Declan Reede: The Untold Story (Complete Series)

by Michelle Irwin

  “Me either, Lys.”

  “And now, well, the BS with the paps is all behind us. I won’t have to pretend to be nice to Darcy to keep my job ever again. We can finally just look to the future, and we’ve got the rest of our lives ahead of us.”

  “Lys, I—” The details of my plan were right on my tongue. It would have been easy to warn her, but I needed her reactions to be real so that no one implicated her. If the plans didn’t go the way I wanted, she needed to have plausible deniability—just like Danny. After a gulp of air, I swallowed down the words, along with the rising tide of guilt that washed up from within me. “I can’t wait.”

  Ten minutes later, we arrived at the Suncrest Hotel car park. We’d already planned for what came next. I’d go to our hotel room and get dressed with Morgan, while Alyssa and Eden went off to have all sorts of shit done. Words I didn’t even know the meaning of had been discussed: mani-pedis, blow-waves, up-dos, and a whole range of other things. I was happy enough to leave the two of them to get that sorted. It gave me time to sort some other stuff.

  Almost as soon as Alyssa had left, I texted the random number in my phone.

  Room 607. Room key will be at your table.

  The reply came back almost instantly. Looking forward to it.

  After an hour of messing around in the room, throwing back a few beers, Morgan and I decided it was probably time to get ready. He slipped across the hall to his room while I dressed in mine. We’d already agreed to meet the girls downstairs, because they’d be cutting it close to the start time.

  So much of the night felt reminiscent of the formal. Even though I’d had the do-over date with Alyssa and had exorcised most of the demons from that night, a nervous energy built in me. When I met Morgan at the lifts, he was practically buoyant. For him, the night was just going to be a fun-filled night of pranks and mischief—exactly his type of thing—but the revenge I’d planned felt so much more important than that to me.

  “Are you ’right?” he asked, staring at me as I paced back and forth in front of the elevator.

  “Yeah. I just, well, I can’t help wondering if this is the right thing to do. Maybe I should have just left it.”

  “Dude, it’s too late to back out now,” Morgan said when we got into the lift. “It’s time to strap those balls of yours back on for one night and get this done.”

  “I guess.”

  “No guessing. The time to back out was last week. Now, there’s nothing left for you to do but hold on for the ride.”

  And hope that I don’t lose anything important along the way.

  It didn’t take long to find Alyssa and Eden in the crowd. In fact, the instant my gaze slid to Alyssa, it stuck. Although I’d seen her silver-and-turquoise dress before, during her shopping trip when she’d said she wanted to get it because it matched my eyes, it didn’t seem like the same outfit.

  Maybe it was the way her hair was styled, the make-up, or the lingerie beneath, or maybe it was the way the soft lighting in the foyer seemed to backlight her body, but the outfit had gone from pretty to downright illegal. The way the strapless dress hugged her breasts, and slipped down to accentuate her waist and hips, left my mouth dry and my pants tight. The silvery lace overlay that curled around the curves of her breast highlighted the delights hidden by the satin underlay.

  My lips curled as I thought about what Phoebe would say if she saw Alyssa just then. She’d no doubt think her mother had become the living embodiment of a Disney princess. Although there was nothing Disney about the things I wanted to do to Alyssa. Especially with the turquoise mask she wore over her face that just made her look like sex in disguise.

  God, the things I would do to her while she wore that mask, if given half a chance. The colour made her eyes gleam almost gold, and when she focused them on me, they shone like stars in the night. Despite how shit-hot she was, she looked at me like I was the centre of the fucking universe or something. I wondered if my own simple black mask did the same things to her imagination as hers turquoise one did for me.

  Almost as soon as I met her gaze, every thought of what the night might hold, disappeared. I wanted nothing more than to drag her back to the elevators, up to our hotel room, and have her fuck me every way she wanted to—so long as it was with that mask in place.

  When she saw me devouring her with my gaze, she grinned and smoothed down imaginary wrinkles in the dress. My body moved closer to her long before my brain had caught up after it’s appraisal of her fuck-hot look.

