Playing with Fire

by J. S. Cooper

  “We can all be broken. We’re all human.” I frowned.

  “But you’re strong.”

  “I’m strong, but not infallible.” I touched his chest lightly. “Everyone can be broken, Tyler.”

  “Some break more easily than others.” He caught my hand as I grazed his nipple. “Some are more flexible. They can be bent out of shape, but they don’t break.”

  “That’s me then, isn’t it?” I sighed. “I was bent out of shape.”

  “You don’t have to follow any particular shape. That’s the beauty in life, Evie. You’re not like the other girls. You’re not like any other girl I’ve ever met.” His eyes narrowed as his fingers ran across my stomach.

  “I don’t know the other girls, so I don’t know what they’re like.”

  “I thought it would all be good fun. I thought this was the only way for me. It was the best way. I never wanted to fall in love. I never wanted to feel for anyone, not after the heartbreak I experienced. I never wanted to experience that again.”

  “She must have been very special, this girl you loved.” My voice choked up. Do not be jealous, Evie. Do not allow yourself to be jealous.

  “I loved her from the day she was born.”

  “From the day she was born?” I frowned. How had he known her then?

  “I remember the day my parents brought her home. She was a little pink bundle of tears and wails, but the first time she saw me, she stopped crying and smiled. I gave her my finger, and she held onto it tightly.”

  “Oh, are you talking about your sister?”

  “Of course.” He blinked at me. “She was the only person I ever loved with all my heart.”

  “Oh.”

  “Things changed when she died.”

  “How did she die again?” I asked quietly, my heart breaking for his obvious pain. I knew he’d told me before she’d died of a drug overdose, but something in me told me to ask again.

  “I don’t know.” His lips pursed, and I could see the vein in his throat throbbing. “One day she was there and then she was gone.”

  “Gone?” My head started throbbing again. What did gone have to do with drugs?

  “Yes.” He sat up. “I went to Europe for two weeks with some friends. She wanted to come, but I didn’t want the hassle of looking after my little sister. I told Grant to look after her.”

  “How old was she?” I was confused. “And where were your parents?”

  “My parents died in a car crash when I was 22 and she was 12. I was her caretaker from that point on. When she turned 16, she became more rebellious, harder to handle, and I started to resent the fact that I had to put up with her. I almost wished she’d never been born at that point.” His breath caught. “It was selfish of me to think that, of course. And she only acted that way because of the lack of discipline I’d instilled. When she was 18, she became a wild child, she became a stripper, she did drugs, and she did all the things she knew I’d hate. And instead of doing something about it, I disappeared. I went to France and England with a girl I was seeing casually and left her in the care of Grant. He’s my half-brother.” He sighed. “And then she died.”

  “I’m sorry.” I bit my lower lip.

  “Grant felt awful about it, of course, but what could we do? We both became men we don’t recognize because of her death.”

  “Grant is your half-brother?” My jaw dropped. “I didn’t know.”

  “And why should you know?” His lip curled. “You know what I want you to know. Our mother was a whore. She led my father to believe that Grant was his, but then my father found out the truth and that is why I inherited the family fortune. Grant and I had always been so close, but it out a wedge in our friendship. We always had to one-up each other. I always thought I was better of course. I was the legitimate son. I was the golden child. And then I decided to be a playboy and chase models around the world. I told him that if he wanted to have money, he needed to look after our sister. And then somehow she disappeared and she died. I don’t even know how she died.”

  “Grant doesn’t know how she died?” I asked softly, my mind racing. Had Grant done something to her? Or had she died like Eugenie had died?

  “She left a note.” He closed his eyes. “She intended to disappear and commit suicide. She said no one would ever find her body. No one would ever know what happened to her. And that was my punishment for leaving her and going to Europe.”

  “What?” I gasped. “That’s horrible.”

