Page 39 of Double or Nothing

As much as I want the woman, at this moment, I mean the words. I wish I had never laid eyes on Kathryn Keller. The fucking woman is heaven, hell, and everything in between. She’s the only woman who has ever made me feel something—anything—and at this moment, I fucking hate her for it. The pain she’s making me feel, the unbearableness, is the same as the day she told me no. The day she said she wouldn’t come with me to New York.

All I can think to do is make her feel pain, too.

I turn from Kat, my hands reaching for the blonde and pulling her to me. When my lips meet hers, the fire and passion I felt with Kat aren’t there, but seeing the shocked, hurt look on Kat’s face, the pleasure is undeniable.

Fuck her. Fuck this town.

“Let’s go to my room,” I tell the woman whose name I don’t even know.

She’s more than eager to follow as I take her hand and drag her away.

We step into the elevator hand in hand, her babbling about something. Out of nowhere, Mac appears, holding the door open, and the look on his face screams he’s pissed.

“What the fuck are you doing?” The anger in his voice matches the look in his eyes.

“I told you this was a bad idea. Me and Vegas, we don’t mix.”

“This has nothing to do with Vegas and everything to do with Kat. If you would quit being a dick for five minutes, you might actually fix this.”

Fix it? Didn’t he see the way she looked at me? Or hear the words she shouted? The woman hates me. Hell, she wishes she never met me. You don’t come back from that.

My mom, she said those same words to my dad before she walked out the door. She never came back. No way in hell Kat will.

I shove his hand off the door. “Maybe I don’t want to.”

I’m surprised when Mac allows the doors to shut, but I swear I hear him yell something about me being an idiot. I’ve been called worse.

“I’m Rose, by the way,” the woman tells me.

Christ, I had forgotten she was even there.

I rest my head back against the elevator wall. Her name is gone from my memory the minute she says it. All I can focus on is Kat. Pressing the button to the twenty-third floor, I prepare for the slap I’m sure is coming.

Without even realizing where we were, or maybe she doesn’t care, she steps off the elevator.

“Aren’t you coming?”

“Not today,” I tell her as I press the door closed button. Thank Christ, for once, it actually worked.

Chapter 21

Kat

“So, how goes things with sexy, rocker boy?” Liz asks.

“Awful. Worse than I expected.”

As if it wasn’t bad enough, he kissed me and made my toes curl, then kissed another woman while I had no choice but to watch. A very blonde, very busty woman in a very skimpy dress. The worst part is how good they looked together—him, the rock star, and her, the sexy little groupie.

Before the kiss even ended, I stalked off in anger, slammed the door to my office, and sat at my desk to cry. I stayed that way for the rest of the day before sneaking out and heading home. Now, here I am again, hiding in my office.

“What happened?”

“To start, he kissed me, then we fought, and…”

“Then you had make-up sex?”

“Yeah, except with another woman,” I shout into the phone, hating the anger and hurt I hear in my voice. Even more, I hate that Liz heard it, too. I brace myself for whatever she’s about to throw my way.

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