I set her on her feet, pushing away the disappointment as my dick slipped from her wet folds. “You’re lucky there’s something we have to do or you would already be screaming my name again.”
“Sounds more like a punishment than luck.”
I smiled. “Get dressed.”
TWO
Julia.
It seemed a little surreal, trailing after Cole, his warm hand firmly clasped in mine. Maybe it was because I was following him into Rapture, the strip club where I used to work, where I used to fuck my best friend once a month for thousands of dollars in front of hundreds of hungry stares. With everything that had happened in the last five months it seemed strange that I could just walk back in here, alive and well.
It was Tuesday, so the club was closed. That was a relief; I wasn’t in the mood to see anyone I knew.
“Why are we here, Cole?” I couldn’t imagine what he had to show me. Honestly, I wasn’t really in the mood. Someone had tried to kill me less than a month ago, and last night my friend Mandi had been murdered while I slept in the bed next to her, lost somewhere in dreamland from the sleeping pills I’d taken.
I was exhausted and I needed a nap, not to mention I’d also been left handcuffed to a bed for several hours and fucked senseless by the man I loved.
It had been quite a day.
He didn’t respond and I frowned but continued to follow him. He paused just outside his office door. The room where he had been honest with me for the first time. The room where he told me he loved me.
“I love you,” he said, as if he could read my mind, as if he knew I had been replaying those earth-shattering moments in my head. Moments that would linger with me for eternity. “Remember that.”
He opened the door quickly, not giving me the chance to respond. The first thing I saw was the mahogany-colored desk with papers stacked on top of it. Papers and something else. Something that made me want to fucking lose my shit.
Elaine was perched on the edge of the desk. An expensive dark blue dress clung to her petite frame, revealing a wild amount of cleavage. Red lipstick was bright on her lips, matching the color of her long nails. Her black hair was loose, framing her face. But her make-up couldn’t cover the purplish bruise beneath both eyes where I had punched her the day before. I fought the urge to grin.
“Cole, what is this?” Elaine beat me to the punch. Maybe it was because I was completely dumbfounded by the sight of her in all her expensive glory, while I only wore skin-tight yoga pants and a t-shirt, my hair a tangled mess I’d thrown up in a haphazard ponytail.
“This is something that has been long overdue.” He shut the door behind me and about a hundred different scenarios flashed through my brain. I envisioned Cole wearing a striped referee jersey and blowing a whistle, signaling for me and Elaine to go at it. She would get in a few swipes with her pretty red claws, but I would punch her in the face again. Over and over until she understood he was mine.
That wasn’t what happened, though. Cole put his hands in his pockets, his gaze darting between us for a moment before he spoke again. “I should have done this a long time ago.” His gaze was fixed on Elaine and I hated it. I hated that she’d been graced with his presence, with his gaze. He had fucked her before, repeatedly probably. The way he had fucked me.
How many times has he tied her up and fucked her? How many times did he do that when I was fucking miserable in that gas station?
The thoughts made me bitter. They made everything more real. I still didn’t know Cole, not really. He had a whole life behind him that I knew nothing about. A past, years of love with the woman before me.
“I never should have brought you back into my life, but I was stupid, Elaine. And whatever it was you thought was going on with us is over.”
I wanted to dance, relish in his words and scream HAHA in her face, but I didn’t. I didn’t even feel the sting of pride that he was choosing me. Because he wasn’t. Not really. He had chosen her, even after he met me.
“He always comes back to me.” Elaine’s words from days ago rang loudly in my ears. How many times had they done this? How many times had Cole left her for another woman and gone back? I didn’t know.
“You don’t mean that.” Elaine glanced between us, for the first time looking uncertain. “We’re engaged.” She wiggled her finger with the big rock on it. The huge sparkling diamond. He told me she’d picked it out herself, that he had nothing to do with it, but it still stung. It still ripped me apart and left the pieces of who I was blowing in the hot Texas wind.
