Page 4 of Treachery

Cluster snickered. “You find anything yet?”

“Nah, there isn’t much in that ugly little house of hers—and I’ve looked.”

Ugly? He’d said it was cozy…that it fit my personality….

What did that mean? Also, he wassearchingher house? What was he looking for? She had nothing to hide from him.

She’d bared her freaking soul to him—and her body, she’d hid nothing from him. She’d made herself utterly vulnerable to him, because she’d trusted him. She’d loved him.

How did I get it wrong?

Again.

This time…she’d truly believed it was real, that he was real. Bile rose and burned the back of her throat, and the urge to puke rode along with it.

How could I have been so wrong?

Nadia pressed a trembling hand against her racing heart, the flesh beneath her palm growing cool as the blood pooled in her feet. She shook her head slowly, unwilling to believe what she was hearing…what James was saying. She had to be misunderstanding, mishearing—that’s what she got for eavesdropping, right? Maybe it wasn’t what it seemed like.

“She have anywhere she might be keeping his things?” Cluster inquired.

“I have no idea, brother, but I’ll find out. If anything, she’s been using the money. No mortgage, new car…. She’s not flashing the cash, but no one can afford an Audi on a receptionist’s salary.”

She wasn’t a receptionist; she was a freaking manager—and she made good money! And he knew that! She’d never hidden anything about her job or her income from him, and he’d shared about his job as a mechanic, and how he made good money fixing up bikes.

Where was this derision and mockery of her job coming from? It was like one thing after another, one nail after another, pounding into the coffin now holding her dying heart.

Swallowing down the burn of tears, she urged her feet to move away from the door, but they remained glued in place.

Another snicker from Clusterfuck made her wince. “Seems suspicious. Brother, now that you got her addicted to that dick, she’ll tell you whatever you want to know, might even tell you where that fucker of a brother of hers hid the Bone Dogz money—which is nowourmoney. No woman who looks like her would ever risk losing a man who gets as much ass as you do. You make her think she got you locked down?”

She couldn’t be hearing what she was hearing. Bile slithered up her throat once more, filling her mouth this time, coating her tongue.

This can’t be happening….

James heaved a sigh, like he was carrying a heavy burden. “She called me her boyfriend yesterday—I nearly gave up the whole thing right then.” They’d been cuddling on her couch, and she’d been talking excitedly about “meeting more of her boyfriend’s club brothers.” He’d smiled at her, not once making her think he didn’t want the label.Or maybe he was just that good an actor.“I ain’t boyfriend material, and I especially wouldn’t claimheras a girlfriend. Now, ass on the side I call when I get desperate enough for a wet hole, maybe, but I got to be real drunk first. Learned my lesson about that last night.”

Last night? She swallowed, her mouth and throat suddenlytoodry and yet too moist, like a bog in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Last night he’d downed seven or eight beers. At the time she’d thought he was just having a good time, letting loose, celebrating with his club brothers.

But…he’d been getting drunk.

On purpose.

“Usually have to use a little blue pill to get it up for her?”

“More like a pilsner.” They both chuckled at that, like they hadn’t just ripped her heart out of her chest and pissed all over it.

“What’s the next step?” Cluster asked.

“I brought her last night because I hoped she’d get drunk and let something slip—maybe where her brother is hiding or something about the money. No such luck—the prude barely finished the one beer.”

Heknewshe hated getting drunk! At this point, all his words were shards of glass, slicing away at her already tattered self-respect. She’d been fooled, betrayed—how pathetic was she to think a man like James would actually want to be with her? And he capitalized on her starry-eyed fantasy of the charming alpha male who fell for the damsel in distress, saving her, then seducing her.

“Fuck, brother, I don’t know how you deal with her. She’s got to be cold and dry as fuck in bed.”

“Not going there with you, Clusterfuck. I’d rather not relive that shit, if you don’t mind. I fuck her because I have to in order to stick around. Once she gives me what I need, I’ll dump her, bathe in a vat of acid, then come here, get drunk, and fuck someone who actually knows how to pleasure a man.”

A kaleidoscope of colors flashed before her eyes, and Nadia realized she hadn’t been breathing. Dragging in a breath, she slumped against the wall near the crack in the door, her head spinning.

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