Fool Me Forever (Confidence Game)

by Ainslie Paton

  Lenny was coming to terms with the piercing, and Mal was provoking him by asking how long his unicorn horn was when Easton walked in and the laughter shut off as if a plug had been pulled, the temperature in the room going from balmy to lightning storm. Mallory jumped up and gave up her seat at the head of the table for Easton, and he took it without a word.

  The bully king had arrived.

  “We were joking about silly tattoos,” Mallory said. “Halsey says he has—”

  “You’re not to get a tattoo,” Easton interrupted.

  “We were just having fun,” said Lenny. “Talking about—”

  “There’s nothing funny about tattoos, and I’d better not find you have one, Mal,” Easton said.

  Mallory put her hand on Easton’s arm, placating. “I don’t. We were—” Easton shook her off, and Halsey interrupted. He’d seen enough.

  “We were making fun of me.”

  Easton made no effort to personally greet his family, didn’t acknowledge Halsey as a guest, and aimed his displeasure at Mallory.

  “They’re not a joke. They’re a permanent disfigurement,” he said.

  “Easton, have some cheese,” said Lenny, “and leave Mallory alone.”

  “Be quiet. I’m talking to Mal.”

  Mal leaned toward him. “Please don’t argue.”

  “Lenore, I distinctly remember you yelling at me about not paying enough attention to Mal, and I come in and find you’re encouraging her to get a tattoo.”

  Halsey should sit quietly and watch this play out, study the interactions. Not drawing the spotlight was the most prudent, but it was the least attractive option. “The concept of marking the body as a form of self-expression is as old as humanity. Plus, removal methods are pretty good these days.”

  Easton spoke to the center of the table, showing Halsey he was beneath the courtesy of eye contact. “I didn’t ask for your opinion.”

  “Stop,” said Lenny. “Stop trying to cause an argument, Easton.”

  “Maybe your guest could leave, and we wouldn’t have one,” Easton said.

  “You should apologize for that,” Lenny said, achingly calmly.

  The animosity rippled across the table. It was on, and he wasn’t sorry. Easton Bradshaw’s relationship with his family was poisonous, and he couldn’t sit by and let Lenny and Mallory be abused.

  “It’s time for you to leave,” Easton said.

  Prudent would. Halsey was feeling decidedly reckless. “I think that’s for Lenny to decide, and we have business to do.”

  “I decide for my family.”

  “Oh, Easton. Stop being such a dick,” said Lenny. “We were having a nice time before you got here.”

  “Hey, we got off on the wrong foot, East.” Halsey smiled. He’d nailed the passive-aggressive tone of that, and it would rile Easton up further to have his name shortened. He wasn’t trying to fix this; he wanted to blow it up.

  “Who is this guy?” Easton said, affronted in a very satisfying way.

  “I’m the accountant.”

  “You’re the guy who advised my sister not to loan me money.”

  “No. I made that call,” said Lenny. “I didn’t need help to make it.”

  “You can leave, accountant.” Easton said the word “accountant” as someone else might say motherfucker.

  Halsey rubbed his jaw as if considering and then said, “Well, East. You don’t get to dismiss me like I’m dependent on your approval.”

  “Please, Easton, don’t,” said Mallory.

  Easton leaned into the table to get closer to Halsey. “You want to play, accountant? We could take this outside.”

  “Why would I want to fight you, East?”

  “My name is Easton.”

  Mess with a psychopath’s name, and you mess with his overinflated ego and his belief he was entitled to your admiration. Easton was working hard not to lose his temper. He’d been ready for Halsey to take the path of least resistance and avoid any unpleasantness. It’s how people responded to bullies. He wasn’t ready to defend himself against another male who knew the moves to make, and this was good practice for the final showdown with Cookie Jar. “Good to know.”

  Easton rapped his knuckles on the table. “Len, in the kitchen.”

  Lenny half rose before Halsey put an arm out to stop her. “Whatever you want to say about me can be said in front of everyone.”

  Lenny would always be forced to find a side route, take the path of least resistance around Easton, make allowances for his moods and whims, while Mallory, craving his affection and approval, was whiplashed by his callous disregard.