  “You like?”

  “God, that dress looks fantastic on you.”

  “But let me guess, it’d look better on the floor?” She laughed as she teased me.

  “Fuck, you stole my best line.”

  “I find it amazing that you were able to charm anyone with your cheesy lines.”

  Even though I had a retort, I bit down on it. With everything that was lined up for the night, I didn’t want to give Alyssa any extra reminders of what had happened at the New Year’s Ball the year before. Especially when she would soon face a pretty major one. Maybe it was time to warn her. At least she wouldn’t be totally blindsided by what she was walking into.

  “Lys, can we talk for a moment?” My voice was as sombre as I felt, but I’d decided in that moment that I needed to warn her. Plausible deniability be damned, it was more important to ensure she didn’t assume the worst when everything came out.

  “Is everything okay?”

  “No, it’s—”

  Morgan came up behind me and elbowed me in the back. “You’re up.”

  Alyssa’s gaze flicked to him and she grimaced. It was clear she still wasn’t comfortable with Morgan’s presence, but that was the least of my problems. Time was up, and I’d missed my chance to warn Alyssa. Fuck! “It’s fine, Lys. Shall we go in?”

  When I walked into the ballroom with Alyssa on my arm, I had no doubt I was the proudest guy in the room. She looked like a million dollars, maybe more, and turned so many heads. Including the one I wanted to notice her.

  “Declan? What’s going on?” Darcy’s voice cut through my pride, and reminded me of the reason I’d had Paige invite her for me.

  “What do you mean, Darcy?” I afflicted the most innocent tone I could muster. “I’m here to celebrate the coming of the New Year with my future.” I gave Alyssa a reassuring smile.

  “But why is she here when you invited me?”

  Alyssa gasped and turned to me. Fuckity fuck!

  Ignoring the pain radiating off Alyssa, I spoke directly to Darcy. “I thought I made myself clear in my note,” I said. “I want a do-over of last New Year’s. More than anything.”

  Darcy puffed out her chest and wore a victorious smile. I wanted to shake my head at her stupidity. Even if there were a chance in hell I wanted to go anywhere near her—which there wasn’t—I wouldn’t exactly be telling her I wanted to fuck her while Alyssa was at my side.

  Alyssa tried to pull from my hold, but I held her waist tighter, curling my fingers around her stomach, and refused to let her go.

  “I think you misunderstand, Darcy,” I said, ensuring my air of innocence was unaffected by the tightening of my throat at Alyssa’s reaction. “If I could have the do-over I want so badly, I wouldn’t let this,” I grabbed my crotch, “come within a thousand Ks of your poisonous pussy. In fact, I would never have left Alyssa, because I’m hers and hers alone. Utterly and completely, and no amount of smear campaigns will ever change that. All it will do is make me rain fury down on anyone who says a single bad word about her.”

  “What?”

  “That’s why I invited you here tonight, so that you can see just how in love we are.” When I saw the person who’d just slipped in the door pass us, I smirked. Timing couldn’t have been better if I’d planned it—which I kinda had. After all, Morgan had been watching for Darcy so I could ensure she was inside the ballroom before I led Alyssa in, and I’d had Eden keep Blake Cooper amused for a few minutes outside. “Oh, I probably should h
ave told you too.” I pretended to grimace. “I gave the other ticket I had at Paige’s table to Blake. You know, your husband. I thought that couples should be together on a night like this. Although, to be honest, I’m a little surprised that neither of you mentioned it to one another.”

  Darcy fumed. I could almost see the smoke curling from the top of her perfectly coiffed head. And she hadn’t even noticed her husband was right behind her yet.

  “Of course, he might not have mentioned it because he thought he’d been invited to a date with the leggy strategist from Sinclair Racing. I hope he’s not too disappointed to find out who his date really is.”

  “Fuck you, Declan!”

  I chuckled. “I thought I’d just explained that, Darcy. Never. Again.” In the next breath, I called out, “Hey, Blake! Over here.”

