by Lexi Blake
Her purse was gone.
Why had they taken her purse?
Calm down. Get through this. Maybe it’s just the way Adam is. Maybe he’s thinking that now that the case is over, you won’t want them anymore.
Positive thinking. She always went to the worst-case scenario, and it might get her in trouble here. If she walked out there looking mopey and down and just assumed that they were done, she might make it come true.
Serena got to her feet and found her clothes, then decided on a different tactic. She needed to take a cue from Bridget. Confidence. Sometimes she thought Bridget got things she shouldn’t just because she acted like it was due to her. And Adam and Jake hadn’t said a thing that would make her believe they wanted this little affair to end. To the contrary, they had practically told her they wanted to live with her.
Adam had hung his shirt from the night before over the dresser. Serena put it on, buttoning it, but leaving a good amount of cleavage exposed.
She looked at herself in the mirror. Sex hair. She finally had sex hair, and she was going to leave it that way.
Whatever had put Adam in a crappy mood, she would just have to deal with it. That’s what people in love did.
Oh, crap. She was in love with them. It was stupid. It was such a dumb mistake because it could never work, but she’d fallen for them both, and she would hate herself if she didn’t try.
She took a deep breath. She was ready to find out who was trying to hurt her so she could move on with Adam and Jake.
Serena opened the door and wished she’d decided to be brazen some other time. Adam stood staring at her, not a hint of emotion on his face. His eyebrow quirked up.
“This is how you’re going to play it?” Adam asked.
“Play what?” She was starting to get the really bad feeling that he knew something she didn’t. “Is everyone else out there? I’m sorry. I thought it was just us. I’ll put on actual clothes.”
“It’s too late for that.” He reached out and grasped her wrist, pulling her forward. “Come on then, sweetheart. It’s time to pay the piper for this little game you’ve been playing.”
She dug her heels in and slipped a little, landing on her ass. Her wrist twisted in Adam’s hand. Pain flared. “What are you talking about?”
His eyes, always so warm, held not a hint of heat. “Get up. I want to get this over with so you can leave.”
Heat flashed through her body, humiliation making her skin flush. This wasn’t about some small misunderstanding or his insecurities. He meant what he was saying. He meant every harsh word of it. He’d made love to her the night before. He’d treated her like a princess, and now that he’d had his fun, she was getting kicked out of the castle. He was the one who had played a game, and Serena was the loser.
“I’ll grab my things. I need my phone so I can call Bridget to come pick me up. Is there somewhere I can wait?” She wasn’t about to sit in the living room with them. She wanted to be alone. She still couldn’t quite process what had happened, but the last thing she wanted was some big scene where they told her everything she’d done wrong and why she wasn’t good enough for them.
His smile seemed brutally cruel. “That would be the easy way out, wouldn’t it, sweetheart? I’m not inclined to give you an easy out.”
He reached for her again, and she tried backing away. “Stop it.”
“Stop what? Stop trying to do my job when all you can do is lie? Are you kidding me?”
“Is she giving you trouble?” Jake stood at the end of the hall, his handsome face frowning down at her. “Don’t touch her, Adam. She’ll probably sue us. Imagine the publicity she could get out of that. Poor little writer gets abused by her bodyguards.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” She was sick of this. “Just tell me. Stop all this bullshit.”
Adam started to reach for her again, but Jake’s bark stopped him. “I meant what I said, Adam. You know what’s going on. Don’t touch her. She’ll use it against you. Treat her like that snake last night. She bites and she’s venomous. Now, Ms. Brooks, if you would care to follow me, I’ll show you how I figured out your little scam. It might help for the next time you decide to run it. You’ll be better prepared. If you don’t care to know, then feel free to leave. I really don’t care anymore.”
He turned and walked away like he’d never held her and told her she was his. Being Jacob Dean’s didn’t mean much, apparently. He certainly hadn’t cared enough to keep her for very long. One night. It appeared to be all she was good for.
“Would you mind telling me what I’m being accused of?” She struggled to her feet, trying to keep some small bit of dignity around her. She wasn’t wearing any underwear because they hadn’t given her any. She’d been playing by their rules, but she hadn’t really realized it was all just a game. It had seemed so real. The words they had said had meant something to her. She’d been out of the dating scene for far too long, living in a world that only existed inside her head. Now she remembered why she’d retreated. The real world was brutal and unkind.
Adam didn’t lift a hand to help her up, simply stood there as if her gracelessness was a burden. “You know what you did, Serena. You can stop pretending. We caught it all on tape.”
Frustration welled. “Pretend like I’m an idiot.”
He wouldn’t have to pretend. She was an idiot who had fallen for their every kind word and probably well-practiced moves. How many women had they pulled the “woe is me, the world doesn’t understand our needs” act on?
Finally there was a spark of emotion on his face. Unfortunately, it looked an awful lot like rage. “You set this whole thing up. God, I don’t even want to look at you. I can’t stand the sight of you. I can handle you pulling this shit with me. You know, if it were just me, I’d probably even forgive you, but you knew how Jake felt and you still played him.”
