CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Tyler
“What the fuck just happened?”
As we entered the hotel suite, Kane threw his jacket onto the ground in frustration. Both Mason and I sympathized. The car ride back to the hotel had been completely silent. Because while sex with Katie is always incredible, we were still reeling from the fact that she’d pretty much rejected us. What the hell? What woman says no to hot billionaires?
So we overwhelmed her. Surely after some mindblowing sex, the female would change her mind.
But instead, she’d broken down in tears after the session. With our semen still dribbling from her sweet spots, the female had broken down into tears and ordered us out. Not exactly what any guy wants to see.
“Fuck!” Kane raged again, stomping over the mini-bar. The alpha poured himself a generous dose and downed the fiery liquid in one gulp.
“Easy cowboy,” I grunted, sitting on the divan. “Self-medicating is good, but too much of that shit is dangerous.”
Kane nodded stiffly, eyes looking off into the distance. The three of us just sat in silence again, brooding, unsure what to do.
Because no woman has ever told us that she needs to “think about it.” What does that mean, even? What is there to think about? Any female of ours will have plenty, her closets overflowing, a fancy car to drive, whatever makes her happy.
But Katie was showing us exactly how different she is. Full of sass and fire, as well as genuine emotion, this girl was something special. Because usually, we make people wait for our decisions, and not the other way around. But Katie had us flummoxed, completely at a loss. Shit, this woman was squeezing our balls and wasn’t afraid to make it painful.
I scrubbed a hand over my face in exasperation.
“What now?” came my growl. Was I addressing Kane and Mason or simply venting frustration to the universe? Because what could we do? My brain was fried, fizzling with a flat zero. We went over there to win Katie over with a heartfelt apology and it didn’t work. Fuck me.
Mason slumped in a chair.
“I have no idea, bro,” he rasped, looking hopeless, suit rumpled. “No idea.”
We sat around the living room dejected. Surely, Katie realized how great things could be with the three of us. She’d seen that anything was possible with us on her side: a non-profit to run. Three men to make her shiver at night. Billionaires on call to do her bidding.
So what the fuck was missing?
What did she want?
Our souls?
Our hearts?
Our everything?
Fuck me.
Suddenly, clarity struck my brain like an electrical bolt. Resting my head against the back of the sofa, I began to laugh. Mason and Kane stared my way as if I’d lost my mind.
“We’re assholes,” I managed, still sputtering with laughter.
“What the fuck is wrong with you bro?” Mason growled, glaring.
“Spit it out,” Kane rumbled, looking like he wanted to punch me in the face.
Sitting forward and resting my elbows on my knees, I snorted once more.
“We’re still treating Katie like other woman we’ve fucked and tossed away.” I shook my head. “So what we promised her the non-profit? It’s just money. We did nothing special but offer her money and the services of our underlings, the bankers, the lawyers, the accountants. We haven’t offered her anything of ourselves.”
My bros were stupefied.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” grunted Mason. “The non-profit’s what she wanted.”
“Sure,” I said. “But don’t you see? Katie’s looking for something real. She wants more than just a flash in the pan. She wants more than just a visit here and there, us flying in to fuck her silly. She wants us. Three men committed to a relationship, giving her our souls.”
That was a wild one.
“What the fuck are you talking about, our souls?” asked Kane, a confused look in his eyes. “Have you been reading romance novels or something? That Fabio shit get to you?”
I laughed again. Shit, we were so behind. Our lifestyles had been depraved and brazen for so long that we’d lost touch with what it was like to truly love. What it was like to truly cherish a woman and make her happy, to place her interests before all else. Instead, we’d done what we always do. We’d swept in, fucked a female good, and then expected to buy our way out. Of course, it was dressed up this time with the feel-good vibes of the non-profit, but was it any different? Probably not.
“Listen,” I said urgently. “We made no promises. We’re giving nothing of ourselves. It’s just money again, it’s all about the cash.”
But my bros can be knuckleheads.
“What the hell, it’s all about the cash? It’s all about the kids, dude, we’re helping her do stuff for low-income kids,” reminded Kane.
I shook my head again, exasperated.
“For her, it’s about the kids. For us? Please, get real. We haven’t spent two seconds thinking about kids. You know that. I know that. She knows that. It’s all window dressing because we’re doing the same thing we’ve always done. Buying women off.”
And finally, it made some sense.