  Darcy went from a red so deep she’d almost gone purple to a white that would rival the finest china. She’d clearly thought I was bluffing about inviting Blake.

  “Declan? What—” He cut off when he saw Darcy standing with Alyssa and me. “Darce? What are you doing here?”

  “I could ask you the same question, Blake!” The words were spat with such disdain, I almost felt sorry for him. But only until I remembered the things he’d said about Alyssa in the pub when I’d first arrived back in Browns Plains.

  “God, you’re both as bad as each other,” I muttered and then led Alyssa away as the two of them started a shouting match that soon filled the entire room with their voices.

  When I was far enough away from them, I turned to Alyssa. I almost didn’t want to look at her, because she’d fallen suspiciously quiet and her back was ramrod straight as she’d walked at my side.

  “What the fuck was that about?” she asked. Her mouth was tight, mashed into a line that showed her clear displeasure.

  Fuck. I’d hoped she’d see the funny side of it. “Exactly what I said it was about. I wanted to be sure Darcy got the message loud and clear that we’re together and to back off.”

  “So you tricked her into coming into the city, spending a fortune on a dress, getting made-up, just to prove a point.”

  Across the room, the sound of a slap echoed around the hall and Darcy stormed off, out of the ballroom. Despite Alyssa’s unease, I chuckled at the sight because honestly, I was feeling pretty damn proud of the reaction I’d got. It was no less than either of them deserved.

  “Are you kidding me right now?” Alyssa’s gaze was wild as she turned back to me.

  The laughter died on my lips. “What?”

  For a moment, all Alyssa did was stare at me. She barely even blinked. Then she turned away. “We should probably find our table.” Her voice sounded like something had defeated her—as if she’d been the one on the receiving end of the payback I’d dished to Darcy. She walked off without waiting for me to escort her.

  It took me a moment for my thoughts to catch up with what had happened. “Lys?”

  I started after her, but Paige’s hand caught me instead. Her talon-like nails dug into my forearm. “I didn’t think you were bringing, um, what was her name again.” She waved her hand in Alyssa’s direction as if to dismiss her as unimportant. “Oh well, I’m sure we can squeeze her onto our table.”

  “I don’t have a seat at your table.”

  “Don’t be silly, Declan, of course you do.”

  “No. I don’t. Sorry, Paige, I was given a better offer for tonight, so I gave my ticket away.” I nodded over to where Blake was sitting in the seat that should have been mine, looking like someone had just run over his puppy. “He’s an old school friend. I didn’t think you’d mind.”

  I tugged my arm free of her hold and started toward Sinclair’s table, where Alyssa was just finding a seat.

  “You’re sitting at Sinclair’s table?” Paige’s voice pitched higher than I would have thought possible.

  “Yeah. See, Morg and Edie invited me. They were so excited about seeing me again that I didn’t have the heart to tell them no.”

  “What about our little chat?”

  “Yeah, about that. Can we rain check it again for a couple of hours? I have some entertaining to do soon, while Alyssa is otherwise occupied.” I winked at her, certain that she would have been in the loop about the hotel room date I had with Tillie and Talia. “I should be back down around eleven if you want to chat then?”

  “Maybe we can chat in your room?”

  I chuckled. “Sorry, Paige, I’m hoping that will be occupied most of the night. I’ll meet you at your table, and then we can go somewhere private. Although, I probably should tell you that Sinclair Racing have made me an offer too. One I’m very tempted to accept.”

  The corners of her eyes pinched as she glared at me. “I thought you were set on coming to race for me, darling.” The way she said the word darling made it sound more like she wanted to choke the shit out of me than anything else.

  I shrugged. “Nothing’s set until it’s in print, right?”

  After assessing me carefully, she nodded.

  “Oh, and Paige.” I slid my hand into the right-hand pocket of my pants, where I had one hotel room key. Being as inconspicuous as I could, I placed it into her hand. “Can you pass this to Tillie for me?”

  She nodded and slipped the card into her bag.

  I headed over to the Sinclair Racing table, and took my seat next to a very frosty Alyssa, who was deep in conversation with Danny’s wife, Hazel.

