Chapter 22

Samson

“Come on,” I said and took Blair’s hand.

“I don’t want to,” she replied and tried pulling away. She knocked her ass into the desk, and the ancient computer behind her rattled on it. “Fuck, fuck, faaaaack.”

“Blair, come on. It’s time. It’s past time. She was bound to find out anyway. Do you really want that asshole doing the dirty work for you? Do you want him to fill her head with bullshit before you get a chance to clear the air?” Not that I wanted the air clear with Regina. She didn’t deserve Blair’s worry.

The woman I loved, yeah, that’d happened – it’d happened all right and I couldn’t fucking control it – gripped her stomach and went green around the gills. “Samson –”

“Move,” I commanded and took her by the elbow.

I walked her out into the hall, then allowed her a minute to regain her composure. She straightened her coat, brushed hair from the spot between her neck and the hood, then walked down the hall, toward the living room, her head held high.

That’s my girl. Look at her go. A set of balls to rival mine. Well, not quite.

Blair strode ahead of me but I caught a glimpse of Regina and Joseph over her shoulder.

That exemplary dick had his arm around the woman and spoke directly into her ear, like a Queen’s fucking advisor. Regina had gone pale but for two pink spots on the apples of her cheeks. Her baby blue eyes flashed, steamed, really.

Is this the part where she yells “off with their heads?” Bitch can try.

“Blair,” she hissed. “What’s going on? Explain this immediately.”

“What’s there to explain? She’s dating an escort. A dirty fucking escort,” Joseph said. “And she brought him to your house. They had sex in one of your beds.”

“Jesus,” Blair whispered and gripped her forehead. “Mom, it’s not what you think.”

“Then what is it? Explain it to me.”

Blair’s jaw dropped; she made a keening noise but didn’t actually speak a damn word. Was this how it’d be? She’d already frozen and now, it was finally time to face the music.

Regina darted to her feet and marched over to her daughter. She raised her hand and whacked it across Blair’s face. The slap of flesh meeting flesh injected pure rage into my system.

“Don’t touch her,” I growled and stepped between them.

Regina drew herself up straight, though she still had to look up to meet my gaze. “Get out of my way, you lowlife. You’re nothing. A liar. A whore. A literal male whore. Christ, what is the world coming to?”

“Idiot,” I replied.

Blair stood behind me, quiet and still as a dormouse. I looked over my shoulder at her. She held one hand to her cheek and stared dead ahead, unseeing.

“Get out of my way. I want to speak to my daughter. I want to understand what the hell drove her to do this,” Regina snapped. “To date an escort? To marry one? I don’t even want to know how that works.”

“We’re not getting married,” I said, and an iron bar strengthened between my shoulders. Knots of tension down my back. “We were never getting married. I’m here because Blair wanted a way to get out of –”

“Don’t.” Blair sidestepped me, cognizant at last. “Stop it, Samson.”

“It’s too late, Blair,” I replied. “She wants to know the goddamn truth, and I’ll tell it to her.” I swiveled, fixing the woman with a scowl that could’ve burned a hole through a wall. “You drove her to this. You wouldn’t let her go, and she hired me to be her fiancé for Christmas, so you wouldn’t question her about dropping out.”

Regina stumbled and caught herself on the arm of the sofa. It was a fake stumble, totally overacted for effect. “I don’t believe this. I can’t keep track of what’s happening. You’re not even engaged? You lied to me?” She blinked tears at Blair – crocodile tears.

“No, Mom, no.”

“No?” It was too late to hide this from them but there was one thing they didn’t get, one thing Blair didn’t know either. Fuck it, if that creep Joseph had just kept his ears to himself, I’d already have gotten this out and averted all this goddamn disaster.

“You’re dead to me,” Regina shrieked and raised a finger at her daughter.

“Mom, stop.” Blair’s cheek was still red where she’d been slapped, the handprint embossed on her cheek.

“Get out. Get this escort off my property.” Regina threw out an arm and Joseph came forward to hold her, though he needed more help staying upright than she did.

“Wait a second,” I said. “Wait one hot fucking second.”

“I can’t be –”

“Shut up!” I roared.

They all flinched but kept their mouths closed.

