That makes me laugh.
“You’re welcome to think so. I don’t lose sleep over your opinion of me.”
Something flickers across his face. He hides it quickly, but not quickly enough. A glitch in the system.
It’s not frustration. Not even anger. It’s the realization that he doesn’t know me anymore. And maybe he never really did.
His smirk falters, and the mask slips.
“I’m going to bury you in court,” he says. No charm left. Only steel.
I shrug. “We’ll see.”
We hold each other’s stare across the desk. He waits for me to look away. I don’t.
His jaw ticks. Mine doesn’t move.
No shouting. No theatrics. Just two people who know how to destroy each other and are prepared to do so.
He rises and smooths his jacket, too eager to seem uninterested.
There’s venom there, but there’s something else too.
Curiosity.
He wants to know who Bastien is, who has me now, who got past the walls he could never climb.
It’s eating him alive.
“Enjoy your friend and his magnificent cock.” The words are bitter and barbed, a last-ditch jab at me.
I can jab too.
“Trust me, Jon David. I do.”
He holds my gaze a moment too long, then turns and walks out.
Jon David says we could’ve had something more exciting if I’d been willing to try new things—expand my horizons, take a few risks.
He has no idea what I’m trying now.
Or who I’m trying it with.
Or who I fall asleep beside at night.
And if I’m being honest, neither do I.
Chapter 31
Bastien Montclaire
Every breathbetween now and then is foreplay.
I’ve been watching her cameras all night, my eyes glued to the monitors. Her house is quiet, the lights low across every room. It’s the stillness that settles right before sleep.
Her bedroom is dim. She disappeared into the bathroom and hasn’t come out. She’s showering, getting ready for bed.
Getting ready for me.