  “You don’t get an opinion in this house, accountant.” Easton’s restraint was gone. He’d been challenged in his own domain, and he needed to regain his supremacy.

  “This is Lenny’s apartment, and you should respect that.”

  “Fuck. Stand up.” Easton did, his chair shooting away from the table.

  Halsey stayed seated. He didn’t change one aspect of his posture, while Lenny sat straighter and Mallory sank lower in her seat. He could hear Lenny’s shortened breathing.

  “Halsey,” she whispered in warning.

  It was time to finish this.

  “You don’t want to fight me, East. But if it comes to it, you should know I might have a unicorn rainbow tattoo, and I will hurt you if I have to.”

  “Stop it. It’s not funny. You should go,” said Mallory. “Easton is sorry. He’s sorry. We were just having fun. It was just a few laughs.”

  “You don’t speak for me, brat!” Easton shouted, jabbing a finger at Mallory’s face. “You’re a dumb kid. Is it any wonder I don’t want to pay you any attention? You’re a waste of my time.” He scanned the table. “Fuck you all.”

  In his rage, he turned and walked into his chair, stumbled, swore, and knocked it into a side table. It tipped, and he could easily have righted it; he let it crash over, taking a lamp with it, before he made his way out of the room and leaving the front door hanging open.

  They all stood. Lenny closed the door and rescued the lamp. Halsey reset the side table on its feet.

  “You’re a jerk,” Mallory said. “You made everything worse.” She evaded Lenny with a shove and left the room, closing a door down the hallway hard.

  Until that hollow thud of the door slamming, he hadn’t thought about the consequences of besting Easton.

  “You shouldn’t have interfered.” Lenny held the lamp base in her hand, the torn shade and glass from the broken bulb littered the floor.

  Easton was a wrecking ball who worked to shape his family’s sense of security around his own pride, and Halsey had let his personal feelings trump his professionalism. To satisfy his own ego, he’d lost whatever trust he’d earned with Lenny the moment he fucked up and drove Easton from the room.

  This is why he didn’t do fieldwork.

  There was a lot to clean up, and he wasn’t sure Lenny would give him the chance to help.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Lenny waited until Mal’s bedroom door banged and then let Halsey have it. “What the hell were you thinking? You inflamed the situation and upset Mallory. If that’s the way we’re going to work together, forget it. We’re done.”

  She was yelling, and Mallory would hear. Not the words, but the intention. Good. It would be helpful if Halsey would leave. But he stood there like a big rock and let her shout at him.

  “And calling him East. You had to be able to see he hated that, yet you kept it up, even when he told you not to. What the hell was that about? Would you have hit him? I mean seriously, would you have punched Easton? Do you have a taste for it now? How was that supposed to help things? Hmm, tell me how beating up my brother was going to help me keep my family together.”

  Big mute rock. You’d think he’d say something, but without a word he went to the kitchen, forcing her to follow him.

  “Sure, take your chocolates with you, as long as you go, and I never have to see you again,” she said, arriv
ing to see he’d opened the cupboard under the sink.

  “Where’s your pan and brush?”

  Oh God, they’d been here before. “I’ll do it.”

  “Let me help.”

  “You’ve done enough.”

  He closed the cupboard door and straightened up. “I fucked up.”

  “Stunning observation.”

  His eyes flicked away briefly and came back to hers again. “I had to make a choice.”

  “You were thinking ‘Do I club Easton or smart-ass him to death?’”

  “A choice between allowing Easton to continue to disrespect you and ransom Mallory’s feelings, or to stand up to him.”

  “It never occurred to you not to antagonize him?”

  “There is no peacemaking with a bully.”

  “That’s not true. If you humor him, manage him, it’s better for everyone.”

  He took a step toward her, palms up as though in surrender. “It’s not. I promise you it’s not. Managing him is never going to end. It’s an unwinnable war. He will change the rules once they don’t work in his favor. He will always place himself first, and he’ll use you all to make himself feel bigger, smarter, and stronger every time. It’s what all bullies like Easton do. It’s how Sonny Ozols became prime minister.”

