by Penelope Sky
I rolled my eyes.
“She was the one who had to carry him for nine months. She literally made him and then pushed him out of a tiny hole. I think she gets all the credit.”
No argument there.
“Are you gonna bring him to work often?”
I nodded. “I can leave him with Helena, but then I’ll never see him.”
“True.” He set the papers on my desk. “You want to talk to Thomas?”
The last time we spoke, I’d tried to buy Damien out of the company, but he wouldn’t go. It was a little awkward, but Andrew’s presence seemed to smooth it over. It was hard to hate each other when there was a baby in the room. “Yeah, I’ll handle it.”
“Can you still do the meetings with Andrew?”
“Yes. He’ll be fine.”
Damien clearly didn’t have anything else to say, but he continued to linger at my desk.
I turned back to him and stared. “Yes?”
He slid his hands into his pockets. “You and Sofia are done for good?”
He must’ve spoken to Sofia if he knew that. “Yes. Not that it’s any of your business.”
“She’s not gonna be on the market for long…”
My eyes narrowed. “Don’t stick your nose in my business.”
“I’m not.” He stepped away from my desk. “Just wanted to give you a heads-up before I go after her.”
Andrew liked the changing colors and shapes of the TV, so I held him in my arms as we sat on the couch. He rested against my chest while he held his favorite plastic keys. A blanket was over both of us.
There was a cartoon on and I was bored out of my mind, but I was also grateful I got to spend time with him. I had no experience with children, and I hadn’t thought I would be a father so soon, but it was a lot easier than I’d thought it would be. All you had to do was pay attention to them…and love them.
My phone was on the table beside me, and it rang with Sofia’s name on the screen. It’d been three days, so she probably wanted him back.
I kept thinking about the last thing Damien said to me, that he wanted to go after my ex-wife. Of course, that annoyed me because friends didn’t do that to each other. But then I remembered we weren’t friends…and Sofia didn’t owe me anything.
Damien obviously heard about our falling out from Sofia herself, so it made me wonder if they’d already started to see each other. When she dropped off Andrew, she was dressed like she was about to hit the town. If she was fooling around with Damien, it was just a rebound.
But it made me uncomfortable anyway.
I wasn’t jealous… I just didn’t like it.
Or did me not liking it mean I was jealous?
I didn’t want to be with Sofia, so I didn’t know how that could be true.
I took her call. “Yeah?”
It was obvious in the background that she was driving. “What did we talk about?”
“It’s not personal, I just—”
She hung up.
I heard the line go dead then stared at the phone incredulously.
She called again.
When I answered, she spoke immediately. “Let’s try this again.”
I was annoyed with her pissy attitude, but I didn’t antagonize her. “Hello, Sofia.”
“Ahh…much better.”
My eyebrows furrowed at her condescension, but I was also intrigued she didn’t let me push her around.
“I’m in the neighborhood, so I wanted to see if I could pick up Andrew. If you want another day with him or whatever, that’s fine. But I thought I’d ask.”
“Yeah, you can come get him.”
“Great. I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
“He and I—”
She hung up.
I set the phone down hard and noticed that Andrew had turned to stare at me. He held my gaze for a while before he reached for my phone.
“Yes, that was your mother. I hope you’ll be a better conversationalist than she is.”
This time, Sofia let herself inside my bedroom. Like last time, she was oblivious to my rock-hard chest and my chiseled abs. She used to melt into a puddle at the sight of my tanned skin, but now she seemed completely indifferent to it.
All she cared about was Andrew.
She walked over to him in the car seat on the bed because I’d already packed him up to go. “Oh my god, did you get cuter in three days?” She picked him up then brought him into her chest. Just as she had been a few days ago, she was dressed in a tight dress with heels, her hair a curtain of silk. Her eyes were smoky, and her lips were red as a ripe apple. She cradled him against her breast and gently bounced him from side to side. “I missed you so much, baby. I missed hearing you cry in the middle of the night. I even missed changing your diapers.” She kissed his forehead and ignored me because all she cared about was him.
When she was done getting reacquainted with him, she put him back in the car seat. “I was so afraid you were gonna forget me.” She grabbed the bag and put it over her shoulder.
“He definitely didn’t forget you.” I put my hands in my pockets as I watched my ex-wife dote on our son. “When you called a while ago, he recognized your voice.”
“You did?” She turned back to Andrew and gently tickled his stomach. “You didn’t forget your momma, huh?” She leaned down and smothered him in more kisses. When she was satisfied with his affection, she stood up to leave. “Was he good?”
“I took him to work every day, and he was great.”
Her eyes lit up in flames. “You did what?”
“The bank.” She should have assumed I wouldn’t take him to the factory or anywhere else dangerous.
“Oh, thank god.”
“Give me more credit than that.”
Her look turned cold. “I’ll give you credit when you deserve it.”
My eyes narrowed. “You’ve been hostile lately.”
“You get what you give.” She grabbed Andrew and made her way to the door.
