Page 64 of Repluse

She’s stunning, beautiful, gorgeous, and so many other inadequate adjectives that don’t actually do justice in describing how she looks.

Pausing in the doorway, she gives a long, slow wolf whistle. “Look at you two! Shall we just stay home and have our own party? I can dance here.”

“We can do that,” Sam instantly responds.

“And waste walking in the club with you on our arm looking like that? I don’t think so,” I state.

Sam and I are both wearing black suits, but while he’s paired his with a white tee and Converse, I’ve gone for a black shirt, no tie, and black leather boots. With Mila between us, I know we’re going to turn heads when we make our entry later, and I’m now glad she chose the veil-style mask that covers most of her face, and the gloves to cover her cast. Another one of our strict policies is in regard to gossip. If one client discusses another outside of the club and it gets back to us, their membership is instantly revoked. I know there’ll be whispers and nudges within the club, but with Logan, Alice, and Scott being members, we’re taking a huge risk. Even though I’m ninety-nine percent sure no one there will have a clue who Mila is, I don’t want to compromise her anonymity. Although, at this stage, with what I have on the Walsh family, I’m pretty sure we’re in a position to negotiate a pretty good divorce settlement for our Ms Grace.

“What’s with the fucking song?” Sam asks as RiRi starts another go around over the sound system.

“Frankie played it for me, but it’s time for a change. We need some old school disco to get us in the mood,” Mila declares, dancing her way over to where we stand. Coming to a stop, she holds her empty-again glass out to Sam. “Top me up, Sammie.”

“Please,” he corrects her while I search for another playlist on my phone.

She sticks her tongue out at him. “Please,” she says with a sickly sweet, totally fake smile.

Luther Vandross replaces Rihanna, and Mila takes a sip from her glass as she moves to the music.

“How much she had?” Sam asks as he hands me a drink.

“Enough to make that one her last for a little while.”

I move around to the other side of the island and stand next to Sam, and we both watch Mila dance. When I look at him, he’s wearing a weird kind of half smile that matches my mine.

“If she sees us standing here grinning like a couple of numpties, it’s just gonna encourage her,” I tell him.

“She’s fine. After the week she’s had, she probably needs to cut loose a little bit and have some fun,” he says, still watching her.

“I thought that’s what we provided for her today.”

“Today was a distraction. She’s still got a lot going on inside her head. That was very apparent with herPretty Womancomment.”

I almost flinch as I recall the comment and how much it cut when she came out with it earlier.

“Weknow that’s not how we see her.Iknow that’s not why you arranged today. Now we just have to convince her,” Sam adds.

“We’ll let her enjoy tonight, then we’ll talk over the weekend. The three of us.”

“Doweneed to talk before we talk to her?” he turns to me and asks.

“I don’t know, do we?”

“Probably. I know what I want out of it, but do you?”

“I want both of you,” I tell him honestly. “I know what you want is different, but if you can live with that, with me wanting you and her, then I think we’re good.”

He nods and takes a sip of his drink. “It’s just… I don’t know how to articulate it. I don’t… There’s not another man that it’s ever crossed my mind about. What we do, it doesn’t make sense.”

“Does it have to? I get what you’re saying. You don’t look at other blokes and think about fucking them.”

“I don’t look at you and think about fucking you. I think about us. The three of us.”

“Ouch.” I touch my heart. “You wound me.”

“Oh, fuck off. You know what I mean. I think about you and me with a woman. I think about what we do together when we’re with a woman, but it’s never crossed my mind to go there when it’s just us.”

“And that’s fine.Ican live with that as long asyoucan live with the knowledge that my feelings run deeper.”

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