Page 129 of Nash Falls
MONTHS LATER RHETT SAT UPin bed and eyed the person sleeping next to him. Judith Nash’s body had grown doughy, robbing the woman of her sexiness, at least in his estimation.
Judith had constantly pestered him for his help in locating her daughter—who must be somewhere safe, she told him. Rhett gave her platitudes in return, told her he was dispensing resources, making progress, a tantalizing tidbit here and there, when he was actually doing nothing. But her constant neediness was getting on his nerves.
They’d had sex regularly since Maggie had vanished, always at his place, as her home was deemed too risky. All blame for everything that had happened was solidly on Walter Nash, and Rhett wanted to do nothing to change that impression, especially with the cops.
His father had been right. While he hated that Maggie had been taken and almost certainly killed, he was not going to risk his life to avenge her. He had his own problems. And sacrificing his life for another, who was most likely dead anyway, was just not on his bingo card.
His alibi, Laurel Burke, had never bothered to find out when his father had died. If she had she might have put two and two together and tried to put the screws to Rhett for more money. And then Rhett had headed that off by buying her a luxurious condo in Las Vegas and getting her a cushy job at a casino there that his father had partly owned. She’d met a nice guy, which Rhett had actually arranged, and they were enjoying each other’s company. But the guywas there to keep watch over the woman. If Burke started disclosing things she shouldn’t be, Rhett would know about it. And then he would have to take action. Before he’d killed his father he would never have contemplated doing the same to Burke. But now?
I’m pretty much capable of anything. And it feels good.
And on top of all that, Steers was still expecting him to hunt down Nash and bring him to her. She constantly hounded him about that, even threatening to send some of her agents to help him. So far he had managed to hold her off, but he wasn’t sure how much longer that would work. Plus, he had an idea that the woman was searching for Nash herself. And, with her resources, she might find him. But Rhett wouldn’t necessarily bet against Nash. The man was strategic and tactically brilliant, and never missed even the smallest detail. His still being a fugitive after all this time despite the worldwide hunt for him was a testament to the man’s resourcefulness.
Rhett rose and poured out a drink from the bar in the other room. A G & T at six in the morning, it went down as crisp and smooth as the breaking dawn appearing through his penthouse floor-to-ceiling tinted windows. It warmly lit Rhett’s face like he was on a film set.
He smoked down a cigarette as he thought things through. He had a meeting with Mindy tonight, and then a rendezvous with attorney Lindsey Cole to discuss legal strategy, but also something else. He had bedded her numerous times now, and he had pleasantly found the seemingly reserved lawyer was a wildcat between the sheets. He would use her for what he could, get some great sex in the bargain, and leave her in the dust like he did every other woman who crossed his path with a few dollars thrown her way to keep the woman in line. He no longer found fault with himself for doing this.
Look at my gene pool. I come by it honestly.
To be fair, his mother had taught him to be respectful to women. But his father had, mostly by example, counseled him to screw them, abuse them, and then deep-six them. He knew that if Barton had lived, Mindy would have been kicked to the curb right before her prenup auto-ratcheted to a higher number. And still the womanhad the audacity to want a chunk of his old man’s wealth when she’d done nothing for it.
Even cheating on him with me. Butshecame on tome. What was I supposed to do?
He had put Mindy off for months now, resisting her pleas to meet, making excuses by telling her that he was working on a plan and that she had to be patient. Cole had finessed it so the lawyers weren’t demanding the DNA sample until Mindy gave birth. He had used that to keep Mindy hanging, telling her, truthfully, that he had orchestrated that. But he’d really just wanted to string her along, make her desperate, while he had some fun. And along with that, he hadn’t had to work his ass off at Sybaritic or deal all that much with Steers other than her complaining to him about finding Nash. But now with his batteries recharged, he was going to put his plan into motion. And what an interesting meeting he and his stepmother were going to have.
He snorted a fine line of coke right off the rim of his claw-foot bathtub and looked up to see Judith standing naked in the doorway.
She had had such a rocking body, he thought, but despair had ruined the vibe of it, like a film of gritty varnish on a fine piece of artwork. Compared to Lindsey Cole, or Mindy, Judith Nash was well past her prime. He wasn’t sure why he was sleeping with her anymore.
Well, I do feel sorry for her. I’m not a total prick.
“Do you have any more?” she asked, eying the razor on the countertop and then the short chrome straw he had used to snort it, a few white grains still clinging to the metal hide.
“My, my are we getting wild again?” he said, rising from the floor with a smile.
“Do you?” she asked again, without a corresponding smile.
“For you, anything.”
He expertly cut it for her, lined it up enticingly on the bathtub’s rim, and handed her the chrome straw.
She dropped to her knees, a move that managed to instantly arousehim, and did the line like a pro, taking a deep breath, seemingly savoring the toxin she had just downloaded into her bloodstream.
Rhett looked down and eyed his sudden erection. “I did you. Care to reciprocate?”
Judith did not look so inclined, she looked the polar opposite of so inclined. But still, she crawled over on her hands and knees.
And reciprocated.
When she was done, he bent down and kissed the top of her head. “I’ve got to go. Stay as long as you want.”
She crawled back to his bed and fell between the sheets.
He showered, dressed, and left her there, probably in a drug-induced dream of lost daughters and fugitive husbands.
That night Rhett sat next to Mindy on the spa level of his father’s mansion. He eyed the room where they’d had sex, while Mindy nervously intertwined her fingers.
“I was wondering when the hell you were going to get back to me, Rhett. It’s been forever. Yousaidyou were going to take care of things,” she added in a pouty tone. She rubbed her now large, protruding belly. “I’m not that far away from dropping this baby.”
