Page 47 of Bitter Desire
Apparently when you worked for your father at a cushy investment firm you could go in whenever you liked, and the man liked to sleep in. It was just after nine which meant I was gambling he was most likely dragging ass in his apartment not out in the city. When I heard the lock flip on the door, I knew I’d guessed right.
The door opened to reveal the woman I’d seen at the club. The Honey knock off. Her dark eyes went wide when she saw me and she swallowed hard, the sound of it audible.
“H-hello,” she greeted me in a voice barely above a whisper.
I nodded at her. “Good morning. I’m here to see Christian O’Hanon.”
Dark eyes darted off to the side and she turned her head looking behind her into the apartment. “Um...I don’t think now is a go-”
“Move aside, sweetheart.”
Her eyes flew to me and I nodded at her. “It’s all right. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
She looked down and bit her lip. “But he said not to let you in.”
“What’s your name?”
“Love.”
What a name.Love.Definitely a Honey replacement. “That’s a pretty name, Love.” She dipped her head in thanks and I leaned forward, bracing my hand on the doorframe. “He should not have you out here fighting his battles. He has to talk to me. You know that, right? With what he’s done.”
Her brows pinched together and she took a step forward, shoulders coming out of the apartment as she leaned towards me. “What’d he do? It was something bad, wasn’t it? He’s been acting wrong lately and I know-” her voice broke off and she swallowed hard, “it has something to do with the girl you were carrying in the club, doesn’t it?”
That’s right. Love had been there that night. She’d been with him right before her shitty boyfriend had made a play at getting Honey to obey him. Love had seen it all, right down to me getting her man to back off.
“It does.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, voice low. The pitch of it told me she was doing her best to keep her voice down. She didn’t want someone to hear. I knew that someone was Christian. That fucker was in his apartment and sent a woman to do his fighting. Worthless sack of shit that he was.
“Move aside, Love. It’ll be quick.”
“Okay.” And then the woman that looked like a smudged drawing of my girl was stepping to the side and letting me pass by. I walked into the apartment and scanned the space. It was neat and orderly. Hardwood floors, leather couch, random shit art on the walls in fancy ass frames. It was what I expected from a man like him. All of it was surface, no heart. He had what he had in his apartment because he knew it was the best. It was what he should have filling his space.
It was a lot like my home before Honey.
Now that Honey was there things had changed.
There was soul to my space, a warmth that hadn’t been there before. Touches that made the space less perfect, less designer and more human. She’d given me that. And even without asking, I knew she’d never done that for this man. I didn’t think anyone was capable of doing it, not if he filled his roster with a hundred woman that looked like Honey knock-offs, there wasn’t going to be a single one of them capable of bringing life into this fucking place, and that was because he was rotten to the goddamn core.
I found Christian in what I guessed was his office. It was a small room with a functional enough desk that still seemed too big for the space and the walls had bookshelves that were artfully arranged telling me he hadn’t read a single fucking book there. This wasn’t a room he worked out of. It was a place he went to feel important. Typical.
He was at the window with his arms crossed and looking out the window. “I knew she’d fuck up,” he sighed, glancing at me over his shoulder.
“Shouldn’t have had your girl do the job meant for you.”
“What do you want?” he asked.
“You know what.” I walked into his office and shut the door.
His eyes widened slightly at that but he was still making a play at looking unaffected and so I watched this scared shit man pretend he was just fine. “No, I really-”
“You come near Honey again, and I’ll destroy you.”
“I don’t know what lies-”
I walked forward ignoring the weak ass lies the man was trying to spin. “That includes digital, texting, smoke signals, carrier pigeons, I don’t fucking care what or how. You come near her again, make her scared, threaten her peace of mind and I’ll end you. I’ll make it so no one remembers you as anything other than the fuck up you are. Do you know how I’ll do that?” I asked.
He swallowed hard, his facade slipping and showing me the fear I knew was there all along. “How?” he asked.
