Neighbors (Twin Estates #1)

by Stylo Fantome

  He brought you a kiddie pool for your roof – because Wulf had a real pool on his roof. He laughed when you almost walked in on his business meeting – because he'd known you were too stupid to realize the meeting was with Wulf. He'd talked about having a shitty investment with his partner – you were that investment. A shitty investment. Lovely.

  “Don't say it like what? Like it's the truth? It is. I hope you told him everything. Did he tell you about that first time?” she asked, turning to look at Wulf. “It was pretty goddamn amazing. Sex right there in the booth.”

  “I knew,” Wulf said, his voice barely above a whisper.

  He knew. So many private moments, building something special, and he was coming here and sharing them all with Liam. Talking about you. Comparing notes about you. Laughing at you.

  “Did he tell you all the dirty details? What all we did?” she demanded, glancing between them. “Must be hard to know that he got to fuck me in ways you never did. Pity, if only you could've kept it a secret for a little longer.”

  “Stop it, Katya,” Liam urged.

  “And did I hear you say you 'traded stories'? How fun! Was it here, in this office? Just some good ol' boys, talking about a bitch they'd both fucked. Man, I wish I was a dude, sometimes. How fun. Were you, like, telling Wulf about all the exciting new stuff you were getting me to do? Was Wulf telling you about how I would try out all those new tricks on him? I hope you two had popcorn. How fucking fun.”

  No one said anything. Liam glanced at Wulf. Wulf stared at her. She shot fire at both of them with her glare. She knew she was right – their faces were giving away everything.

  I was a game. A competition. My best friend, and quite possibly the only man I've ever loved, and I was nothing but a game to them.

  Katya was halfway up the stairs before she even knew she was running. She braced her hands against the walls as she went, struggling to stay upright. When she got to the door, she burst through it so hard, she knocked over a waitress that was on the other side.

  “Hey, watch it! What the hell is going on!?” Timmy yelled.

  She ignored him. Ignored everything but the pounding of her feet. Of her heart. She pushed through the exit, startling Jan off his stool as she practically leapt down the stairs. He hollered after her, but he didn't stop her.

  No, Wulf was the one to catch her first. She wasn't surprised. Liam was in great shape, but Wulf was an athlete. He could probably catch anything that tried to get away from him.

  “Just talk to me,” he insisted, holding her by her arms.

  “I don't have to do shit for you!” she screamed, beating at his chest. Liam came running up next to them.

  “Just come back inside. We need to talk!” he shouted. The rain was still coming down in sheets, soaking them all in an instant.

  “Sounds like you two have talked enough. God, I'm so stupid. I'm so fucking stupid!”

  She was crying. She couldn't help it. She wanted to be strong, but it just wasn't possible. These two men had stolen all her strength, in one awful moment. Violated her for weeks, and she hadn't even known it.

  “Stop,” Wulf's voice was low as he yanked her close. “You need to listen to me.”

  “I don't need -”

  “You said,” he whispered, and she stopped struggling for a moment as she stared up at him. “You said you wouldn't leave me. That you trusted me. Your words, Katya.”

  “Are you kidding right now? Throwing my words in my face, after … after … you lied to me!” she shrieked, finally jerking free of his grasp. He held up his hand, like he was calming a rabid animal.

  “I never actually lied,” he corrected her.

  “You cannot be serious. A lie by omission doesn't count, I guess. You knew I was sleeping with someone else, you said it was fine. You didn't care. You didn't think that maybe you should mention you knew the guy? Or that you were secretly meeting with him to talk about our sex life? Jesus, Wulf, I never shared those moments with anybody. Not with him, not with my roommate, not anybody! It was special to me. Special! You were special, you made me feel special, and it was all a goddamn filthy fucking lie!”

  He was working hard to maintain his composure, she could tell, but he couldn't keep the hurt out of his eyes. She was glad to see it, hoped it would stay there for a long time.

