“But you weren’t looking into her,” Leyton said simply.
“No, I wasn’t,” Courtney confirmed. “I had no idea.”
Victor sat up straight and narrowed his eyes at Courtney. “Tell us this…”
Max felt her hand tense beneath his.
“How much did you learn?”
“Enough,” Courtney said, her eyes darting from each person at the table. “Enough to do some damage, and that was before I helped out while Max was in the hospital.”
“So why didn’t you share that information?” Brent questioned.
Courtney didn’t respond right away, and Max squeezed her hand. He knew why. The same reason she’d vacated her own life to take over his while he’d been in the hospital. The same reason she came back time after time.
“I love him,” she finally said. “I’ve always loved him.”
“So you protected him?” Madison asked.
“Not necessarily,” Courtney retorted. “I just didn’t feel it necessary to divulge the information I had. I didn’t feel as though anyone needed to know.”
“You pretended not to know anything,” Ashlynn said. It wasn’t a question.
“Correct.”
“So what happens now?” Victor asked. “Clearly Samuel is up in arms. Doesn’t like that Courtney’s involved, and if her father is really trying to save Genny, then it makes sense.”
“Nothing happens now,” Max stated. “We get back to normal. Run the businesses the way they were meant to be run.”
“And if Samuel interferes?” Brent asked.
“Then we’ll deal with it when the time comes,” Max stated firmly. “By doing whatever is necessary.”
Part of him hoped it never came to that, but Max would never underestimate his own father.
It would likely end up getting him killed if he did.
Chapter Forty-Four
Life as they knew it…
Yeah, that’s over now.
After breakfast was finished and the dishes taken care of, Courtney helped Max get settled in his office before going outside to call her father. Casper had left her several messages, those messages increasing in volume in the last few days, and she knew that avoiding him forever wasn’t an option. Now that Max was home, she felt a little safer calling him. As though talking to Casper wasn’t like a betrayal to Max.
Especially since it was clear Max had known what had happened. She’d been appalled at the story he’d relayed, about the callous way Samuel had spoken about Genevieve. Their mother had never been a person to Samuel. She’d been a payment, something he owned. The thought still gave her chills.
“Baby girl,” Casper greeted on the third ring. “Where are you?”
“Not now, Dad,” she told him. “I just wanted to call and check in.”
“I heard he’s out of the hospital,” Casper stated gruffly. “So I take it he lived.”
“Don’t,” she hissed, anger slicing through her.
Silence descended, and Courtney wished she’d have resisted the urge to call. Too much had happened, and she’d managed to separate herself from her family for this very reason. They wouldn’t understand why she’d turned her back on doing the right thing and ended up on the other side. Hell, sometimes she didn’t understand.
But she did love Max. And as the story always went, love was love. That was the simplest and most complicated definition. It couldn’t be defined by gender, age, religion, or class. And in Courtney and Max’s case, it couldn’t be defined by morality, either.
“We need you back at work, Court. The assignment is over.”
“There never was an assignment,” she snarled, lowering her voice. “Don’t forget, this was all you.”
“Court…”
“No, Dad. I don’t wanna hear it. You’ve said what you needed to say. And when I’m ready to talk, I’ll come to you.”
“You can’t hate me forever,” he retorted.
“I don’t hate you,” she retorted. Lowering her voice, she continued, “I could never hate you. But I’m … angry. You used me. You hurt me.”
Silence fell around her, and Courtney was tempted to hang up.
“How is she?” Casper finally asked.
“Oh, my God. I can’t believe you’re askin’ me that.”
Casper didn’t respond.
Courtney stared out into the yard, trying to calm herself.
“She’s not happy,” she finally admitted. “But I think you knew that.”
Casper grunted.
“But it isn’t your place to interfere in their life,” she told him frankly. “The decisions they make are theirs to deal with. You can’t interfere just because you don’t understand them.”
“He forced her to marry him,” Casper growled.
“And how is that any of your business?” she replied. “They have children together. They’ve survived forty years without you stickin’ your nose in their business. Why now? Why did you have to do this now?”
“There are people in this world who you never forget,” Casper replied quietly. “You wonder how they are, what they’re doing. Not knowing… You’re right, it’s been a long time, but Genny’s been on my mind. I can’t explain why, exactly. I just needed to know that the life she’s leading is the one she wants.”
“Dad! That’s not your place. You’re not her white knight. Do you not get that?”
“Why are you still there?” he asked, ignoring her question and tossing out his own. “What is it that you’re tryin’ to do? Get intel?”
“You know it’s not like that, Dad,” she said softly. “I… I’m not his enemy anymore.”
“So, what? You’re his partner now? His business associate? You’re gonna get yourself killed.”
“I’m not involved in Max’s affairs. He doesn’t let me that close.” It was a lie, but one she intended to maintain for the time being. “And he’ll keep me safe. You of all people should understand that.”
“You love him.”
