Page 23 of The Butcher

“You think the Senate will overturn it?”

I kept the cigar in the corner of my mouth. “I really don’t know—and I really don’t care.”

“Doesn’t apply to us, now does it?”

“No.” I rested the cigar between my fingertips and took a drink.

“Is there a problem, Bastien?” Luca asked, tapping his fingers against the cigar to make the ash fall into the tray. “You seem pissed off.”

“I’m always pissed off.”

“More than usual, then.”

I hadn’t spoken to Fleur since I’d left her apartment. Wasn’t sure what she’d decided, if she wanted to give her marriage another try…or continue to fuck around with me. I did my best to stay out of it and be objective, but it was hard to keep my mouth shut. “I’m sleeping with this woman, but she’s married.”

Luca was about to take another drag of his cigar, but my words made him forget about it. “That was not what I expected you to say.” He sat up and put out the cigar in the communal ashtray on the table. “What does it matter if she’s married?”

“Because she might take him back.”

“So, they aren’t married?”

“Separated. He cheated on her and she left him, and he’s been trying to get her back ever since.”

“So, she used you for revenge sex?”

“I don’t think so.” Whatever we had, it was real.

Luca stared at me for a long time, waiting for me to say something more so this story would make sense. “I’m not following, man. You had your fun. Now it’s time for her to go back to her husband. Everybody wins.”

“But I don’t want her to go back to him.”

“Why?”

“Because she deserves better than that shit.” I grabbed the glass from the side table and took a drink. “And she knows it too.”

“Then maybe she won’t take him back.”

“Maybe.” But I hadn’t heard from her. I didn’t want to pressure her or persuade her in any way. I’d given my information to one of the guys who was watching the apartment, but her pussy of a husband hadn’t contacted me. Once he figured out who I was, he probably realized we weren’t in the same league.

“You like her or something?”

After we fucked on that first night, I didn’t expect to see her again. All I had to do was walk out, and that would have been the end of it. But something made me put my number in her phone, something I’d never done before. “Yeah…I do.”

Once Luca realized this conversation was serious, he stopped the bullshit and straightened. Now, he didn’t say anything at all, waiting for me to explain the situation.

“I don’t know, man. I can’t explain it.” I could explain it, the way we came together and set the room on fire, the way we turned into Adam and Eve, destined and created for each other. But that would require details I refused to share. “But yeah, I like her. And whether she takes him back or she doesn’t…it’s shit timing.”

He remained quiet, his unblinking stare on me. “Yeah, it is. Does she know who you are?”

“No.”

“Then she doesn’t know you at all.”

“I guess you could say that.” She’d asked me how I earned a living once, but because we were in public, I never answered. She didn’t know anything about me personally, other than the fact that I was rich, something she never asked about.

I loved that she didn’t ask.

Gerard stepped into the drawing room. “Sir, Adrien Laurent is here to see you.”

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