Page 16 of Bastard

I froze. “In a way you did.”

“Shit,” she whispered, hugging me tight against her. “I didn’t mean you. I meant the whole Roark Corp thing.”

Ah, but did it matter what she meant? The words were the same in the end. “But that’s what I am, Sam. I’m the devil. Do you realize how many times I’ve looked a man right in his eyes and told him the price is your soul?” I pulled back to look into her eyes as best I could in the dim light. “You make a deal with the devil and the price is your soul. Those are the words I live by.”

Her eyes locked on mine and the intensity was breathtaking. It turned my skin to fire. “I made a deal with the devil. I’ll go work for the company for the chance—not a guarantee I’ll succeed. Just a chance—to turn the company around. If the price is my soul…I guess I already made that choice, didn’t I? The deal is done. Hazel can’t change that.”

I had stars in my eyes when I advised Sam to stay and fight. I got caught up in the idea my life wasn’t pointless. That together we could do good. I didn’t take into account she’d be making her own deal with the devil.

The next thing I knew, Sam was kissing me. Intensely. She took me by surprise and I stumbled at first, then got my feet under me. Her fingers gripped my hair, forcing me to let her inside. She whimpered before pulling back, resting her forehead against mine, eyes screwed shut. “Nothing makes sense anymore. I’ve accepted that. Whatever naive ideas I had about the world were obliterated the day that letter arrived and it’s gotten crazier ever since. The data changed but the facts are still there. Simple is complicated. But my feelings have always been something I understood, and that hasn’t changed Jace.” Her eyes opened and locked with mine, sending a jolt through my whole body. “Loving people has never been wrong. I loved my parents. How I got into their arms doesn’t change the wonderful life they gave me. I love Hazel and Yara. Their worry is a good thing, even when it hurts.”

She kissed me again, taking my face in her delicate hands. “And I have always loved you. In different ways, but always with love. So while we might not understand what we’re doing, as long as we follow our hearts, I believe it will all work out in the end.” A small smile curled her lips but didn’t quite reach her eyes. “And all the pain will be worth it.”

Sam sat at the high-top inside the suite while I stood beside her. Eve stood across from me. Everyone else was down in the seats watching the game.

“It’s nice that you know some of your security team. With everything else going on, at least that one thing is familiar,” Eve said.

“Does it get easier?” Sam asked.

Eve shrugged. “It’s still a little new to me. My dad is a little famous, so sometimes when I was a kid there would be a bodyguard, or a lot of security at events he attended, but until I took over this job, I didn’t work with security. For the last few years it's been me making sure high profile guests are safe in the stadium. Personally having a security team has been a very recent development. They’re awesome at blending into the background, so a lot of the time I forget they’re there. Plus I have kids. So I accept this new lifestyle if it makes them safer.”

I glanced at the man standing just inside the suite and then to the second standing across the hallway, almost in the shadows. Both were dressed like fans. Incredibly fit fans. But they were excellent at appearing relaxed even though I knew they were probably even more aware than I was of every person in the vicinity.

So far Sam was mostly in Georgia’s orbit. Mostly business, only a little fun. Hazel and Yara were from her old life and posed a series of security risks for Sam to hang out with them. As Eve told stories about growing up with a beloved ballplayer for a father I began to realize why rich and famous people hung together. It wasn’t just shared privilege; it was shared threats.

I had a sudden urge to buy Sam a yacht. No wonder rich people liked them. A place to escape and be alone without constantly wondering if danger was around the corner. On a boat you could see danger coming for miles. Plus, we had some pretty great memories on a yacht.

“I bet you’re all cooped up in that house,” Eve said. “You should come over for dinner. We live down the street and as you can see, we have plenty of security.” She waved at the door. “We’ll make dinner and talk about our weird lives. Or if you want to socialize we can invite some of our equally weird friends over.”

Sam glanced at me, eyebrows up. Her eyes danced, which meant she wanted to go. And honestly, so did I. It would be nice to hang out with some people who weren’t trying to get something out of us, kill us, or hate us. “I’m game.”

Sam grinned. “Text me a time and place.”

When we got home I checked my messages. The usual from Todd and some clients on my regular phone. An unfortunate string of requests from Agent Steel on my other. I turned it off and shoved it back in the suitcase to deal with later.

The house was bigger than we needed. Sometimes it felt like some sort of fairytale where we were locked up in a castle, alone with echoing hallways and secret rooms. My footsteps sounded louder than they should as I walked from the downstairs office, up the central stairs, and down a window lined hallway to the wing with our bedroom. I didn’t turn on any lights because the moon was so damn bright it was like the lights were on anyway. Probably because we got the added reflection off the water.

Sam soaked in the tub so I stripped down and took a quick shower. “I have a lunch meeting tomorrow.”

She lifted her foot out of the bubbles, stretching her leg. “All right. How long will you be gone?”

“A few hours.” The hot water washed over my neck and shoulders, relaxing the muscles. It felt good so I didn’t move.

“I’m not leaving the house tomorrow.”

Her schedule flashed through my mind. A late morning meeting online. Recommendations due by Monday for Stroman Software. “How’s the report coming?”

She groaned, disappearing under the bubbles. Guess it wasn’t going great. That made sense since this was the boring part of the job. Learning all the ins and outs of the company, reviewing the technical details, budgets, and projections. It wasn’t fun or sexy.

When she surfaced she grabbed the shampoo and began working it into her hair. “Mercifully all the Stroman stuff is straightforward. The Roark crap is intentionally a pile of shit to make it harder to find all the crap they’re doing. I’m glad Hazel is speaking to me again because I need to borrow her brain.”

I flicked off the water and grabbed a towel. “Is that allowed?”

“I’m not going to show her anything confidential. Mostly I want to run generic scenarios by her that, since she’s already researched the Roark companies, she might see something I don’t.”

“Gotcha.” I wrapped the towel around my waist and went through the motions of combing my hair, putting on deodorant, and clipping a stray fingernail. “Meet you in bed, beautiful.”

“Right behind you.”

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