  She had to turn away, because she knew that. Easton was a petty despot, always had been, and the best she’d ever achieved was a temporary cease-fire. “Hall cupboard.”

  He took that as permission to help and moved past her, retrieving the pan and brush and sweeping up the glass from the broken bulb.

  She leaned in the doorway and watched him on his haunches, those very broad shoulders balanced on a nicely sculpted butt. She wanted to run her hands over the breadth of his back, but she was furious with him, and that fury was all confused with something that felt like gratitude. “That’s twice you’ve cleaned after me. No one ever challenged Dad. He was boss of the walk. He left a void and Easton filled it. But it upsets Mallory when we fight.”

  She lurched for the box of chocolates as Halsey came back into the kitchen and emptied the glass shards into the trash, because it was part of the recurring theme between them. She got upset and things got broken, he cleaned up, then she ate enough chocolate to put herself into a coma.

  She picked out a hazelnut truffle roll and offered him the box, which he declined with a headshake. He’d brought Li-Lac chocolates. He couldn’t have known they were her favorite. Part of her thought it was awesome he’d been willing to take Easton on, like he’d taken her mugger on. She had to stop listening to that irresponsible part because, like her father, Halsey was going to leave a lasting mess.

  “I did the wrong thing for the right reason.” Halsey stood in the middle of the kitchen, rock-like and disappointed with himself. “I chose to fight because I wanted to show Easton you and Mallory had a friend who wouldn’t take his crap. I’m sorry I had no right to interfere. I let my personal feelings get in the way of my judgment.”

  Everything about Halsey said dependable, from the sheer heft of him to the serious expression he wore. He’d made Mallory laugh, and it was worth forgiving him for that. He’d been engaging and funny and easygoing, but she needed to remember that was all an act.

  It was a goddamn shame he was an exceptional con artist, because he had the makings of an incomparable boyfriend.

  “You don’t need to apologize. Easton can get under your skin. He’s a master at it. I know I yelled at you and said it was your fault, but it’s not. I need sleep. I shouldn’t be eating these.” She took one more chocolate, put the lid on the box, and pushed it across the counter at him. “I need to make sure Mallory doesn’t get a Pikachu or a ‘love and hate’ or a ‘nevertheless she persisted’ tattoo she’ll regret before the ink has settled. Thank you for the groceries. That was thoughtful.” It was time to show him out. “I don’t think you and I can work together.”

  He let a frustrated breath go, one hand in a fist at his side.

  “Would you really have gone at it with Easton?”

  He shook his head. “That was a bluff. I was 80 percent sure Easton didn’t want an undignified scuffle in a side alley.”

  She should show him out. Bad influence and all. “What about that rainbow my little pony unicorn tattoo?”

  “I don’t have a rainbow my little pony unicorn tattoo, but Mallory did have that piercing.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t know how you knew that.”

  “Sisters,” he said with a shrugged shoulder. “I know I blew it here. But I don’t think we’re done.”

  “I’m sorry to break your heart, but it is what it is.” Easiest break up ever. Except for the part where she wasn’t furious with him, and she wasn’t showing him out.

  “I can do better. If I’m not worried about you being terrorized.”

  Was he saying he’d gotten aggressive not because Easton pushed him, and his fragile male ego had to push back, but because he had genuine feelings for her? “Halsey Sherwood, do you think I’m cute? Is that why you went all white knight?”

  Halsey Sherwood, rock, Paul Newman clone with a shy smile, wearer of exquisite suits, and sexy glasses, wielder of dustpans, protector against muggers, and competent grocery buyer, blushed.

  And he knew he had. He put his hand to his face and half turned away. Then he shifted, and their gazes caught. “I think you’re beautiful.” Ohh. “You’re also strong, smart, driven, capable, and wrong about us not being able to work together. We’d make a good team.”

  For a master manipulator, he did have an uncanny ability to step on himself. Just when she was inclined to forgiveness, he had to go correcting her. Mid-swoon, with a thoroughly gooey center, she pulled herself together.

