Page 146 of House of Lies

I have the rest of my life to make this woman happy.

Judging from the fact that she’s still trying to catch her breath, I set the bar pretty high.

And that’s fine with me.

Chapter 60

Ethan

One Week Later

“Are you sure you don’t know what this is about?” Cassidy asks for about the hundredth time.

“I’m as much in the dark as you are,” I say, hating to admit it, even though it’s true.

She seems convinced I’m in on this surprise, but after the shit we went through, we’ve been keeping things as predictable as possible.

“I can’t believe I had to get out of my sweats for this.” She tugs on the hem of her slinky red knee-length dress as we make our way through the crowded Devil’s Den nightclub.

We’ve both been wearing nothing but pajamas and sweatpants the past few days, and it’s been a fucking dream.

We were cuddled under a blanket on the sofa, binge watching a reality show, when Myles called. Cassidy saw two episodes when she was lying in bed recovering and got hooked. I never cared much for television, but I’d do anything to see her smile, so I watched a few episodes with her a few days ago.

Never thought I’d be so hooked on Netflix and chill.

One good thing about watching that much television and guzzling down gallons of chicken soup? We both healed remarkably fast. Cassidy barely has a limp anymore. It feels so good to be walking around without a fucking headache or the dizziness that’s been plaguing me the past week.

And we’ve had so much sex, the sofas need to be reupholstered.

“I’m sure this won’t take long. He probably just wants to pester me about doing another job for him.”

Myles simply hung up on me when I asked him why the hell he wanted us to come through to the Devil’s Den on a random Wednesday night.

Honestly, all I want to do right now is climb back under that blanket, order a pizza, and fuck Cassidy while we watch our TV show. But I haven’t cleared my debt to Myles yet, so I’m at his beck and call until he says otherwise.

“And you’ll say no, right?” Cassidy looks up at me with big, concerned eyes. “I know it’s Myles, and you owe him, but he doesn’t own you.”

I give her a faint smile, laying a hand on the small of her back as I guide her into the Den’s elevator. “Maybe they just want to check in with us, see how we’re feeling.”

She grumbles something under her breath about video calls and how then she wouldn’t have had to put on a bra, and I don’t blame her. Wearing underwear feels so constrictive after going commando under sweatpants the whole week.

Troy is waiting outside the Den’s door for us. There’s a grim look on his face, but I don’t think anything of it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him smile. He waits until we’ve come to a stop, then turns and opens the door.

I stop immediately. Cassidy walks on two paces before stopping to look back at me expectantly. It’s almost exactly how I remember when she first arrived at my house. How I halted at the threshold of the manor’s kitchen, already wanting to violate her.

But it’s not a kitchen we’re walking into.

It’s a scene from a motherfucking nightmare.

She doesn’t know it yet, because there’s a wall of plastic sheeting in the way, but I’ve seen this before.

I interrupted one of Myles’s special play sessions in the past, and had nightmares for a week.

“The fuck is this?” I grate out to Troy as he comes past us with a slow, measured stride.

He glances back at me, then waves for us to follow.

“This isn’t like last time,” he says. “Trust me.”

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