“That ring is a joke and we both know it. There isn’t anything between us. Not anymore. There hasn’t been in years.” Cole’s words were gentle. Too gentle.
I wasn’t relieved to hear them at all.
Elaine glanced at me and for a second I swore I could see into her very soul. A woman heart-broken over the man she loved. I almost felt bad, being here for this. As if I was looking into a private matter I had no business being a part of.
“You’re going to leave me, really leave me, for this fucking whore?”
And then I didn’t feel bad at all. I didn’t give two shits about Elaine and I remembered why. She had tried to kill me. I didn’t care if Cole didn’t think so, or my Gran, or Mandi. Mandi. Her name made my heart ache. Mandi didn’t think it was Elaine, and now she was dead. Now I was standing in an office with the stupid bitch, the woman who wanted me dead because she wanted Cole. My Cole.
“Looks like he is leaving you for a whore,” I hissed. “How does that make you feel?” Venom dripped from my lips. How had I ever had a moment of sorrow for this woman? How had I let myself forget the things she had done? I knew it was her. I just knew it. “How does it feel to know that even your stupid expensive gown couldn’t change his mind?”
I swear I saw some sort of monster staring back at me from Elaine’s dark irises. “This is bullshit.” She looked at Cole. “Did you get me here to put on a fucking show? To prove to your little whore there’s nothing between us?” She wiggled her hand again, the big diamond catching the light.
Cole grabbed her hand and snatched it off her finger. “It’s over, Elaine. It’s been over for years. It’s time to let it go. I’m sorry I brought you into this mess just to make Julia jealous.”
I cocked my head at him. He got back with her to make me jealous? I let the statement roll around in my head. But that doesn’t make sense.
“It’s not over.” I expected her to start crying, but she didn’t. Instead she turned her black gaze on me. “It will never be over between Cole and I. You have no idea what we’ve been through.” She stood up, her heels clicking on the floor. “You have no idea the things I did for him after—”
“That’s enough.” Cole’s voice was gruff, cutting her off.
I raised a brow. What was she going to say?
She took a step toward me. “The hours I’ve spent beneath his body, on top of him. His cock in my—”
I slapped her, there was no controlling it. I wanted to tear her apart. I knew these things were true, they had been together for years, but I didn’t want to hear them. I couldn’t handle it. My love for him was too new. My insecurities roiled around in my heart.
I expected her to try and hit me back, maybe pull my hair, but she didn’t. She turned her face back to me with eerie slowness. That look was there again. That glare of pure evil I had seen two other times from her. Moments only her and I had shared.
A knock on the door made me jump and whirl around.
Cole pulled the door open to reveal Randy standing on the other side. His big body was covered in a white skin-tight shirt with blood splattered across the front. His gaze jumped from me to Elaine and then back to Cole, with a what the fuck look in his eyes.
“What is it?” Cole asked.
“There’s something you need to see.” He glanced at me and then Elaine. “All of you should see this.”
We followed Randy through Rapture and I was surprised when he led us to the baseme
nt stairs. I’d never been down there before, even though I had worked there for several years. We were all silent as we moved down and into the brightly lit room below. Boxes were stacked everywhere, colorful sashes and sequin-covered clothing spilled out of them in messy disarray. Racks upon racks of skimpy underwear and matching corsets glittered under the bright fluorescent lighting. Just as I took it all in, the murmur of men’s voices somewhere in the stripper wonderland caught my attention.
“This way,” Randy said. Cole wrapped his hand around mine and pulled me to his side. Elaine was in front of us, which was right where I wanted her. Not at my back where she could stab me and Cole both.
Glittering lamps with hanging jewels were pushed aside, leaving a bare path on the concrete floor. I recognized some of the props used in the Avatar themed Rapture X party, worn ropes with leafy greenery hanging off them. Ropes that had suspended my body from the ceiling while Vic fucked me.
