A flash drive, a fall, and the house rules laid bare
I’d already contemplated having someone killed before, but not like this. I wasn’t just entertaining the idea—I was fucking planning it.
Would Chloe kill him if I told her to? I paid her enough. How would she do it? With her gun? A piece of glass off the floor? A random paper clip? What about She-Hulk over there? Would she be able to stop Chloe before my bodyguard finished the job? How much time would I buy her to kill this guy if I threw myself in front of the giantess? How long would it take her to tear me in half? That’d be enough time for Tyler to die, right?
On second thought, maybe this wasn’t the best time to kill Tyler. Psalter probably knew ten different people who could get the job done. I’d even pay to have him killed in a very specific, very graphic way. Tear his head off, perhaps? However it happened, I’d want him killed slowly… maybe in a weird way. Someone could nail him to a wall with a nail gun while he was still alive.
Quentin… Tyler… whoever took another sip of his drink, still smirking at me. “What’s the matter? Nothing to say? Goddamn… you really had it bad for her, didn’t you?”
“Did she know?” I asked.
“Did she know what?” Tyler said, swirling his drink in the tumbler.
“Did she know we were brothers?”
Tyler simply stared back at me, playing with his drink like some fucking villain. Finally, he said, “She knew.”
I felt myself swallow like there was a bag of marbles in my throat.
“She felt guilty at first,” Tyler continued, staring at his glass. “She told me more than once that she thought you should know, but I talked her out of it. It’s not like she owed you an explanation. You waited too long to make your move… like a coward.”
He cut his eyes up at me, a mocking glint shining from under his thick eyebrows. “Honestly, I think she’s relieved she went with me. She never outright said it, but more than once, she said you were getting clingy and smothering her.”
I wasn’t sure what he was talking about. I’d given Natalie so much space—you could argue too much. I hadn’t put up a fight for Natalie after she’d returned from the wedding, and more than once, I’d regretted taking that route. At the time, I thought she just needed space. A lot of change had hit her. She’d lost her boss, been promoted, and suddenly became romantically entangled with someone who had been a friend for a year. On top of that, it was her employer… someone who had become one of the wealthiest men in New York overnight. I didn’t want to pressure or overwhelm her.
The last word I would have described my behavior was ‘clingy.’
“Oh, and that stunt you pulled yesterday?” He tutted at me. “So desperate. She called you a loser.’”
“Liar,” I said.
Tyler shrugged his shoulders and took another sip of his drink. “I didn’t say it. She did.”
“That doesn’t sound like Natalie at all,” I said. “I gave her an entire planet’s worth of space to make up her own mind, and she chose you. She told me about the wedding, and I let her make up her own mind without putting up a fight because I respect her enough to make the best decision for her. I also know Natalie well enough to know she appreciated that. She wouldn’t have called me a loser, even after yesterday.”
He watched me without confirming or denying what I said, and despite my second-guessing, I tried to keep my face as stone-like as possible. Finally, he snorted, shook his head, and gave me a congratulatory smirk. “Jesus, man. I thought I nearly had you for a minute. Fine.” He threw back the rest of the alcohol and began fidgeting with the tumbler. “Yeah, Natalie could tell she broke your heart. She didn’t regret choosing me but may have felt a little guilty.”
Regardless of how small that kernel of good news was, it felt like a tiny blossom of heat in my chest that I desperately clung to. ‘She felt guilty.’ At that moment, those were some of the most beautiful words I could hear.
Catching Tyler’s lie created cracks in the rest of his story as the seconds ticked by. The look in Natalie’s eyes… the confusion… they all started to paint a different picture.
“She didn’t know we were brothers, either, did she?”
“Nah, man,” Tyler said. I guess he decided keeping up any part of the lie wasn’t worth it. “She didn’t know we had anything to do with each other.”
“She’s not dumb. She would have put it together when you told her your last name,” I said.
“Probably,” he said. “It’s why I used my mom’s last name. Fuck the Gerrards. Dad’s been dead forever, Gramps hates me, Nina’s a bitch, and everyone else is either in jail or not on speaking terms. I’ve never felt like a Gerrard and don’t want anything to do with them.”
“Then why are you talking to me? Why’d you go after Natalie?” I asked.
“Why did I go after Natalie?” Tyler asked, repeating the question as if it was the dumbest thing he’d ever heard. “Have you seen her?”
“There’s no way you can expect me to believe you guys just randomly met at a wedding,” I said.
Tyler sighed and returned to the bar to pour himself another drink—twice as much this time. “The moment I found out about you, I hired a man to dig into everything.” He took a sip, turned, and leaned back against the bar. “Brother, I know more about you than your own mom. I know where you banked before the inheritance. I know you and Jessica Kemp dated for several months before she ended things with you to date some guy named Shawn. I have a pretty good idea of what you’re doing with that Barbara chick. Shit, man… I know your fucking porn habits.”