“Yeah, I guess,” acknowledged Mason. “That’s true, I wasn’t about to volunteer at the Ronald McDonald House or something.”
“So what?” asked Kane. “We do what we can. Some people give time, some people give money. I’m in the money group.”
I was ready to pummel these dudes then, really deliver a death blow. Because what the hell was wrong with them? They were so clueless it was fucking embarrassing. No wonder Katie wanted space, saying she had to think about things.
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “We can’t treat her like we treat everyone else. She’s too good for that. And the girl knows it, which is why she’s giving us the runaround. We have to make a real commitment. We have to go balls to the wall, show her that she’s something special, that we’re willing to pull out all the stops.”
There was a loaded silence because we’ve been in this lifestyle for a long time. Really cherishing a woman was new, like staring into the black vortex of the unknown.
“So what next?” asked Mason slowly. “You’re the big genius, what’s next in this crazy idea?”
I lunged from the couch then, fists raised, but Kane held me back.
“Cool it, cool it,” he grunted, pinning my arms. “Mason’s a dickhead, no disrespect.”
I sat down then, still fuming and glaring.
“Get real,” I spat at the man. “You’re such a fucking prick, you think you know what’s going on? Spill it then. Let’s hear your great idea.”
But Mason held up his hands then.
“Naw, like Kane said, no disrespect man. Just sayin’.”
I seethed, sinking back in the couch. But there was no sense in fighting because shit, Katie was waiting and time was running out. The longer this went on, the less likely she’d take us back. If she would take us back at all, period. So straightening my suit, I glared at Mason once more before speaking.
“We gotta move down here,” I said flatly. “That’s the only way to prove our commitment, to show that we’re serious about giving a piece of ourselves. We’ve gotta move to Knox.”
Snorts filled the air.
“You’re shitting me,” growled Kane. “I got a chain of restaurants up in NYC. My managers, my chefs, my serving staff, hell, even my accountant is up there. You think I can move an entire restaurant group down here? No can do buddy.”
Mason was the same.
“Bro, I’m working on seven new developments in the Tri-State area right now. The foundation’s been dug, the contracts signed. I can’t just jet and say, see ya, figure it out yourselves. I mean shit, you gotta walk those sites every day to make sure that the contractor isn’t screwing up. How am I gonna do it from down here?”
I shrugged.
“That’s the rub, exactly. It’s a huge pain in the ass, maybe next to impossible. But it’s the only way to give something that’s truly us. Sure, we could make trips down here once a month, but Katie doesn’t want that. It’s still a fly by night op, fucking her senseless and then jetting off. We could send her gifts from NYC, but you know this girl, she’ll just send them back. So it’s on us, bros. We gotta figure out how to move our lives down here.”
The three of us sat in stumped silence again.
“I don’t think it’s gonna happen,” said Mason slowly, shaking his head. “Like I said, I’m in the middle of construction. I can’t pick up a piece of land and fly it down on a magic carpet.”
Kane shook his head regretfully as well.
“Restaurants are the same, yo,” he rumbled. “We’ve got established locations, and I’ve gotta be there myself to make sure that shit is solid. There’s a lot of graft, the boss needs to be around to keep an eye on things. So what do we do?”
But there are always hard choices in life, and the fact we were even discussing this demonstrated the depths of our feelings for Katie.
“So what you’re saying is that it’s a no can do, right?” I asked. “I mean, we leave and it’s over bros. This dream is over, she’ll never let us back into her heart.”
The statement was mushy, it was emotional, but it was also true. If we treated this girl like one more skeezy whore, there was no going back. We could beg on our knees, but Katie’s heart would be lost to us, probably forever.
So the silence in the suite was ominous. Here we were, three billionaires with limitless resources, and yet, clearly there were limits to our lives. How the hell had one sweet girl turned everything on its head? How in the world were we left so powerless, with few options?
And unfortunately, there was no clear path forwards. At least none that I could see. None that my buddies could see either. We were at an impasse, and on the one side there was the woman of our dreams, curvy and full, filled with light, love and laughter.
On the other side stood our careers, powerful empires built on the backs of thousands of men. Were we gonna let all that go? Did we have to choose? When did life get so damn complicated?
But I guess that’s what love is about. Because when love shows itself, everything gets mixed up. There are no rights or wrongs, there’s only compromise and muddling your way through. So how were we going to figure this out? I only hoped there was a way to resolve things … with the sweet girl in our arms.