AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Before Katie could even process what he’d said, Matt took her face in his palms and placed a sweet, gentle kiss on her lips.
“Goodnight, Katie.”
He got up from the sofa. She let him out and relocked the door behind him.
She didn’t know what to think and she had a lot to think about, didn’t she? Then again, maybe she didn’t. After tonight, she might never hear from Brendan again anyway. Would she be okay with that? Katie picked up the cups and the press pot and put them in the sink. She’d think about everything tomorrow.
She tiptoed up the stairs, careful not to make a sound, so she wouldn’t wake up Kelly. If her aunt saw her dressed like this how would she ever explain it? Luckily, the loft was quiet and dark when she opened the door and made a stealthy beeline for her room. There was a note on her pillow from Kelly—she’d gone to a party of her own.
Stripping out of her costume, Katie threw a robe on over her white satin underwear, and checked Kelly’s room to see if she’d come back. She hadn’t. That meant Katie could have that bath without twenty questions about the Greek Row party she hadn’t actually gone to. Was it her fault Kelly just assumed that’s where she was going?
Yes, it is, Katie. When did you turn into such a liar?
Since she’d met a tall beautiful stranger with diamond-blue eyes, that’s when.
Lies of omission are still lies, aren’t they?
Filling the tub with hot water, Katie tossed in her favorite jasmine and soymilk bath bomb. After a soothing soak and a good night’s sleep she hoped she’d find some clarity. Her head was a muddled mess.
She laid back in the scented water and closed her eyes.
But she couldn’t unsee what she saw.
Like she couldn’t unfeel what she felt.
And she let the tears fall.
He couldn’t look at himself in the mirror.
Brendan turned the shower on and stripped off his soiled clothes. He threw them in the trash. Stepping into the small tiled stall, he adjusted the temperature of the water as hot as he could stand it. He was angry with himself. Disgusted. Maybe once he scrubbed the evidence of tonight’s barbarity off his skin he wouldn’t feel as repulsed in it as he did right now.
He turned to face the spray and hissed as the water hit the cut that ran down the center of his chest. It bled like a bitch, but he didn’t think it needed stitches. Might leave a nice scar, though. Brendan took an angry fist to the shower wall and released a pent-up roar.
Salena.
How the fuck had he underestimated her?
Taylor and Jesse both warned him the night they all met her that she was no good. He laughed them off. In retrospect he should have heeded their warning, but he was twenty-six and thinking with his dick at the time. She was beautiful, she loved to fuck—probably more than he did—and she knew the club scene. And he’d had the idea for the Red Door long before then. Her knowledge and her contacts could prove useful.
Venery’s first album had just come out and what would become their first hit song was finally getting airplay. They weren’t famous yet, but they were definitely local celebrities. He, Dillon, and Jesse went to see them play at the Aragon that night, and ended up going to the gig after-party at a private club downtown.
Salena zeroed in on them the minute they passed through the velvet ropes. Then she followed them up to VIP and set her sights on him—well, she fucked him first. Brendan wasn’t sure why, since he wasn’t one of the future rock stars in the group. They hadn’t been there thirty minutes when she took his cock out of his pants and enthusiastically sucked him off while everyone watched. Quite the show. Within an hour that VIP room was filled with naked rutting bodies, and they’d all taken their turn with her. More than once. Taylor and Jesse were the only exceptions.
And that was more than okay with him.
She wanted his dick.
He wanted her cunt.
Neither one of them wanted anything more than that.
He should have listened to Taylor, though. Brendan never should have trusted her and he should have ended their arrangement a long time ago. He should have noticed her obsession with Kyan, but he didn’t, and by the time he did, it was too late. She’d already turned into a psycho bitch bunny boiler.
So the Salena shitstorm was all on him.
And it was up to him to end it.
He finished his shower and threw on a pair of jeans and a black button-up. Not exactly club attire, but he was done tonight anyway. After Brendan dealt with Angelica and saw his cousins, he was going home. He was dabbing some antibiotic ointment on the cut when he heard the blast of music as the door to his office opened.