  “And you,” she turned her wrath on Liam. His eyes were wide and he looked scared. Good. “You were something else. You invaded my life. Made yourself my best friend. You acted like you cared about me, like you were someone I could trust. You lied to my face. I said his name, and you didn't say a word. You acted like you'd never heard of him. Jesus, how did this all even happen!? How do you two even know each other?”

  “I told you – I needed a backer for my business,” Liam explained. “I didn't know shit about buying a place or anything like that. I had inherited the Twin Estates, and Wulf's company was managing it, so I went to talk to him, and -”

  “Wait, wait, wait,” she breathed, holding up her hands. “Wulfric's company manages my apartment building?”

  Both men winced in unison.

  “It's a subsidiary company,” Wulf answered in a low voice. “Masonry Management solely handles property management. I spend most of my time at the realty company.”

  “You manage my building,” she whispered. She'd been writing rent checks to Masonry Management and mailing them out on her way to dates with the company's CEO, and she hadn't even known it. Liam had confessed to owning the buildings, had even talked about the management company – but had conveniently never mentioned who was running said company.

  What. The fuck.

  “Yes. We have for about eight years now.”

  “I wish you would've told me.”

  “Me, too.”

  So many secrets. You'd think if they were going to lie and hide from me, the least they could do is get their jobs done right.

  “Well since we're here now and discussing it, can you fix my goddamn fucking oven!?” she started screaming, hitting him in the chest again. “You're a fucking awful management company, you know that? Goddamn fucking shitty! What the fuck is wrong with you people!?”

  Both men stepped forward and she practically leapt away. Touching them to hit them was fine – she did not want them touching her, however. Ever again.

  “Calm down,” Wulf growled.

  “Please, you're gonna hurt yourself,” Liam insisted.

  “Fuck both of you,” she hissed. “Is that how this all started? Liam sees me around the building, tells his little buddy Wulf, who also happens to manage the building? Did you guys go full on stalker mode?”

  “No,” Liam cleared his throat and glanced at Wulf once. “No, I told you the truth when we first met – I saw your profile on Eros, recognized you as my neighbor. Wulfric was in my office, he saw the profile, too. We were both surprised by your bio, he said he didn't remember you being like that. Told me I should go out with you and see if any of it was true. It was a joke, I never thought you'd go out with me.”

  “Oh, so this is all my fault.”

  “No! Not at all, no. But the next time I saw him, he'd heard about what we did in the club. One thing lead to another -”

  “Oh, one thing lead to another, and suddenly we had a competition going for who could be the biggest asshole!” she was screaming again. Liam's hands went into his hair and he stepped towards her, but she took several back, keeping her distance.

  “Jesus, this is all so fucking bad. It is, I know it is – we know it is,” he gestured between him and Wulf. “We thought it was funny at first, sleeping with the same girl. But then it wasn't funny anymore. That's why we started fighting – it stopped being a joke. We both … we both sort of fell for you.”

  “You two are so fucked up,” she was gasping for air as her gaze bounced between them. “That you can stand there and say this shit to me, and in the same breath say you fell for me. Who treats someone they 'fell for' like that!? That you can play with me like I was your t
oy, like I was an object to be passed around, and not even care, and then have the audacity to claim you felt something for me. Do you think you can just say that, and it negates everything else? It just makes it worse. That you could do something like that to someone you claim to care about … you need help. I'm not even kidding, you both need serious help.”

  “Katya, if you just let us -” Wulf tried to interject.

  “I thought I loved you!” she screamed, whirling around to face him. Everything in the alley went silent. Wulf stared at her calmly, while the color drained from Liam's face. “I thought you were falling in love with me. But you don't know how to love.”

  “Don't say that.”

  “It's the truth! How could you do that to someone you care about? How could you look me in the face, and say the things you said, and then come back here and give those moments to someone else? Private moments, sacred moments, and you just blew them all away. You had so many chances last night! I shared everything with you. I was falling in love with you, how could you do that?” she sobbed, dropping her head into her hands. She could hear him groan.

  “Please, don't. Don't do this,” he whispered, his hand running down the side of her arm. Again, she yanked away.

