“From you?” Still looking down at Millie, I shake my head. “Nothing—I just thought I’d call to give you some advice.”
“Youwant to givemeadvice?” He laughs like I just said the funniest thing he’s ever heard. “Concerning?”
“Paige,” I tell him matter-of-factly. “It’s dawned on me that the two of us have been fucking the same woman for roughly the same amount of time but there’s a key difference between the two of us that I think you need to be aware of.”
Allister makes a nasty noise in the back of his throat. “I assure you, Mercer—there are more than one.”
I can’t argue with him there.
“The difference between you and me is that I see Paige forexactly who she is,” I say, ignoring his attempts at baiting me. “I know her.”
“Is that so?” His tone is clipped. Dismissive.
“Yeah—it is. It’s notyoushe loves fucking with, it’s Millie and it’s not that half-limp, mediocre dick of yours that gets her off, it’s knowing that she managed to lure you away from someone she knows is better than her in almost every way.” When I say it, Millie’s mouth falls open, and she stops struggling against the hand I’m using to keep her seated on the bed. “It’s not about you. It wasneverabout you. It’s about Millie and the fact that Paige can’t stand to see her happy.”
“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” Allister practically snarls into the phone.
“I do—just like I know you think you’re still okay. You think you can still recover. I mean, yeah you fumbled Millie Blackwell, but you still landed her cousin. Not as nearly as rich and not set to take over a multi-trillion-dollar empire when her father retires, but hey—a Blackwell is a Blackwell, right?” When he doesn’t answer me, I laugh out loud because we both know I read him like a book. “But—and this is the important part here, Al, so pay attention—the fact that you belonged to Millie is theonlything you had going for you and now that that’s over, Paige doesn’t want you. She might string you along for a few days to see if Millie forgives you but when she realizes it’s not going to happen, she’s going to dump you while I spend your honeymoon, showing the woman you were dumb enough to cheat on what it’s like to be fucked by someone who actually knows where her clitoris is and won’t stop sucking on it until she’s screaming his name and coming all over his face.”
“Good luck with that,” Allister sneers. “Perfect little Millie is the most boring fuck I’ve ever had.”
“Wow…” I laugh while Millie looks like she’s about to pass out. “If you don’t know how to make a woman come, you should just say that.”
Ending the call before he has the chance to say anything else, I toss the phone on the bed, next to a stunned Millie.
“What…” Still staring up at me, she shakes her head. “Why would you say that?”
I don’t know.
I don’t reallywantto know.
“I don’t like bullies and I like narcissistic assholes even less—” Dropping my hand away from her shoulder, I give her a shrug. “and that motherfucker happens to be both.”
“Maybe…” Looking away from me, Millie collects her phone before she stands. “But that doesn’t make him wrong.”
“Seriously?” I practically shout it at her, unreasonably angry for some reason. “The fuck isthatsupposed to mean?”
“It’s not a riddle, Dean,” she laughs up at me, the sound of it hoarse and broken as it rattles its way up the length of her throat. “It meanshe’s right. Ididjust lay there. Ididn’tput any effort into making it fun.” Pushing past me on another broken laugh, she heads for the door. “I wasn’t?—”
Before I know what I’m doing or can stop myself from doing it, I close a hand over her arm and spin her around. Hazel eyes wide, her mouth falls open on an indignant gasp when I shove her against the door she’s trying to get open. “You weren’t what?” Letting go of her arm, I lift mine to press a hand into the flat of it next to her head. When all she does is stare up at me and breathe, I brace myself against it and lean into her. “Go ahead and say it—it’s okay, we’re all adults here, Mills. You weren’twhat?”
“I…” Still staring up at me, she shakes her head before running her tongue across her lips like her mouth is suddenly too dry to speak. “I wasn’t…”
“Aroused.” I say it softly, my gaze dropping to her mouth. “When Allister fucked you, you were never aroused.”
“No.” She shakes her head on a whisper, surprising us both with the truth. “I wasn’t.”
Looking up, I hook my gaze into hers. “And you think that’s your fault?”
Her eyes go wide again, her cheeks flushing with indignation because she can hear it in my tone, just how stupid I think she is. “Of course it’s my fault. Who else could possibly be?—”
“Him.” I bark it at her, my anger spiking again. “He’sto blame, not you.” When she stares at me, mouth open like I just slapped her in the face, I feel like an asshole but I don’t back up. I don’t let it go. “Let me guess—he’d climb on top of you every Tuesday night, stick his dick in you and give you a few strokes without even bothering to take your shirt off before rolling over and falling asleep—go ahead, tell me I’m wrong.”
“Thursday,” she says softly. “It was every Thursday.”
“Exactly…” I feel my jaw tic at her admission. “And you hated every minute of it.”
“I didn’thateit,” she says, her brow knitting together while she shakes her head. “I just didn’t…” Swallowing hard, she looks away from me. “Maybe if I’d tried harder. Or maybe if I’d?—”
