Page 38 of Bully

Blowing out a breath I shrugged, “Today? Probably over thirty grand.” I sighed and locked my phone screen. “He’s going to run out of money eventually, right?”

Peyton snorted. “No. The man can turn dust bunnies into cash. It’s quite annoying, but also obnoxiously fun to watch.”

“I don’t need his money. I’m not Tamen level rich, obviously, but I do just fine on my own. It was just a joke at first, but now he’s relentless.”

“Give a dog a bone—” Olivia sang and then leaned forward on her elbows. “There’s more between you two than just work, that’s obvious.” She tilted her head to the side, “But I can’t tell how much more than that. You’re a hard nut to crack, Sloane.”

I scoffed and looked away from her penetrating stare. “I’m an open book, actually. Maybe it’s a hazard of the job, I don’t keep much secret or hidden, I don’t see the point.”

“Then is it more than just a game of cat and mouse with Tamen?” Peyton questioned, “Because I want to think that maybe he’s found someone to put him in his place and boss him around, besides Olivia,” Her sister snorted and Peyton went on, “But I can’t tell if it’s just fun for you.”

I blew another breath out, and rounded my eyes. “I can genuinely say with one hundred percent certainty that I hate that man. He aggravates me with every single breath he takes. My skin crawls when he tilts his head to the side in that creepy mocking mannerism that makes him look like a clown in a haunted house.” My teeth clenched as I held my hands out in front of me, mimicking what it would look like to strangle him. “I want to bang his head off the wall every time he undercuts me and demeans my intelligence at work, like I haven’t earned my place with more than my body. And that ego,” I groaned, “God, I want to cut him so quick he can never act all high and mighty ever again. I want to scramble his brain up in a pan and put it back in his skull so he can act like an actual nice human being for once, just once in his life.”

Sighing, I blinked away the rage and then froze when I saw the look on their faces, aimed my way.

“But you also want to tie him down and do indecent things to him until you can’t walk straight.” Peyton mused with a cautious smirk on her face, breaking the tension inside of me that built thinking I’d offended them by talking about him that way.

“God, I’d ride that man until the sun came up and went back down again.” I cried, deflating even more and giving into the urge to tell them the truth about the turmoil building between their brother-in-law and me. “We hooked up, kind of, one time. It was the best sex of my life and now I can’t think of anything else, but I can’t decide if I want to strangle him or fuck him.”

Olivia shrugged nonchalantly, “I vote that you strangle him while you fuck him. I think that’s the only way to tame that beast. Isn’t there an old saying about biting an alpha dog in the ear to show him who’s boss?” Peyton cackled again, and Olivia went on, unphased by our hysterics. “I feel like that’s the only way to get Tamen reset. Maybe it’ll be like hitting Control - Alt - Delete.”

Laughing so hard, I wiped away tears and doubled over in pain. I was supposed to go to the gym later, but after lunch, my abs were going to be toast.

“I have an idea.” Peyton gasped, picking her phone up off the table, “Come here.”

“Huh?” I stammered, fighting the tilt a whirl in my brain from the sudden change in direction.

“Come here,” She scooted her chair closer to Olivia’s and patted her shoulder. “Chin, right here.”

“Okay,” I gave into my curiosity and walked around the table, leaning down behind them and when she pulled her phone out to snap a picture I posed, smiling brightly along with the two. “Okay, explain.”

“I want to test a theory.” Peyton said, typing something into her phone and then laying it down with a smug look on her face. “My theory says that in about ten seconds, my phone is going to ring. And I’m going to ignore it. Then Olivia’s phone is going to ring. And she’s going to ignore it. And then you’re going to get another money transaction, though the message accompanying it will be far less vague.”

“I think I see where this is going.” I mused, not sure if I loved the idea, or hated it.

“And then my guess is before we finish our desserts, one very hot and horny Tamen is going to show up here, and he’s going to have to face you head on. But we’re here, so he won’t get away with any funny business.”

“And how exactly will he know where we are?” I pondered, working through her brain.

“Easy.” Peyton shrugged, “Finding people is my husband’s specialty. And he can hardly ever tell his little brother no these days.”

“Except that one time Dane shot the tippy top of Tamen’s ear off for sneaking into your guest house.” Olivia chuckled and my mouth dropped in shock.

“Shot?” I stammered, “Like with a gun?”

“Two actually.” Olivia held both her hands up and made finger guns with them, pretending to shoot them at me and then blew at the barrels like an old western cowboy.

“Jesus.” I passed on my water and picked up my mostly untouched glass of wine. “I think I need to hear more about that story.”

Before the words were out of my mouth, Peyton’s phone went off with an obnoxious ringtone that sounded like the theme song from a 90s slasher movie. “Show time.” She smirked and hit the ignore button. “Time to see how much groveling that man can do.”

Chapter 17 – Tamen

“Sir,doyouhavea reservation?”

The host called out to me as I walked through the front doors of the restaurant I tracked Sloane to. “Don’t be a cunt.” I threw over my shoulder at him and continued on.

I didn’t know where she was, but she was here and I was going to find her.

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