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Wells shook his head. “Damn, I thought for sure she’d lost it before you. God knows I tried like hell to get in it. Probably wouldn’t have cheated on her if she’d just given my horny teenage ass some. Hell, we might be married with kids by now.”
Teller barked out a laugh. “She would have never married you! I was a little boy, and even I could see her panting after Wilder.”
Thatcher walked over and set his empty glass down beside me. He looked from King to me. “You’re right. Need to get back to Capri.”
Our little jockey had him so wound up that he was almost a different man. Almost.
Last week, he’d taken off one of our stable hand’s fingers for touching Capri’s arm on fucking accident. Thankfully, King had walked in on it and convinced Thatcher that Capri would be very upset if he kept it up. Or else he probably would have taken the guy’s whole hand or killed him, slowly slicing the man to pieces. She still had no idea it’d happened.
“Where are the girls you said we’d get tonight?” Teller asked, looking at Wells.
Wells pointed toward King. “Not while he’s here. The ones who have shackled themselves don’t want the bitches around anymore.”
I picked up the bottle of Jack. I could use the distraction myself. “You staying here long, King?” I asked, hearing a slight slur in my voice.
“Nope. I’m leaving,” he replied, then finished his scotch. When he was done, he set it beside Thatcher’s glass. “Enjoy your night, boys.”
I watched him stroll out the door.
Wells looked at me. “You want Fall?” he asked me.
I thought about it for a minute. The stripper was always willing to please me. She had the wrong color hair now though. All the things she could do to me weren’t appealing. I wanted to fuck, but it just wasn’t her face I was thinking about.
“No,” I finally replied. “Not up for it tonight. But Teller would enjoy her.”
Wells sighed. “Don’t do this to me too.”
“Do what?” I asked him, already starting toward the door.
“Get your head up some chick’s ass.”
“Just tired tonight,” I replied.
“Bullshit!” he called out as I left the room.
Taking my phone from my pocket, I pulled up my texts, then remembered I’d never checked Royal’s text from earlier tonight. Seeing her as a job was becoming harder, and my brain wasn’t working that way anymore where she was concerned.
I opened the app that sent me all her texts and calls.
Merce: Please stop ignoring me. I miss you. I fucked up. You know I love you, Royal. Talk to me, baby.
My hand tightened on the phone, and I stopped walking.
I scrolled to the next text; it was him again, only thirty minutes ago. He’d called her, but she hadn’t answered as well.
Merce: If you will talk to me, we can fix this. Us. I’ve had time to think, and I can’t live without you.
Royal hadn’t texted back.
I went back to my texts and found the last one she’d sent me. I almost smiled—until I remembered how our night had ended. I’d wanted to watch the life drain from that motherfucker’s face. He’d called her names, taken the glow from her cheeks. The sadness in her eyes did me in. The driving force to mutilate the man who had caused it was alarming, even to me. I’d never reacted that way before.
I stepped out of bounds tonight. I’m sorry. The things he said to you were cruel, and I was already on edge. Seeing him hit you caused me to snap. I shouldn’t have. I handled it poorly. Please forgive me.
I read over the text one more time before hitting Send. It was a lie. I should have done more than I had, just not in front of her. That was the real reason I was apologizing. He deserved much worse, but she didn’t deserve to see it.
I didn’t expect her to text me back. Tomorrow, I was going back to Athens, but not to see her or talk to her. I was going to follow her. Properly this time. In another vehicle she wouldn’t notice or suspect. There were some things I needed answers to. I wanted her name cleared from any involvement with the drug distribution. Then, I’d find out if Merce and her father were involved. But I wasn’t going to use her to do it. I had another plan.
The thought of using Royal made me physically ill. She’d been used enough by the man who should have been protecting her. But she didn’t need him anymore. She had me. Even if she didn’t want me at the moment.
