Page 47 of Serving the Maestro

“Yeah.” Annoyed, I braced my hands on my hips and met the challenging look in her eyes with one of my own. “She knows. Even if she didn’t, that would be my problem, my concern, not yours. But she does know, and it’s not an issue.”

“So she’s in the life,” Avery said coolly. When I didn’t respond, she smirked. “I didn’t think so. Trent, you know you’ll never be happy with a woman who isn’t also your submissive.”

She walked over to me, hips swinging seductively, her nipples hard and stabbing in the lush red silk that covered them.

Placing a hand on my chest, she looked up at me. “You crave the pleasures you can only find with a woman like me.”

Wrapping my hand around her wrist, I tugged, then lowered it back to her side. “I know what I need, Avery. I know what I want.”

She didn’t take the hint and leaned into me again, arms curving around my shoulders and her breasts flat against my chest, nipples stabbing into me.

“I know what you want...what you like. I love to give it to you. Let me show you.” She kissed my neck. “Bend me over, Trent. Fuck me, make it hurt. Punish me.”

The last words were spoken against my lips.

I curled my hands around her waist, then pushed her back, moving out of reach simultaneously. “No. It’s over, Avery.”

Even when this...thing between Jazz and me ended, I could never be satisfied with Avery again. I’d spent too much time with a woman I had feelings for—feelings that went deeper than friendship. Nothing else would be quite the same again.

“Trent—”

“Enough!” I held my hand up when she tried to come to me again. “I’m not doing this, Avery. And if you can’t get that through your head, you need to leave!”

Her mouth fell open, eyes wide and shocked. “I...are you kicking me out?”

“No.” Staring at her, angry and frustrated, I said, “I’m trying to make you understand something, but you’re not listening. However, if you’re going to keep pushing, if you won’t respect the choice I’ve made, then you’ll have to leave—and that’s your call. Not mine.”

Tears flooded her eyes.

She blinked rapidly to clear them, but a few escaped.

“Fuck you, Trent.” She turned on her heel and strode away, her movements angry, her breaths ragged.

Swearing, I blew out a breath and spun to brace my hands on the mantle over the gas fireplace. The hurt I’d seen in her eyes gutted me. Avery meant a lot to me, always had.

But she was a friend now, nothing more. If she couldn’t understand that...

I made the right call.

I knew that, but I still felt like a miserable mean son of a bitch.

SIXTEEN

JAZZ

Walking past Trent’s door, I forced myself not to look at it.

It had been two days since I’d seen the gorgeous brunette—Avery. His girlfriend.

I’d holed up in my apartment all weekend, ignoring texts and calls—including two from him. Last night, I’d finally answered a call from Cam because she’d threatened an invasion if I didn’t respond.

Other than that, I blocked out the world.

I would’ve loved to keep doing that, but that was the bitch about being an adult. You had to do the adulting shit whether you wanted to or not, and today, I had adulting shit to do.

First and foremost on the list was an appointment with my OB/GYN. I knew there wasn’t much of a chance I was pregnant, but I’d gone for my yearly not long after my birthday and told the doctor that I’d been thinking about maybe having a child.

She’d asked questions about my family history, then examined me, drew some blood, and had her assistant schedule a follow-up. I’d already rescheduled twice.

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