Might as well get this over with. I send out a quick text to Atticus to have him meet me at Hedonistic Lair in thirty minutes, instructing him to bring Brennan with him. I send the same message to Tory, but her request is to meet me in fifteen. I know the last time she came to my room, I told her it was over. Foolishly, I never asked for her key card to my suite back. That may have left things in a contradictory state, so I need to make a clean break, and more importantly, I need be more transparent with her about my growing feelings for Brennan. Although we were never more than fuck buddies, I owe her that much. Our time meant something, just not what she wanted it to. She will have to come to terms with our strictly professional relationship and accept Brennan’s place in my life. If not, I will have no choice but to have her part ways with The Playboy’s Lair or any of my other entities.
I dress in jeans and a black t-shirt. Something ominous lingers within me, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. It’s just a vibe I’m getting. I don’t question my decision concerning Tory, but am I moving too fast with Brennan? I shake it off and head to the club. When I arrive, Tory is already waiting.
Eager.
Hopeful.
Shit.
Excitement to see me dances in her eyes as she gives me the widest smile. She tosses her hair over the shoulder of her black spandex dress. Her Louboutin heels clack against the marble floor, drawing my focus to her long legs. She is pulling out all the stops. I bought those heels for her a while back because I wanted those red bottoms wrapped around my neck while I fucked her. I wanted her ass to match that shade of red. She indulged in both stingy and thuddy play with me that night. She wants to mentally take me back to that time without saying a word. Well played, Tory. Well played. Too bad my mind is not that weak. It’ll take more than a little trip down memory lane to derail this talk.
“Tory, I need my room key card back,” I say before she can get any closer. I watch as the color drains from her face.
“So you’re really doing this, huh? Is it her?” Her voice is deceivably calm. That’s always her first question—Is it her? Today I will finally lay that accusation to rest.
“I won’t bullshit you, Tory. I said we needed to end things before, but yes, I have growing feelings for Brennan.”
“Feelings as in relationship feelings? The kind that you insisted weren’t part of the deal with us—the kind you said you weren’t capable of?” Her poker face is beginning to crack.
“Don’t make this more difficult than it has to be,” I warn. “Like I said before, we’ve had some incredible times together, but now we have to be over. Respect that and move on.”
“So I was never good enough? These designer clothes you kept me in, the sadistic shit I encouraged, none of it was enough? I would have done anything for you … for a chance to have what you’re giving her after only knowing her just two weeks.”
Tears run down her face, and for once, the always-put-together Tory doesn’t try to stop them. Black mascara stains her cheeks. I’m not a fan of hurting women, so the guilt gnaws at me. What could I have done differently? I was always honest with her.
“Tell me this, Silas,” she continues. “If she is the type of woman you’re into, homely looking, then why bother making me over to this?” She points at herself. “I was already her. I was the plain Jane maid. You made me into who I thought you desired, and now you’re throwing me away for the same thing you created me from.”
“Tory, I …”
The clacking of more heels and clapping interrupts my frustrated response. It takes a minute for my eyes to adjust. I do a double take because surely my eyes are fucking with me right now. Holy fucking hell! Even with bleach blond hair to mask her natural red, I’d know those green eyes and body anywhere. It’s fucking Jasper. As she twists her ass in my direction in Louboutin stilettos similar to Tory’s, my mouth goes dry. Crazy how I’ve never realized just how much her figure resembles Brennan’s, only she has a little less ass. She is a damn bombshell, and the only woman to ever break me. How in the fuck did she get on my yacht?
“No hello for me, Silas?” She just turned my world upside down with her unexplained appearance, and she wants to coyly ask me about a hello?
I pull out my phone to get security just as Kassius comes running through the door. “Jasper is …” The words die on his lips when he sees her. “Here,” he finishes.
“I can see that. The question I want answered is how the fuck is this possible,” I yell. I run my hands through my hair. My jaw clenches, my control hanging on by a thread.
“I’m right here, Silas,” Jasper points out. “Why not just ask me how I managed to get onto your secret ship without you knowing?”
Tory looks on in confusion. I never told her about Jasper. She was part of my past before I built this business. I don’t entertain her sarcasm. I’m on the phone trying to piece together how in the hell this happened.
“Who are you?” Tory finally asks, sensing the shitstorm that has just erupted.
Before she can answer, Atticus enters, and fuck my life, he’s brought Brennan with him like I asked. She looks around the room, unsure of what she just walked into. Fucking hell, I forgot to cancel him bringing her. Jasper continues, ensuring my demise with Brennan before we even begin.