  “Don't touch me,” she growled, wrapping her arms around herself. “You're sick. Both of you. You objectified me. You turned me into a pawn, into a game. I stopped being a human being the moment you guys started trading stories, started keeping secrets – and you didn't even care. You robbed me of my right to know what was happening to me, my right to choose what was happening to me. Like I was … was a sex toy. Some inanimate object. You let it go on and on and on. I must have looked so stupid to you both. A strip-aerobics class with Liam, a strip show for Wulf. Did you set it up that way? Wulf suggests something he'd like, Liam sees if he can make me do it?”

  She was trying to be flippant, but as soon as it fell from her lips, as soon as she saw their expressions, she knew it was the truth again.

  Strip-aerobics. Blow jobs. Uninhibited sex. A pool on the roof. A trip to the old neighborhood. So many things, completely orchestrated.

  “I swear, it was before either of us really knew you,” Liam insisted. “It was just for fun.”

  “Do I look like I'm laughing?”

  “Please, Katya. Please. Remember how we were the other night,” Wulf begged. Actually begged. “Remember me. That was the real me.”

  “I wouldn't know, would I? I've never met the real you.”

  “You're the only one who's met the real me.”

  “I have to go,” she blurted out, turning in a circle, trying to figure out the best path of escape. “I'm going to be sick, or pass out. I have to go.”

  “No, you can't leave like this,” Liam said, stepping up to her side.

  “Let me take you home,” Wulf said, stepping up to her other side. She was boxed in.

  “I don't need you!” she started screaming. “You ruined me! You broke me. I don't ever want to see either of you ever again, how's that for a fucking joke? A fucking game? Maybe this time I'll get a chance to play! Never again, never ever again.”

  She was sobbing and she was screaming and she was pushing at both of them, just trying to gain some space. They'd completely violated her trust and stripped her of her basic rights – couldn't they at least let her breathe!?

  A hero finally swooped in to save her. She was glad – after the hour she'd just had, she'd almost thought there weren't any left. Jan the Bouncer came lumbering down the alley and grabbed both men by their collars, yanking them away from her.

  “Alright, enough!” he roared, shoving them aside. Katya shivered in the rain and continued crying, one hand pressed over her mouth. “Both of you, get the fuck out of here, right now! Before I call the cops!”

  “Who the fuck are you?” Wulf demanded.

  “Are you kidding? I'm your boss,” Liam reminded Jan.

  “I don't give a fuck if you're the Second Coming – no one treats a woman like that, not on my watch. And especially one who's done nothing but be kind and sweet and generous. I should beat the shit outta both of you. You pay me to keep out the trash, right? Well, that's exactly what I'm doing, boss,” Jan snarled, wrapping a protective arm around Katya. She leaned into his side and just sobbed, clutching at his leather vest. Wulf stood up straight, to his full height, and grabbed the edges of his jacket. Jerked it into place.

  “Tocci,” he said in a serious voice as he stared right at her. “This isn't over.”

  He shoved past the bouncer and walked out of the alley.

  “You bet your ass it's over, buddy!” Jan yelled. “I hear about you harassing this little lady in any way, I'm making a house call!”

  “Please, Katya,” Liam whispered, crouching down so he could look her in the face. “Believe me – it wasn't all a lie. It just got out of hand. I never lied about how I felt. You are the best friend I've ever had. You're more than that. I care about you. I didn't mean to hurt you. Please.”

  She couldn't respond, she was crying too hard. Jan hugged her close and shot daggers at his boss.

  “I hope you didn't think I was joking. Best get the fuck outta here, Eden.”

  Jan always called everyone by their last names. Despite being a beast and a former member of a motorcycle gang, he lived by a strict code of ethics. He was polite and he showed respect, and using peoples' proper names was part of that – so when “Eden” fell out of his mouth, it was like dropping a bomb.

  Liam gave one last painful look at Katya, then stood upright. Glanced down the alley, back towards his club. Then he looked back at them.

  “Make sure she gets home okay. Take care of her,” he instructed his employee.