“I’ve had just about enough of this shit show. Now, before that limp-dicked gravedigger –”

“I run funeral homes,” Joseph slurred, scandalized by the accusation.

“Fuck, sorry, before that limp-dicked corpse fucker crashed my conversation with Blair, I was about to tell her something. Something that will change your mind, Regina, not that it matters to me. Now, everybody calm the fuck down and shut up, so I can get it out.”

I waited, studying each of their faces in turn. Corpse fucker’s eyes were slits and reddened. Regina’s pink spots hadn’t disappeared, but her mouth was drawn into a thin line. And Blair?

Perfection, albeit terrified. Her hair a mess, now, from her running her fingers through it.

“Blair,” I said and took both of her hands. “There’s something you don’t know about me.”

She quivered, unspeaking.

“I’m not an escort.”

A gasp from Regina, theatrical as always.

“You’re quite right in thinking that I shouldn’t be able to afford that car. But I can, and there’s a reason for that. I’m a successful businessman. A club owner. The day we met, I was checking on one of my investments. A strip club.”

“Oh, sweet baby Jesus,” Regina whispered and threw the back of her hand to her forehead. “I can’t take much more of this.”

“Quiet,” I said, without lifting my gaze from Blair’s. “I wanted to know you, so I went along with your plan. I did what you wanted to do. I’m not an escort. I’m a millionaire. And I’ve been bored for a very long time, until you came along.”

Blair had gone blank as a page. I couldn’t get a read on her.

This was my moment of truth in the middle of all the shit swirling around us. Like it or not, I had lied to her. I had led her to believe that I’d follow through, accept her money, that I was just an escort with nothing but time invested in the weekend for a payoff.

But I wasn’t here for the financial payoff. I never had been.

“You intrigued me,” I said and brushed a lock of her raven hair behind her ear. “You were so gutsy coming in there, wanting to do what you did. I was caught under your spell, even if I didn’t want to admit it to myself at the time.”

“I – I don’t understand.” Blair finally produced words. “I need to sit down.”

“Here.” I guided her to the sofa and settled her, mentally daring the other two assholes to say a fucking word about it. Nothing from them. Good. Saves me the pain of whacking someone over the fucking head.

Blair dropped her head into her palms and shook it. “You’re – what?”

“I’m not an escort. I’m just a man, and I’m here for you.” I rested my hand on her back, but she flinched away from me, scooted over. “I’m still Samson, the same guy you’ve spent the weekend with.”

“The weekend!” Regina growled, finally breaking free from her silence. “The weekend! I don’t believe I’ve been lied to in my own house. By my own daughter. This is unacceptable. Insolence! After all I’ve done for the pair of you! And for you in particular, Blair. Prancing around here acting all high and mighty, asking me questions you had no right to have the answer to.”

Blair’s head remained bowed, and she didn’t answer.

I didn’t try reaching for her again but I’d reached fucking breaking point with the cow in the silver dress. A pig in silk was still a pig. “No right?” I growled.

“No right! This was supposed to be a merry Christmas. Just friends and family and you two ruined it. You ruined it. Blair, you destroyed everything when you brought this creep escort here.”

“I’m not a fucking escort,” I said. “I’ve made that clear. I don’t fuck women for money, and I have no interest in being with anyone but Blair.” The words popped out before I could stop them, and they were true.

Was I out of line here? Perhaps, I should’ve waited for all the excitement to bubble down before I’d revealed this, and in private, too. Christ, why wasn’t she speaking? Why?

“Blair,” I said. “Say something.” I reached for her again.

Regina swiped at me but missed. “Don’t touch her! You keep your filthy whore hands away from her.”

“Or you’ll have to deal with me,” Joseph slurred and raised his fists. He rolled them back and forth like an old-timey gentleman.

I snorted at him.

“Quiet, Joseph,” Regina said.

“I’m going to oust this imposter from your home, my love,” Joseph continued. “He’s no match for me.”

Regina placed her entire palm over Joseph’s face and shoved him backward. He toppled, fists still up, and landed in the armchair. “I said QUIET!”

“Stop it,” Blair whispered.

I jerked around and looked at her but she didn’t pay me any attention. Her eyes were ablaze, a fire burning her from the inside out, fixed on her mother.