Page 46 of Her Double Desire

Chapter 17

Veronica

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It's early morningwhen I come awake.

Sitting up in the bed, I wonder why I'm alone.Wait, this is my room?Who carried me back here?

Disoriented, I kick my feet over the side of the mattress.I'm so thirsty. I need some water.Throwing on one of the long, loose shirts I'd begun storing in my dresser, I tip-toe into the hallway.

At the top of the stairs, I hear voices talking urgently. Curious, I creep closer, lying flat on the landing until I can see who's standing by the front doors below.Oliver and Shawn?

“I don't understand,” Shawn says.

“She didn't speak to me for long. But in that time, it was clear who her feelings were meant for.”

“Oliver, we didn't sabotage you, I swear.”

“Do you think I distrust you that much to assume that?”

Shawn hangs his head slightly. “After what happened with your fiance, I've always gone to great lengths to make sure you never thought I was trying to steal anyone from you.”

He pauses, then glances at the front door. “What happened with Luna had nothing to do with anyone but her. She wanted to play with you here, where there were rules. You asked me if it was okay, and I said yes, because I knew what I was agreeing to. That's much different than her cheating with strangers behind my back.”

Wait. Shawn slept with Luna?Running back everything the two men had told me in pieces, I clasp my palms over my mouth.And Oliver said it was okay?

Shawn runs a hand over his neck. “Still, I introduced this lifestyle to you in the first place. I'll always feel somewhat responsible.”

Chuckling dryly, Oliver pats the other man on the shoulder. “If not through you, I would've found my way eventually. And if Luna hadn't cheated on me after exploring her desires here, that, too, would have eventually happened. Her sins are her own.” He lifts his eyes, spotting me on the stairs. I freeze. “Think about your future and not the past, Shawn. You and Jared have some decisions to make.”

I'm still shaking when Oliver slips on his blue jacket and exits out the doors. Shawn waits a moment, watching out the window. That's when I stand, making myself loud as I descend the stairs. He spots me, his expression going from surprise, to delight. “Veronica. It's early, go back to sleep.”

I nod at the doors. “I saw Oliver leave. What's going on?”

With his usual fluid grace, he comes to stand on the bottom step. “He never stays for long. He's always got something pressing to work on.”

“I heard him say something about you and Jared having to make a decision.”

“We do.” He breathes in, then lets it out. “Thirty grand.”

There's tension lines around his mouth. “Thirty grand for what?”

“For you.” He climbs another stair, then another, until there's only one between us. “Well, twenty to pay off your debt. Ten to have your tattoo removed.”

I clasp my hand to my throat. “I can't pay that, you know—”

“I'm paying it.” He slides his palm along the railing, staring at the polished surface. “Oliver told me to split it with Jared, but honestly, if I have to, I'll pay for it all myself.”

My chest rises and falls faster and faster. “Why would you... that's too much, Shawn. Way too much to ask of anyone!”

His laughter is harsh. The blues in his serious eyes are brittle, like a newly formed frost. “Why are you making this so painful for me?” He climbs the last step, looming over me on the stairs. “Is it fun for you to torture me, make mebegyou to accept how I feel about you? Is it revenge for all the fucked up mistakes I've made?”

“Shawn,” I say, his name breaking on my tongue, coming out strangled.

“I love you,” he growls, grabbing me by the shoulders. “Do you think I'm shallow, that money or power mean more to me than what my heart says? Are you judging me the way Jared always does?”

“I'm not judging you.”

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