Page 175 of Contempt

“I had her swap out the cards, that’s it. I know you hate her—”

“She’s the fucking worst, Landon. She’s a monster. She has spent half her lifetormentingmy very best friend.” I try to crawl off him because I don’t feel like sitting on him anymore, but he grabs my hips to keep me from leaving. “And what did you have to do for her in exchange?” I demand. “Because Anae Richards might be a malicious bitch, but she doesn’t work for free.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It matters to me,” I state.

“I didn’t do anything for her.”

“Bullshit. Don’t lie to me.

“I’m not lying,” he says, annoyed. “You know Anae and I aren’t friends. I took advantage of her wanting to curry favor with Arden. He asked her to do it for me after he saw what went down at the club that day, so she said yes. It has nothing to do with you or us.”

I shake my head, thoroughly uncomfortable with everything he just said. “I don’t like that. I don’t trust either of them. And how did Arden even know about it?”

“You saw him at the club that day.”

“Yeah, I saw him, but he wasn’t around when Javi gave me his number.”

Landon cocks an eyebrow. “Are you sure he wasn’t around?”

I am, but the way he asks makes me doubt myself.

“Or did you just not notice him because you were swept up in your Hannah bubble and not paying attention to your surroundings?”

Dammit.

Itmayhave been the Hannah bubble, but I didn’t know I needed to be on watch, either.

“Well, I certainly didn’t see him. Either way, I don’t particularly care for Arden, and I don’t want him in my business. I certainly don’t want him enlisting Anae Richards to work on your behalf.”

“Obviously, I won’t need to use her again. But you forced my hand. You knew the score by that point. Did you really think I was going to let you talk to some other fucking guy, Parker? I would’ve intervened one way or another as soon as I knew what was going on. You’re lucky Arden was there and I was able to intervene before you everreallytalked to the guy, because if he hadn’t been and I found youactuallysending that fucker pictures, I would have had to carve out his fucking eyeballs.”

“You’re an ass,” I state.

“I think I was actually pretty fucking considerate. I knew you’d be pissed if I went after him, and I knew I’d been pretty hard on you, so I let you have a little fun.”

“With you,” I say sourly.

“I’m the only man of a fuckable age you’re allowed to have fun with. Sorry.”

“You’re a deceitful jerk.”

“Sure, if you look at it with that attitude. Reframe it. Think of it as roleplay, you just didn’t know it was happening.”

“That is literally not how roleplay works,” I state as he pushes me back on the bed and rolls over so he’s on top of me.

“You want me to do that ‘ask for forgiveness’ thing you mentioned before?”

Will he?

Out of sheer curiosity, I say, “Yes.”

He scowls at me, then leans in to nip at my neck. “Wrong answer.”

I push against him to get him off me, but despite my aggravation, I let my hands slide up his muscular chest. “No distractions. We are not done talking.”

“Since when has fucking ever stopped you from talking?” he asks dryly, leaning in again to kiss my jaw.

---