“I’m Jasper, Silas’s first love; well, according to him,” she announces. “And from the conversation I walked in on, I’m guessing you were supposed to be some sort of substitution for me. You see, I was the help. Still am, actually, and partly how I got the invite on this cruise. Look at me.”
She spins in a circle. The fitted spaghetti strap dress shows off all curves. And oh, are they plentiful, more so than I remember. “I’m a maid for a very rich woman. Imagine my luck when said woman could not accept her invite because she just got engaged. She couldn’t possibly let the new fiancé learn about the kink she was into, so she agreed to let me take her place.”
“I’m nobody’s substitution,” Tory huffs.
“Afraid so, sweetheart,” she challenges. “I overheard you say he had taken up with another maid—a plain Jane, I think you called her.”
“Housekeeper,” Tory corrects. No snappy comebacks. She wipes the tears from her mascara-stained face.
“Tomayto, tomahto, dear. My point is, Silas loves a good rags-to-riches story where he gets to play the spoiler. He acts as if money isn’t important, yet he splurges to impress you—to get you to succumb to him. He recruits you to be his makeover project without you knowing. He plays with you until he’s bored or the next project catches his eye. What’s her name? Brennan?”
“Enough,” I boom.
This hypocrisy has gone on long enough. I let her talk while I investigate who dropped the ball, but she has crossed the line. None of what the fuck she’s saying is true. Is that what she actually thinks?
“Everyone get the fuck out except Jasper and Atticus.”
I need to get her off this yacht. We’re almost two hours from our last port. We can’t turn around, and we prefer to have my helicopter land when we’re stationary.
“Fuck you, Silas,” Tory yells with renewed tears. “Hope your game with me was all you wanted it to be.”
“I want off this stupid fucking boat.” I hear Brennan’s sobs across the room. “Let me go, Seth. I mean it,” she cries as she tries to tear herself away from his grip.
“Who in the hell is Seth?” Tory and Jasper ask in unison. That gets Brennan’s attention. She stops struggling against him, and her eyes crinkle in confusion.
“That’s Silas’s cousin Kassius,” Jasper informs, amused as to the reason for the misidentification.
This shitstorm just got exponentially worst. I initially asked him to help keep an eye on Brennan because she was the only new person. I needed to be sure she wasn’t sent to infiltrate my lair to gain intel. I trust Atticus, but I don’t know his friend who asked that she suddenly be transferred with little notice. I knew once I actually spent time with her I had nothing to be suspicious of. Only I never expected Kassius to befriend her. I would have confessed the truth before asking her to be with me, and now, I’m sure that will never happen. Tears of devastation roll down her flushed cheeks. I’ve caused enough tears today, and it fucking guts me.
“So your real name is Kassius?” Brennan’s voice trembles. He nods in the affirmative. “Are you even gay?”
“No,” Kassius confesses. “But our friendship was real. Everything—”
“How could you even say that?” She cuts him off. “Everything you told me about your background was a lie. I let my guard down and told you things when you fed me lies in return. What was the point? I asked Silas if you were one of his paid eyes. I guess since he wasn’t paying you, it was okay to omit the truth. I believe this Jasper woman when she says I was another one of your projects—a game!”
She sniffles and begins to unbutton her collared work shirt. What the actual fuck? Atticus tries to stop her, but she pushes his hands away. The room looks on, stunned silent. She doesn’t stop until she has the shirt off—wearing only her bra and pants.
“I quit. At the next port, I want off this fucking ship. Game over.”
She storms off, and I know better than to chase her right now. Kassius and I both betrayed her, and I have to make this right, but first, I have to get this situation under control.
“Karma is a wicked bitch,” Tory says as she storms out.
Jasper just claps again, obviously proud of the havoc she’s caused.
“Why are you here? I’ll give you two seconds to explain yourself before I kick your conniving ass off my yacht!” I see red and not the kind I get off on. Livid is child’s play at this moment.
I see Atticus and Kassius backing away to give us privacy. “Get to the bottom of this now!” I growl. “Somebody will be losing their job over this. I want answers by the time I finish here.”
The two men nod, but they don’t dally. My rage can barely be contained right now. I turn my sights back on Jasper.
“Answer my goddamn question,” I fume. I’m on her within seconds.
“Fuck you and your macho bullshit dominance,” she challenges. “I snuck onto this stupid kink ship because I’m still in love with you. I’ve tried to move on, but you’re in every man I see. Even though you played me like you did with those other two women, I foolishly can’t let go.”
