Page 36 of Fearless
“And you were his friend,” I concluded, pressing a kiss to chest.
“And his father, mother, life coach, riding instructor, you name it.”
“You’re amazing for that, you know?” I reached up to wrap an arm around his neck. “He’s so lucky to have found you.”
Jandro fell silent, one of the rare moments he was speechless. Then his arm curled around me tighter as he dropped a kiss to my head. “Thanks, beautiful. He really is a good friend to have. I wouldn’t have done so much for him if he hadn’t saved my ass on numerous occasions.”
I slid lower into the bed, satisfied with the conclusion of the story. “Well, then I’m grateful for him too. For keeping you around for me.”
“Yeah?” His mouth nudged closer to my ear. “Show me how grateful.”
“Come here.” I pulled him down with me, wriggled my body into position underneath him.
He followed my lead with a salacious grin, nestling between my thighs so I could do just as he asked.
Thirteen
REAPER
“Well, ain’t this a peachy fuckin’ turn of events.”
Bones regarded me with a guilty look from my front stoop. He ran a hand over his shaved head, growing fuzzy from lack of upkeep.
“I wasn’t hiding from you, Reaper. I just wanted to lay low for a bit. Until things calmed down, you know?”
“You can make your excuses inside.” I turned and left the door open so he could follow.
His feet shuffled nervously over my marble tile floors, trailing after me to my study. Once I passed through the door, Hades looked up at me from his massive dog bed next to the fireplace.
“Have a seat.” I waved a hand toward the chair across from my desk as I lowered into my own seat. “Was Heatherlaying lowwith you?”
“Um, yeah.” He rubbed his hands together, leaning forward in the chair. “She’ll be coming to talk to you later. She didn’t want to, but I convinced her.” He swallowed. “She’s pretty upset about this whole thing.”
“Tell that to someone who cares.” I stuck a cigarette in my mouth and fished around for my lighter. “The only reason you’re here is to tell me if you knew anything about Python’s scheming.”
“Absolutely not,” he insisted. “He didn’t breathe a word of it to me.”
“Yeah?” I remarked, not buying it at all. “The three of you looked pretty tight to me.”
“Maybe out in the open, among everyone else but,” he shifted uncomfortably in his seat, “it wasn’t really like that behind closed doors.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What do you mean?”
“If I’m being completely honest, Reap,” he sighed. “I was kinda their third wheel.”
“How so?”
“Like, I’ve always had a thing for Heather. But she was with you, then Python, so I left it alone. But I got shitfaced one night and she came onto me pretty hard. We had a great time, in my opinion, and she talked up the whole sharing thing like it was so great. I was stoked ‘cause it felt like this was finally my chance to be with her, you know? So I rolled with it.”
“And?” I pressed.
“And it turned into her pretty much using me for threesomes. Which was fun, don’t get me wrong, but I thought I’d have more time with her myself, you know? But she pretty much ignored me except for when she and Python wanted some extra fun in the bedroom. And of course, having two men on her arms at the parties.”
“That fuckin’ bitch,” I groaned, leaning my head back.
It didn’t surprise me at all that Heather would use a man so selfishly, but Bones’s testimony just made me appreciate having Mari even more. She didn’t have to let me know she was going to be with Jandro. It was her right to spend time with whoever she wanted. But she did anyway, because she cared. She wouldn’t dream of manipulating a man’s feelings to get what she wanted. That was why I shared her, and no other woman I met ever came close.
“So yeah,” Bones concluded. “If Python was letting Heather in on it, I wasn’t in that club. And if I was,” he straightened his spine, “I swear I would’ve told you, Reaper.”
