Page 17 of Bought and Broken

I hate to admit it, because I hate her, but she has the most beautiful fucking lips.

Full and pouty, but heart-shaped. And they are so goddamn soft. Don’t get me started on the color. The light blush pink likely matches her nipples that I bet are even more beautiful.

I take another step toward her, bringing my hand up to cup her cheek. “Yes, baby. You’re mine for the weekend.”

“Why—” She slaps my hand away and steps out of my reach. “Why would you do this?” she hisses.

I grin at her. There are so many things I could tell her. So many games I could play with her. So many directions I could take her in. But I decide to keep my mouth shut. Because what I want to say will ruin everything.

Why did I buy you? Because nothing in life is certain but death, taxes, and that payback is a fucking bitch.

It’s a good thing Dane didn’t make it into the auction. Someone must’ve been looking out for me by pulling him away. Or maybe this will turn to shit, and I’ll regret it. For now, I plan on having my fun. I can’t imagine what Dane would have done if he saw his sister up on that stage. Lose his shit and get himself carted off and banned, that’s for sure. He’d have made a scene and not only embarrassed Devon, but me too.

Dane and I were going to take our girls to a club. Drink. Dance. Party. Go back to a hotel and do things that would make porn stars blush. Have fun in the limo on the way there. Take turns with all of them, even using all four at the same time while the other watched. Wouldn’t have been the first time we shared girls or swapped them. But my plans for the night have since changed. Devon and I are taking a long drive to my penthouse in Chicago. As long as I have her back at the club on Sunday night, I can take her wherever I want. Driving to Chicago means I have roughly forty-two hours alone with Devon in my penthouse.

Forty-two hours to make her believe I’m a changed man. That I don’t hate her guts. That I’ve forgiven her. That she can trust me. That she can open her heart to me. That we belong together.

I need to win her heart, and that means I have to be nice—genuinely nice. So, I have to be careful.

This weekend is only the beginning because I won’t stop when this weekend is over. I’m good, but I’m not win-over-the-girl-I-hate’s-heart-in-one-weekend kind of good. Thankfully, I know where she lives. I’m best friends with her brother. Hell, I spend more time at their house than I spend at my own. I have my own room. My own parking spot. I’m in her life all the damn time. This weekend is going to be the start of something new. This weekend, I’m going to prove to her that I am different. So different she won’t want me to leave.

I’ll have her head over heels in love with me in less than a damn week. That I am certain of.

And I only foresee one issue—Dane.

He’s my best friend, and I care about the guy a lot. If he ever finds out what I’m doing, he’ll kill me. I’ll have to play this smart. Put on a show for him too. I don’t like the idea of lying to him, but it’s what needs to be done. He doesn’t know the extent of my hatred for Devon. I’ve done well to hide my anger toward her. Dane just thinks we grew apart after the breakup. He asked me once what happened. I told him I didn’t want to talk about it. That was the end of it. I can only assume he didn’t ask Devon. She wouldn’t have told him the truth anyway. Despite what he would have been told, Dane would struggle with picking sides. Which is why he likely ignored it. He chose to look past it so he wouldn’t have to choose. Not that I agree with it. His sister is a goddamn liar, but that’s not his fault. There isn’t anything he can do about it either. She’s basically unmanageable. You ask her to do something; she does the opposite. There isn’t a single ounce of respect in that girl.

I can’t imagine Dane would approve of me dating Devon because of our past. He’d worry things would get messy between us all. If I were him, I wouldn’t let me date his sister either. Not now. I was a different man at nineteen. But all this just means it needs to stay quiet until I figure out a way to deal with Dane.

Because even if it’s the last thing I do, Devon Kensington is going to feel the same pain she put me through five years ago.

Chapter Nine

Devon

I refuse to ask Tatum where we’re going, but it wouldn’t take a genius to figure it out. The number of signs we pass that say we’re getting closer to Chicago is all I need. In fact, I’d have guessed that even without the signs, because I know Tatum has a house there he hardly uses. I’m sure that’s exactly where he’s taking me. Probably to kill me. Though that would be stupid on his part. What better way than to be caught than to win someone at an auction and take them home and murder them? He’d be the number one suspect.

I’ve thought of jumping out of the limo. I’d risk the road rash and broken bones just to get away from him. I can’t believe I have to spend the entire weekend with him! But if I want that money, if I want to get out of this suffocating life, I have to do it. How bad could it possibly be? I mean, what is he going to do? We spend a lot of time in the same house, why should this be any different? Maybe it won’t be. In fact, maybe it’s all a misunderstanding. Tate could have bought me to help my brother. To stop me from spending the weekend with a guy. If that’s the case, he’s going to torment me for years to come over how much money he spent.

Is that why he spent so much?

Is that really why he did it?

The man is petty. I know this. He’s a brat and childish. He enjoys putting me through hell because he thinks I did something to him, even though I didn’t. He’s the one who screwed me over! But to spend three-point-five million dollars for payback? Is this the pettiest thing in the history of petty things? It must be. Because that is a lot of damn money, and I know even though his company is doing well, they aren’t doing that well. He’s still picking up the pieces from his father running it into the ground.

I’ve heard him and my brother talk about it enough. I shouldn’t listen in on their conversations, but it still eats away at me that I don’t know why Tatum hates me.

I say I don’t care, and I guess most of me doesn’t, but now that we’re sitting together in a limo on our way to spend the weekend together, I want to know what he thinks I did.

But I won’t open my mouth and ask because I can be petty too.

Besides, if there is only one question I could have answered tonight, it wouldn’t be about our past. Before my heart gets all crazy and starts thinking things that aren’t true—like he still cares about me—I need to know why Tatum bought me. And I need him to know that I’m not touching him with a ten-foot pole.

“I don’t know what you think is going to happen this weekend, Tatum, but I am not having sex with you,” are the first words I speak to him since being in the limo.

“Not having sex seems to be your thing, Devon,” he says with a roll of his eyes. Before I can scream at him, he adds, “Besides, I don’t want to have sex with you.”

“Excuse me?” I snap and regret it instantly.

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