As much as I hated myself for doing it, I glanced down to her ass.
“Let me know when you want him again.” She opened the door.
I came up behind her. “I can carry that for you.” She had two flights of stairs to manage with the car seat along with the baby, which was a burden.
“I don’t need you to carry anything for me.” With her head held high, she strutted in her heels like she was walking on air.
I watched her ass shake from side to side. Her behavior was so different from how it was the last time we spoke that it was disconcerting. I found myself confused…even a little annoyed. “Sofia.” I walked after her before she reached the landing.
She turned back around. “Yes?” She cocked her head slightly and gave me a spiteful look. “Annoying, isn’t it?”
I ignored the way she got back at me for answering the phone like that all the time. “Are you fucking Damien?”
She stepped back slightly like I’d pushed her in the chest, seeming truly surprised by the question. That either meant she was surprised Damien said anything to me, or nothing was going on at all. “I can’t believe you just asked me that.”
I stepped closer to her. “And I can’t believe you haven’t answered the question.”
She put one hand on her hip and looked at me with nothing but disgust. “You made it clear you don’t want to be with me. So how dare you stick your nose in my personal life. You told me you didn’t love me anymore. You watched me break down in sobs. Who I let inside me is none of your fucking business.” She grabbed the rail and started to descend the stairs without looking back.
I stayed on the landing and watched her go, pissed at myself for caring in the first place. I wasn’t sure what bothered me about the situation. Was it the idea of Sofia with somebody else? Or was it the fact that my former best friend was screwing my ex-wife?
When she was at the bottom of the stairs, she stopped and looked up at me. “And just so you know, Ash was the one who helped me. Not Damien.”
; 22
Sofia
I called Damien. “Did you tell Hades we were sleeping together?” I couldn’t imagine why Damien would do that, but I also couldn’t understand how Hades had jumped to such a ridiculous conclusion. There was no way I would sleep with someone so soon, let alone his former best friend and business partner.
“No, but I did say something.”
I started to yell into the phone in my office. “Why the hell would you say that? I’m trying to get him back, not piss him off. What did you say to him?”
“I told him I might ask you out.”
I gripped my skull with one hand. “And why would you say that?”
“Just wanted to piss him off.”
“Well, thanks for throwing me under the bus…”
“Before you get all mad at me, think about what happened. When he thought you and I had something going on, he got mad, right?”
I got up to shut my office door because I was being so loud. “What does that matter?”
“It means he cares, Sofia.”
“Just because he cares doesn’t mean he wants to get back together.”
“No. But it does mean he thinks you’re sleeping with somebody else, so if he doesn’t sleep with you, somebody else will. Now, you’re a hot commodity. He knows what will happen if he’s not in the picture anymore. Maybe it will only make him jealous, but maybe that’s all you need to get his attention.”
When I thought about the question Hades had asked me and the ruthless way he said it, it did seem like he was upset about the idea of Damien and me being together. He’d turned red in the face and even followed me all the way to the stairs. That wasn’t how I wanted to get him back, but I would take anything at this point.
“What did you say when he asked you?”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Good. Neither confirm nor deny as long as you can.”
“I’d feel like such a whore for sleeping with my ex-husband’s best friend.”
“We aren’t friends. We’re enemies. And that makes it so much worse…which works in your favor.”
Maybe this would destroy what little chance I had with Hades. Or maybe it would give me a chance at all. “Now what?”
“We’ll see what happens.”
“What if he says something to you?”
“I’ll string him along without answering his question directly.”
“And what should I do?”
“Look hot. That’s all.”
A few days later, Hades made a surprise visit at the Tuscan Rose.
I was sitting at my desk when he stopped by unannounced. Now that I was back at work, I assumed he would leave the care of the hotel to me, but then I remembered half the hotel still belonged to him after our divorce.
He stepped inside wearing a dark blue suit and tie. There was a nice shadow along his jawline, just the way I liked. His hair was styled, and he had a watch on his wrist, but it wasn’t the one I gave him.
He was such a sexy man, and I hated to think about the women who were enjoying him now that he wasn’t mine. The thought was so painful, it made me want to hurl everything I’d had for lunch. It made me so weak, I wasn’t sure I could stand in these heels.
He straightened his tie with his palm as he approached my desk, that same hostile expression in his eyes. He was behaving the same way as he had when I’d rejected his marriage proposal years ago. He treated me like he hated me, hated me more than Maddox.
I held his gaze and felt my fingertips go numb. I had to keep up the pretense of indifference because that was the only thing he responded to. That was the only thing that interested him. “Is there anything I can help you with?”
“There’s a meeting with the board today. I’ve been handling all those while you’ve been gone. Do you want me to continue to do so?”
“No. This is my hotel. I can handle it.”
His mood visibly soured. “Our hotel. Half of it is still mine, and I made some changes around here.”
I knew what kind of changes he was referring to. He was drunk on power and used the hotel as a perfect base for his criminal activities. Without me in the picture, he tarnished the pure reputation of the hotel and turned it into a mafia paradise. “I can still handle it. I know you have other responsibilities.”
