Page 55 of Bully

“I bet it does, Satan.” I replied flippantly, as I kept going. “That’s rich coming from someone who smokes a pack a day.”

“Only around you.” He snapped. “You stress me out.”

“Oh boy,” I mimicked Mickey Mouse and then shimmied my hips at him. “Such a sophisticated insult.”

“Excuse me.” Tamen yawned and stood up, shaking his body like he was removing the sage smudge from his skin. “I’m too fucking tired to entertain you right now. Lock up when you leave.”

With my back turned to him, I pursed my lips in annoyance but refrained from calling him out. Barely. He was shutting me out, or at least trying to. But he was underestimating my persistence when I got a plan in my head. “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I waved at him. “Sure thing, Boss.”

It grated my nerves to call him that, because before he went all Jekyll and Hyde on me after we had sex, things had almost felt—comfortable between us. Familiar even.

Stupid me for thinking Tamen Bryce could keep up his nice boy attitude for long. He disappeared into the bedroom and part of me wanted to stay and find other ways to annoy him for the fun of it, but I wasn’t that heartless.

The man had been knocking on death’s door when I found him this morning. I couldn’t add to his misery.

But that didn’t mean I didn’t know someone who could.

I put my dirty dress back on but wore his button-up shirt, tying it at my waist to make an effortless, casual look that really just hid the blood coating my dress until I got home and could throw it all away. Walking out of his space, I dialed the phone number for the only person who could torment him and get away with it, and she picked up on the second ring.

“Hey girl! We were just talking about you, were your ears ringing?” Peyton asked with a chuckle.

“They weren’t actually, but I hope it was good things being said.”

“Oh, they were,” She reassured, “What’s up?”

“Actually, I was hoping you could help me out. Or Tamen, rather.”

“Uh oh.” Her voice dropped as she got serious. “What did he do now?”

“Well,” I paused and then went full send. “He got shot last night, and I’m worried about him being alone as he recovers. He kicked me out of his hotel after traumatizing me by making me take the bullet out of his back when I found him passed out and bleeding to death. But you know how he is, he won’t let anyone actually help him for long before fucking it up with that stupid mouth of his.”

“Jesus Christ,” She whined, “Dane! We’re going to the city. Tamen’s being a drama queen again!”

Chuckling at the absurdity of the fact that she wasn’t surprised he was shot but that he was being a dick, I rode the elevator to the ground floor. “I appreciate you checking in on him. I’ll cover for him at Prism, there are meetings with contractors that can’t be missed if we want to open this week. But I’d just feel better knowing he’s not bleeding out in his stubbornness.”

“Oh, he’ll be bleeding when I’m done with him.” She sassed and then sighed, “Thanks for calling me, Sloane. I know he’s probably not been overly kind to you today, or any day, for that matter. But I appreciate you still looking out for him.”

“Yeah,” I hummed, remembering the way I had ridden him in the chair with my hand on his throat, feeling slightly guilty for using him after all he went through. Not that he had complained at all until I found his scars under the ink on his thighs. “No problem. Actually, do you mind if I ask you one more question. And feel free to tell me to fuck off, because I know how out of line this is, but has Tamen always been—” I struggled to find the right word to describe him, “troubled?”

Her sigh was one out of love and I knew asking her was the right thing to do, “The way that Dane and Maddox tell the story, is that Tamen has always wanted to be different than he is. When he was younger, he wanted to be like them, doing—” She hesitated, “badthings we’ll say. And then, when he was older and doing the same things as them, it was almost like he wished he had stayed away the whole time. I think that’s why he spends so much time building businesses up, even given the fact that they’re not always the best kind of mess to be in, I think that’s his way of trying to do something else with his life. But at the end of the day, a cheetah can’t change his spots, and the world has left its mark on him.”

“Thanks for sharing that.” I replied, imagining a younger Tamen, tall and lanky chasing after a younger Dane and Maddox in the streets or wherever they all learned their dark skills. “I appreciate any knowledge I can get to help me figure the man out.”

She chuckled lightly, but there wasn’t much humor in it. “Hey if you figure him out completely, let me know, would ya? I’d love some more answers into the mind of Tamen Bryce.”

Ending the call, I battled with my inner angel and demon, trying to decide what I was going to do about the infuriatingly sexy man that weaseled his way so far into my life that I couldn’t remember the normalcy I’d felt before him.

Wasn’t I some independent boss babe who ran my shit without worrying about anyone else?

Then it was time to get her back. And I’d start by finalizing decisions at Prism that Tamen had left until the last minute.

That was my right as a manager, right?

Chapter 23 – Tamen

Itwasopeningnightat Prism. There were times I wasn’t sure I’d polish up the pile of shit I found at Vixen’s Den enough to make it to opening night. I probably wouldn’t have if it hadn’t been for Sloane, either.

I hadn’t seen her in days; my doing, of course. Though I was pretty confident that she was avoiding me as well. We’d been busy enough that it didn’t matter, until now.

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