22
TYLER
MY PHONE CHIMED WITH A notification.
“Just tell me who it is, and I’ll stop bugging you,” Josh said from beside me on the couch. It was a Sunday, and he’d guilted me into coming over to his place to play video games because he “never saw me” now that we didn’t live together anymore. Which I’d pointed out was his fault, since he was the one who’d gone and gotten engaged.
To Aly. A woman I used to fuck.
Not awkward at all.
I glanced sideways to see him looking at my phone instead of the TV.
His skin was tanned to a deep olive from the summer sun, and he’d grown his dark hair out just enough that you could see the slight curl in it. It was warm today, and he was wearing a pair of loose shorts and a muscle tank that left his tattoos on display. Unlike Stella’s random assortment, his blended seamlessly together, Gothic monstrosities crawling up his arms like demons escaping hell. As much as his personality skewed toward goofball, he could really be a morose motherfucker when he put his mind to it.
“Behind you,” I warned.
Too late. Blood splatters filled his side of the split screen as an enemy soldier lit him up. He yelled and ducked sideways, both onscreen and beside me, bumping his shoulder into mine and almost knocking the controller out of my hands.
Maud, their kitten, who’d been asleep on the back of the couch, leapt up and raced toward a nearby cat tree for safety, where her older, grouchier brother, Fred, sat watching me with half-slitted eyes. That little asshole and I had never gotten along.
Josh threw his controller onto the coffee table. “Welp. I’m dead.”
He glanced toward my phone again.
Then lunged.
I shot forward to intercept him, but he swiped it off the table and ran away like the goddamn man-child he was.
I raced after him because I’d done too much fucking work covering my tracks for him to find out that I’d essentially been lying to him for two years. If he saw some shady message on my phone, he would never let it go, and since he was a world-class hacker, there would be no way to stop him once he started digging. I knew how obsessive he could be; it would only take a day or two for him to uncover my entire illegal operation, and then our friendship would really be on the line.
“Give it back!” I yelled.
Josh skirted an armchair and raced toward the rear of the house, and fuck, he was fast. Had he been doing more cardio lately?
I ran after him, onto their screened-in catio. He vaulted over Aly, who’d been sprawled on a lounge chair, reading. She was nearly as tall as Stella, but muscular, with pale olive skin, long brown hair, and an Italian nose.
“Defend my honor!” Josh said, hiding behind her.
“He stole my phone,” I explained when she shot me a confused look.
She swiveled to Josh, who was doing nothing to hide the fact that he was trying to break into the device. “Babe. Boundaries.” She snatched it out of his hand and tossed it back to me, and my shoulders slumped in relief. Jesus Christ, that was close.
“Who’s Stella?” Josh asked in a singsong tone.
Shit.
Aly’s head turned my way, eyes wide, as nosy as her fiancé.
“No one,” I bit out.
“Ooh,” they chorused in the same obnoxious tone.
I glanced down to see that Stella had texted, telling me what time to pick her up for tonight’s party. Two weeks had passed since our night with AJ.
We’d gone to four more events since, our war of words escalating, our flirtations gaining a dangerous edge, the tension building to a breaking point because the knowledge, the memories of what we’d done were driving us both crazy.
I knew I wasn’t the only one who felt it. I saw the way she stared at me when she thought I wasn’t looking, felt the way she trembled whenever one
of us backed each other against a wall—something that happened with increasing frequency.
Part of the problem was that we hadn’t spoken about that night, hadn’t even acknowledged it. I’d tried to bring it up once (in a shitty way, if I was being honest with myself) and Stella had said Don’t with so much rancor that for once, I’d backed down.
What a mistake that threesome had been, not just because it had made things even more awkward and tense, but because every time I closed my goddamn eyes, I saw AJ pounding into Stella from behind, his hands on her hips, his focus fixed on where I fucked into her pretty little mouth.
That night had altered my brain chemistry, imprinted upon my skin like an invisible tattoo. How the hell did you come back from that? How could you act normal around someone after having the most incredible sex of
your life with them?
“Tyler’s got a girlfriend,” Josh sang.
“She is not my girlfriend,” I said, striding into the house.
I went straight to the fridge, pulling it open to look for a beer. Cold air rushed over me, and I closed my eyes and begged my dick to behave. It was hard again, had been practically nonstop since the night of the threesome, and jerking off only provided temporary relief. I needed something more to slake this thirst. Stella, bent over a bed as I fucked into her, AJ watching us from a nearby chair. Or better yet, my face shoved between her thighs while my tongue worked her cunt and my fingers plied those pretty little nipples.
Stop, I begged myself, resting my head against the closed freezer.
Thoughts like that weren’t helping me right now.
