The First Taste(111)

He pauses.

“Think of Bell. Don’t make this mistake.”

After a few tense seconds, he drops his fist but keeps ahold of Reggie’s shirt. “Here’s what’s going to happen,” Andrew says. “You’re going to go home, sign the divorce papers, and hand them over to your lawyer.”

Reggie scowls. “Says who?”

“Me. From this moment forward, you’ll stay away from Amelia. You won’t have a choice, since she’ll be getting a restraining order—”

“She wouldn’t—”

“She would, she will, and if that isn’t enough to keep you away, then I’ll have to do the job myself.”

Reggie eyes him. “Is that a threat?”

“You think I’m a Neanderthal? Just wait. My friends are nearing middle age, and they’re just itching to prove they’re as tough as they used to be. Don’t think they’d have any problem proving it on you.”

Reggie turns to me. “Are you hearing this? This is the kind of man you want to get mixed up with?”

I could never explain to Reggie how Andrew is ten times the man he is. Money and status mean nothing to him compared to family, love, security. The confidence Andrew wants to give me is far more valuable.

Reggie wriggles, and Andrew lets him go. “Get out,” Andrew says.

“You have balls now, but just wait,” Reggie says. “I have what I need to take both of you down. Even you, Amelia.”

I feel Andrew’s eyes on me, but I keep mine on Reggie. Reggie’s been circling this all night, so I face it head on. “What do you have?” I ask quietly.

“It’s me or him. This is your last chance. If you aren’t my wife, you’re my enemy. Decide.”

I start to remind him that this isn’t about either of them—it’s about me. Whether or not I choose Andrew and Andrew chooses me back, I will never return to Reggie.

Reggie holds up a hand. “Before you respond, know this. Avec and I come together. Without me, there’s no avec. That’s how I bring you down.”





THIRTY-ONE



Andrew and I go completely still, as if a vacuum has sucked the air right out of the room. I’ve been white-knuckling avec like a rope in a tug-of-war for a long time, trying to keep the bigger half on my side. I’ve built it from the ground up. It defines me. It’s a piece of me so large, it’s taken over every aspect of my life.

I no longer know if I want it because I love it, or because I’m afraid of who I am without it.

Now, I might be forced to find out.

“We’ll fight it,” Andrew says.

I blink out of my daze. “How? He has money. Power. Attorneys.”

“I don’t care. We’ll find a way.”

“I have more than that,” Reggie says. “I have you on tape, screwing another man in my kitchen while you’re still legally married to me. I have that same man threatening me in a crowded place and then again in front of his daughter.”

My heart drops. “How?” I ask, but I know the answer. I shouldn’t have underestimated Reggie. Nothing is too far if it means getting what he wants. He’d hired a private investigator often enough while we were together to track people who’d wronged him. I wouldn’t be exempt from that just because I’d loved him once.

Andrew’s chest rises and falls as he glares at Reggie. “You’re sick.”

“Maybe, but at least I’m not stupid. Amelia had a whole year to gather evidence against me for the divorce, and what has she got? Nothing.”

“Because I trusted you,” I say, covering my stomach as it drops. Gathering evidence. Reggie has invaded my home—my privacy. And Andrew’s. It didn’t occur to me he’d take it this far. “I never suspected . . .”

“You do anything with those videos,” Andrew says, “and we’ll—”

“What?” Reggie asks. “You can’t touch me. Not physically. Not financially.”

Andrew goes quiet. He can touch Reggie, and do a great deal of bodily damage, but not without serious consequences.

“I know things about you,” I say. “I may not have evidence, but I know things.” His secrets are at least a year old, but he’s been f*cking people over all his life. Surely there’s someone with more power than him that he’s pissed off. Reggie opens his mouth, but I cut him off. “Don’t worry—I’m not going to do anything. I’m not going to go to your old clients and tell them they’re knee-deep in an investment scheme or to the FBI to suggest they look a little closer at your taxes. My integrity is more important than revenge. Andrew and I are above your petty threats.”

“You can’t prove any of it,” Reggie says. “But it doesn’t need to come to that anyway, Amelia. You can still fix this. I haven’t done anything permanent. Come back to me, and you can erase the evidence yourself.”

“Fuck off,” Andrew says. “She’d be better off getting wrongfully slandered than entering into another abusive relationship with you.”

“Why don’t you let her answer for herself,” Reggie says, sounding mildly amused. As if he expects me to buckle because of what he’s told me tonight.