  “She was young and hurt and lost.” He opened his eyes and looked at me, his eyes blazing. “And that’s what hurts the most, the not knowing. Do you know how much pain I feel in my heart, every time I think about her? I miss her so much. She was my life, even when she was a pain. We loved each other with an unbreakable bond. She was my flesh and blood. And then she was gone, and I don’t know where, or how, or with who. And it kills me. Every single day, I lose another piece of my heart. It’s disintegrating slowly. I almost have nothing left.”

  “You can’t blame yourself, Tyler. It’s not your fault.” I grabbed his hands. “You weren’t to know she would—“

  “I want us to do something.” He cut me off and rolled over. “Say you’ll do something crazy with me.”

  “What do you mean?” I groaned. “Haven’t we already done enough crazy stuff?”

  “You’ve awakened in me something that makes me feel alive. You’ve awakened in me something that makes me remember a life outside of this prison.”

  “But this is a self-imposed prison. No one is making you be here in your figurative pain.”

  “It’s what I deserve.”

  “So to mask the pain, you and Grant sleep with nameless girls?”

  “I don’t mask anything, Evie.” He pulled me up with him. “I live life. I do what I want. And I don’t let society tell me what’s wrong or right. And I don’t sleep with them. Grant does. We test them to see which one they want. We test them to see if it’s about the money. That matters to Grant. That matters to me too. But you, you’re different. I knew the first time I met you that you were different. Will you do this with me?”

  “What is it you want us to do?” I asked him softly as I leaned my naked body against his. He pulled me up and towards him and started waltzing with me across the grass. “What are you doing?”

  “Dancing.” He said simply.

  “But there’s no music.”

  “There’s always music.” He held my hands tighter as he guided me across the dark field. “One two three, one two three, one two three,” he said over and over again, his moves effortless. It was hard for me to move with him without feeling self-conscious. I’d never danced naked before.

  “Don’t be so in your head, Evie.” He looked at me with a frown. “Close your eyes.”

  “But I’ll trip if I close my eyes.”

  “I won’t let you trip.” He shook his head. “Trust me.”

  “Okay.” And slowly I closed my eyes and gave in to him, allowing him to continue guiding me across the grass. I was sure the animals of the night were having a good laugh at us. I felt warm and safe in his arms, but I couldn’t stop myself from asking the question that had been bothering me for the last couple of minutes. “Why did you tell me your sister died of a drug overdose before, if now you’re saying you don’t know how she died?” I asked him softly. I wasn’t sure he’d heard me at first, because he kept moving us through the field without answering me. The grass felt soft and dewy under my feet, and it almost felt like we were gliding. But then all of a sudden he stopped and looked at me with sad eyes.

  “Perhaps it was for the same reason you told me your mother stopped dating when you were a child?”

  “What?” My face froze at his words.

  “I know your mother dated a man when you were eighteen.”

  “How?” I said softly.

  “I know you used to sleep with him when your mother went to work at night.”

  “It was a ...” My voice trailed off as I
stared at him. What could I say to that? It was the truth. It was the reason why I’d been a do-gooder all through school and college. I’d been so ashamed of myself for sleeping with my mothers’ boyfriend. So, so ashamed. It had only happened two times but I had never forgiven myself. But how had he known?

  “I told you I know your secrets, Evie. We all have secrets. We all have things we’re too ashamed to admit.” He started dancing again. “But why should we all be ashamed? Not a one of us is better than the other.”

  “How did you know?” I wanted to run away, the shame running through my veins was so very prevalent. I’d been so young when it had happened, yet I’d never forgotten. I’d changed my whole life. I’d become a good girl, but still I’d succumbed easily when presented with a real test. I’d gone home with Grant without blinking. Maybe this was the lifestyle in my DNA. Maybe this was who I was supposed to be.

  “Grant told me.” He said softly. “There are many things Grant knows about you. Things he knew before you went to the club that night. He likes to find out about the girls we bring home before we bring them home for some fun. He wants to make sure they can handle it. None of our picks are random.”

  “He told me that night he has a lot of fake bachelor parties.” My head was thudding as I thought. “He uses the same strippers for the parties, doesn’t he?”