He continued to watch me with that cold stare. The love in his eyes had been extinguished a long time ago, and now he stared at me like I was a burden more than an asset. I’d been replaced by the beautiful women who threw themselves at him wherever he went. Even if he was still married, they wouldn’t care.
I rose to my feet and shut my laptop. “Anything else?”
“No.”
I waited for him to leave and kept up my own form of coldness. He only seemed to pay attention to me when I was heartless and cruel. If I wore my heart on my sleeve and told him I loved him, it would just push him away. It was difficult to lie instead of just telling the truth…but I wanted him to be my husband again. “Then why are you still here?”
He broke eye contact with me. “Not sure.”
Maybe Damien was right. Maybe the stupid thing he said to piss off Hades was actually beneficial to both of us. “Well, I have things to do. So, if you’d excuse me…”
He pulled his hands out of his pockets and adjusted his watch. “Ash is the one who helped you?”
I nodded. “You owe Damien an apology.”
“I wouldn’t have accused him in the first place if he’d had a clean record.”
“That’s a terrible excuse. Innocent people will commit crimes, and criminals will abide by the law. You should never make assumptions.”
His eyes narrowed slightly.
“Be a man and admit you were wrong.”
“Don’t be a coward and not answer my question.”
I stilled at the accusation. “What question?”
“Are you screwing Damien?” His brown eyes were so hot, they started to steam. They were like a hot cup of coffee on a winter day. He was definitely angered by the idea, but it wasn’t obvious why.
My heart started to beat so fast. “If it has nothing to do with raising our son or running our hotel, then it’s none of your business, and I don’t have to answer your question. I’ve never asked you what you do with your evenings, so how dare you ask what I do.”
Instead of letting it go and being rational, he continued to push it. “This isn’t some random guy. This is Damien. I run two businesses with him, so I have the right to know if he’s fucking my ex-wife.”
“Why don’t you just ask him, then? Because he’s obligated to answer you. I’m not.”
His anger rose. “He won’t answer me.”
“Then let it go.”
He took a deep breath and slowly let the air escape through his flared nostrils. “Just fucking answer me.”
“No. What does it matter if it’s him or somebody else? What if I told you I was hooking up with a guy I met at a bar last week? I’m a single woman. I can do whatever I want.”
His shoulders squared and his body visibly tightened as he absorbed my answer. He wasn’t getting what he wanted, and it only infuriated him. “Are you hooking up with some guy?”
It was the first time I felt hope for us. He was so cold and cruel to me that I assumed he didn’t give a damn about me. But now he was struggling with the idea of me screwing his former friend, and also the idea of me screwing anyone. There was only one explanation for that.
He still cared.
Despite my delight, I had to keep up my ferocity. “Get the fuck out of my office, Hades.”
I was home with Andrew when Damien called me.
“You got plans tonight?”
“Depends. Are you asking me out?”
He chuckled quietly. “No. You’re pretty but not my type.”
“Then what’s your type?”
“I don’t know…I’m not picky. I guess I still see you as a sister.”
It was a sweet thing to say, and it made me m
ore frustrated with Hades that he wouldn’t let the past go. He’d lost a good friend when that person should’ve been in his life forever. “You’re not my type either.”
“What? Sexy, tall, rich… That’s not your type?”
I rolled my eyes even though he couldn’t see me. “You said I’m not your type either, so what does it matter?”
“Just want to make sure you’re not blind or anything…”
I definitely wasn’t blind. When Hades walked into my office the other day, I saw him well—all of him. “So, why did you call?”
“I overheard Hades talking with some clients. He’s going out tonight. I thought you could show up, looking all conspicuously sexy in a tight little dress. And skip the panties. Let a bunch of guys hit on you to piss him off.”
“I don’t like to play games.”
“You’re gonna have to play the game if you want to win. Are you gonna go for it or what?”
I’d already taken off all my makeup; I was tired from working all day and taking care of Andrew when I got home. But if I didn’t intercept Hades, some other woman would snatch him. It was a disturbing thought, and it made up my mind quickly.
“You really only have to sleep with him once. Because the second it happens, it’s gonna make everything complicated. That’s good for you…bad for him.”
I knew I would never love anyone but Hades, so I had to do everything I possibly could to get him back. I wanted the life I’d lost, wanted the family I’d never got the chance to enjoy. “Which bar is it?”
23
Hades
I sat in the booth with Rhett and Tony, two big clients I’d acquired over the last two months. They dealt with oil in the Middle East and sold most of their product to the States. Despite the world moving toward renewable and sustainable energy, there was still huge revenue from oil.
And my clients needed to launder it.
That was where I came in. I could make problems disappear.
After a few rounds of chitchat, a couple brunette girls joined us at the table. The guys were about forty years older than me, so their days of picking up women would soon be over. They were rich, but cash wouldn’t cover the wrinkles.