Blasphemous (Torn #3)(18)

Glancing sideways, I saw an overexcited Trick (a diehard racer, but loved making films, too) shove a magazine at Dimitris. “I thought after Luca got the second place in Monza, he and Jacques would be enemies.”

“Do they look like they’re fighting?” Dimitris sounded bored.

Trick was laughing as he stabbed the article repeatedly with his finger. “Nah. I think the only fight here was who gets to take home the blonde, right? Who won?” Trick kept yapping, and then stopped before releasing a loud, disbelieving gasp. “What the f*uk, man! Is that our Emma Anderson?”

That made me crane my neck like a crazed person towards the men. Emma was out with Formula One men? WHEN? I launched myself out of my seat and grabbed the magazine out of Trick’s hand, almost crushing it. “What the f*uk are you talking about!?”

Trick held up his hands, taking a step back from my sudden attack. Shocked at my intense reaction. “Shit, Bass! Sorry. We’re still tight, right? ‘Kay, man, laters.”

Emma in an extremely short, halter-neck, black dress with no bra on—her nipples were blatantly obvious—her beautiful legs looked amazing as she smiled at the camera as the two men sat on either side of her, comfortable as one man had his arm around her shoulder and the other had one on her knee. Her makeup was so dramatically done that I had to take a second look to make sure it was her. Yes, the woman in the picture was definitely my Emma.

I grabbed Dimitris by the collar as I angrily made my intention clear. “You better start speaking, Kosta, because if you don’t provide it in the next sixty seconds, you’re going to make an enemy of me.”

“Go ahead, I don’t scare easily,” Dimitris said, unruffled with my outburst.

That got me even more riled up. What the f*uk was Kosta playing at with Emma? It was foul. “Don’t f*uking push me. You’re messing with my life here and I take that very seriously,” I spat at him.

He snorted in disgust. “You mess your own life up very well. This place was practically dead, apart from the people who worked here. Emma was alone all weekend while you partied your ass away. I came back from Athens because I felt bad for her. She was alone, crying while eating ice cream! How could you leave her like that? I know the island is practically safe, but a drunkard could go in there and hurt her knowing that there are not many people to hear her screams.”

f*uk. My hand slowly eased off him as his words set in. When did I ever forget to protect Emma? I knew I was angry, but I should’ve thought of her safety first. “You’re right. I’m sorry, I was…” What? Ballistic? Going crazy with thoughts of Emma with Carter and now other men?

“If you’re just going to act like a teenager, Bass, and can’t see that she is a good woman, then maybe you should stop whatever it is that you’re thinking and leave things as they are. I know a few men who would gladly take your place.”

I bet he did. There was Carter and now it seemed that the list of men kept on growing. “Did she sleep with any of them?”

He thought for a second before he shrugged, clueless. “I don’t know. You have to ask that yourself.”

Dimitris left Emma alone with international playboys? “How can you not know!”

“Because I was busy with Claudine.”

f*uker was busy getting his dick attended before he made sure mine was safe. What the f*uk! “I can’t believe you put your sex life before Emma’s safety. She could’ve been drugged or hurt from any of those men!”

Dimitris darted me a murderous glare. “Of course I made sure she was safe, Bass! Or I wouldn’t have left her to begin with. Emma shooed me away anyway.”

Did she now. Why would Emma do that when the only man she knew there was Dimitris? Then—I remembered what she told me last night. “Who was she with?” I thundered, almost wanting to continue fighting. I wanted to roar and knock everything that was around me.

“Jacques. She was with Jacques Bertrand.”

“Jacques,” I whispered, choking the hateful name out of my lips. It was Jacques she slept with, not Carter.

Emma, what have you done to us?

What have you done to me? I thought as I walked out of the tent, stopping in my tracks when I spotted the person who was turning my life upside down; all the way down to hell.





Chapter 8


“Sometimes you need to run away just to see who will come after you.”



- Lisa Brooks



Emma



“Has he slept with any of these women?” I wondered out loud. If there was one person who knew the gossip here, it was Ants.

“There are rumors, but you know? Rumors are almost never true. Most are fabricated by jealous, crazy people,” he tried to reassure me, but failed.

“But do you think they are?”

“All I know, Emma, is that you and Bass are crazy for each other.”

“Were, past tense.” Well, mostly in his case. Me, on the other hand, I’m still trying.

Just as I finished uttering my last word, I saw Bass chatting with two women hanging onto his every word. He was their f*uking golden boy who could do no wrong; I was getting sick of it, of him.

When my phone rang, I strolled away out of earshot, relieved that I had something else to do other than think of the f*uking man. Without looking at the caller, I took it. “Hello?”