Loyal Cheaters (Cheaters #2)

by Lacey Silks

  “Harder, Ace. Please.” I was almost crying from the painful climax that was building and building and I couldn’t find a way to let go. My pussy lips must have been completely swollen. My hips jutted out for a deeper impact in my ass. Just a few more pushes…

  “Come, baby,” he said.

  His words broke me apart. I let out a scream as jolts of fierce pleasure zapped through me, out my arms and curled toes, jarring my body. The last slap of his sack on my pussy was almost unbearable. How does one let go of all that bliss?

  I shook, feeling him still and grunt with a release before his body became as limp as mine. He finally pulled out, and I felt the warm leak of his orgasm trail down my thigh. This could never get old.

  “Tell me you’re mine, Zoey.” He brushed my hair out of my eyes.

  “I’m yours.” I couldn’t imagine being anyone else’s.

  “Only mine,” he whispered.

  “Only yours, Ace. Always yours.”

  Ace’s phone buzzed on the counter to the right, where he’d left it by his computer before coming to fuck me. He dragged his body up and sauntered naked across the kitchen, reaching for his phone. I took the opportunity to admire his perfect muscles, tight ass, narrow waist, and broad shoulders from behind.

  As he swiped his finger across the screen, his face brightened.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “Craig’s been arrested.”

  “Really? That was fast.”

  “Yeah, really. Apparently they got enough from his computer to put a pair of cuffs on him.”

  I ran over to Ace and jumped into his arms, wrapping my legs around his waist and pressing my lips hard to his. Holding my body up he set the phone aside and kissed me back. I hoped this was the perfect beginning to a perfect day and maybe a week; that is, before Craig was bailed out. I leaned against his hard chest, his still-firm erection between us.

  “When is the hearing?”

  “Monday.”

  “I want to see Jules. Let’s go out.”

  “Okay.”

  “And tell Scar to join us. It’s time my sister got a piece of her life back as well.”

  “You want to go out?”

  “This weekend. I want to dance and drink and be with you. And I want to share it with Jules.”

  “Anything to make you happy.” He kissed my lips.

  I could barely contain my excitement. While Craig was locked up, it was my only opportunity to enjoy this time before he was out again. Because if there was one thing I knew, it was that people with money like Craig Harper always had a way out.

  I just didn’t expect it to happen before I was ready.

  Chapter 21

  Zoey

  After my stay at Ace’s, I decided to move back to my apartment for a few days to see whether I could convince my sister the workaholic to go out with me. Unfortunately, the first day I was back, Mom knocked on my door.

  “Hello, Zoey.”

  “Hi, Mom.”

  She walked in right past me, her nose high in the air.

  Oh, oh!

  “Why haven’t you answered my calls?”

  “I’ve been busy.”

  “With Ace?”

  “Yes, with Ace. You gotta drop the act, Mom. You may not like him, but he’s good for me.”

  I wondered whether Sid had told her about his run-in at my studio. It didn’t look like he had. In fact, if Mom had known, she would have been at my throat the next day.

  “I’m sure he is. Listen, there’s something else I need to talk to you about. It’s your father.”

  The mention of his name reminded me that Craig had said they knew each other. A fresh layer of goosebumps formed on my skin. It was something I’d forgotten to ask Ace about. How did Craig know my father? Was he really a member of Infinity as well?

  “What about him?”

  “Has he gotten in touch with you?”

  “No, why?”

  “Well, he called me last night. He said something about making things right. I’m not too sure because I was… busy.”

  I gathered that by ‘busy’ she meant that she was practicing position number who-the-fuck-cares from her Kama Sutra book.

  “And then he said he wanted to see you and Julia, but your sister’s been working so much. She never has time for my calls anymore either.”

  Our mom had no idea about the trouble we’d gone through during the last two years, and Jules even longer. She’d been recovering and keeping herself busy at the hospital while I took over her obligations to Infinity. And since my father was pretty low on the totem pole, I preferred not to think about him too often. How long had it been since I’d seen him? Eight years? Maybe ten.