  She tried to get him to take the groceries and the chocolates, but he refused. At the door, when he offered his hand to shake, she took it, expecting a business-like pump, but he simply held it, eyes locked on hers, his brows veed and his head angled down. He’d tensed when she traced an angel wing on his shoulder blade. He looked like a man in need of a good hug, and she rashly wanted to give it to him.

  She put her other hand to his chest—fingers spread in the radiating warmth of him, nose full of his bracing scent—went to her toes, and kissed his cheek.

  He made a rough sound of surprise and stepped back, knocking into the opposite wall. He still had her hand, which he dropped with a stuttered, “Sorry,” when he realized their arms were stretched out between them.

  She echoed his sorry in reflex and then laughed. “Was that so bad?”

  He shook his head, a hand to the back of it. “Didn’t expect it. Not now.”

  “But you wanted us to kiss.”

  He locked eye contact. “More than is sensible to admit.”

  His voice was low and went straight to her sex, making her stutter a nonsensical response, to which he said, “Kisses have been rare, lately.”

  She didn’t believe that for a New York minute. “Halsey Sherwood, you’re a con artist. My guess is you get kissed often and well.”

  “If I’m going to kiss you for the first time, it’s not going to be after I made your life harder. It’s not going to be because we’ve argued, or you feel sorry for me.”

  He closed the distance between them, put his big, hot hand to her cheek, and it was her turn to squeak in shock. Her heart rate kicked, her breath snagged. His eyes were drown-in-them deep ocean blue, and she was sinking. He’d kiss her now. He had to, but when he simply caressed her face and she feared for the integrity of her jellied knees, she said, “What are you doing?”

  Nothing, as it turned out. He stepped away as abruptly as he’d advanced on her and was gone before she remembered how to breathe again.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Halsey made it into the back seat of a tiny Uber car before the punch up between his conscience and his ego started. The fact his knees were wedged against the dash didn’t help. His elbows were in the way, too, and whatever the driver had used to perfume
the Chevy Spark, made his nose run.

  Lenny had smelled like lemongrass soap, and her skin was extraordinarily soft and smooth. He should never have touched her face like that. Way too intimate. It freaked her out a little. It freaked him out a little. And when her eyes went wide and her voice got tight, all he could think was get the heck out of there before she fainted or slugged him in the nuts.

  But she’d kissed him. And he’d gone and told her he rarely got kissed, as if he were some great hulking thirty-one-year-old virgin who needed a bedtime story and tucking in at night.

  He’d utterly, totally, irretrievably fucked everything up, and they hadn’t even started Operation Green with Envy. From the bag of groceries that came across as if he was making a comment on the Bradshaw’s financial situation to the way he went after Easton, letting some inner come-at-me-bro attitude he didn’t know he possessed out to play.

  And then there was the way he reacted when Lenny touched him.

  She’d brushed his shoulder, and he felt it right through his skin and muscle and bone, as if she’d curled her hand around his heart and had given it a squeeze. She gripped his arm, laughing at his wordplay with Mallory, and he saw a new future. She kissed him, and that future died a fiery death before it’d ever had a chance to unfurl its colors.

  He’d fucked up, and Lenny forgave him for handing her a more volatile situation to deal with. That burned in his chest, like he might explode. Walking away was unconscionable, but Lenny was too smart to let him meddle again, and he had no idea what to do to fix this.

  And it had to be fixed.

  “I’ll get out here.” He had a cramp in his thigh, and he wanted out of the car to breathe. He found a Starbucks still open and took a seat. Having a table in front of him was comforting. It was like sitting at his desk where he had everything under control, until he remembered the last coffee shop he’d sat in with Lenny opposite him, determined to think he was pond scum.

  He took his phone out and swiped up Cal’s number, hovered a finger over the call symbol. He needed advice and since he wasn’t sure where Cal was, he didn’t know if he’d be awake. Phone back in his pocket, he stared out the window at nothing while one leg bounced an agitated rhythm until he shut it down with his hand. Everyone else in the family handled their field assignments with ease, while he’d turned a basic audit into a humanitarian crisis. He’d taught a fraught teenager that men couldn’t be trusted not to fight aggression with more aggression. And Lenny, who had no reason to want his crime family, law-breaking ass anywhere near her, kissed him.