Page 49 of Her Double Desire

“I'm fine,” I say, smiling gratefully.

Tim sits up on his elbows, scowling as the whole room watches the scene. “Are you nuts? You can't just assault me!” he cries.

Jared crouches down, elbows on his knees, as he levels with Tim. He speaks soft, but I can hear him. “Little man, get out of here right now, or I'll destroy more than just your employees' opinion of you. I'm rich enough, connected enough, that I could buy this whole company out from under you.”

Tim swallows, the knob in his throat shifting. “You're lying.”

Jared's smirk stretches as far as humanly possible. “Want to test me?”

I knew Tim had no backbone, but I'm surprised to see him scramble on hands and knees towards the exit. When he's gone, Jared walks over to me. “You worked forhim?”

“He seemed less shady before.” I touch my tattoo, frowning. “He showed his true colors tonight.”

“Veronica!” Sonya gasps, rushing to my side. “What was all that? Did Tim hurt you?”

“No, no, forget about it.”

“Can I get you anything?” she asks urgently.

I start to shake my head, then I stop myself. “A drink would be great.”

“Leave that to me,” Jared says, kissing my hand. His grin is all mischief; he loves embarrassing me. I blush red-hot as he wanders towards the back table.

Shawn follows him closely. “I don't think he knowshowto make a proper drink. I'll go help.”

Left alone with Sonya, she puts her hand on mine and squeezes. “Let's go sit for a minute.”

“Sure.” My legs could use a rest after that crazy scene.

I follow her to a desk in the corner. She drops onto a chair and does a little spin. I settle on mine with less fanfare. “Veronica,” she begins, “I have to say, I was a little unsure about what you were up to. But those guys seem pretty amazing.”

“They are,” I agree.In ways she doesn't even know.“I'll tell you a secret. When I first met them, I was terrified.”

“How do you mean?”

“Well, I woke up, had no clue where I was, my head was splitting... it was awful.” I smile at the memory. “Then I wandered around until I found those two jokers. I thought they were sexy, but they were also intimidating. I was sure I'd hate their guts forever.”

Sonya scrutinizes me, then she rolls her chair, bumping mine. “You mean you don't remember?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Girl,” she laughs, shaking her head. “Don't tell me you werethatdrunk! I mean, I was smashed, sure, but my memory still works.”

Wrinkling my forehead is all I can manage.

“Jeez,” Sonya sighs, resting her arm around me. “I feel a little bad that I left you, now. Maybe I shouldn't have listened to you when you told me everything was fine, but I guess it ended up working out anyway.”

“Sonya, will you please just explain already?”

“I asked that big guy at Brander's how long your tattoo was going to take. He told me if I wanted to say bye to you, I should head into the alley ASAP. I was super confused, but I went out there. You were sitting on the ground with a bucket between your knees—in case you got sick, I guess.”

I... can't remember what she's talking about at all. “And then what?”

“Well, I sat down next to you, and you told me some lady named Sunnie had demanded you get some air because she didn't want you vomiting on her table while she inked you. I asked you if you were still sure about getting a tattoo, and you... laughed.” Her smile becomes strangely serene. “You told me you'd figured everything out. That it was okay if everything had seemed so terrible earlier, because now, you'd found people who wanted you. Really, really wanted you.”

Sonya looks across the room. I follow her eyes, seeing Jared and Shawn as they talk to each other next to the big table of drinks and snacks. “I said that?” I ask softly.

“Yeah. You said you were really happy to belong to someone.” She pauses for a moment. “And then you also told me that those two were super hot, and you couldn't wait to get their clothes off and ride their faces.”

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