“So when I learned you were into Natalie, but you weren’t dating yet, I did some digging and found out about the wedding she was attending. I got the wedding planner’s name, bought him off, and added myself to the guest list. I showed up with an expensive present, gave them all the ol’ Tyler charm, and zeroed in on Natalie. It was cute how much we had in common thanks to my PI, and next thing I know, she’s back in my room with her clothes all over my floor.”
Tyler ended his little villain monologue with a satisfied smile and another sip of his drink.
“Wait… you’re seriously telling me you investigated my whole life, found out who I was potentially dating, and started dating them before I made my move?” I asked, clarifying the crazy.
“Yeah,” he said, grinning as if giving me the punchline to an uncommonly good joke.
“What the fuck? Why? Who has that kind of time?”
“I do!” he shouted, pointing at his chest. It was so abrupt that I jumped in my own skin. “Me! I have that kind of time! I don’t have a fucking job, I’ve got the money to spend, and I hate you enough to dedicate the last few weeks to making your life a living fucking hell! I’ll spend the next year doing it if I have to. Years, even! Natalie’s just the beginning.”
“But why?” I asked again.
“Come on, Marcus! The money!”
“It seems to me like you have enough,” I said. His stupid stunt to make my life hell had probably set him back tens of thousands or even more. Anyone willing to spend that kind of money on something so petulant had to be wealthy.
“For stealing your girl, sure,” Tyler said. “Nothing on your level, though. I can buy a mansion. You can buy an island! I can buy a business. You can buy a fucking country! When Gramps kicked it, I thought this would be my time! Hell, even a fraction of the money would have been a game-changer, but no… I didn’t get shit. None of us did. You got the whole thing, and we’re stuck with goddamn table scraps! I’m bored, and I’m fucking done playing in the little leagues!”
“So, when my lawyers couldn’t figure out a way around the will and told me I was shit out of luck, I decided if I couldn’t have the money, I’d take whatever else of yours I could get my hands on.”
“Jesus Christ,” I muttered. “Did it ever cross your mind that you could have just talked to me? We’re brothers! I know you don’t want anything to do with Gerrards, but I would have—”
“Oh, fuck no! You are not a Gerrard!” Tyler cut in. “That’s the fucking thing… you’re some stranger who’s never had anything to do with this family, and I’m not sure whether that’s worse than you being part of the family.”
“Either way,” I said, “None of this is necessary.”
“Give me the money,” Tyler said pointedly.
I blinked. “What? No.”
“Give me half the money,” Tyler said. “You can keep the other half. We’d both still be the wealthiest people on the planet. Fuck everyone else.”
Besides not wanting someone as unhinged as Tyler to have half my grandfather’s estate, I’d grown accustomed to the status quo. I wasn’t enthusiastic about handing half my money to anyone… especially the man who stole Natalie. I’d also been kicked around and threatened enough for one lifetime. I wasn’t about to be extorted by this overgrown man-child pulling some elaborate bullshit reminiscent of high school.
“Fuck off,” I said.
“Give me half, and I’ll break it off with Natalie,” he said. “I’ll go up there right now and tell her we’re done. She’s not really my type anyway.”
My jaw clenched; that hit a nerve, and Tyler could tell.
“I mean, she’s pretty enough, I guess. She’s a wet blanket in bed, though. I had to fuck someone behind her back just to keep from breaking up with her out of sheer boredom.”
By telling me that he was cheating on Natalie and not actually valuing her, he was trying to get under my skin and make me jealous. He was probably trying to provide further incentive to buy him off and leave her alone. It was almost working.
“You know what I mean, though,” Tyler said. “You fucked her. Boring, right?”
He waited a beat for me to respond, and when I didn’t, he said said, “You did fuck her, right?”
Not responding, I glanced at his bodyguard still leaning against the door with her tree trunk arms crossed over her chest. Fuck getting someone to kill this asshole. I wanted to feel his neck bones crackle in my own hands. Would I be able to reach him and break his neck before the Amazon closed on me?
“You didn’t, did you?” Tyler went on, goading me. “Did you guys kiss?”
He studied me and said, “Yeah… you got that far. She’s a good kisser. I’ll give her that. Those lips… y’know? Dick-sucking lips. It just sucks that she’s not all that great at it. Did you try her out?”
“Tyler,” I said.
“Hm?” he asked.
“Shut the fuck up.”
He pointed at me with his drink in hand. “That’s a ‘no.’ Bro… did you do anything other than kiss her? You even get to feel her tits? It’s her best feature!”
“Marcus.” I heard someone say my name—probably Chloe—but I barely registered it. I was too busy remembering how sweet Natalie could be… how—even though we’d decided not to date—she was a great girl who didn’t deserve to be used as some pawn in this spoiled rich kid’s stupid game.
“Goddamn, man!” Tyler said. “You’ve got it bad for her! You wanna know how it feels to fuck her? She’s not an impressive lay, but since you’re so hung up on her, maybe hearing about it will almost be as good as the real thing!” He chuckled and took another sip. “You see, Natalie tolerated doggy, but she really got going when you put her on her back and gave it to her from the front. She’s one of those romantic look-in-your-eyes types that—”
I lunged at him.
“Hey!” Someone bellowed.
“Marcus!” Chloe yelled.