  “Well, I just wanted to let you know that he may call you, and if he does… Zoey, I love you and I want what’s best for you, but your father was more than a cheater.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It took me a long time to realize this, and I really don’t want to speak ill of him…” She paused for a moment. Despite our father’s cheating, Mom had never said a bad word about him. She didn’t have to. We were able to draw clear conclusions from his actions. The look of concern in her eyes gave me the chills, so I listened to her warning more attentively.

  “He was manipulative, Zoey. There was never a time when he did something out of the goodness of his heart. So if you do see him, please be careful. I know I don’t talk about our time as a family a lot, but I don’t want him to hurt you the way he hurt me. And it wasn’t only the cheating. He never hit me or anything, but he was very vulgar toward me and other women.” Her voice shook and her hands trembled. I stepped forward and put my arms around her. “It’s okay, Mom. You’ve got Sid now. And he’s a very good man. You did good. Really good.”

  “Sometimes I think I’ve done too much. Especially when I started to… you know… date other men.”

  I lowered my hands to her shoulders and looked into her eyes. “He clipped your wings, and you found a way to grow them again. There’s nothing wrong with being a woman who’s in touch with her sexuality, especially after what you put up with for so many years.”

  “When did you grow up to be so smart?” She smiled.

  We were having that rare mother-daughter moment. There had been so few in my life that I cherished each one more than gold. It wasn’t my mom’s fault, and I would never blame her. We just had a different dynamic. God only knew how many mistakes I’d made in my life. Who was I to judge?

  “I’m not that smart, believe me.”

  “Because you’re seeing Ace Wagner?”

  And just like that, the moment was gone.

  “Mooommm. Ace is a good man. You’re going to have to trust me on that.”

  “Well, it will take quite a bit more for him to prove himself. Just be careful with your father. Please?’

  “I’ve dealt with enough scum to know how to handle Dad. Now, how is Sid doing?”

  She looked at me funny, which told me that Sid definitely hadn’t mentioned anything to her about having an encounter with Ace’s fist.

  “I saw him at the coffee shop after he left my studio the other day.”

  “Oh, you mean his jaw. Well, he should look where he’s going next time, shouldn’t he? A fall down the stairs could have done much more damage.”

  Right, fall down the stairs. I made a mental note to thank him for not mentioning Ace.

  “Now, where is your sister?”

  “She’s out on a run.”

  “I feel like she’s avoiding me.”

  Could she really blame her? Mom’s way of loving us was butting in all the time, and just like me, my sister, preferred to follow the less-contact-the-better method.

  “Okay. Oh, and Zoey? Next time you see Ace, tell him I want to have a chat with him. Also, I’ve scheduled a meeting for you with one of the Broadway producers.”

  “Mom, please. You need to lay off.” Two years ago, I would have jumped at the opportunity, but now…

&nbs
p; “Then let me buy you a proper studio and you can forget about that dump downstairs.”

  “Mom, please. I have some stuff I need to finish.” I looked at my watch.

  “Fine, I can take a hint. I’ll see you soon, Zoey.”

  “Bye, Mom.”

  I kissed her on her cheek and she left. Would there ever be a time when everything was peachy? I doubted it. Ace hadn’t called me today with an update on Craig, but he had said we’d be going out to a public place this weekend. This probably meant that Infinity was crumbling and Harper was still behind bars.

  Just as I sat down on the couch with a tub of ice cream, my sister walked inside.

  “How are you?” Julia asked

  “What? Fine.” I shrugged and wrinkled my nose. “You stink of sweat.”

  “I was out on a run. Maybe you should join me sometime.”

  I shrugged again. It would take a magician to get me to run. I used to get enough exercise from dance and never found the need for more cardio. And right now, I just wanted to sink my ass into the couch and try to figure out how to get Mom to back off of Ace.