You hate her, I told myself, but the words felt hollow. What reason did I have left to hate her? She was draining her inheritance to pay for a crime she didn’t even commit. She was actively helping me hunt down people who deserved to be punished. And it wasn’t like I could claim she was some elitist snob. Reserved, standoffish, downright rude at times? Sure, but then I’d probably earned that type of treatment.
So what did that leave? Me hating her just for the circumstances of her birth? Because she’d grown up with everything while I had nothing? That didn’t feel right. Not anymore.
“Fine. She hates you,” I said, because that much was still certain.
Ongoing blackmail was pretty hard to forgive, and it wasn’t like I’d done
myself any favors with my “winning” personality. Fuck, most of the time I was around Stella, I turned into the worst version of myself, punishing her for my father’s sins because I couldn’t take it out on him.
Yet.
Well, that would all change tomorrow night. If everything went to plan, it was the last party we would ever have to attend together.
“Hey,” Josh said from behind me.
I glanced over my shoulder to see him leaning against the doorjamb,
looking contrite.
“Sorry for taking your phone.”
“And what else?” Aly called from the catio.
Josh winced. “And for trying to hack into it.” He snuck a look behind him and then hurried forward, dropping his voice like he didn’t want his fiancée to overhear what he was about to say next. “I just worry about you.
I feel like as soon as I moved out, you got distant. Are you sure you’re really okay with me and Aly?”
I sighed. “Dude. Aly and I were never serious. Don’t worry; I’m not holding some torch for her.”
He eyed me like he wasn’t quite convinced.
“You really think I didn’t recognize your tattoos?” I asked.
Josh stiffened, knowing exactly what I was talking about without me needing to say more. Seven months ago, Aly had sent me a screenshot of a thirst trap, the man shirtless, covered in fake blood and wearing a mask, and asked me if I’d consider wearing one for her the next time we hooked up.
Which was wild since she’d been ghosting me for two months (I only later found out that she hadn’t meant to, just that her job as an ER nurse had consumed her life).
That screenshot was from Josh’s “super-secret” MaskTok account that he didn’t think I knew about. Since the two of them reminded me of each other —both chronically online, unserious, a little antisocial and fucking morbid —I’d decided to show Josh the text, hoping he’d reach out to her. Instead, he’d stalked her, because he couldn’t help himself, but it turned out she was into it, and now they were insufferably in love.
I patted Josh’s shoulder. “Bro, I set you two up.”
“I knew it!” Aly said, popping her head around the doorjamb from where she’d clearly been eavesdropping. “That night in your apartment when you
thanked me for taking him off your hands. You looked so goddamn smug
—”
“That’s just his face,” Josh said.
I punched his shoulder.
Aly joined us in the kitchen. “And I knew you must have recognized his tattoos.” She wheeled on Josh. “I told you.”
He grinned, looking sheepish. “Can you blame me for hoping he hadn’t?
The optics of my account aren’t great.”
“What do you mean?” I said. “The son of a notorious serial killer dresses up like something out of a slasher movie and dry-humps the air to the dulcet tones of Sleep Token? I don’t see anything troubling about that at all.” My
tone was bone-dry.
Josh opened his mouth.
Aly got there first. “He’s trying to distract you away from Stella.”
Goddamn it.
“Seriously, dude,” Josh said. “Who is she?”
“No one.”
“She’s got to be someone for you to be deflecting this hard.”
I shrugged. “Fine. She’s someone.”
“Do you … like her, like her?” he pressed.
I grimaced. “What are you, in middle school?”
“Well, excuse me,” Josh said. “You just seem awfully touchy about her, and I’m trying to be respectful of your delicate sensibilities.”
“You are the most annoying person I know. Why are we even friends?”
He tried to put me in a headlock. I sidestepped him. He attempted to grab me, but I blocked him, and now it was my turn to go racing through the house, leaping over Fred when he jumped out from behind the couch, all four paws extended, a murderous gleam in his beady little eyes—proof that he was as psychotic as his parents.
I snagged my keys off the coffee table as I passed. “Thanks for lunch!”
“Get back here, you coward!” Josh roared.
I ran out the front door toward my car, laughing when I got in, feeling lighter than I had in weeks. Shit, I really should start hanging out with him more. Even if his cat was trying to kill me.
Every summer, Stella’s parents and Richard threw an annual soiree for their employees. This year it was being held in a museum downtown. They’d rented the whole place out for the night and paid some of the docents to work overtime, providing tours for the company’s employees.
I was running behind schedule thanks to a shit show of a day, and had asked Stella to meet me there. Everything always went wrong in the week leading up to game night, which was part of why I never sent out invites until an hour before showtime.
