Deception (Infidelity #3)(10)

“Whatever Lennox Demetri did to upset you.” I heard his eyebrows wiggle. “And now that I know about some preferences, I’m less concerned and more intrigued. But I digress. Whatever he did to upset you hasn’t altered your feelings for him. You’ve defended him at every turn. I mean, I have heart-stopping information that may or may not be accurate and you’d rather abide by a promise than hear me out.

“Going back to him isn’t optional. He owns you for a year. The fact that he allowed you this temper tantrum shows me that he’s an all-right guy. He could’ve refused to allow you to leave.”

I opened my eyes and lifted my gaze. “And what, Pat, tie me to the bed?”

“Whoa,” he lifted his hand. “I’m still coming to terms with my little cousin and kink. I don’t want any more details.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Literally, no. Figuratively, yes.”

Before I could speak, he went on.

“Here’s one more observation. For some reason, Spence—Bryce holds a part of your heart. Maybe it’s because for a rich, spoiled princess, your childhood was pretty sucky and you associate him with the better-than-awful parts.”

I wanted to protest Patrick’s description of me as well as a few other parts of his statement, but he lifted his hand again.

“My point is that I was only one year ahead of Spence at the academy. You may not know this, but I threatened his ass when you two started dating.”

It was my turn for my eyes to open wide. “You did?”

“I did. He was jacking off his mouth about you, about things I wanted to believe weren’t true.”

My stomach turned. We never did anything. What the hell was he saying?

“I told him that you deserved respect and gave him a nice, long list of easy lays. I told him that if he ever hurt you, I’d hurt him.”

My face scrunched in disbelief. “You told him to screw other girls but not to hurt me? That doesn’t make sense.”

“It doesn’t now, but it did then. My mom told me about the charges pending in Evanston. I know Uncle Alton is throwing money at it left and right, but I wasn’t the only one who had a reputation at the academy. From what I heard, Spence liked it rougher than kink. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised that he got carried away and beat the shit out of that girl.”

There were too many parts to his statement to dissect each one. “He had a reputation? Before he dated me?”

“While. Little cousin, all those girls were my cover. You were his.” He shook his head. “I’m not saying he’s gay. I’m saying his preferences don’t make for his Carmichael-Spencer reputation. If you ask me, from all you’ve said, that’s what he wants back. The thing is, I never thought of you as a spoiled princess, maybe because I saw the inside of your castle. Now him…” Patrick shrugged. “…I never understood it. Spence walked around Montague like the royal son, when in reality, he was nothing more than a pauper.”

“The Carmichaels—”

“Weren’t the Montagues. Hell, they weren’t even the Fitzgeralds.”

I shook my head.

“For some reason, Spence had, correction, has, entitlement perfected. If you ask me, you or I should be the ones entitled. Instead, we’re the ones signing our companionship away for a year at a time and he’s back in Savannah crying in his milk, wanting more.”

I stood and this time I took my wine glass to the kitchen and set it in the sink. When I returned to the living room, Pat was still sitting on the couch staring into space. I walked close and planted a kiss on his forehead.

“I love you. Thank you for always being there for me. Not just now, but always.”

He reached out and secured my hand. Turning it over he gently traced the faint bruise on my wrist. “You trust him.”

It wasn’t a question, but I nodded anyway.

“I don’t know what’s going on in that pretty head of yours, but trust is something that should be difficult to earn and way too easy to lose. Once it’s lost, regaining it is difficult. Spence may have earned it when he was three, but little cousin, if you knew all I do, you’d never put it in his grasp again.”

“But with the rumors about Lennox’s wife…” I almost stopped my question. “…you’d let him have it?”

Patrick shrugged. “It’s not mine to give. But from the look of your wrist, you’ve given it. Do you really want to take it away?”

Do I?

The boa was back.

“Good night, Pat.”





“MR. DEMETRI,” NIKKI, my newest secretary, said as she opened the door to my office. “Daryl Frazier is here to see you.”

I glanced at the clock on the corner of my desk. He was five minutes early—as far as I was concerned, a point in his favor.

“Show him in, and bring us both coffee.”

“Yes, sir.”

I didn’t listen as she asked Daryl the obligatory questions—cream? sugar? Life would be much easier if everyone drank coffee the way it was intended, black. What was the point if sugar and cream muted the strong, robust flavor?

“Mr. Demetri,” Daryl said as he entered my office, his hand extended.

“Oren,” I corrected as he took the seat across my wide desk. “As you can imagine, my schedule is quite busy. I’m glad my girl was able to squeeze you in, but to be honest, I don’t have much time.”