  “Zoey, I know I’ve been busy, but I’m here for you. For whatever you need. I can ask around the hospital for a job...”

  “I’m not going to work at the hospital.”

  “That’s not what I meant.”

  “Did Mom put you up to this?” I crossed my arms but still managed to get a spoon full into my mouth. My sister should have been more understanding. After all, I was the reason she was no longer tied to Infinity; yet she didn’t even know it. I let out an exasperated sigh, wishing for a genie in a bottle. My three wishes would be to 1) make my contract with Infinity invalid (or make the group disappear), 2) fix my studio downstairs, and 3) have a vacation. I so needed a vacation.

  “No, she didn’t. What’s going on with you? Are you and Mom still fighting?”

  “Yes. I feel like she’s constantly breathing down my neck about getting a new job.” I shifted in my seat. My ass was still a bit sore from my night with Ace.

  Please don’t pester me about a job. Not you, too.

  Given I’d spent all my inheritance to pay off Julia’s contract, and Infinity didn’t pay enough to survive, Julia had been paying most of the bills, and she’d been kind enough to take me under her roof. But I really didn’t need a second mother. I needed her to combat her addiction and for her to be well. Otherwise, what was the point of me signing that contract?

  “How is the job hunt going? You have a unique career as a dancer. I know it can’t be easy,” she asked.

  I jabbed my spoon into the ice cream. It stood tall, embedded in cookie dough. I set the tub aside and grasped my hair in my fists. “Please, Jules. I don’t need another lecture. And I don’t want Mom’s money to pay for a studio.”

  I already had a studio, and although it was a fixer-upper, I hoped that one day I could work there and teach kids from our neighborhood, those who couldn’t afford dance lessons.

  “Then let me help. I owe you for buying out my contract.”

  Guilt shone through her glossed-over eyes. But I only did for her what I knew she would have done for me. That was how it was supposed to work with sisters, wasn’t it? How could I have let her continue working for Infinity when she was a sex addict and broke their rules? It was a death sentence, and I wasn’t ready to lose a sister. I leaned over and hugged her. The tight squeeze of her arms forced a tear out of my eye, and I wiped it dry before she could see it. Our lives would have been perfect, or at least close to it, if it weren’t for men like Craig Harper.

  “You owe me nothing, Jules. I would do it all over again if I had to. Besides, I want to prove that I can survive on my own. At least until Mom admits she’s wrong.”

  “Wrong about what?”

  I owed her a little honesty. She’d been putting up with me at this apartment for so long, it was the least I could do.

  “About the guy I’m seeing.”

  “You’re seeing someone? How long has that been going on?”

  Her jaw almost dropped to the floor, and I felt my cheeks heat. If I mentioned Ace, I was sure she’d ask about Scar, and I didn’t know nearly enough about Ace’s brother to give her any details. The last I heard, she’d called him an asshole because he stood her up after they’d survived an avalanche. It took over twenty-four hours for us to find them buried in a cave, and from the little Jules had told me, I gathered they’d done more than share body heat to survive. And then he just left her, the same way Ace had left me. Maybe there was something in the Wagner genes that had them afraid to make an immediate commitment.

  “Four weeks, and I really don’t want to tell you who because I can’t lose you too.”

  From the look on her face, you’d assume that I just told her I was engaged. Yeah, maybe I’d taken the I’m a tramp pretend lifestyle a bit too far. I wondered whether Julia had thought I wasn’t interested in any relationships. That was far from the truth. I couldn’t have been interested because of Infinity. I hadn’t had a choice.

  “Zoey, I’m so happy for you. And I can’t believe you haven’t told me before!” She threw her arms around me again, forcing another tear out of me. I hadn’t seen Jules this happy in a while. For someone who had sworn off men and followed some sort of no-commitments policy, she was way too excited about my news.