I’d spent most of this morning trying to problem-solve with my electrician, who was worried about how much power we planned to pull, and then the afternoon dealing with the plumber, who was having a hard time rerouting a water pipe. On top of that, my usual security team wasn’t available, so I’d had to call Junior and ask who he recommended. He gave me the name of a merc unit, and told me to tell them he’d sent me.
All this made me later than I’d planned, and by the time I arrived at the museum, the party was in full swing.
Here, I texted Stella as I climbed out of my car.
I’m waiting by the entrance, she texted back.
I figured she meant just inside it, but I found her pacing outside instead.
She looked incredible. Tonight was more formal than all the other events we’d attended, the dress code calling for ball gowns and tuxedos. Her back was to me as she walked, bare like the night we’d— Don’t think about it or you’ll end up greeting her dick-first, I warned myself.
The skirt of the gown flowed out behind her, layers of black chiffon overlaying a lighter gray beneath, almost like she was a ghost emerging from fog, which sounded like it should be more spooky than hot, but Stella managed to pull it off.
She turned and paced in the other direction, and I drank in the sight of her. The front of the dress rose right to her neck, the chiffon so thin that it looked transparent, but since I couldn’t see her nipples (sadly), I assumed it was some sort of optical illusion—backed by fabric the color of her skin or something.
When I got closer, I noticed she’d switched out her usual silver piercings for matte black hardware to match the dress. Her makeup was more subtle tonight than usual, foundation thin enough that I glimpsed a smattering of freckles over her nose, lips coated in a simple gloss that made them look wet and ready.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, because it was clear from the look on her face and the way she clutched her stomach that something was off.
Her head snapped up, like she’d been so lost in her own little world that she hadn’t noticed me until I was standing right in front of her. “Maddie’s
here.”
“What?” I bit out.
A look of betrayal swept over her face. “You told me I wouldn’t have to see her again.”
“And I meant it.” I turned and strode toward the door, furious. That stupid little bitch.
Stella grabbed my arm and tried to tug me away. “Theo, come on. I want to leave.”
I dragged her forward a few feet. “No. I warned her what would happen if she showed up at another event.”
Stella tugged harder. “Calm down. You’re starting to freak me out.”
“I am calm.”
“No, you’re the one with shark eyes now,” she said. “And you wearing your I’m-about-to-to-ruin-someone’s-life smile.”
I stopped and spun toward her, my voice cajoling as I cupped my hands around her face. “Come on, let me ruin her for you.”
Her eyes dropped to my lips and stayed there for a moment while she considered it.
“Say yes, Stella,” I crooned, stepping into her, tilting her face toward mine. “You know you want it.”
Was I even talking about Maddie anymore? Or was I was talking about the unfinished business between us, willing Stella to finally make up her mind about whether or not she was going to let me fuck her?
Her eyelids fluttered, lips parted, and she swayed toward me the slightest
bit.
A horn blared from the street.
Stella pulled out of my grip, the lust clearing from her eyes. “We should go. Not just because of Maddie, but because there aren’t many people inside who you’d consider high rollers. Most are just regular folks. Accountants, marketing analysts, Realtors.”
Shit, this wasn’t good. I had to be in there, because some of those regular folks were on my guest list and just didn’t know it yet. Linda from HR. Joe from Finance. Phil’s executive assistant, Jessica. Which meant I needed to convince Stella to stay.
“Don’t try to make this about me,” I said. “We both know it’s about you letting Maddie run you out of here.”
Stella shook her head. “I can’t see her again. I don’t trust myself around her.”
“Then trust me. You won’t have to say a thing. Just give me a few minutes to get her out of here. That’s all it will take.” I bent down to look directly into her eyes. “And then in a few days, she’ll get an invitation she can’t refuse.”
“The next game night is that soon?” Stella said.
I nodded. “Just think, if it goes well, you might never have to see me again.”
Her brows pinched the slightest bit, enough to tell me she didn’t know how to feel about that. Which shouldn’t have made a swell of hope rise inside me. After I executed my plans, Stella wouldn’t be torn; she’d go back to wanting to kill me.
I bumped my forehead against hers. “No one deserves me as their own personal demon more than Maddie does. I’m even willing to split her debt with you so you can recoup some of the money you’ve spent helping Runa.”
“What do you mean? Shouldn’t it all go toward my debt?”
I shook my head. “No. I’m sure it’ll only take one party to clear it, which means I can be generous with whatever Maddie racks up.”
Stella pulled back, her eyes searching mine. “Why would you do that?”
“Because it wasn’t your responsibility to pay. It was hers,” I snarled.
Her eyes widened, and I straightened to my full height and wiped a hand over my face, trying to fight back my fury. I had to get in there, and Stella needed to be at my side, because what reason did I have to be here without her?
