“You’re trying to handle me,” I argue. “And I don’t appreciate it. I’m not an idiot.”
“I never said that. You’re putting words in my mouth,” he says through gritted teeth. “You come running in here wide-eyed and panicking. You were breathing so heavy I thought you were going to have a heart attack. I told you I would take care of the situation, but that’s not good enough for the princess.” I narrow my eyes on him. “I offer you a night to relax. Maybe go take a bubble bath, try and get some rest, and you jump my ass.” He crosses his arms over his hard chest. “What is the real problem here?”
“The problem is that my stupidity for you is gonna get me arrested,” I yell.
“Oh, so it’s my fault?” he barks.
“Of course, it is.” I snort. “I would have never gone out with you that night if I had known where we were going.”
He lowers his head down to mine. “I didn’t twist your arm, sweetheart. And even if you had known, you still would have gone with me.”
He’s right. That part sucks. This is what happens when you fall for a man who lives a different kind of life than you do. “Well, I won’t anymore. It’s over.”
He stares down at me with hatred. He gave me that same face the first night I saw him in this club, and it makes my chest tighten. “There had to have been something in the beginning in order for it to be over, Taylor,” he says flatly.
“You sorry son of a bitch …” I take a deep breath “… can go to hell!” I spin around and storm out of his office just as fast as I entered it.
CASE
“Fuuucccckkk!” I yell as I spin around and shove my office phone off my desk. It rips the cord out of the wall before it bounces off the wall and then hits the floor. I place my hands flat on the desk and lean over it. This night couldn’t get any worse.
“Taylor? That was the girl you were telling me about?”
I spin around to see my boss, Jones, standing in my office with the door shut behind him. I sigh heavily. So much for it not getting any worse. “Yes.” I push myself up and off the desk. “So make sure you take care of that,” I growl as I walk back around my desk to sit in my chair.
“You said to take care of the tape because of Taylor. You said that Taylor was Blane’s sister.”
“Yes! I remember what I fucking said,” I snap, looking up at him.
“You lied to me!” he shoots back.
I roll my eyes at his anger. “It is what I do best, right?” Fuck, I’m in the mood for a drink.
“Case.” He hisses my name. I stand from my chair and walk over to the mini bar in my office. “Please tell me that was not what it sounded like.”
I pour some bourbon into a tumbler. I turn to face him and lean back against the bar. “Well, that would be a lie,” I say flatly. This day has already gone to shit; I might as well make it worse.
“Shit!” he hisses. “What the fuck are you thinking?” he demands. “She is…”
“No offense, Jones, but I’m very aware of who she is.” His eyes narrow on me.
“Don’t get smart, boy.” He points a finger at me. “You’re fucking Blane’s sister,” he shouts, and I take a drink of my bourbon.
I tilt the tumbler in my hand from side to side watching the dark liquid swish around. “I know what I’m doing.” Do I? I’ve been telling myself that from the beginning, but is it true? I feel somehow along the way I’ve forgotten what my intentions were.
“Do you love her?” he demands.
“No!” I snort. She just makes me feel like I’m alive.
The look Jones gives me says I answered too quickly. I straighten my back and square my shoulders. “No, I don’t love her. It is just sex.”Keep telling yourself that, fucker.
He hangs his head and shakes it as if he can’t believe I just said that. “I don’t know if that makes it better or worse,” he mumbles. When he looks back up at me, he looks disgusted with me. I broke my rule. I broke all the rules. For a piece of ass. If I told him it was for love, would he understand better? “End it. End it right fucking now!” With that, he walks out of my office.
I throw back the bourbon. I hiss in a breath as I slam the glass down on the bar. Wiping the remains of the liquid from the corners of my mouth with my hand, I mumble to myself, “Must be your lucky day, boss, because she ended it about five minutes ago.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
TAYLOR