  “Oh, please. You’re forgetting that I know you better than anyone else, Jules. You don’t do relationships. This was not something I could share with you. I know how hard you’ve worked to overcome your... issues.”

  And by issues, I meant sex addiction. Julia had been going to her meetings on a weekly basis. I wondered whether something else – or should I say, someone else – could help her heal more quickly. Like telling Scar how much it had hurt her when he left her after they’d been trapped on the mountain. She never spoke about that night to me, but I could tell she missed him. I couldn’t wait to see her reaction when she saw Scar this weekend.

  “Yeah, but it doesn’t mean that I can’t be happy for you. Are you really not going to tell me who it is?”

  “No.”

  “Which means that I know him.” Her eyes grew wider. “Oh, my God! You’ve got to tell me now.”

  She reached for my midriff and began tickling me.

  “Stop, please!”

  “Not until you tell me.”

  Aching from the tickles, I pushed her hands away. There was no way I could tell her about Ace. She’d have too many questions that I couldn’t answer.

  “Look, I know you’re smart and all, but please. Let this one go. You wouldn’t like the answer.”

  She stopped. “Okay, I will. For now.”

  Now, how did I get Jules, the woman who had sworn off dating, to agree to a blind date? Simple! Not tell her.

  “Let’s go out this weekend, just you and me, and a lot of alcohol.”

  “Zoey, you know I’m working.”

  “You’re working during the day. The party is at night. There’s this dance club, Kissed, I’ve been dying to go to.”

  She sighed. I was afraid if she rolled her eyes again, she’d see the back of her smart brain and realize that she was being set up.

  Come on, Jules. Give in.

  “Okay, I’ll go. But we can’t stay past midnight. Otherwise I’ll need to hook my body up to an intravenous machine filled with coffee.”

  “I love it when you talk doctor.” Now I was the one rolling my eyes, “Jules, the party doesn’t even start until then,” I whined. She probably hadn’t been out in ages; but then again, neither had I, and I was planning on making the night last as long as I could.

  “Zoey, I need to be conscious the next day.”

  “Fine. Wear something sexy. We’ll dance until you drop. By the way, a package came for you this afternoon. It’s in your bedroom.”

  “From who?”

  “I don’t know. No return address. It’s in your room.”

  “Okay.” She dropped her ice cream spoon into the sink an
d called over her shoulder, “I’ll meet you for dinner.”

  “Sure,” I answered, wondering who the mysterious box was from. I then quickly typed a message to Ace to tell him about this weekend and asked him to bring Scar for Jules. I felt a sudden burst of happiness rush through me. Was that what normal life was supposed to feel like?

  This would definitely be one unforgettable night. That is if I didn’t kill Ace for being an asshole first.

  Chapter 22

  Zoey

  The club was filled like a can of sardines. I had two straight shots of vodka at the bar by the entrance, and the first feeling of the booze working itself into my system was beginning to loosen my muscles. Despite the fact that Ace had told me that Craig was behind bars, and his company had their hands full with the investigation, I couldn’t help but feel like someone was always watching me, causing me to look over my shoulder.

  “You’re going to love him,” I said to Jules, who wasn’t paying any attention. She probably didn’t even hear me, as she focused on staying upright with every single step. Maybe forcing my sister out of the comfort of her flats hadn’t been such a great idea.

  The music blasted, and the smell of sweat mixed with thousands of dollars’ worth of perfumes floated in the air, as we pushed toward the main bar, where I was supposed to meet Ace.

  I turned around to get Julia’s attention. “So, the guy I’m dating. I asked him to meet us here.”

  She pulled on my hand, wobbling on her feet, the high heels I’d lent her threatening to break underneath the awkward steps. “You said it was going to be just the two of us tonight.”

  “I know, but I thought if you met him, you’d understand why I’ve been keeping him a secret.”

  She got that funny look on her face where she was trying to figure out who it was.

  “Zoey, that makes me only more suspicious. Is he some kind of a criminal?”