  “Yes.” He said simply.

  “And that’s how he gets the girls, isn’t it?” My heart sank at what I realized must be true.

  “Yes, the girls come through his contacts.”

  “And Hailey told him about me. She told him about my past. She told him where we would be so he could take photographs of me. She told him I needed the money. And that’s why she convinced me to work that night.” As I spoke, I knew my words were true. I felt betrayed by her, truly and deeply betrayed. And it was then I remembered what Eugenie had said. Who had been the one to betray her? “Do you get all the girls through Hailey?”

  “She’s your friend, right? I don’t know if I should say anything else.” He looked worried.

  “You know she’s my friend.” I sighed. “You knew all along, so why are you pretending you don’t know? Why are you pretending you three didn’t set this all up from the beginning? Do you know about Eugenie as well?”

  “I wouldn’t continue with that line of questioning if I were you,” said a deep voice from behind us, and we both froze.

  19

  Tyler’s body froze as we heard Grant’s voice.

  “Why are you here?” Tyler’s voice sounded deadly.

  “I knew you were here.” Grant laughed and stopped in front of us. “You always loved this field.”

  “You’ve been here before?” I looked at Tyler with hurt eyes, but he didn’t answer me.

  “This is not the first time this has gone down,” Grant answered, and he looked at my naked breasts. “But I’m here to take care of you.” He licked his lips and stepped forward. “Let me take care of you like I took care of you on our first night.”

  “That night was a mistake.” I took a step back and held my arms over my breasts.

  “It was a mistake, Sleeping Beauty?” Grant’s voice sounded strange in the field, and I stared at his dark face, illuminated by the moon. It looked like he hadn’t shaved in a few days, and there was a lot of facial hair and scruff covering his face. I shivered as I realized just how alpha and wolflike he looked.

  “Don’t call me that!” I shouted at him and looked over at Tyler, who was just watching the two of us, with a dazed look on his face.

  “You like to pretend you’re all prim and proper, but this isn’t your first foray into the world of crazy sex, is it?” Grant’s voice echoed as he took a step towards me. Tyler grabbed his arm and stopped him.

  “Don’t move a step closer.” His eyes narrowed at Grant. “Or I’ll hurt you.”

  “You’d hurt your own brother?” Grant looked at him for a few seconds and then he looked back at me with a snarl. “What have you done to him?”

  “Did Hailey tell you to proposition me?” I changed the subject, needing to know exactly how I’d gotten myself into this situation.

  “She gives the best lap dances, you know.” Grant laughed and stepped back as Tyler glared at him. “Much better than you.” He laughed and I could feel myself growing sick. “She has no problem fucking me while she dances.” He rubbed his crotch through his pants. “I wanted her to come back with me initially, but that would have been a bit awkward, wouldn’t it have been, Tyler?” He looked at Tyler and smirked.

  “That’s enough, Grant.” Tyler’s voice was low, and I could see and feel his chest moving up and down, even though I wasn’t next to him. He was angry, and I wasn’t sure what he was going to do.

  “What’s gotten into you? This is what we’ve been waiting for.” Grant looked at him.

  “This is different.” Tyler looked at me then, a light in his eyes I’d never seen before.

  “How is this different?”

  “She’s different.”

  “You’re joking?” Grant shook his head. “She’s not different, Tyler.”

  “Different from who?”

  “Remember what happened to Eugenie?” Grant looked at Tyler. “You don’t want another Eugenie. Do you want to be responsible for a third death?”

  Tyler looked at him and then at me, and it suddenly struck me that maybe Tyler didn’t realize Eugenie was alive. Grant was twisting everything. He was somehow in Tyler’s head.

  “Eugenie is still alive,” I blurted out, and I watched the expression on Tyler’s face as I spoke. “She’s not dead, Tyler. She’s alive, and maybe your sister is as well.” I moved closer to him and looked at Grant. “I think Grant has been lying to you.”

