Page 56 of Playing With Secrets
“Hunter, I heard you loud and clear. I’m just not buying it. But before you go off the deep end, I don’t need the answer right now. You need time to get used to the idea. When you’re ready, we can talk about it then.”
“Fine. Whatever you need.” I try to fold a pair of pants, but they end up in a ball, so I hastily throw them into the dirty clothes pile like they’re an alligator trying to bite my hand.
She eyes the mound of clothes. “Would you like some help?”
“No. What I’d like is for you to answer my question.” I grab my toiletry bag and storm off into the bathroom.
She jumps off the bed and follows me. “What question is that?”
I shove the bag in its spot in the medicine closet. “The question about who you were with last night. You diverted the question and took me down some fucked-up, twisted path to distract me.”
Her lips roll between her teeth, and I lose my fucking mind. “Just say it. He was there with you, wasn’t he?”
She doesn’t say a thing. Her face doesn’t twitch or flinch. She just stands there frozen.
“Go ahead. I’m waiting.” I step closer to her. I want to see her face when she tries to lie to me again.
“Hunter, you have that look about you again.” She steps back. “You escalated quickly, and I’m scared you’re going to go after him again. The last time this happened, I thought you were going to kill him.”
And those last few words do me in.
“The last time this happened? Meaning you two were together?” My eyebrows rise in question and I instantly see red. “You need to get out of my house right the fuck now.”
Every muscle in my body stiffens. She swallows and storms away from me.
She gets to the edge of the bedroom and then turns, about to say something. Apparently thinking better of it, she huffs and leaves while shaking her head and mumbling curse words under her breath.
I don’t know whether to go to his place and murder him or jump out of my window. Either way, I lose.
They did it to me again.
I trudge back and forth from my bathroom to my Juliet balcony and get bombarded with image after image of thetwo of them together. I run my fingers through my hair and think.
All I see are visions that end in devastation all around. I thought we were past this, but whatever they share isn’t something that can be severed that easily.
The front door closes, alerting me she’s gone, so I stomp to my bar area and make myself a drink. I stumble onto a stool and shake my head that I didn’t see this coming. I’m so in love with her that I’m blinded to everything.
That does it. I take a cold shower and get dressed in my nicest Brioni suit. If she’s going to fuck him, I’ll be doing whatever I damn well please. It’s been way too long.
Even the smell in this high-end club screams wealthy masculine power made up of leather and cigars. Just what I need.
I’ve been being a pussy and I’m embarrassed by it now. It’s time to step back into who I was before Dorothy came along.
The last time I was here was about a week before I met her. The memory ripples like a pebble that falls into a lake. The woman I met that night was tiny and ferocious, sending sweet little waves reverberating around me for days.
Is she here?
I find a place at the bar and scan the crowd. There’s no one here who hasn’t been invited.
It’s the most exclusive gentlemen’s club. Not in the sense of hookers or strippers. It was made for high-powered men to make enormous business deals and then release the stress with discreet, beautiful women.
“Hunter Efron, it’s been a while.” A slap hits my shoulder, and I turn around.
“Mateo Beckett. Damn, it’s been too long. How the fuck are you?” I shake his hand and move aside so Mateo can join me at the bar.
“Great. We’ve acquired a few more top-level clubs and restaurants, so all is well on the business front.” He slides one hand into the pocket of his Givenchy suit and drinks his beer.
“What are you doing in town?”