The voices became more apparent the farther into the basement we moved, but then they weren’t just voices anymore. Deep tenors rumbled, but then there was something else. The moaning sound of a man in pain.
What the fuck?
Before I could ask, the scene came into view, taking my breath away. A large area had been cleared of boxes and storage, all of it piled up in the shape of a circle. Several men stood in the area. A few of them wore suits and were casually talking. One of them, aside from Randy, wore regular clothing. Blood splattered clothing. Leon. He had worked at my apartment building with Randy undercover.
A lone man sat in the center of the room, bound to a chair, his shaved head bent over, obscuring his face from my view. Blood dripped on the concrete floor around him. The moaning was coming from him.
“Who is that?” Elaine asked. She was white as ghost.
Cole leaned over and spoke quickly to Randy in hushed tones. After a moment he pulled back.
Leon approached us. I hadn’t actually spoken to either Randy or Leon since they’d forced me into Cole’s office some five months ago. The day I realized they weren’t just the friendly, muscular men who ran the front desk and worked the elevator.
Randy drove me home that night from the bar, when I was drunk, after I came all over Cole’s fingers.
I squashed the memory and eyed them both. I didn’t trust them. Cole seemed to, but I wasn’t completely convinced. Someone told the person trying to kill me that we were in New Orleans, that we were out in that swamp, that we fucked. Both of these men knew we were there that night.
“Why is there blood on both of you?” Cole’s voice was cold, like he was pissed.
“He wouldn’t shut the fuck up,” Leon hissed.
Cole raised his eyebrows. “He conscious?”
“Yes,” they said at once.
Cole nodded. “You and the boys head up top. I’ll let you know if I need anything.”
Randy signaled to the other men who followed him out. Their movement revealed again the now quiet man strapped to the chair. We walked closer.
“What the hell is this, Cole?” I had nearly forgotten about Elaine, whose voice was high-pitched and squeaky next to me.
He turned to her and smiled. But it wasn’t a handsome smile, it was a vicious one; it even made me nervous. “So glad you’re here, Elaine. You can be reunited with your old friend.”
I glanced between them, confused. Elaine looked equally as puzzled.
“Show your face,” Cole demanded. The guy didn’t move, but sat still, dead still. “Now!” Cole shouted and the guy flinched, but refused to look up.
Cole released my hand and moved quickly around behind him. He gripped the front of the man’s head and jerked it back. Dark hateful eyes met mine; a cut dripped blood on the side of his cheek and more leaked from his nose and down over his lips.
His lips. The scar that snaked across them was familiar, sucking me back to that night. The rocky asphalt pressing against my skin. The coppery taste in my mouth. The pain. Until I was numb, floating away, watching myself die on dirty pavement.
“It’s him.” I’d intended to shout the words but I didn’t. They came out hoarse and broken, like the first words I’d spoken when I awoke from the coma, my throat butchered and scarred forever.
A cruel smile spread across those lips. The lips I would never forget. “Can’t believe you survived, pretty little thing.”
“This is Jay Warner.” Cole released his head. Jay held it up on his own this time. His hair was different—shaved off, but it was him. I had no doubt.
“Why?”
“Randy—”
“No.” I cut Cole off. “Why did you try to kill me?” Vicious, bitter anger punched me in the gut. “Did you kill her?” I shouted.
The guy frowned. “Who are we talking about? The only person I was supposed to kill that night was you, sugar baby. And you look just fine to me. Guess I’ll get to have my fun after all.”
“I wanted to have more fun with you. They said I could, but you’ve gone and fucked it up.” His words from that night blistered my ears.
“Don’t talk to her like that.” Cole growled.
“Or what?”
Cole balled up his fist.
“No.” I turned to Elaine who stood quietly next to me. She was even whiter than before. “Do you know him?” I asked her.
“What are you talking about?”
I grabbed her by her stupid dress and shook her, not buying her innocent act. “Tell me the truth, you stupid bitch.”
