Page 38 of Her Double Desire

Chapter 13

Jared

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Ichug back my secondglass of whiskey. Once I poured the first, I knew stopping would be hard. But that's the word of the night for me.Stopping.

Fuck. I want to stop this whole event from happening but it's too late.

“Oliver just arrived,” Shawn says, coming to stand beside me. He motions at the bartender, and she quickly pours him a glass of something amber colored.

“Veronica is trying to hold it together,” I say softly.

“Good.”

“Good?” I scoff, eyeballing him in disbelief. “That's all you have to say?Good?”

“Yes, good. She looks good. And she'llbegood.” Shawn turns his glass in his hands as he shrugs. “That's her job.” He's still wearing his irritating smirk, but I realize something.

“You aren't looking at her,” I whisper.

There—he stiffens, shoulders hunching a bit.

“Do it,” I demand, jerking my chin over at Veronica where she's kneeling across the room. “Fucking look at her.”

“Why? I'm the one who dressed her, I know what she looks like.”

“You can't do it, can you?” A sour laugh rips from my throat. “You really are a coward.”

“Ex-fucking-scuse me?”

“Yeah, you're too afraid of what you'll feel if you see her being swarmed by other men, or touched by someone that isn't you... to actually witness her giving herself fully toOliver.”

The second his name is off my lips, Shawn whirls on me. The rage in his eyes is terrifying. Even in my righteous fury, I come close to backing up. “Fine,” he hisses, slamming his glass down on the bartop. He turns so he can see Veronica. I watch his profile, counting the seconds as he forces his eyelids wide, not blinking.

She's kneeling quietly by a white pillar. Men wander near her, gazing on her with predatory stares. Though her chin is tucked, eyes sealed away by her downcast lashes, her body language spells out her emotions to us both.

She's bone-deep levels of afraid.

The corner of Shawn's frown moves first. Bit by bit, the anger and indifference morphs into something much more human. Something sad. “Fuck,” he whispers under his breath.

Lifting my glass, I tap it on his. “Now we're on the same page.”

“It doesn't matter.” He finishes his drink, letting the bartender refill it. “Oliver gets what Oliver wants. He always does. Our desires never factored in.”

“Maybe,” I say gently. “But what about hers?”

“Please. She loved what wedidto her, but it ended there.”

“I'm not so sure.”

He starts to argue, then instead, he casts one final glance over his shoulder towards Veronica. I wonder if he's trying to read her mind. If I've planted some seed of doubt that's made him wonder, like I have for some time, that this woman cares about us much more than we've allowed ourselves to believe.

Because knowing she wants us...trulywants us...

That would make giving her up impossible.

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