Page 39 of Trouble

It’d always been him and me—he was as much a part of me as my own fucking hand, butlove…That was the one thing that I couldn’t fight backagainst.

In my most shameful moments, I’d secretly hoped it’d be me who found love first, even though I knew I never would. There would never be anyone who could replace Liam for me. But thealternative…

If Audrey was really Liam’s true love, like Mira was Blaine’s and Evelyn was Marcus’… Then one day, when we’d finally gotten rid of our father and stabilized our hold over London, he would find heragain.

No.

I couldn’t lose him. Not yet. Not when everything I’d ever known was already such a fucked up mess and bound to get much, muchworse.

Playing Audrey like this might’ve been an arsehole thing to do, but even if Liam somehow managed to stay away from her until it was safe for him to be with her again, I wasn’t about to let her take him from me after all was said and done. I had to show Liam she wasn’t the one. And so, I had to keep up the charade a little whilelonger.

I sank down on the leather sofa in mine and Liam’s shared living room and fished out my phone. I’d snuck her number off her phone while she was sleeping and blocked Liam’s number and replaced his with mine in her phonebook. Someone should really tell her to put a PIN on herphone.

Love, you got anything planned tomorrow evening? I want to take youout.

The small pang of excitement in my gut as I pressed“send”surprised me, but it probably shouldn’t have. Crying aftermath aside, fucking Audrey had been the best damn sex of my entire life. No wonder a small part of me was looking forward to seeing her again, despite how shitty I felt about deceiving her. It was funny, really, on an abstract level. Before I’d met her, I hadn’t been particularly looking forward to fucking her, but I hadn’t felt bad about manipulating her, either. She’d just been a troublesome piece of arse, a means to anend.

Fucking Liam. Why the hell couldn’t he just have screwed her once and let that beit?

* * *

When Audrey openedthe door to me at half past ten the next night, I wasn’t prepared for the gut-punch of desire that made my jaw drop at the sight ofher.

She’d dressed in a black, tight-fitting dress that hugged her curves in all the right places and displayed her magnificent tits with a plunging neckline. Pieces of shimmering jewelry enhanced her clavicle and delicate earlobes, and her lush brown hair was piled on top of her head in an intricate up-do. Her pretty features were enhanced with makeup in the best of ways, with dark red lips that made me ache to kissher.

“You look fucking amazing,” I said. My voice was hoarse even to my ownears.

The way she lit up at my compliment sent another stab of urgent need through me. She was so impossibly beautiful when she smiled like that, with complete sincerity and happiness. Was this what Liam had seen straight from the beginning? Where I’d seen an uptight, pretty-but-plain woman, he’d seen this fucking goddess I’d somehow missed at firstglance.

That smile did it for me. I shouldered my way through her door and pulled her in tight as I kicked it shut behind me. She managed a startled laugh before I swallowed her breath with a heated kiss and grabbed her by the arse so I could pull her pelvis flush with myown.

She was so warm and soft in my grip, and perfectly pliable as I molded her against my own body. Her cherry-flavored kiss sent sparks of desire through my blood, ramping up my lust until I wasn’t capable of holding it in any longer. But when I moved to press her up against the nearest wall while simultaneously hiking up her dress, she pushed me away with a smallhuff.

“I thought you were taking me out.” Her dry tone almost covered the look of hurt and uncertainty flashing through her eyes as she looked up at me, lips still slightly parted and her chest heaving from ourkiss.

“Well, yeah, but then you went and opened the door while looking like a fucking goddess,” I countered as I reached for her hips again. “And now I’d much,muchrather stayin.”

“Oh.” She relaxed her shoulders so she was no longer pushing me away, but the look of disappointment on her face made me hesitate. And then, finally, itclicked.

“Oh, shit, you thought I was taking youout-out?” I took in her pretty makeup and sexy dress and mentally slapped myself. Of course she’d been expecting a fancy club and somedancing.

“Don’t worry about it, it’s my mistake,” she said, pulling away from me. Her shoulders slumped the tiniest bit as she turned around and headed for the bathroom. “We can stay in. I’ll just get changed—help yourself to some wine if you want, there’s a bottle in thefridge.”

“Hang on, love.” I grabbed her by the shoulder, halting her retreat. She didn’t look at me, but her intense disappointment cut straight through me like a near tangible thing. I spun her back around and nudged her chin up with a finger to make her meet mygaze.

She really was a gorgeous woman, even without the makeup. Her chocolate eyes seemed to shine with their own light, even now, as she was obviously fighting-and-failing to hide her disappointment. And for a moment, I wished I could have taken her out. ToRed,orEleonore, two of the posher clubs my Family owned. Given her the VIP treatment, because a girl like Audrey deserved the fuckingbest.

I blinked, pulling myself from my ridiculousthoughts.

Even if getting seen with her wasn’t a terrible idea—which it was—I wasn’t here to fuckingdatethe girl. I only needed to get her comfortable enough with me that I could show Liam she wasn’t the one for him—that she was just like the other girls who’d never know nor care who of us was between herthighs.

Which probably also meant I should take her to where I’d originally planned for us to go, instead of fucking her up against the nearest available surface. She was pretty leery of me, for obvious reasons, so making her think I just wanted to screw her wasn’t the best of ideas,either.

“I do want to take you out. It’s just not something that requires heels and makeup. I’m sorry I didn’t make that clear when I texted you. We shouldgo.”

She frowned. “What should I wearthen?”

“Sportswear if you have it, leggings and trainers if you don’t,” Isaid.

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