I didn’t fucking care. I found myself on Tyler with his shirt in my hands. I felt a sudden jolt as we both crashed into the bar, and then my stomach fell away as we collapsed to the floor with me on top of him. I held firmly onto his shirt in one hand and drove my fist into his face, enjoying the pleasant sensation of something crunching under my knuckles. Something crashed behind me. There was more shouting, but I was too far gone to even pay attention to it.
Tyler pushed off the floor and sent us rolling across the wood and debris, and I slammed my hand into the ground just in time to bring us to a halt. Hovering over him once more, I drove the same fist into his face again. This time, I felt warm flecks of spittle and blood spray across my face; it was more satisfying than gross.
Wrapping Tyler’s collar around my fingers, I hauled his head and shoulders off the ground and shouted, “Leave her the fuck alone!”
Then my world went white as I felt something crash into the side of my head and felt myself hurling ass-over-head off my brother. My vision began to clear just in time to see Liz hovering over me, bending over to grab my arm. I felt her lift me off the ground as easily as picking up a grocery bag before tossing me like trash into Chloe. My bodyguard managed to catch me as I crashed into her, preventing our faces from smashing into each other as we both went to the floor. I landed on top of her, my chest pressed into hers as my face came to a halt inches from hers.
I stared into her wide brown eyes, and time seemed to come to a standstill. Despite having just had my bell rung, I was very aware of Chloe’s breasts pressed into my chest while my crotch was firmly planted into hers. We were so close that we could have both puckered our lips, and they would have touched. Her breath rolled over my face, reinforcing the intimacy of how close we were to each other, and I took a moment to admire her freckled cheeks and the way her wavy blonde hair framed her face.
Then, the moment passed as she brushed me aside and slashed behind me with her foot, and I heard a loud crash as something hit the floor. I oriented myself just in time to see Chloe kip up onto her feet, holding two guns as she stood a safe distance away from Liz’s and Tyler’s prone bodies.
“Everyone needs to cool off,” Chloe said as I climbed to my feet. Her tone suggested she was speaking to people being mildly unreasonable instead of breaking off a fistfight while holding two pistols.
Liz picked herself off the ground, eyeing Chloe as she reached down to help Tyler to his. My brother looked rough, with his nose bent slightly at an angle as blood poured from one nostril. His left eye looked slightly swollen. I wanted to launch myself at him and tear out his fucking throat.
“Get the fuck out of my house,” I snarled as I reached down and yanked a piece of glass out of my palm.
Tyler spat to the side, saliva and blood hitting the hardwood. “I won’t.”
“Tyler, Chloe called an extra security team the moment she saw the house had people in it.” I put my fist in the small of my back and arched it, trying to work the spike of pain I was feeling. I probably sounded more weary than angry. “If you’re not out of here by the time they arrive, I’m going to buy a prison, throw you in it, and forget you exist.”
“Liar,” Tyler spat. “You weren’t raised in this family. You don’t have the balls to do what has to be done. You aren’t a Gerrard.”
“You’re right. I’m not,” I said. “The Gerrards are all miserable losers who’ve been leeching off Colin their whole life. Now, get the fuck out of my house, or I’ll bury you under the prison.”
“It’s true,” Chloe said. “I’ve already got five people here. There’s another eleven on their way, and we will do whatever’s necessary to remove you from Mr. Upton’s premises.”
It was Tyler’s turn to glare back at us with a clenched fist and jaw.
Tyler didn’t respond. He simply stared at me for ten hate-filled seconds and then said, “We’re not done here.”
“Yeah,” I said. “We are. Stay the fuck away from me and anyone close to me, or I swear to god, you’ll regret ever meeting me. That includes your fake relationship.”
“No,” Tyler said. “Natalie’s mine, now. I’m gonna keep fucking her, and I’m gonna think about you every time and how much you want to be in my place. You took something from me… I’m taking something of yours.”
“Your relationship with Natalie’s done,” I said.
“How about you let her decide,” he said, starting to smirk before wincing, which turned into a frown.
“She’s a smart woman. She’ll figure out what you are.”
“We’ll see,” he said. Then he began retreating toward the door, keeping his eyes on me and Chloe. “Liz. The door.”’
Liz opened the door and waited for him to back out of the room, then turn and disappear down the hall. With her dark eyes still on us, she asked Chloe, “Can I have my weapon back?”
Chloe trained Liz’s own weapon on her. “No.”
Liz stared another moment before disappearing into the hall, shutting the door behind her.
“Fuck,” I said, walking over to the office desk and leaning against it, feeling a little woozy.
“You okay?” Chloe asked, keeping the gun trained on the door for another few moments.
“Just dizzy.”
“Wouldn’t be surprised if you have a concussion,” Chloe said, finally lowering the gun. She turned away from the door and moved to the desk, eyeing me. “Tyler clocked you pretty hard with that glass.”
“That’s what that was?” I asked as I realized half my hair and part of my shirt were drenched in alcohol. It was all I could smell. “He got me good.”