“Are you mad? Or just plain delusional? You fucked us up. I was ready to give my inheritance up for you—all because you thought money defined me. I was willing to give it all up to prove I just wanted you,” I huff. “You told everyone on my campus that day that you just wanted to fuck a college guy because high school guys were lame. You told me I was a pretentious prick and that you were bored with me. I tried for months to get you back—trying to prove how little money mattered. You fucking broke me.”
She was eighteen and in high school, and I was a twenty-one-year-old junior in college. People thought I was a damn pedophile even though she was of legal age.
“Are you really going to play the victim here? I know the truth, Silas. Thanks to your stepsister back then.”
“What are fucking talking about? What truth? Enlighten me please,” I bite out.
For the first time since this whole debacle, her bitchiness fades. Her shoulder drop in defeat, and her eyes grow weary. She turns away from me, but I can hear the sobbing through her words, the wrack of her chest as they rip through her. Fuck. I can’t deal with all this fucking crying.
“My mother taught at the private school, yet we didn’t have the money you rich kids had. We barely made ends meet. When your stepsister, Jessica, became my friend, I was suddenly the cool kid. I was in with the popular crowd. Only the joke was on me,” she weeps. “She thought my mother would give her good grades if we were best friends. When that didn’t happen, she enjoyed telling everyone that she got her college brother to pretend to like me to sweeten the deal—that you actually had a girlfriend, and I was your high school pity fuck. I was the butt of everyone’s joke. I dropped out of school, Silas. That scene on your campus was my last-ditch effort at revenge.”
I’m shocked speechless. Flabbergasted. All this time, we’ve been apart due to a fucking misunderstanding. Jessica was a demonic bitch just like her mother. My father divorced her mother shortly after all that, so I never heard about this until now. Jasper’s sobs are uncontrollably loud now. I want to hold on to the anger that I’m feeling. I want to hate her for setting all this in motion, but this is all starting to make sense. My stepsister’s evil scheme not only derailed someone’s life, but it also ruined what could have possible been for Jasper and me. I can’t ignore what she must have gone through, especially after dropping out of school.
Reluctantly, but knowing it’s necessary, I go to her and wrap my arms around her from behind. This is all so fucking unfortunate.
“None of that was true, Jasper. I was madly in love with you. I haven’t been able to have a real relationship since. I tried three years ago, but I doubted her at every turn. I questioned her interest in my money until she finally had enough. This fucking key around my neck that I wear is because of you.”
I spin her around so she can see the word love written on the key. “It’s a daily reminder to myself to never give anyone my heart again because then I give them the power to break me. You did that to me. You broke my ability to love freely.”
I leave out the part that I was entertaining removing the key for Brennan. Not because I’m in love with her, but because I wanted a real chance to discover that possibility. I don’t like how Jasper infiltrated my space, but I get why. We’ve both been living with hurt and lies that have kept us from moving on with other people. That ominous feeling that I got before meeting with Tory has come to light. Now I’m unsure again. Jasper’s presence makes me question everything. I have to be sure. I don’t know what I feel right now, and that’s not fair to Brennan. The only thing I am sure of is that I can’t leave things the way they are. She gave me the most beautiful gift, and in turn, I betrayed her with my omissions.
“I’m sorry, Silas. I should have just talked it out with you. It could have saved us both years of heartache. It’s just, at the time, I was too broken. I still am. It was so believable because why would a rich, gorgeous college guy have any interest in a poor average high school girl unless it was a game like Jessica said. When you bought me things to wear, I thought it was so you wouldn’t be embarrassed by me. I had been spiraling ever since. I work for a good woman now, close to my age, in fact, but I knew I had to find a way to see you again. Even before I knew the truth, I just couldn’t go another day without trying.”
“You were never average to me, and the money never mattered. When I bought you things, it was because I was trying to be a doting boyfriend. It was how I knew to show you I was falling in love with you.”
I squeeze her tighter. It saddens me that she was willing to seek me out even when she thought I could be that cruel. It speaks volumes about her self-esteem and what she thinks she deserves. She could also be totally playing me right now. Back to fuck me over for a second time. She said she was a maid now. What if she decided to look me up because now she wants access to my money.
I don’t want to assume shit because that’s why we’re here now, but I can’t be gullible for love again. So do I even still love her? I’m afraid to answer that question. I need to dig deeper and get answers ASAP. I’m at a fork in the road, and for the first time, I don’t know which path I want to take.