  “Stupid bitch.” Grant’s eyes narrowed as Tyler pulled me towards him, his arm around my waist. “You stupid, stupid bitch.” Grant stared at me and shook his head slowly.

  “What’s she saying, Grant?” Tyler’s voice was lethal, and I could feel the power coursing through his body as his fingers gripped my skin. “Eugenie’s alive?”

  “She’s in the house.” I spoke up again. “Grant did something to her. He won’t let her leave. I think he’s been keeping her as his slave or something. I think he’s been drugging her. That’s what her letters said. And from the way she was talking, I think something is not quite right with her. Maybe your sister is still alive as well.”

  Tyler turned to me, his eyes surveying my face for a few seconds. “Put your clothes on. We need to go.”

  I nodded and grabbed my clothes and pulled them on quickly while Tyler and Grant stood there staring at each other wordlessly. I could see Grant looked scared. I wondered what Tyler was going to do to him.

  “Is she telling the truth?” Tyler said in a deadly voice as he looked at Grant. “Do not lie to me, Grant.”

  Grant just nodded in silence and Tyler gasped, his face hard and dark.

  “You have to let Eugenie go,” Tyler said softly. “And you have to leave.”

  “But Tyler...” Grant’s voice trailed off as Tyler glared at him. “It was for the best. It was for you. She got addicted to the drugs. I didn’t want anyone blaming us.”

  “It’s over, Grant.” Tyler’s voice was cold. “You need to leave. You’re no longer my brother.”

  “Where am I supposed to go?”

  “You’ll find someplace.”

  “Can I come back?” Grant looked at me for a split second and then back at Tyler. “We can go back to the way things used to be before we started getting the girls. I can be your driver, like before. I don’t mind.”

  “No. It’s over for you and me, Grant.” Tyler stepped forward and grabbed his shirt. “You’ve failed me. You nearly made me lose the one girl I’ve always wanted. This was all for you. This was all to make you feel better because our mom was a whore, but that wasn’t my fault, Grant. That wasn’t my fault.”

  “Tyler.” Grant’s voice sounded whiny, and I watched the man before me
turn into a little boy.

  “It’s over, Grant. It should have been over a long time ago.” Tyler turned to me. “Thank you for telling me about Eugenie,” he said softly, and I smiled at him awkwardly. How had he just accepted what I had to say without questioning me? It was almost as if he had guessed something wasn’t right. Maybe he’d even heard the slight creaks and noises in the night and wondered what was going on. Maybe he was finally ready to move on from the pain and the heartache he had suffered. Now he knew the truth. And now we could be together.

  “So you won.” Grant’s voice was a monotone. “Once again you won.”

  “Go now, let Eugenie go and leave.” Tyler sighed and I shivered in the night air. “I haven’t won anything. I’ve lost a brother. First a sister and now a brother. Go.” And with that Grant started walking to the car.

  “Shouldn’t we go with him and make sure he actually lets her go?” I grabbed Tyler’s arm. “Do you really trust him?”

  “Grant knows if he doesn’t let her go, he will find himself in a very bad place.” Tyler’s voice held a lightly veiled threat. “Send me proof that she is in a safe place and I will give you enough money to be set up for life.”

  “I’ll go now.” Grant nodded and looked at me one last time. “I wish you would have chosen me, Evie. I wish you would have chosen me.”

  20

  I watched as Tyler ran into a store and I walked over to a fruit stall in the market to buy some fresh oranges and apples. The last couple of days had been magnificent without Grant and Eugenie in the house. I felt like I was really getting to know Tyler well, though it felt odd I still hadn’t gone back home yet. And even odder to be starting a relationship with him under these circumstances, but it just felt right. He had already paid off all of my student loans and while it made me feel slightly guilty, I knew he could afford to and wanted to help me out. I didn’t see it as anything wrong. He wanted to take care of me because he was falling in love with me. He was my Prince Charming. All of these years I’d waited for him, and he’d finally come along.