  “I'll do a damn sight better job than you did, that's for sure.”

  Jan turned away then, gently forcing Katya with him. They were both already soaked, but she found it touching when he opened his umbrella over them. She wrapped her arms around his big belly as much as she could and hung on.

  “Thank you,” she whispered.

  “No. No, don't you thank me. Anyone would've done that,” he assured her.

  “Don't be so sure. People are capable of lots of bad things.”

  “Don't you go thinking that just cause some spoiled pricks got their heads up their asses,” he said. “People are good for the most part, Ms. Tocci. Look at you, and Ms. Bellows. You're great people. They're just pricks.”

  “Pricks,” she echoed his sentiment. They stopped at a curb and he looked around for a taxi.

  “I want you to know, I had no idea this was going on. Ricky Blue Eyes back there, I knew he was part owner. He would stop by once in a while, never paid attention to me, of course. I noticed he was hanging around more, but I figured it was shop talk with boss man. I had no clue,” he said. She managed a chuckle.

  “Ricky Blue Eyes.”

  “Yeah, the creep with Edenhoff. Ricky.”

  “His real name is Wulf,” she whispered.

  “Shit, his name is wolf? Shoulda been your first clue, right there.”

  She laughed with him and he patted her reassuringly on the arm. A taxi finally stopped, and Jan held the umbrella over the door till she was safely seated. She grabbed his hand before he could shut her in, though.

  “Thank you. I mean it. I can't thank you enough,” she breathed.

  “You stop it, or we'll all be bawling.”

  “I don't want you to get in trouble with Liam.”

  “You kidding? Boss man loves me, I'm fine. You worry about you, little girl, alright? Take care of yourself. Tell Ms. Bellows she's staying home tonight, and to not worry about it – it's leave with pay. Tell her Jan says so.”

  Jan was not the type of person to be argued with, so Katya nodded her head. Thanked him again and let him shut the door. Waved goodbye as she started rolling through traffic.

  About halfway home, she started crying again, and didn't stop till she was in her apartment. Tori was nowhere to be seen, the place was empty
, so Katya went back into her room. Collapsed on her bed and cried and cried and cried.

  One fake profile. Two men. Liam had found her profile, Wulf had seen it. Liam had asked her out, Wulf had encouraged him to do so. Liam had told all her sexy secrets, Wulf had taken advantage of them. Liam had stripped away her inhibitions one by one, and Wulf had basked in her new found freedom. They'd shared moments and compared notes and come up with new ideas. She'd been their play thing. A pretty doll on a shelf – pull the strings just right, and little Katya Tocci will do a dance for you! Jump up and down for you! Bend over and do anything you want for you!

  It was ridiculous. If in the very beginning, they'd both said the truth – that they both knew her, both wanted to pursue relationships with her, she probably would've been okay with it. Hell, she'd obviously been dating Wulf while she'd been sleeping with Liam, so they had proof she would've been okay with it. She'd always been open and honest, with both of them.

  But they'd kept it a secret, on purpose. To have fun with her. Manipulate her. Liam, sitting with his feet in the kiddie pool and drinking beers with her. Wulfric, sitting at the bar and burning her up with his eyes. Each one of them knowing so much more about her than she knew about them.

  Wulf never would've asked me out if I hadn't had sex with Liam. If Liam hadn't told him all about the sex. Jesus, this is my fault. Mother was right – save it for someone you care about.

  She was hugging a pillow and sobbing so hard it hurt when Tori finally came home. The other girl dropped her groceries in the hallway and came sprinting into Katya's room.

  “What's wrong? Honey, talk to me! Are you hurt? Did Wulf do something? Did Wulf do this to you? What did he do!? I'm calling an ambulance!”

  Katya clung to her friend's arm and wouldn't let her go. It was a couple minutes before she could calm down enough to talk, but eventually she was able to tell the whole story to Tori. And she meant the whole story. From beginning to end, every gory, kinky, sexy, awful detail. Every single thing between her and the two worst men she'd ever met in her life.