in the living room.
“I’m hungry,” she throws over her shoulder.
I come up behind her, spin her around, and toss her over my shoulder. “Me too,” I say smacking her ass as I walk us toward our bedroom.
“Slade!” She giggles.
I shut our bedroom door with my foot and toss her onto the bed. As soon as her back hits the sheets, she sits straight up. I reach down and pull her shirt up over her head. “Do I even want to know what that was about back in the living room?” I raise an eyebrow as she works on removing her jeans and underwear.
“I just missed you?” She shrugs while biting her lip seductively.
I let out a chuckle. “Well lucky for me, you have the chance to show me just how much.” I unzip my pants and her eyes fall to my hard cock as I release it.
She looks up to my eyes and gets a small smile on her face.
I jump off the bed and open the nightstand that holds the handcuffs that we haven’t used much lately. I know she likes them and I want to have a little fun with her tonight.
“Hmm,” she hums as she looks at me holding the cuffs.
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