“So did you,” Chloe said. She placed her fingers on my cheek, gently guiding me to look into her eyes as she stared into mine. It wasn’t a moment of tenderness… she was clearly checking on my pupil reaction and ability to focus. However, a rare warmth in her eyes made staring back at her more enjoyable.
“I think you’re fine.” She finally said, her fingertips slipping away from my cheek. My bodyguard grabbed her gun off the desk and holstered it.
“The only good news,” I groused. “Fuck!” I kicked at the office desk. It barely moved. “This place is a mess… what a fucking waste!”
“Maybe,” Chloe said. She held her hand up in front of me. A small square of semi-transparent plastic sat in her palm.
I blinked at it as the wheels in my head started turning. “Is that…”
“A cap for a flash drive? Yeah. I noticed it while you two were arguing,” Chloe said.
“This doesn’t mean much,” I said.
“Maybe. It could also be the cap to the drive they were looking for. We could hand that laptop off to Psalter… there might be something worth finding.”
I plucked the cap from Chloe’s hand and stared at it. If it did belong to the drive they were asking me for, then whoever took it was likely linked to Roger and whoever else was responsible for my kidnapping.
“Do you think he could track down whoever was here?”
“Only one way to find out,” Chloe said, giving me a little smile. From her, it was a ray of sunlight. She pulled out her phone and scrolled through her contacts, looking for Psalter’s number.
“Holy shit! What happened!?”
Chloe and I glanced at the doorway to see Erin peering around the corner. Her eyes were wide as she looked around at all the extra-broken debris scattered across the room. Emily was just behind her.
“Your… uh… Quentin? He passed us downstairs, looking messed up as hell. What did you do to him?” Erin asked as she stepped the rest of the way into the room. She was looking at Chloe as she asked the question, obviously assuming my bodyguard was the one who roughed him up.
“That was all him,” Chloe said as she scrolled through her phone.
Erin blinked and looked me over. “He didn’t get any licks in?”
“Hit him in the head once with a tumbler before the giant, and I stepped in,” Chloe said, holding her phone up to her ear. “He did good. Needs some work, but Tara and I’ll fix that eventually.” She walked away from the rest of us and spoke on the phone in a low voice.
“Damn,” Erin said.
“Oh my god! He’s pissed,” Emily chimed in. “He just stormed across the living room and disappeared!”
“He left the house?” I asked.
Emily shook her head. “He went to another room.”
“Where’s Natalie?” I asked.
Emily looked a little uncertain. “I… we didn’t see her.”
“Psalter’s got a lead on VanCamp,” Chloe interrupted. “A plane left an hour ago for Amsterdam, and he’s ninety percent sure Roger’s on it.”
My interest was immediately piqued. After handing Tyler his ass and now having a lead on Roger, I was thirsty for more blood, and VanCamp had it coming. “Tell Henry to get as many men to Amsterdam as possible. I want him hunted down. I don’t care how much it costs.”
“Got it,” Chloe said and started talking quietly into the phone again.
“Come on,” I muttered, making a beeline for the door.
“Where are you going?” Erin asked, following close behind. Emily and Chloe were in her wake.
“I told him to leave. Wherever he is, the only thing he better be doing is packing his shit!” I said over my shoulder as I headed down the hall. Emerging into the living room, I looked around but couldn’t see any sign of Tyler or Natalie. I didn’t like that at all.
“Eeeeyyyyy!” Baldy called out from his perch on the couch. “You changed your mind!”
“Where’s Tyler?” I barked.
“Oh shit,” he said, recoiling. “T went that way, man.”
“Hahaha! You fucking snitched on your boy!” Shaggy said.
“Mike, this is the guy! I’m not fucking holdin’ out on the guy! Besides, T was messed up as fuck! I’m too pretty for that shit!”
Shaggy was saying something in response, but I was in too much of a hurry to catch whatever he said. I headed down the hall in the direction he pointed, checking every room on the way. The first door was a bathroom with no one in it. The second was an entrance to a kitchen. The third was some kind of sitting room or study. It was cozy, smaller than the average room I’d seen, with a man sitting in one of the chairs and a woman straddling his lap. She was topless, and they were making out, and I realized it was the two I’d noticed earlier making out.
“You’re all leaving,” I said. “Get the fuck out.” I left before they had a chance to respond.
I rounded a corner and saw Liz leaning against a wall next to another door. “Is he in there?” I asked. She didn’t answer. She didn’t need to. Her presence was enough for me to know that Tyler was in that room. I stalked past her and paused at the door. “If I open this door, are we gonna have a problem?”
“You promise that both of us can walk out of here?”
“I can just get Chloe to shoot you,” I pointed out.
“He’s paid me to provide security. You’ve got six armed guys in this house, so I don’t stand a chance, but I’d be bad at my job if I didn’t at least try to get him out safely.”
I could respect that. After all, the woman was just doing her job… just like Chloe. It wasn’t her fault that the man who paid her so well was a piece of shit.
“If he leaves willingly, I’ll let him go, but Natalie stays,” I said.
She rolled her eyes, sighed, and muttered, “Knew I should have gone military.” Then she opened the door for me.