“As much as I’d love to unleash you upon Maddie, it’s a bad idea,”
Stella said. “If she landed in debt, she might run straight to her parents to make it go away, just like she did after the accident. And they’re even worse than she is. They didn’t just pay their lawyers to defend her, they paid them to destroy me. They’re the type of people who would burn the entire city down to find you, and they’d make sure everyone who ever worked with you, ever even met you, would suffer, too.”
I clenched my jaw so hard it hurt, antagonism and stubbornness vying for dominance inside me. Nothing Stella said made me any less determined to go after Maddie; if anything, it only raised the stakes. Because Maddie was who I thought Stella was. Maddie was everything that was wrong with the wealthy, and it was time she finally paid for her crimes. It was time they all did.
“Her parents won’t come after me,” I said.
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because Runa isn’t Maddie’s only victim, and if they fight me, I’ll threaten to leak what I know. So, yes, they will pay me. And then I’ll leak it anyway, because fuck them.”
Stella’s teeth clicked shut, and I knew I had her.
“What’s Maddie wearing tonight?” I asked, taking a backward step
toward the doors.
“Wait, we should talk about this more.”
I pivoted on a heel and strode inside. As far as I was concerned, there was nothing left to talk about.
Stella hurried to catch up with me. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m sure I’ll think of something,” I said. “But if you could put together a list of her greatest fears, that’d be helpful. I’m not above filling her purse with spiders.”
“That’s horrifying.” A pause. “Make it bees. She’s allergic to them.”
I chuckled and wrapped my arm around Stella’s waist. Goddamn it, she really did use humor as a crutch. At first, it annoyed me, but now I feared I might miss it when this was all over.
“Take a right,” she said. “I saw her heading into the Jurassic period.”
I snagged two glasses of champagne from a passing server, handing one to Stella because she liked having something to do with her hands at these
events. It cut down on her urge to flip people off. “Why was she even invited?”
“She wasn’t,” Stella said. “She came as someone else’s guest.”
“It’s another setup.”
“Absolutely.”
“Who’s her date, some smarmy heir?”
“No, actually. He’s the CFO of the company. I think he’s the first person from his family to graduate college. And I’ve only met him twice, but he seemed like a decent person.”
“He must have a hidden Mr. Hyde side if he’s dating her.”
“Probably chews really loud,” Stella said.
“Wears moisturizing gloves to bed.”
“Collects antique dolls.”
“Is secretly a pearvert.”
Stella laughed, a bright, infectious sound I hadn’t heard before that had me turning my head. She noticed my regard and lifted her eyes, and we slowed to a stop right there in the middle of the crowd.
Shit. I didn’t hate her at all. But I also wasn’t ready to examine how I actually felt, so instead, I nodded behind her. “Hey, look. You match.”
She glanced over her shoulder at the nearest dinosaur. It was about six feet tall, with mottled gray-black skin and raised, bony bumps along its forehead and nose in almost the exact same places as her piercings.
Her eyes narrowed to slits as she swiveled back to me. “You’re such a dick.”
“Wait, I want to take a picture.” I pulled out my phone. “Say, ‘Twinning!’”
“I hate you,” she said, striding away, and even though the comment was flippant, the words stung.
I rushed to catch up with her, sliding an arm around her waist because I couldn’t help myself, and because it might be one of my last chances. “You know what they say about love and hate being two sides of the same coin.”
“I know whoever actually believes that is an idiot.”
I dropped my voice. “Big words from the woman who screamed my
name when she came.”
She made a horrified sound.
My grin felt maniacal. “Didn’t realize you’d done that, did you?”
“Because I didn’t,” she insisted. “I said, ‘Oh, god.’”
“I thought God was the nickname you picked for me.”
“You are so conceited.”
“Am I?” I sent her a knowing look. “Or is it time you finally admit my self-confidence is warranted?”
She broke eye contact, her gaze sweeping the room like she was searching for a lifeline. “Oh, look! My parents. And Richard is with them.”
It felt like she’d dumped a bucket of ice water over my head. Fuck, I didn’t want to see that asshole yet.
She tugged my arm, practically dragging me across the room. We rounded a small group chatting near a stegosaurus, and there he was, standing right between Georgie and Phil, a drink in his hand and a wide smile on his face, like he didn’t have a care in the world. The sight made me want to roar like one of these fucking dinosaurs, made me want to grab the glass out of his hand and smash it over his head.
I thought it’d get easier, seeing him, but it had only gotten harder to hide my hatred.
Phil caught sight of us. “Theo,” he said, his smile warm and welcoming.
“So glad you were able to make it.”
I greeted the trio, Richard stepping forward last, his hand extended.
“Nice to see you again, Theo,” he said, grinning like he meant it.
I forced myself to smile back, to slide my hand into his and not succumb to the urge to break all his fucking fingers.
Nice to see you, too, Dad. You won’t be smiling for much longer.