Her eyes widened. “I don’t know who this guy is.” She shoved at my hands and I let her go. There was fear in her eyes. She was scared of me.
I almost laughed. She was scared of me. Me. When she was the one making all the threats and parading herself around in front of me. Now she got to be afraid when I was the one who had been terrified for weeks, hurting for months. And it seemed kind of backward that it was in front of him that I got the chance to be strong and foreboding. In front of the man she’d hired to kill me.
She took a step back. She was breathing hard, her eyes darting between the three of us. “You know I don’t like blood, Cole. You know I can’t deal with this kind of shit.”
He moved away from Jay and came to stand in front of her. “Tell me the truth.”
She pinched her brows together. “You think I did this? That I hired someone to hurt your new little girlfriend?” She shook her head in disbelief. “You know me better than that. How many times have you done this, Cole? How many times have I turned a blind eye to your women on the side?” she pleaded. “Why would I do this now? It doesn’t make sense and you know it!”
I tried not to let her words sting me, and confirm my worst fears. That Cole had done this lots of times. That I was just some temporary fix.
“Julia is different.” His stare was hard, unwavering on hers. “And you know it.”
She shook her head frantically. “I didn’t do this, Cole.”
“Do you know her?” I asked Jay. He sat quietly, a sick smile on his bleeding face.
He started chuckling. It was a hideous sound that made me want to cringe, but I didn’t. I held my ground somehow. “I don’t know. Do I?”
Cole whirled around. “Answer the fucking question.”
If it was possible, Jay smiled wider. His gaze latched onto Elaine. “Hmmmm. Maybe.”
“He’s lying!” Elaine screeched. “I’ve never seen him in my life!” Her gaze darted around in panic.
“Elaine.” Cole gripped her shoulders.
“I swear I don’t know him. I wouldn’t do this. I know what you’re capable of…” She tossed me a glare. “I wouldn’t risk my life over some fucking whore who won’t even be around that long.”
I wanted to lunge at her, but Cole’s big body was blocking my path. He didn’t say anything. Didn’t defend my honor. He just stood there clutching her shoulders and staring hard at her face for several moments.
“Get your shit out of my house. Today. And go back to New York. Understand me? This bullshit
that’s going on between us is over. Do you understand?”
“It’s never over between us,” she said with cold certainty.
“It’s been over for a long fucking time, Elaine.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“I do. Now get the fuck out.” He shoved her away from him and she didn’t miss a beat, whirling around and heading for the stairs like she was terrified.
“What the hell are you doing?” I asked Cole.
“What I came here to do.”
“That’s what you came here to do? Dump Elaine?”
“I wanted you to see I was serious when I told you I love you.”
My heart sped up in my chest as Cole’s gaze met mine. But I didn’t let it cloud my judgment. “You just let her go? When she has done all this?” I gestured to Jay who was sitting quietly, eying both of us with a sinister look on his face.
“She didn’t do it, Julia. You need to accept that.”
“I need to accept that?”
“Yes.” He turned away and walked to stand just in front of Jay. “Who hired you?”
Jay gave him a bloody smile. “Hired me for what?”
“To try and murder my Julia.”
“Who’s Julia?”
“No!” I shouted as Cole pulled his arm back to punch Jay in the face.
He stopped, glancing over his shoulder.
“If you knock him out how are we going to get anything out of him?”
“Julia—”
“Hooooo. That’s a good one. How do you feel about that, buddy? Letting a woman boss you around?” Jay wiggled his brows. “Must be some good fucking pussy.”
This time there was nothing I could do. Cole smacked his fist into the side of Jay’s face, nearly making the chair topple over. He spit blood and a tooth onto the floor close to my feet. Jay nodded. “Like I thought, good pussy. Wait—” He flinched as Cole prepared to punch him again. “I’ll tell you.” Cole stopped in mid-swing.
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