Natalie was sitting on the bed with her hands grasped above her knees, watching Tyler, who looked like he was explaining something. When the door opened, they both looked up at me. Tyler glared at his bodyguard and started to speak, “I told you—”
Liz cut him off. “He’s got six armed people in this house, sir, and I’m unarmed. He’s promised to let you go if we both leave now.”
“Marcus!” Natalie said, gesturing at Tyler’s face. “Did you do this to him!?”
Well, I wasn’t off to a good start here.
“Is it true!?” She added.
“Is what true?” I asked.
“Tyler’s saying you conned his grandpa into stealing his inheritance?”
“What?” I asked, sounding as incredulous as I felt.
Tyler chimed in, “It’s true! Baby, you have to listen to me. He’s kicking me out of the house! I’ve been coming here since I was a kid! He’s a fucking con artist!”
Natalie looked from him back to me, looked at me in disbelief, and said, “He says you’re brothers?”
“He’s right,” I said, “I’m related to Colin Gerrard, but I didn’t con him. I never met the man in my life.”
“Then why did he give you all that money?” Natalie asked.
“Exactly!” Tyler said. “I’ve known my grandpa my whole life! This guy gets everything!?
“Natalie, I don’t know why he did it, but Tyler is lying to you,” I argued.
Tyler pointed an accusatory finger at me. “He’s the one who’s been lying! Ask my whole family! No one got anything because he weaseled into my grandpa’s life! Call my aunt! Call my sister! Ask either of them!”
“If he’s been so honest,” I pointed out, “Why didn’t he tell you his last name was actually Gerrard?”
“He said it’s because he didn’t want me to make the connection,” Natalie said. “He said when he first met me, he thought I probably hated you and didn’t want me to draw the connection. When he found out we were friends, he was too scared I’d be mad that he didn’t tell me.”
“I didn’t want her to get the wrong impression of me just because of my family name!” Tyler said.
“Liz,” I said without taking my eyes off Tyler. “You’ve got two minutes to get your employer out of here.”
“Mr. Gerrard,” Liz said as she stepped into the room. “You’ve paid me for security, and right now, this is the best I can do. We’ve got to go.”
“Let me at least get my stuff!” Tyler said.
“Buy more stuff,” I said.
“Marcus,” Natalie started to say.
“Natalie, he’s said some heinous shit about you. I don’t know what to believe, but I’ve given you a promotion you deserved. I’ve been in love with you for a while and thought you felt the same way about me. I understand falling for this guy. For about five minutes, I thought he was gonna be a good guy, too. He’s not. He’s a lying snake, and you have a choice—you can leave with him if you want, but we’re done. I’ve been nothing but a good friend, a great boss, and have shown you nothing but patience. I think I’ve earned at least a sliver of trust from you, and I’m telling you not to go with this man. He’s using you.”
Natalie stared up at me for what felt like an eternity. She chewed on the inside of her cheek while her bottom lip trembled, and there were unshed tears in her dark eyes. Then she looked back at Tyler, her eyes narrowing as she grimaced in what looked like physical pain. A single tear slipped free and rolled down her caramel skin.
“Tyler,” she cried out, her voice cracked with emotion. “Please tell me this isn’t all true!”
“Natalie,” Tyler said, and I could understand why she fell for the guy. Not only was he handsome, but he was good. Sure, his story was flimsy. Natalie had to know that I didn’t have the kind of time, personality, or resources to con my way into the life of a savvy billionaire, and she wasn’t stupid enough to actually buy his story about why he hid his name—not without jumping through some serious hoops. Still… he looked genuine as he squeezed out a few tears himself. The swollen, bloody nose helped sell the pitiful act.
“Nat,” he said, his voice cracking as he dropped to his knees. “Don’t let him win. He’s already done so much damage to me… please, baby…” He grabbed her knees, genuinely looking like he might burst into tears. “Please don’t let him take you away from me. You’re all I have left.” He lowered his face until it hit her knees and let out a very real-sounding sob. Natalie reached out with a trembling hand to run her fingers through his hair. She looked back up at me; her cheeks were tear-stained. The look in her eyes said she had no idea what to do.
I couldn’t entirely blame her. I’d fallen for Jess, after all.
I decided to make the decision for her and hoped that she would accept it. “One minute, Liz,” I said. Someone behind me gasped.
Liz closed the distance between her and her charge, wrapped a thick arm around his midsection, hauled him over her shoulder, and walked out the door. She nodded to me, and I nodded back.
“No! Put me the fuck down!” Tyler screamed, his arms flailing as he beat on Liz’s back as she exited the room. “I’m going to fucking fire you! Natalie! Come with me!”
My brother and his bodyguard disappeared around the corner, and I watched Emily, Erin, and John looking on in disgust as they continued to watch from where they stood in the hall. It would have been funny had it not been such a serious moment. I could hear Tyler protesting, threatening, and calling out for Natalie until his voice abruptly died off. They were outside of the house.
