But of all the things about Sarah Carpenter, it was not even her beauty that got me.
It was the little game we were playing right now.
Sasha Carter?
Sure, Sarah. I’d be happy to call you Sasha for a spell. Let’s see what you say without saying it. Let’s just see how long you can play this game.
Because if there was one thing I knew, it was that I was better than anyone I knew at playing games like this. I was more than happy to go along with whatever rules anyone else wanted.I could play their game better than they could, and when they finally cracked, I’d get what I wanted.
And what did I want?
… as it turned out, the answer to that wasn’t immediately obvious. A quick fuck seemed too easy, too simple. Oh, I’d fuck her if I wanted to. But I wanted more with Sarah Carpenter. After what she did to me and my family? I wanted her down on her knees for me, and not just before we fucked.
This little game we had was a good start.
“I remember, several years ago,” I said, pretending to ruminate on regrets, “there was a woman in my life. She had the same initials as you, believe it or not. Amusing coincidence, if I say so.”
“Amusing, indeed,” she said with a nervous laugh. God, she squirmed so much. It was such a delight. And I wasn’t even trying that hard at the moment.
“She was one of the few people in my life I could trust fully. You see, when you have the last name I have, many people want you for reasons other than who you are. You have to be careful. She, somehow, became one of them.”
I paused. I liked making people sit with silence. It unnerved them. In business meetings, it made people lower their demands. With women, it made them beg for more.
With “Sasha,” it was building the tension. So fucking wonderful.
“But then, she made a mistake,” I said, and the smile on my face faded. “She fucked up bad. Real bad. That left a scar, Sasha. One that I don’t admit to many people, but one that has never really quite healed. And while I’m not as vengeful as the press might make me believe, I think retribution is fair for what happened. Wouldn’t you agree, Sasha?”
Sarah gulped. Now, I was silent because I was genuinely curious about what was to transpire.
“What kind of retribution would you want to inflict on this woman?” Sarah said. “Surely, she’s suffered enough in her own way, no? If she fucked up as bad as you say she did, she might have her own misgivings about what happened. Her own regrets. Surely, whatever she’s done to herself can’t be worse than what you could do to her.”
I laughed. I actually laughed. Sure, that was a nice thing for people to say who chose forgiveness.
I was not so kind.
“If I were to trade an eye for an eye, this woman would not exist,” I said. “But I don’t believe we need to stoop that low, that coldly. I’m tough, but I’m not evil.”
“I know.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Sasha” could not have known that. Was she cracking for good now? Was she done playing the game?
She’d have to say as much. I didn’t let games end until the other party quit.
“Do you now?” I asked. “How so?”
Sasha fidgeted on her feet, shifting her weight. How many ways could a person express nervousness without using their words? It was a question I knew I would have to ponder when I got bored at some point.
“I… I’ve seen the press clippings on you, Cassius,” she said. “They say you’re the King of Hearts. That you take hearts and break them. My experience is that those who break hearts have had theirs broken before. But beneath that cold exterior is a soft opening asking for closure. People with soft closures aren’t evil, most of the time at least.”
“Most of the time,” I repeated, but I was thinking about Sarah’s words. She was no fool. You could almost call her too smart for her own good based on what she said just there. “You are correct, I am the King of Hearts. But a good king knows how to dish out fair punishment. So tell me, Sasha Carter. Whatwould you do to this woman if you were in my shoes? What would you do?—”
“Cassius, please, enough. I’m Sarah. Sarah Carpenter. Not Sasha.”
A smile formed on my lips as I folded my arms. Broken, as usual.
“I know,” I said.
“That obvious?”
