Page 56 of Seduction in Spades

At least, I hope it was a joke. I don’t think she’d play us off each other. I’m pretty sure she enjoys torturing me. Good-natured torture, I pray.

“Jonesy. You listening?” Drake taps the wall where he’s projected a graph of last month’s expenditures.

“Yeah. Sorry.”

“Dude. You gotta get laid.” Ryder refills my coffee and plunks down in the chair next to me. “Offer’s still on the table. I can hook you up with one of my lady friends.”

“Sloppy seconds isn’t my thing. Appreciate the concern, asshole.”

“Just looking out for my bestie.”

I pretend to focus as Drake lays out numbers, charts, and goals for next month. When he’s done with the business aspect of our meeting, he shifts the focus to the elephant in the room. The weight on our shoulders that can’t be solved with Drake’s genius mind.

“Micky’s eerily quiet. His thugs haven’t been in the casino. I don’t like it.” Drake pours a shot of whiskey into his coffee and slides the bottle down the table.

We each take a shot.

“Nothing at The Club. Haven’t seen those guys since the museum. Any action on the cameras at Avery’s?”

If I was the blushing sort, my cheeks would be burning. Action on the cameras? Fuck, yeah. I’ve watched the video of us fucking against her door at least a hundred times. It’s pure torture when I only have my hand to get me off since Avery has practically ghosted me.

“I haven’t seen any suspicious people.” Truth. I won’t lie to Trey. If he asks me flat out if I’ve slept with Avery or even if I have feelings for her, I’ll tell him God’s honest truth. Avery will hate me for it. Trey will hate me for it. But I can’t go on hating myself for lying.

“She wants to come out to The Club tonight. You free to escort her to and from?” Trey asks with such trust and faith in me.

“Nora said they plan on getting ready at our place. Once she’s here, I’ll keep watch.”

“That means my boy is off babysitting duty tonight.” Ryder claps my back. “I’ll open a table for you and a date tonight. My black book is all yours.”

“What’s with the push for your sloppy seconds? Besides, I’m good. I have a shit ton of paperwork to catch up on. I’ll come back to the office, and Avery can let me know when she wants to go home.”

“Why doesn’t she stay at the penthouse?” Drake asks.

“Even better.” Trey brushes his donut crumbs off his hands. “She’ll say no if I suggest. Think Nora can talk her into it?”

“Probably.” Drake takes out his phone and sends a text.

“Great. You have Avery’s Friday night social calendar figured out,” I say with sarcasm. “What’s the plan to actually stop Donahue from ruling our lives?”

I hate seeing Avery cooped up, stripped of her freedom. She’s losing her spunk the longer she’s trapped in her house and forced to have an escort wherever she goes. And selfishly, it’s cramping my ability to woo her.

“We should call a meeting with Martin,” I suggest. As Micky Donahue’s brother, he has the most intel on what the bastard has been up to. They may be estranged since Martin took the straight and narrow, but he’s the closest connection we have.

“I’ll call him and arrange a meeting.”

“Hurry on that. I’d like my life back.”

“Ah, come on,” Ryder says as we stand and push in our chairs. “Babysitting Trey’s big sister can’t be all that bad.”

“You know I’ll fucking kill you, Ryder,” Trey growls before leaving.

Ryder and Drake laugh as they head down the hall to the elevators. I go into my office and close the door and watch the video of Avery and me for the thousandth time.

***

Avery:I don’t need a babysitter go sit on another baby

Avery is teetering the line between drunk and stupid drunk, as evident from her texts all night. They’re making less and less sense. Although, I can almost figure out where her brain is trying to make a joke.

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