Thankfully, Natalie hadn’t moved from her spot. She sat on the bed, staring at her hands as tears dropped onto the rug. I breathed a sigh of relief. I didn’t want to cut Natalie off. I had loved her. I was pretty sure I still did.
I sat on the bed beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Part of me wanted to tell her not to be upset… to share some of the nasty things Tyler had said to me. I wanted to tell her she could move past it. She didn’t deserve to feel this way over someone like him, but then, I remembered moments when I’d missed Jessica after we ended things. Even the shittiest of people could leave a warm spot on your heart that made you miss them. Even the end of a grossly dysfunctional relationship could be a sad thing. Loss is loss… even if it’s good for us.
So, instead of recounting the horrible things he said about her to score points, I just held her. She leaned into me, buried her head in my chest, and cried. I looked up to see that Erin, Emily, and all the rest had left the room, leaving me and Natalie alone with her broken heart. It was the first time I’d held her and didn’t feel overwhelming joy. I hated it.
She shuddered against me as a sob escaped her chest, and I pressed my lips into her hair, murmuring, “It’ll be okay, Nat.”
Forty minutes later, I emerged from the bedroom, softly shut the door behind me, and turned to see Erin standing up from where she’d been sitting on the floor beside the door. “Have you been out here the whole time?”
“Yeah,” she said, looking up at me with those dark brown eyes of hers. “It didn’t feel right just leaving you here alone, and Chloe had to coordinate her crew. Their chopper is equipped with some forensic equipment, so some of them are trying to see if they can pull any fingerprints or look for any other clues.”
The gentle thrum of music indicated that either the party was still going or no one had bothered to shut off whatever was playing. “Is everyone else gone?”
“Tyler is. I think everyone else is still here, though. Chloe recommended waiting for you to get everyone out. She said you might have a change of heart or need something from one of them, so we didn’t break it up. Natashya and Emily have made a couple of friends.”
“That scans,” I muttered, looking down the hall toward the music.
“Is she… okay?” Erin asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “She’s asleep. Probably best to leave her for now.”
Erin nodded. I sensed a nervous energy about her, and she looked like she was on the verge of asking me another question.
“Are you… are you guys a thing?”
“No,” I said. “I think she wanted to kiss me, but I didn’t take the bait. I just held her till she cried herself to sleep.”
“That must have been hard,” Erin said.
I recalled Natalie’s liquid brown eyes staring up at me. Her full lips compressed against each other as she sniffled… mere inches from mine. “Really fucking hard.”
“Why didn’t you?” she asked.
“Because I’ve let my dick do the thinking too much,” I sighed. “Whatever would have happened in there would’ve been a mistake. Either we would have ended up too hot and heavy and burned out, or she might have thought I was taking advantage of her vulnerable state. Or maybe we would have gotten into a relationship without setting the right expectations, and I would have just been another asshole who hurt her.”
“Expectations?” Erin asked as we headed down the hall.
“Yeah,” I said. “I’m not interested in being with just one woman, and I’m not sure how well Natalie would be able to handle that. I don’t want to make a mistake with her that I think I avoided with Danni. Even if she could… Nat needs some time to put all this behind her.”
Erin gave me one of her heart-melting grins. “That’s a hell of a grown-up decision to make.”
“I hated it,” I muttered as I stared at the floor. A huge part of me wanted to turn around, go back in that room, and wake Natalie up with a long bout of love-making.
“So, no monogamy for you, huh?” Erin said.
“Yeah. You know that, though. It’s why I called things off with Danni.”
“No. I know,” she said. Her hand slid over my groin as we neared the mouth of the hall, and she gave my half-erection a firm squeeze. “I’m just impressed you gave up a chance to get with the great Natalie Bander.”
I stopped in my tracks and seized Erin by her small wrist. She took a couple more steps before faltering, looking back at me with a startled expression, just as I yanked her back toward me so she crashed into my chest. I spun us both around so she was backed against the wall, and she started to say something as I shut her up with a fierce kiss.
She melted immediately in my arms, and a few moments later, I felt her tongue press against my mouth, seeking entrance, and I gladly let it in. We spent the next few moments making out wildly as I kept her trapped between me and the wall. My hands wandered over her slender frame, enjoying the feel of her firm tits under my touch. God… I couldn’t get enough of this young woman. I needed her to know that.
After breaking our kiss, I kept my face close to hers, enjoying how she stared up at me with those big brown eyes. She looked so helpless… vulnerable. Weaving my fingers through her silver hair, I massaged her scalp at the back of her head.
“Erin, you’re the reason.”
“What?” she asked. Some other emotion I couldn’t quite read slipped through her gaze.
“It doesn’t matter if Natalie, Danni, or some other amazing girl enters my life. You’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever met, and I want you. I’ll always want you,” and if whoever that person is can’t accept that, then they’re not the right person for me.
She stared back at me, her dark chocolate eyes burning with heat.
Our gazes were locked onto each other for a solid half minute, and a question was burning in my chest that I could barely keep from asking. I was afraid to ask because it might change this perfect dynamic if she said no. Talk of relationships had pushed Natalie into another man’s arms. It led me to shut things down with Danni. It had pushed Natashya into another woman’s arms. Like hell I was going to risk doing anything to jeopardize what I had with Erin… but I had to say something, right?