It wasn’t a question. Her father already knew, as did the rest of her family, and she was no longer willing to deny it. Only once in all the time Max had been in the hospital had she thought about going to her parents despite their betrayal. But she hadn’t. Instead, she’d called Marissa. Courtney had broken down, desperate for someone to make things better, for someone to save Max, because the thought of moving through life without him had become unbearable. Her best friend had been there for her, supporting her and promising she always would.
But through it all, Courtney had still felt alone. She’d felt as though she had abandoned her family, let them down, even though technically it was the other way around. Her father had thrown her to the wolves, used her because he felt guilty. And she had no one to talk to about it. She couldn’t even talk with Marissa about it, couldn’t share her innermost fears with her best friend, because despite Marissa’s insistence to the contrary, she wouldn’t understand. Not to mention, Marissa was married to Courtney’s brother.
Some of the things Courtney had done over the last two months, some of the things she’d seen… There were days she wondered how she would live with herself as the darkness continued to grow inside her.
“Baby girl, we want you to come home,” Casper said softly. “It won’t be easy, but it’s the right thing to do.”
“I’m not leavin’ him, Dad.”
“So, what? You plan to stay with him forever? Then what? One day I’ll be assignin’ someone to sneak their way into your world? To find dirt that’ll help put you away? Is that what you want, Courtney?”
Courtney closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Dad, you always told me that sometimes we had to do things that didn’t make sense to everyone else.”
Casper didn’t respond, but she could practically feel his anger. And his guilt. She knew him, knew he was taking responsibility for her actions because he’d sent her into this situation. But he wasn’t entirely at fault. He’d set it in motion, sure, but the rest… It was all on
her.
And until she knew which path was the right one—for her—she had to stay the course.
“I’ve gotta go, Dad. Love you.”
Without waiting for him to respond, Courtney hung up the phone and rested her arms on the railing around the veranda.
“Are you okay?”
Spinning around, she came face-to-face with Max standing just a few feet away. Her hand landed over her heart as the damn thing threatened to come out of her chest.
Max moved closer, close enough for her to inhale his intoxicating scent, to get lost in the warmth of his body.
“You heard that?” she asked.
“I did,” he told her, pulling her against him, allowing her to rest her face on his chest. She was careful not to touch the still-healing wound. “I won’t lie to you,” Max said, “I need you. Not to take care of me. I need you.”
Pulling back and looking up into his face, she told him the truth. “I don’t know how long I can do this.”
“This?” he asked.
“Us,” she answered softly. “I love you, I can’t deny that. I know I shouldn’t, but I do. It’s ruining me, making me into someone I don’t recognize, someone I don’t want to be. But I can’t change how I feel about you.”
Max watched her but didn’t say anything.
“How long did you know?” she asked, the words suddenly out of her mouth before she could call them back.
Max’s eyebrow lifted slightly, but he didn’t ask what she was referring to.
“When did Samuel tell you about my father and Genevieve?”
He sighed, releasing her from his hold and moving over to the railing. “It was the same weekend I showed you the penthouse for the first time.”
Courtney mentally traveled back in time, trying to recall what’d happened.
“After you left that night, I didn’t come home, and my father automatically assumed you and I had been together. He broke the disturbing news to me then.”
Disturbing? It was more than disturbing.
Turning to face her, Max gripped the railing. “Without censoring his true feelings, Samuel told me the story, about how Genevieve’s father had been in debt, needed a way out. My grandfather loaned him the money, and when he couldn’t repay it, Samuel was sent to retrieve it. Her father offered his thirteen-year-old daughter as payment.”
She didn’t move a muscle. He’d relayed the same information to his brothers and sisters, but it was as though she were hearing it for the first time. It sickened her all over again.
“Apparently, the fact that your father and my mother were childhood sweethearts isn’t something Samuel’s dealing with. At least not well, anyway.”
“Do they love each other? Your parents?” she asked, already knowing the answer.
“No,” he said quickly. “But she won’t leave him.”
“Because he’d kill her?” Courtney inquired.
“I wouldn’t doubt that he would, but that’s not why she stays. At least I don’t think so.”
“Then why? Why would she stay with him?”
“Loyalty. Sometimes it’s the warped thoughts that drive us to do things we wouldn’t normally do. Kind of like your father’s need to rescue her.”
“I still don’t understand why he’d do it.”
“It no longer matters,” Max told her. “I confronted Casper at your brother’s wedding. Told him to back off because I loved you. Because I wasn’t willing to stay away from you any longer.”
How had she not known about that? Casper had never told her that.
Max pushed off the rail and came to stand in front of her. “I know it’s hard to understand why he’d do that to you, but I’m not sorry he did,” he told her, his hands cupping her face. “He brought you to me, gave me something to live for.” Max’s lips brushed hers lightly. “I love you, Courtney. And I’m selfish. I’m not gonna let you go.”
Courtney knew that was the truth. He wouldn’t willingly let her go, and for now, she was okay with that. From here on out, they would figure out how to make this work, or they’d have to agree that it wouldn’t. Either way, she wasn’t running anymore.
“I need to rest,” he told her softly. “Come upstairs with me.”