Ah. They were back to the money and attention-grabbing fame-whore argument. Her hands shaking, she wiped at the stupid tears that kept falling. “I’d like to see this tape.”
It wouldn’t change anything. She knew she wasn’t responsible, but she’d like to see what had caused this change. Maybe they had doctored it themselves in order to get out of a messy relationship. Maybe Adam had rolled out of bed with her and gone and exchanged notes with Jake, and they had decided she wasn’t good enough in the sack to be their magical “one.”
But she damn sure wanted to see that tape.
“Fine. Go change.”
She wasn’t about to let him tell her what to do ever again. She might not have ever been in a real D/s relationship before, but she knew one thing. She didn’t owe the Doms anything now. They had broken the connection and quite brutally. They hadn’t taken care of her, and that had been promised. They hadn’t communicated with her, and that had been promised, too. She’d given them her submission and her body, and it seemed to her they valued neither.
“I don’t think so. I’ll see whatever this evidence is you have against me, and then I’ll change and be out of your life. I take it you have my phone? Did you steal it after I fell asleep? You could have just asked. I would have given it to you.” She would have given him anything. She had given him everything.
She was a moron who never learned, but they might just be the men who could finally teach her the lesson.
For the first time, he seemed a bit unsure, his eyes narrowing and his mouth becoming a flat line. “Jake asked for it after he figured out what was on that tape.”
“Well, of course.” His first loyalty would always be to Jake. She was just a girl they’d screwed around with. Deep down, she really did understand that. She’d just thought that they had let her into their tight circle.
But she would always be on the outside. Something was broken inside them, and she wasn’t the woman who would be able to fix it. It had been foolish to even try.
“I can’t get you to change?” His eyes were on the V of her shirt for a moment and then they slid away.
“I thought you were in a hurry to get this over with so you didn’t have to look at me anymore.”
“I changed my mind. I think this can be more civilized if you’re properly dressed.” The words came out of his mouth in a harsh grind.
But she was done taking their shit. A cold place opened inside of her. She should have remembered that all she had were her friends. Bridget and Chris and Lara. They were the ones who would stick by her. She should have been happy with that and remembered that a vibrator couldn’t break her heart.
But she could learn. “Well, it’s obvious to me that none of this is going to be civilized and you change your mind an awful lot, Mr. Miles. So lead on. Let’s get this scene over with.”
She waited for him to move, but he seemed held in place, as though he couldn’t quite figure out what he wanted to do or how to handle her.
She gave up and walked on by herself. She’d always been alone. They had just been a fantasy. The reality was that she was alone, and it was so much easier that way. She marched into the living room with her head held high.
* * * *
Jake paced. He’d been pacing all night. Lack of sleep and the horrible gaping wound in his gut were taking their toll. When would he learn? If something looked like it was too good to be true, it usually was.
Serena Brooks had gotten under his skin with her sweet smile and soft body and even softer heart.
The heart part had all been a lie. The tapes and her phone proved that beyond a reasonable doubt.
Once again, dumbass Jake had gotten played by a pretty woman. At least this one wouldn’t cost him his career. It just cost him another chunk of his heart and a whole lot of pride.
Serena walked in the room wearing nothing but Adam’s dress shirt. It hung down to her knees, and she’d left the top couple of buttons open so a creamy expanse of skin could be seen along with a tantalizing view of the round curve of her breasts. He fucking loved her tits. They were real, and they were so damn soft. He couldn’t forget the little sound she made when he’d flicked at her nipples. She loved that.
Or had that been a lie, too? After all, she was very good at crafting fiction.
“I’d like to see the tape, please.” She was so polite, but he could see that she’d been crying. And she held her right wrist up.
Had Adam hurt her? Fuck. He couldn’t have meant to. “What’s wrong with your wrist?”
“It doesn’t matter. I’d like to see the tape.”
Did she think she was going to get to control this? “Serena, I asked you a question. What happened to your wrist?”
Adam followed her into the room, a hollow look on his face. “I held it too tight, and she tried to get away. She fell down, and it sort of twisted. I’ll get some ice.”
He stalked off toward the kitchen.
“I can take care of it later. It’s not that bad. If you need me to sign some sort of form stating I won’t sue you for abuse of my person, I’ll certainly sign it. I just want to get this over with so I can find another set of bodyguards.”
God, she was going to play it out until the end. “I suppose the bodyguards make great window dressing, don’t they?”
She simply stood there, waiting, not taking the bait. Her face cleared of all expression. There was simply a blank stare on her face as though he meant nothing to her. He was just something she had to get through so she could move on with her life. He hated her a little in that moment.
“Maybe you’ll fuck the new guards, too.”
Nothing. Not a response. Not even a blink. He wanted so much more. He wanted her to hurt the way he was hurting, but for that to happen, she would have to care about him just a little, and he knew for damn sure she didn’t. Still, a little kernel of rage was stoking him on.
“You should shelve the innocent girl routine, though. Really, it gets old fast. The whole quiet and shy thing is a little boring, sweetheart. You would make a much better slut.”