“Erin…”
“Don’t,” she said, biting her lip as she searched my eyes. “Just… let’s keep doing this, okay?”
I weighed her words carefully for a long moment and then said, “I don’t want to lose you.”
“I’m not going anywhere, sir,” Erin said. “I’m yours.”
The fingers in her hair tightened, and I slowly tugged on it. Erin’s eyes slid halfway shut as her head came up. Her pink tongue darted across her top lip as a faint whimper escaped her. I pressed my forehead to hers.
“Say it again,” I whispered, tightening my grip a fraction more.
A small gasp erupted from my assistant as her eyes grew wide. She pressed her hips into my crotch, grinding against my now full-erect penis. “I’m yours, sir.”
I pressed my face into hers, nuzzling her soft skin. Chills ran through me as I felt her lips caress my ear. “Did being that close to Natalie make you hard, sir? Or was it me telling you that I belong to you?” I felt her lips gently press against my earlobe.
Pulling away, I looked into her eyes, completely at a loss for words. Her hand slipped over my crotch again, squeezing my erection through my pants. Her other hand moved to my belt to begin unbuckling it. I normally would have hoped that no one would be around to see this, but most of the people in the house were on some kind of drug and probably didn’t give a shit. Everyone else had probably seen Erin doing things like this before.
“Or… is it a bit of both?” Erin asked. The question was punctuated by the feel of my zipper being drawn down. “I get it,” she said softly, never breaking eye contact as she pulled my cock out of my pants. “You want her. I want her.”
Erin dropped to her knees, wrapped her dainty fingers around my thick shaft, and placed the tip against her cheek. She gave me a few pumps, looked back up at me, and said, “God… imagine us sharing her, Marcus. Better yet, what if you two shared me.” She planted a slow, wet kiss on the tip of my cock. Can you imagine you two using your little slut, Marcus? I can. Fuck… I hope we can make it happen one day. I want to feel those magnificent tits against my little ones.”
She slid her lips over the head of my cock and took half my length in her mouth on the first plunge, only to immediately pull off of it a second later. She kept pumping my cock with her tiny hand as she said, “I hope I can feel those beautiful lips on my pussy. She has to be such a good kisser.” Then she plunged her mouth back on my cock.
Erin was right. Despite the mood in the room, cuddling Natalie in any form was a turn-on, and after forty minutes of it, I was incredibly turned on. It took less than three minutes for me to erupt into Erin’s warm, willing mouth as I imagined Natalie holding Erin’s head between her legs as she came. My assistant didn’t disappoint. She sealed her beautiful lips around my member so tight that I didn’t see a single drop of my semen on her or the floor once I’d finished.
I slid my cock out of her mouth, and she opened it wide, displaying the contents of my spend painted all over her tongue before closing her mouth, visibly swallowing, and then opening her mouth again, showing that she had consumed every drop of my sperm. She slid her tongue up my cock several times, scraping away the remaining traces of fluids, and then tucked my semi-hard phallus back in my pants. Once my pants were fastened and back in place, she gave the bulge at my crotch a little peck and then stood up.
“I meant it, Marcus,” she said, her eyes gleaming. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“I’ll hold you to it,” I said. I wanted to say more, but honoring her wishes, I left it there. We would have time later.
A few minutes later, I walked out into the hallway to see most of Tyler’s friends still engaged in the same activities as when I left. The lines of coke were gone—remnants were scattered across the glass surface, and Baldy was passed out on the same couch I’d found him on. I spied Shaggy through the back door, sitting on the pool’s edge and talking to a couple of the girls splashing about in the water.
“Listen up!” I said loud enough to make sure everyone could hear me. “Tyler’s gone, and he’s not coming back!” By this time, almost everyone within line of sight was looking in my direction, appearing confused as they whispered among each other. “My name’s Marcus and this is my house now! In fifteen minutes, I’m pressing charges on anyone still here!”
I looked behind me in the direction of the hall to see the couple I’d caught in the sitting room standing nearby, holding onto each other. Neither of them seemed in a hurry to leave. “That means get the fuck out!”
I heard people mutter things like ‘I thought he was cool’ and ‘What the fuck happened?’ None of it bothered me. Maybe I was being a bit of an asshole, but I wasn’t particularly interested in getting to know any of Tyler’s deadbeat friends.
“A little harsh, don’t you think?” Emily said, appearing through the doorway from outside with Natashya on her heels.
“Maybe,” I said. I wasn’t feeling particularly empathetic toward them. Friends talked, and if I was inclined to put thumb screws to Tyler’s friends, I would have been willing to bet dollars to pocket lent that at least a few of them knew what Tyler was doing to Natalie. At the very least, they had to know what a piece of shit he was.
“There’s the sick girl,” Natashya said. “She’s sleeping in one of the upstairs rooms.”
“Let her sleep. She’s fine.”
Natashya snorted. “You mean she’s cute.”
