Page 25 of Love From the Ashes

“I don’t know who he is, but he’s an ass. He comes in here and acts like he’s some important person. He puts his hands all over the women and gets a little too friendly with them at his table. I don’t understand why management lets him stay. If you watch him long enough, you can catch him slipping cash to one of the employees, who’ll return to his table with a skaggy woman in tow. It’s like he pays the employees to bring him women he can fondle.”

“You can’t possibly be serious,” I said, my voice rising. I couldn’t picture Reid hanging out with someone as disgusting as that.

“Yes, I’m serious. I had a VIP table next to his last time I was here on a date and saw everything the guy did. Watch the sleazebag, and you’ll see. He’s already motioning one of the employees over to his table. The douche will say something to him and then reach out and shake the guy’s hand while he slips him some cash. Just watch.”

The three of us stared at Reid’s table, waiting to see what the man would do. The situation felt so tense, it dawned on me I was holding my breath. Expelling the air, I leaned forward, my eyes narrowing as the employee reached their table.

“No way. The guy’s doing it, just like Della said. It’s like watching some porn movie playing out in front of us.” Adam’s eyes were like saucers as he stared at the scene unfolding in front of us.

“I told you,” Della said as the employee put whatever the man had handed him in his pocket. She seemed pleased with her ability to predict the man’s play-by-play actions. Then her expression changed, and she turned to me with a stern look. “You need to stay away from Reid Morgan, Sofie. The guy with him is bad news, and if that’s the kind of person he hangs with, Reid Morgan is nothing but trouble.”

“There’s no way it’s as bad as you say. Reid, I mean Mr. Morgan, isn’t that type of person,” I said, not wanting to believe Della.

“You never know. Bad people come in all shapes and sizes and are experts at getting you to trust them.”

I didn’t…couldn’t…agree with Della. The world I’d lived in before Dean was the shadiest, the people the worst of the worst. Reid did not fit the profile. Something else was happening besides him hanging out with a piece of trash. There had to be.

“Look at that. I told you the sleazebag has women brought to him,” Della said, nodding her head toward Reid’s table as she leaned back in her seat and smugly folded her arms across her chest.

Shocked, I sucked in my breath. The employee had returned and was depositing two barely dressed and skanky-looking women at Reid’s table. One woman slipped into the booth next to Reid while the other sat next to the unidentified man, his arm going around the woman while he groped her breast. Stunned, I stared at the man’s hand.

“Up with you. We need to dance.” Della stood and grabbed my arm, pulling me toward the dance floor. “You need to ignore him. Better yet, pretend he doesn’t exist. I’m telling you, Reid Morgan is nothing but trouble. This pathetic show of theirs proves it.”

I peeked over my shoulder at the corner table, my stomach churning. Now I wasn’t sure what to think. Could my impression of Reid Morgan be that wrong?

CHAPTER 10

A False Perception

Reid cocked hishead at Geoff, eyeing him across their table in the dance club’s VIP section. “Now that we’ve gotten past the niceties, why did you insist I meet you here? We could have met at my office.” He was more than a little bothered by his cousin’s request, preferring not to be here. He only associated with his cousin on his mother’s side when necessary, and he wouldn’t do it at all if he had his way. But his dying aunt, Geoff’s mother, had made Reid promise to look out for him. Trying to do that took more energy and patience than he had most of the time, the situation compounded by their age gap. Reid was thirty-four, while Geoff was twenty-three and raised as a privileged brat.

“Well, cousin, besides needing your help with something, I thought we could have some fun. You know, talk a little business and then enjoy what these ladies have to offer afterward. They look like they’re ripe for some fun. Isn’t that right, ladies?” Geoff groped the breast of the woman sitting next to him as she eagerly nodded affirmation of her willingness to please him. Then he eyed the woman next to Reid, motioning her to slide closer to him.

“No, thanks. I’m not interested,” Reid said, his voice terse as he put his hand up to stop the woman from moving toward him. He gave his cousin an annoyed look. “If this is what you got me here for, I’m leaving.”

“Hold on,” Geoff said, putting his hand in the air. “I need your help, so don’t act like an old man and wig out on me. I need you to talk to your mother on my behalf. I asked her for money from my trust fund a week ago, and she turned me down.”

“Why involve me? I’m not the trustee, and I don’t have anything to do with it. Your parents delegated that responsibility to mine.” Reid rubbed his forehead, trying to keep his composure. If Geoff wanted money, either he’d blown what he had or he was scheming on something. Reid knew his mother was a shrewd businessperson. She must have had a good reason if she had turned Geoff down.

“I’m asking you because I want the money for an investment I’m talking to some people about, and I need you to get your mother to see it’s a good deal. It’s a huge sunken treasure expedition. The people in charge want me to partially fund the operation in exchange for a share of what they find. One of my dad’s old cronies approached me about the deal.”

Reid could understand why his mother had turned Geoff down. An expedition like that was risky. Geoff’s father had been an oceanographer, and he had been legendary in the field. He’d looked for sunken treasure as a hobby and had hired Reid to work on several projects when Reid was in his twenties. Geoff’s dad had died five years ago in a scuba diving accident off the coast of Panama in search of a sunken Spanish galleon. To speak to his mother on his cousin’s behalf, Reid would have to research the project, talk to experts, and see what was involved. It would take time to dissect and wasn’t something he could do in a dance club.

“Well? I can tell you’re thinking about it. Are you going to help me or not?”

“Look, I need much more than your recommendation to broach the subject with my mother, so we’ll have to talk about this next week. I’m not going to do it here, especially when we’re not alone.” Reid clenched his jaw, looking at his cousin with disgust when he saw him play with the nipple of the woman sitting next to him, her arousal visible through her sheer blouse.

“Fine. If you want to talk next week, we can do that. But now that you’re here, why don’t you try to relax and have fun? Quit acting like a damn priest.” Geoff turned to the woman when she moaned. “Let’s see what you got for me, honey.” He slid his free hand up the woman’s leg and underneath her dress. “Ahh, that’s nice. I’ve got something for you.” He took the woman’s hand and placed it on his crotch.

“I’m leaving.” Reid abruptly stood, his lips tight. His cousin was a pig, and he hadn’t come here to watch his shameless and disgustingly inappropriate behavior.

“Jesus, Reid. Would you lighten up and have some fucking fun? I bet Blondie next to you is just as ready as this one is.”

Reid leaned forward to grab Geoff, then stopped, suddenly picturing Geoff’s mother. He growled and turned toward the dance floor, intending to head for the exit. He had to do a double take. The woman on the floor looked like Sofie.It was Sofie!What was she doing here?

“It looks like someone got your attention, cousin. Which one?” Geoff said, appearing unfazed by Reid’s irritation with him.

“The woman in the dark dress with her hair up.” Reid’s voice was tight, his attention focused on Sofie. “She’s dancing with the tall guy with the rolled-up sleeves. The guy in the red shirt, bouncing around like an idiot, is behind her.”

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