Chapter 39

After Brad overhears Jane in her hotel room, he goes over to his room hoping to relieve himself of sexual tension before having to get back to business downstairs.

Before he has a chance to get started, the phone rings.

“Hello? Yes, this is Brad… Oh hey. Any news...? What? For real? You’re fucking kidding me. All over the news tomorrow? What kind of bitch would do this? Jesus. You’ve got to get me out of this one, and fast. Come on, man. It’s why I pay you the big bucks. How am I going to explain this one? What? Stay on the island? How long? A year? No fucking way. You know I can’t do that!”

Brad is shocked and feeling deeply disturbed. He’s pissed and wants to punch something.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck. Goddamn fucking bitch. Who the hell is she? If I could at least remember, then I could put the pieces together,” Brad yells into the phone. “Yeah, sorry, I know, I can’t take it out on you. Money grabbing jackasses.”

Brad hangs up the phone and paces around the room, fuming. Who would do something like this? He wonders what he did to deserve this mess. Was it the woman he snubbed at the cocktail party last month because of her annoying laugh? Was it someone who he took home for a night?

He’s had many women wanting to come back for more, and he’s had to ignore them or hire someone to tell them to leave him alone. He knows he’s played it safe and there’s no one, that he knows of, that he’s gotten pregnant.

Maybe it was that dark-haired woman down in the lounge trying to entrap him, and she’s pissed he didn’t do anything with her. Goddamn escorts. He should have known they spell trouble.

Brad takes a cold shower and breathes deeply, trying to calm down. He knows he needs to trust his lawyer. He imagines himself on the island for a year, thinking that may not be a bad thing after all. What about Jane, though? How would he explain this to her? She would lose interest in him for sure.

He gets out of the shower, gets dressed, and looks in the mirror.

“You can’t stress about it, man. You’ve dealt with worse things before. Get yourself together. It will sort itself out,” he tells himself, “it always does.”

He wears a white, cotton shirt, buttoned down and flowing over his dark pants. He’d pick up his tie and jacket later before they went out to the event tonight.

He walks out the door and past Jane’s room, putting his ear to the door and hoping to hear her again. Sure enough, he hears the whirring of the vibrator.

Oh God, she’s a horny sexy woman! I can’t wait to rub my paws and body all over her, thinks Brad.

He hears her moaning again, but this time more intensely as she screams, “Uhhhhhhhh… fuck me, Brad. Just fuck me.”

He imagines her body shaking and gyrating from coming, her tits jiggling and her back arching as she plays with herself. He wishes he could go in and kiss her belly to turn her on even more and make her come five times in a row. God, he wants to give it to her. His cock is so hard just thinking of her.

One of the hotel staff comes onto the floor bringing fresh linens to Brad’s room. Brad walks away toward the stairwell, pretending he’s not being creepy in front of Jane’s door. He presses up against the wall to catch his breath. What that woman does to me! Fuck. I’m totally under her spell, he thinks, feeling hot, sweaty, and wild. He has to shake his head to get it together and walk calmly down to the restaurant to start working again.

“Mr. Halliwell,” says the front desk manager.

“Yes, what is it?” Brad says impatiently.

“Sorry to disturb you, sir, but the woman you met yesterday in the, umm, hot tub,” he says reservedly. “She wanted me to give this to you.”

He hands Brad an envelope.

“Thank you, sir,” Brad says politely.

Fucking women. Who the hell do I trust these days? They seem to be grabbing me left, right and center, and yet, the only one I want is Jane and she’s too precious to hurt.

He opens up the envelope and inside finds a notecard. He lifts it up, and there is a room key with a note that says, ‘Wanna share some more hot times together? Come on up tonight and I’ll give you more. No clothes required.’ A picture of her looking like a pin-up is included.

Brad looks at the nude picture, and she is hot. He would fuck her in any other circumstance—if he hadn’t developed feelings for Jane.

What if she’s the one setting him up? He’s never seen her on the island before. His mind starts racing, wondering who to trust.

He throws the key and picture into the garbage and walks over to the front desk.

“Excuse me, again, but do you know who that woman is? The one who gave me the note,” he asks the front desk manager.

“Oh yes. She’s new here. She is from one of the top women’s pin-up magazines in the States, Hot Mamas. The publisher recommended she come here to get away from the stress of the world.

The fact that she is a nude model for the pin-up magazine doesn’t phase Brad, it’s that she’s working for Todd Harvey, the asshole Brad has had an ongoing conflict with all his life.

Todd had tried to frame Brad before, trying to destroy him by getting him drunk to the point where his defenses were down. Brad had an orgy with four other nude models and had the time of his life—until the next day when there were photos everywhere in one of Todd’s dirty mags, bringing public humiliation to Brad. The worst part was that Brad couldn’t sue Todd because of journalistic freedom laws.

“That bastard,” says Brad under his breath. He walks away and goes back to the garbage can to grab the key to her room. He has no idea what he’s going to do, but he’s going to get to the bottom of this and nip it in the bud once and for all.