“When will Bruno hire someone new to fill my position?” I ask as we sit at Croix's dining room table eating breakfast.
Since Margot has the morning off, we're having cereal. It seems like such a mundane thing, but it reminds me that he's a real person—more than his wealth and his beautiful face and amazing body and business persona. Even rich people enjoy the simple things in life sometimes.
“Whenever I tell him to.” Croix scoops a spoonful of Kashi Go Lean Original into his mouth. Thankfully, he had some Honey Bunches of Oats for me. I've never been a fan of Kashi cereals. Even though he jazzed it up with sliced strawberries, I still don't find it very appealing.
“Does he not know that I quit?” I quirk an eyebrow.
“He knows. But he also knows that I have Raj working there now. He jumped into your position almost seamlessly.”
“Did he now?” I try not to frown. The thought that I could be replaced so easily is a bit depressing, but at least it's by Raj and not a woman. As Croix said earlier, he can't fuck Raj. That keeps him from being a threat.
“I guess it's a good thing that he's been volunteering there.”
“I guess it is.” I let out a low sigh.
“You sound upset.” Croix looks up at me.
“I'm not.” I shake my head.
“But?”
“There is no but.” I swirl my spoon in my bowl.
“I'm really not sure an assistant director is needed at The Billionaires Club, not to put down your position,” Croix says before taking another bite of cereal.
“Oh?”
“Bruno doesn't have one at the California location. The billionaires there share administrative responsibilities. It helps to keep the overhead cost low. Hiring you was a new idea. Obviously, it didn't really work out.” He corrals a strawberry, offering to feed it to me.
I eat it off of his spoon, trying not to be offended by his comment. He's making it sound like it's a good thing I quit—that I wasn't even useful anyway.
“So is that what you're going to do now, ask the volunteers to take on additional responsibilities? It was hard enough getting them through the door.” I finish my cereal and push my bowl aside.
“Yeah.” He nods. “If it worked at the California location, it will work here.”
“Well, if I have any free time, I can help you with whatever you need,” I offer.
“I'm sure you're going to be so busy at Hudson that you're not even going to want to think about business when you get off from work.”
“You're probably right.” I screw my face, leaning back in my chair to let the cereal digest while Croix finishes eating. “The offer is still there, though.”
“I appreciate it.”
There's a bit of relief in knowing that another woman won't step in to fill my spot at The Billionaires Club. It's a small consolation, though. The truth is that soon The Billionaires Club will be swarming with female clientele. Not all of them will be tempting, but I'm sure that a few of them will be. I just have to trust that Croix won't fall prey to the knowledge that he can have sex with anyone at the resort he wants to. I have to trust that his feelings for me are sincere—that he wants me and only me.
***
I sit across from Roscoe at a cabo style Mexican grill. Before he arrived, I ordered a margarita just to help me get through the conversation. He's smiling at me, but I feel no warmth towards him. He probably thinks I'm here to forgive him, but I'm not. I just want to get rid of him—permanently—and this is the only way.
“It looks like what goes around comes around.” I don't even bother hiding the bitterness in my voice.
His smile falters, and he drops his gaze to the mosaic tile tabletop. “I understand that you're still angry with me.”
“I'm going to let you know right now that I have no interest in forgiving you just because you're going through a hard time. You brought this on yourself. You knew that Sheri was a cunt when you married her. She's been using the kids as a weapon against you ever since you knocked her up the first time. You shouldn't even be surprised that this happened.” I cross my arms over my chest as the cruel words spill from my lips.
They're not a lie. Sheri was trouble from the very beginning. Roscoe met her at a strip club when he was twenty-seven. He had already established himself in his career by then. My earliest memories of their relationship were him following her around with doe eyes, buying her whatever she wanted.
She was a knockout with big tits, a skinny waist, and long silky black hair. The only thing ugly about her was her personality. It was as if she expected the entire world to bend over and kiss her ass just because she was pretty.
Within six months of dating, Roscoe had convinced Sheri to quit her job by offering to pay her rent and all of her living expenses. She had him so wrapped around her finger that nothing else mattered. He bought her a car, gave her cash, wined her and dined her. There was no reason for her to look for anyone else. She had hit the sucker jackpot.
Eventually, the two of them got heavily into drugs. Cocaine was their poison of choice. What money Roscoe didn't spend on supporting Sheri went on their drug habit. Our parents saw him spiraling out of control. They tried to help, but he wasn't interested. All he cared about was doing whatever he could to keep Sheri happy.
