Page 32 of The Count
We headed toward the elevator. He pointed to a jacket and baseball cap on the table. “Put those on. It’s cold.”
Thinking arguing might make things worse, I did as he bid. At the curb, we walked and I was glad for the comfy clothes. The chilly air made me happy for the jacket too, but I wasn’t going to say anything to him about that.
A brisk morning, but the sun shining down made it manageable. He kept a fast pace and I had to lengthen my stride to the max to keep up with him. We turned a corner and when I caught sight of our destination across the street I froze.
He paused at the curb. “Something wrong?” His tone laced with derision.
I calculated the odds and then stayed still. “Fine.”
He faced me. “Fine, what? Say it, and this time I won’t play any fucking games with you.”
The sweetness of the previous night felt foolish in the harsh light of his anger. “Ashley.” I whispered his name.
He stepped back toward me to lower his voice. “Last night I knew something was up. I could tell by the way you were acting. Then I read that note you left and things went sideways. But I didn’t forget. And guess who I saw in the newspaper this morning. So tell me now,” he pointed at my face,” this is your only chance to come clean about it. Test me and I will rip him apart along with his business.”
I shoved my hands in the coat pockets and met his flinty stare. “Ashley is my business partner. And the face of the legal side of my operation.”
He shook his head and threw up his hands. “How did you keep it hidden?”
“No one knows about it, or Ashley, except me. No one sees him except me, or Taylor. I keep him away from anyone and everything that might be tainted by…”
I let that lay there between us. He lowered his hands by scrubbing them over his hair and down the back of his neck. “This is my fault too. I should have known you’d be hiding something. I knew you would never surrender to me completely. Why is it so difficult to accept you’ve lost?” He said the last part quietly.
I couldn’t look at him. He’d jabbed at an old would. All the times people told me “you can’t. You can’t. You can’t,” rang in my ears. And now this fucking dick swept in and proves them all right. It didn’t matter that I’d had twenty years of doing just fine, beforehand.
Anger bubbled in my chest and I spun away to head back toward the apartment.
It wasn’t the action he expected since he scrambled behind me and then around to cut me off. “Answer me.”
“Why should I? You’ve got everything all figured out anyway. You’ve beaten me. You’ve won. What does it matter? Do you have to rub my face in it?” My voice rose, but I couldn’t stop it. “It’s not enough that you’ve ruined my life, taken me prisoner, used my body for your little…games…you have to make me debase myself too.”
I regretted the jab about the games. It wasn’t as if he didn’t ask me if I wanted it every single time he touched me. And I just kept throwing myself at him over and fucking over.
I shoved past him and kept walking. He caught up easily but kept silent until we made it back to his apartment. The entire walk I pictured Ashley in my office, terrified. I took off Will’s jacket and shoved it at his chest. “What are you going to do to him?
He tossed the neoprene to the floor. “I haven’t decided yet. Why? Any ideas on what you would most like to throw in my face tomorrow?”
Looking at him made me want to punch him. I marched to the bar and poured a finger of scotch. The good stuff just to fuck with him.
After I tossed it back, he snatched the glass and sat it by the bottle. “You made a deal with me. You always keep your work, right? What made this different?” He crowded me again, and I shoved at his chest. Immovable, so I turned and let him glower at the back of my head.
“Did you fuck him?” He asked, low and gravely. The tone perforated my anger, but I still couldn’t look at him.
“No. Ashely and I have never even so much as kissed. He’s scared of me. That’s the way I’d prefer to keep it.”
“Why?”
“Men like Ashely respond to only a couple of things: money, sex, fear, loyalty. When we met I could tell sex was out since he’d been in love with his friend for years. I could use fear, loyalty, and money. I chose all three to keep him in line. Fear turned out to work the best.”
I toyed with the bottles, turning them on the granite slab where they sat so the labels all faced outward toward me.
“And why did you keep him a secret?”
It was easier to talk to him this way. I didn’t have to see the look of disappointment stamped on his face. “Because I promised him I would. He knew what was happening. And if he got caught he faced jail time, not just a change in management. I promised I’d never…” I stopped before I said things I’d sworn to never speak aloud.
“Go on,” he prompted.
“No. That’s it. It was a promise to protect him. Keep him out of jail. He’s effective. He does his job well. If it’s about the money,” I turned to face him now. “I can just cut you in, or we can organize the back end of this thing.”