“Well, yeah,” I said. I was getting used to Natashya’s constant attempts to call me out and didn’t find it quite as embarrassing… as long as it wasn’t about my sister. “But I got the feeling she was new to all this, so I’m giving her the benefit of the doubt.”
“And also, she is cute,” Natashya said.
“I’ll admit… it doesn’t hurt.”
“And what about this one?” she asked, gently slapping the still-unconscious bald guy on his shiny head a few times. “Will he wake up in a jail?”
“Nah,” I said. “Not if he’s able and willing to give me a little information on my new brother.”
“Looking for anything in particular?” Erin asked.
I remembered something Tyler said. It had been something that didn’t settle well for me—I’ve got the money to spend, and I hate you enough to dedicate the last few weeks to making your life a living fucking hell! I’ll spend the next year doing it if I have to. Years, even! Natalie’s just the beginning.
Natalie’s just the beginning. What the fuck did that mean?
Perhaps,” I said. “Or maybe I just think it’s time to get to know a little more about the family.”
“Does that mean spending time at the family home?” Natashya asked, plopping down on the arm of the couch Baldy was sleeping on.
I sighed and looked around, catching some party-goers giving me dirty looks. “I don’t think so.”
“Wait,” Erin said. “We’re not staying the weekend?”
Gesturing around the living room at the trash all over the floor, I said, “I feel like these assholes have thrown a wet blanket on our plans.”
“Damn!” Emily huffed. “What, then? We just go home?”
I caught sight of Helen appearing from the other side of the house, minus a fiery little submissive. Her blonde hair was damp around her forehead, and she looked a little flushed. She met my eyes, and her crystal blue irises danced as she smiled at me. It was the smile of a tigress who’d just eaten. She’d been busy, and if I had to guess, Bobbi was passed out in a room somewhere after being put through her paces. That was one way to keep her from the temptation of drugs.
“No,” I said. “We’re not going home.”
I didn’t want to stay here. It was far from trashed, but it wasn’t exactly in pristine condition, either. On top of that, the whole situation with Tyler and Natalie had put a pall on the place for the moment. I wasn’t exactly itching to get back to New York either. Hiro Tanaka was in New York. As far as I knew, so was Amber Bell. Carla Tanaka was also someone I wasn’t particularly thrilled to see again, either. On top of that, a week of board meetings, business lessons, golf, and corporate coups, I needed a change of scenery.
On top of that, I had unfinished business with Roger, and word was that he was no longer in the US. I still had some questions that needed answering, and while I trusted Henry to do his job… I kind of wanted to see the defeated look in his eyes again.
“Anyone interested in Europe?”
“What?” Emily said, sounding surprised. Natashya had been staring at the bald man passed out on the couch, flicking his ear with a finger. The mention of Europe caught her interest, and she forgot about her helpless victim.
“What’s this?” Helen asked.
“I promised you guys a fun weekend. How’s Europe sound?”
“For the weekend? Emily asked.
“Maybe a few extra days. We’ll play it by ear,” I said. “I don’t want to leave Natalie here by herself, so I say we spend the night here, wake up first thing in the morning, and head back to New York. I’ll have Quinn prep the plane. The chopper can take us directly to the airport. I’ll have a car meet us there and take Natalie home.”
“You don’t think she’d want to come with us?” Natashya asked.
“Maybe eventually, but she needs some time alone first. I’m gonna have Chloe assign someone to make sure she stays safe. If she wants to join us after a few days, she’s more than welcome.”
“Where in Europe?” Erin asked.
“Dunno,” I said with a shrug. “Maybe Amsterdam. We can figure out where we want to go from there.”
“Not sure that’s how it works, but you’re the boss,” Erin said. “I go where you go.”
“Good deal,” I said, sitting in Shaggy’s chair across from the couch where the poor bald guy still managed to snooze through Natashya’s prodding. Erin settled down on the arm of the chair, and I enjoyed the feeling of her arm draping across my shoulders. “Natashya. Can you try a little harder to wake him up?”
It was scary how quickly Natashya raised her hand, balled it into a fist, and brought it down on the man’s head. The meaty part hit his crown, but that still had to rattle his brain. It definitely woke him up.
“Shit! What the fuck, man!” He cried out, covering his head as he glared in my direction.
“Hey, sunshine,” I said. “Remember me?”
“Yeah. You’re the guy,” he said again, sounding as if existing was causing him excruciating pain.
“Yeah,” I said. “I’m the guy whose house you’re in, and you’re going to answer some questions.”
He closed his eyes and then opened them a little more, understanding starting to slowly flicker to life in his eyes. I wasn’t sure what he was on, but it certainly wasn’t just cocaine. He began to struggle into a sitting position. “Oh shit… that’s right. You’re T’s brother… you’re the new Gerrard.”
I grimaced at the mention of Tyler. He was a tragic figure who literally threw away an opportunity for something great because he wasn’t willing to come to me and just ask for help. I wasn’t sure if that was something he inherited from our father or if it was something passed onto him from his upbringing, but it had cost him dearly. It’d also cost Natalie. He was a cautionary tale I didn’t want to be associated with.
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