Courtney smiled. “I know you, Max. If I come upstairs with you, you won’t get any rest.”
“I’m okay with that.” His smile hit her right in the chest.
Taking his hand, she led him inside.
Chapter Forty-Five
This side of Max…
Yes, this she could deal with.
One month later
Courtney stood in the shadows, watching the people who’d come out to Devil’s Playground for the evening. From where she stood, she could see Leyton eyeing the ever-growing crowd, making his rounds. Near the doors that led up to Max’s office, Rock looked very much as his name implied. Dane was at the front entrance behind her, keeping an eye on the newcomers, while Darius played the role of bouncer at the door.
She’d arrived earlier in the day with Max and their security detail but had left him in his office while she’d gone to the penthouse for a bit. They’d resorted to staying at the penthouse more and more these days, especially on the weekends, mainly to stay off his father’s radar. Samuel had gone into a rage when Max had informed him that she was there to stay.
Not that Courtney blamed him, considering how she’d been thrust into their world by her own father, who’d thought he’d been doing a good deed, trying to save Genevieve from whatever he believed she needed to be saved from. Samuel didn’t seem to be able to overlook that fact, though, which worried both Max and Leyton. In turn, it made her a little leery of the man. However, when she’d tried telling Casper that he might want to watch his own back, he’d shrugged it off, more worried about her than anything.
Strong hands landed on her hips, pulling her up against a hard body, and Courtney instantly melted into him, knowing exactly who was behind her. Considering he was still breathing, it could only be one man. Anyone else who’d dared to touch her like that would’ve been dead on the floor from multiple bullets.
“You look lonely,” Max said against her ear, loud enough that she could hear him over the thumping bass.
“Do I?” she asked, tilting her head to the side when his lips met her sensitive skin.
That was one thing she’d noticed about Max since the shooting. Or more accurately, since he’d regained enough of his strength and stamina to keep up with her. He was feisty. Much more so than before. She’d also noticed that he didn’t seem to have any qualms about where they had sex these days. Public sex had become a fascination of his recently, and Courtney couldn’t say she was bothered by it. The man knew how to keep things interesting, that was for sure.
“What’re you wearin’ beneath this skirt?” he asked, his teeth nipping her earlobe.
“Why don’t you find out for yourself,” she dared him.
Max’s hand trailed down her thigh, then ventured back up, beneath the hem of her short skirt.
“Damn,” he growled at the same time she moaned.
Nope, she wasn’t wearing anything beneath the skirt. Just for him.
“Put your hands on the rail,” he instructed.
Courtney reached forward and gripped the metal bar that separated them from the dance floor. People were dancing and grinding against one another less than three feet away. The only privacy they had was the shadow that fell on that particular area, but it wasn’t enough to keep them hidden if someone cared enough to watch.
Using his fingers, he teased her ruthlessly for several minutes, pressing her clit lightly, then sliding his finger lower, dipping inside. Repeating the process over and over until she was breathing hard, desperate for more. The way he held her, she couldn’t move easily, couldn’t get him to go deeper with his finger, so she took what he offered. Then his fingers disappeared altogether.
Max’s warm hands gripped her hips beneath her skirt. He forced her legs apart with his foot, a
nd the next thing she knew, his cock was sliding into her from behind. One muscular arm banded around her waist, holding her against him as he leaned forward, his mouth against her ear.
“You’re wet for me. You like this, don’t you? You like when I take you like this? Wherever and whenever I want.”
Knowing he wouldn’t hear her over the thunderous music, she nodded, shifting her hips backward, taking more of his cock deeper into her body.
“You wouldn’t even care if they all turned around and watched, would you?”
Courtney shook her head. At the moment, she didn’t give a shit about anything or anyone. Max filling her was the only thing she could focus on.
“You know what they’d see if they turned around?” he mumbled against her ear, pulling back and slamming into her. “They’d see me owning your body, claiming you, making you mine.”
Courtney turned her head, her lips meeting his cheek. “Always yours.”
Max drove into her over and over, his mouth brushing hers briefly. When his lips trailed over her jaw, she glanced out into the crowd, noticing there were a couple of people watching them. A sexy redhead was grinding against a tall blond man behind her. He was holding the woman the same way Max was holding Courtney, but unlike her and Max, the other couple’s clothes hindered their ability to go any further.
“You like them watching you?” Max’s warm breath caressed her ear, his cock tunneling in and out of her at a maddeningly slow pace. “Knowing that I’ve got my cock buried in your sweet pussy though they can’t actually see. It turns you on, doesn’t it?”
Courtney nodded.
Max released her body and put his hands over hers, forcing her to lean forward. He then began to drive himself deep, igniting nerve endings, making her knees weak and her body burn. Clenching her inner muscles, Courtney pushed her hips back against him, forcing him deeper until he was impaling her roughly, fucking her hard while she kept her eyes on the couple still watching them.
There was no disguising what they were doing. It was clear by the way his hips thrust forward that Max was fucking her, but Courtney didn’t care. She honestly didn’t care who watched.
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