  Danny welcomed me with a nod before giving me a questioning look, no doubt in response to Alyssa’s refusal to even acknowledge I’d sat down. I just waved off his curiosity and concern. She’d come around once she realised what having Darcy and the others off our backs meant for the longer term.

  Before long, the first course was dropped to the table. All throughout the meal, Alyssa barely said a word to me. Even once dessert had come and gone, I was still facing the cold shoulder. Although it didn’t seem arctic as much as bottled-up and ready to burst.

  Not for the first time, I cursed the fact that I hadn’t warned her what the night was really about. There was still one more stage too, and after her reaction to the first part, I was more determined than ever to keep her out of it. Not only would she have plausible deniability, but it would also mean she’d have less reason to be pissed at me.

  Around eight thirty, I excused myself from the room. In some ways, having Alyssa not talking to me was easier for this part. At least she didn’t demand to come with me.

  When I was near the door, and close enough to Wood Racing’s table that Tillie could see me, I walked up to Sophie, one of the women who worked in promotions at Sinclair Racing. She was partially in on the scheme, so she knew I’d be interrupting her evening for a little while. With a nod, a smile, and a touch to her arm, I led her out of the room and toward the hotel elevator.

  While I was waiting, I caught sight of Tillie watching me from the door to the ballroom.

  Turning my back on Sophie, I tapped my watch and mouthed, “See you later,” to Tillie.

  The risk of course was that she’d go straight to Alyssa and let her know where I’d disappeared to, but Eden and Morgan were on hand for that, at least for the next ten minutes before they moved into position.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE: CAUGHT OUT

  A LITTLE BEFORE nine, I was waiting alone in room 608 of the Suncrest Hotel with the door ajar, listening for movement outside. Sophie had headed down to her hotel room with instructions to keep herself amused for around an hour before heading back to the ball if she wished. Her part in the night was done, and now there was nothing to do but wait.

  Wait for the trap to spring. For the concrete evidence that Tillie and Talia were trying to ruin me, with Paige pushing them from behind the scenes. The fact that from the time I’d agreed to discuss the position at Wood Racing I’d been paparazzi-free until I’d mentioned Sinclair again, and had the paps back on my arse, made me almost positive about my assumptions. If I was right, and she had been running some sort of sme
ar campaign, the news that Sinclair Racing had made me an offer would be sure to send her into a frenzy.

  After that would come a fresh round of scandal. Or at least, an attempt for it. The scandal she’d end up with, though, might not be the one she was hoping for.

  Just as I suspected, around ten past nine—almost an hour before the time the girls were supposed to arrive for our rendezvous—there was movement in the hallway. Moving with so much care that I was barely even drawing a breath, I crept toward the door with my camera in hand.

  Through the crack in the door, I spotted the two women—one a mess of red curls and the other with sleek blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. The key card that I’d given Paige was in Talia’s hand as they crept up to room 607—the one directly across the hall from mine.

  Following in their wake was the young pap who’d baited me at Bondi and had followed me for so long since then. I slunk back into the shadows a little as he passed, rushing to catch up with the other two. Then I pushed the door open a little wider and stuck my camera through the gap to follow them.

  Without a word between them, the three of them set themselves up in a row in front of the door. Tillie held up her hand and Talia poised the key card near the door. With a silent count of one-two-three using her fingers, Tillie counted them down. On the three, Talia slid the card into the reader on the door and shoved it open.

  When they did, I crept out of my room and followed them with the camera.

  “Declan, sorry we’re early, we—” Tillie’s voice grew quieter as she moved into the room before cutting off completely, no doubt as she spotted the actual guests. “What the hell! You’re not Declan!”

  She swung around and spotted me. I couldn’t stop laughing when I came up behind the trio and saw that Morgan and Eden had obviously decided to take our plan a little bit too literally—they were both in a state of undress. The only thing left on the pair was his boxer-briefs, which were doing nothing to hide anything because of the way his dick made them tent out, and Edie’s bra and panties.