Her hand came out in a vicious arc as she slapped him right across the face. Pain flared and something deep inside was satisfied that at least he’d gotten a rise out of her.
“Show me the tape or I will sue all of you. Do you understand me? I won’t stand here and let you talk to me like that. I know that I’m the one who put it in your head that I’m some sort of doormat, but I never did anything to deserve this from you. Now show me the tape.”
Her voice shook. Everything inside Jake told him that she was being brave, that she was holding some well of sadness deep inside, and it was taking everything she had not to break down here and now. If he followed his dumbass instincts, he would pull her into his arms and promise her that everything would be all right, and he would take care of her and beg her forgiveness. But fuck it all, she couldn’t explain away that tape.
“Here.” Adam held out a bag of ice he’d rolled in a dish towel.
“I’m fine.” Her voice was back to the flat monotone it had been before she’d slapped the shit out of him. “Give it to Jake. His face looks a little red.”
Adam’s eyes widened. “What happened? Holy shit. Did you hit Jake?”
“I took offense to him calling me a slut. I think he was looking out for you. He goaded me into smacking him. Now if I sue you like the greedy bitch I apparently am, he can sue me right back. Mutually assured destruction.”
Adam’s eyes closed, and he took a long breath before he opened them again. “Why don’t we all sit down and talk this out?”
Serena shook her head. “That option is no longer on the table. It was off the table the minute you looked at me like a piece of trash this morning. There’s nothing to talk about anymore, Adam. Just show me the tape and give me my phone and I’ll leave.”
It was exactly what Jake wanted. He wanted her out of his life. Except that the thought kind of made him want to vomit. The idea of not seeing her again was a gaping wound in his chest. He didn’t really want her to walk out. He wanted her on her fucking knees in front of him, begging his forgiveness. He wanted to force her to work for it, and while he would never really forgive her, he would take her back into his bed because he was fucking addicted to her. He would screw her until she didn’t have this hold on him, and then he would show her the door.
The trouble was he wasn’t sure he would ever get over her. Serena Brooks had proven to him once and for all time that he hadn’t been in love with Jennifer. He knew that now because he was sickeningly sure he loved Serena.
And he would just have to get over it.
He forced himself to turn and cue up the tape. Client. She was just a client who had lied and gotten caught. He had to think of her that way. He couldn’t think about how good it had felt to slide into the silky heat of her body or how she’d wrapped herself around him, clinging to him like he was the only thing that mattered in the whole world.
Jake forced himself to use his most professional voice. “So you know we got the CCTV tapes from two of the libraries where the e-mail messages came from?”
She nodded, her eyes on the screen. “Yes, you were looking for someone who was at the library at the same time the message was sent. You have two libraries and two messages. If you find the same person at both libraries at the right times, you’ll have a place to start.”
Adam put the bag of ice down, obviously unwilling to fight with her about it. He sighed and switched the feed to the large screen. The black and white tape began playing. The important tape had come from a library in Hurst where the camera was on patrons both entering and leaving the library. “You can see that the tapes are time stamped, so we were looking at the hours before and after the e-mail was sent. It can be hard to catch faces, but I set us up with some really advanced facial recognition software. It looks for similar facial structures based on math. I set it to run before we went to bed.”
He’d set it to run before he’d gone and fucked Serena’s brains out. Now Jake wished he’d been a little less giving. He could have forced his way in. Adam would have let him. He could have had one more night with her.
“Here it is.” He slowed the tape down.
“I don’t recognize that person.” Serena peered down, her eyes narrowing on the lone figure. The person, obviously female, walked into the library, a huge bag on her shoulder. She wore sunglasses, her figure hidden by a long coat. She stopped in the middle of the lobby and pulled out her phone. She pushed the sunglasses off her face. She smiled as she placed the call, her face turning right toward the camera.
Jake studied Serena carefully, and he felt a punch to his gut as her eyes widened and her mouth dropped.
“That’s Lara.” Her hand came up over her mouth, covering it. She shook her head. “You’re wrong. This doesn’t prove anything.”
“She showed up at the Irving library, too.” He held up her phone. “Would you like to know who she’s calling here?”
Serena had gone stark white, all the color draining from her skin. “I’m sure it was me. It has to be, right?”
“You don’t clean off your messages.” Jake pushed the button and the message played.
“Hey, Serena, babe, it’s me. Look, I know you’re worried about the promo for the new Sweetheart book, but I promise you I have it all taken care of. I did exactly what you told me to. It’s a little unorthodox as promos go, but hey, you’re not exactly writing sweet Regency romances. I think you’re right. This will work. I’ll set it all up. Talk to you later.”
Serena’s whole body seemed to droop. Her shoulders slumped, and her head hung a bit as though some force had been animating her and now it was gone. “You won’t believe me, but that message was about a signing I’m doing at an adult toy store to promote the new book. I had to talk her into it. She thought it would be trashy, but I thought it would be fun. I even talked to a friend who makes naughty cupcakes. She’s catering it. But it doesn’t matter. I’ll just go now.”
-->