Shit hit the fan when she got caught stealing from my mother. Roscoe and Sheri had come over for a visit. We were all sitting in the living room when Sheri said she had to use the bathroom. She was taking an unusually long time, but no one thought anything of it. My mother went to her bedroom to change out of the long sleeve shirt she was wearing and found Sheri riffling through her jewelry box.
When she asked Sheri what she was doing, Sheri panicked, insisting that she was just looking around. Soon, the entire family was in the bedroom because of the noise from their arguing. Finally, my father made Sheri empty her pockets. She had one of my mother's rings and a necklace in her pocket. The real stuff. Not the costume jewelry.
Naturally, my parents demanded that Roscoe break up with her, but he was in too deep. He took Sheri's side over theirs. We didn't hear from him for several months until she kicked him out. It was a breath of relief for all of us. We thought that he had learned his lesson that she was no good. But as soon as Sheri ran out of money she got in contact with Roscoe again and sucked him in just as she had before.
My parents didn't speak to her again until she became pregnant. Not wanting to be excluded from their grandchild's life, they decided to forgive and forget. She was still a piece of shit. It's like there was no barrier between her brain and her mouth. She would say whatever came to mind in front of my parents, no matter how much it hurt them. We all hated her for it. Hell, there were some nights that I prayed she would die so that Roscoe would be free of her. That never happened, though.
After their first son was born, she finally agreed to marry Roscoe. He didn't even bother asking for a prenup. Why would he? He had already given her everything he had.
Even though my parents were always kind to her, Sheri rarely brought the kids over for a visit. And she wouldn't let Roscoe bring them over unless she was present. Not only that, but she didn't want our parents coming over to their house either. I can't count the number of nights my mother cried over not being able to see her grandbabies. It was heartbreaking. To this day, I can still remember her bouts of depression vividly.
All I have in my heart for Sheri is hatred. Even though I thought that Roscoe was weak for staying with her, I never hated him for it. I never hated him until he fucked me over on the inheritance for the sake of making Sheri happy.
“She's the mother of my children, Raven.” Roscoe's body visibly tenses.
“She's a cunt,” I repeat. “There aren't many people who I think the world would be better off without, but she's one of them.”
He lets out a labored sigh, knowing there will be no resolution if we continue to talk about Sheri. Just the mention of her name makes my blood boil. “Well, it's over now. She's not coming back to me.”
“Sure she's not.” I roll my eyes. “Just wait until she runs out of money.”
“I didn't come here to discuss Sheri.” He deflates.
It's rare that I see my brother look so defeated. Before our parents died, it would have drawn sympathy from me. Not now, though. Not after what I went through.
“Of course, you did. She's all you care about—all you've ever cared about.” I wave away his lies. His life revolves around Sheri. Nothing that he does is not because of her.
“You know that's not true.” He tilts his head to the side, giving me an earnest look. Part of me wants to believe him, but I know better. Fourteen years of the two of them being together have taught me better.
“Do you have my money?” I cut straight to the point.
“I moved all the way across the country to be closer to you, you know.”
“Do you have my money?” I stand firm, knowing the answer already.
“Family is more important than money, Raven,” he says softly.
“If that were true, then you wouldn't have fucked me over in the first place.” I lean forward, bearing my anger to him.
He pinches the bridge of his nose. “I wasn't thinking right back then.”
“You never think right when you're around her, Roscoe. She's fucking poisonous. She always has been.” I tap my fingertips on the tabletop. “But you're a fucking idiot. No one could make you see the light. You've destroyed all of your relationships because of her. You destroyed your relationship with our parents. You destroyed your relationship with me.
“Our parents may have been softhearted enough to forgive you, but I'm not. You've fucked up one too many times because of her. Do you have any idea what I went through? One fucking clue how much I've struggled because of that bullshit you pulled?”
Roscoe presses his back against the booth seat, cowering away from me slightly. Guilt is etched across his pale face. “It must have been horrible.”
“It was horrible.”
“Let me make it up to you.”
“How? How are you going to make it up to me?” I shake my head, waiting for the magical answer that will fix everything between us.
He reaches across the table. For a moment, I think he's silently asking me to place my hands in his. I'm not moving, though. “Let me be the brother to you that I always should have been.”
I snort, wiggling my way out of the booth before standing and glaring at him. “My brother is dead. You're no one to me now. You will always be no one to me.”