“You can’t blame yourself for that shit. It was years ago.”
“It doesn’t change the fact she was still taken.” Lewis took a sip of his soda.
“Where is she now?” Richard asked.
“Therapy, just talking with someone.”
“She doesn’t remember anything,” Blake said.
“Doesn’t matter. She still has feelings, and nightmares. We’re not allowed to rush her to remember what happened.” Lewis glanced down at his watch. “I better go and pick her up.”
Richard watched Lewis leave, seeing a change within the brother.
“He’s found her, and it hasn’t done him any good,” Jackson said.
“No. She’s a shell of the woman he knew.” Richard turned to Russ. “I’m going to go and see Anna.”
“Sure.”
Richard left the main clubhouse and walked toward Russ’s room. He gave a little knock and waited for Anna to call out for him to enter.
Opening the door, he found Anna curled up on the bed, crying.
“I’m so sorry,” he said.
He couldn’t do tears. It was his one weakness with women, tears. They scared him.
“You don’t need to say sorry. You’re always glib like that.” She wiped underneath her eyes, sniffling some more. “I’m being stupid.”
“You’re not stupid at all.” He moved, taking a seat on the bed. “I was being insensitive.”
“Lewis said you were being a pussy tonight. What did he mean by that?”
“Fucker shouldn’t have said anything.”
Anna laughed. “It’s not very nice, is it, when people start to invade your privacy?”
“Is this payback?” Richard asked.
“No. I was just wondering what made you say the stuff that you’ve actually said. You’re glib, but you’re not cruel.”
Richard sighed. “I had sex with my PA.”
“Temperance?”
“Yeah, how do you know her name?”
“I called a few times to leave messages for you. Russ asked me to.”
“I had no idea.” He’d always assumed that Russ had called directly.
“I’m always helping out where I can. I don’t like to feel like a waste of space. I have to do something.”
“You’ve got to rest now.”
“Yeah, Russ, he’s been freaking out a little. I had a little bleeding, and the doctor recommended that I rest and abstain from having sex. Russ hasn’t touched me since.”
“Everything is okay though, right?”
“Yeah, everything is okay. How are you dealing with crossing that line with your PA?”
“I’m handling it okay. I’m more worried about her.”
“I don’t understand.”
Richard told her what had happened, including the incident with her friend.
“You’re not jealous though?”
“No. I’m not jealous. I’m intrigued.”
“Intrigued how?”
“Let’s just say there is something I’ve wanted, and with Temperance and Jay, there’s a possibility I could have it.”
“And Temperance just walked away?”
“Pretty much. She doesn’t know how I’m feeling about this though. Jay can help me to have what I want.”
“She may not have feelings for him.”
Richard snorted. “They’re best friends.”
“So?”
“He was her first.”
“So?”
“You’re not helping me, Anna.”
She chuckled. “What I’m trying to say is besides the obvious, that women are complicated, and not all of us stay hung up on those facts. We can have friends that are men without having any sexual desire for them. I consider you a friend, and I don’t want to sleep with you.”
“Charming.”
“Come on, you don’t want to sleep with me.”
“Very true. You’re tainted by your love of Russ.” He was doing everything he could to make her smile. Richard had seen the pain in her eyes, and the fear of what was happening to her. He liked Anna. She was strong. The BBMC had been there when she needed them most. Anna’s friend had been taken, and trying to save her, she’d gotten taken as well. During her time being captured, Anna was beaten, starved, locked in an animal cage, and witnessed her best friend dying.
He had a lot of respect for her, and for how she had handled what she’d gone through. Not many would have been able to bounce back from that.
“You could share her, you know?”
“What?” he asked. He was a little taken back seeing as that was what he wanted to do. Richard had no intention of Anna knowing that, though.
“Share her. Share Temperance.”
Richard laughed. “You’re really going to offer me advice on sharing. I bet you couldn’t share Russ.”
“First, I’m not an idiot. I know you like to share your women, Richard. Secondly, this is not about me and Russ. We’re not into that. You are. Thirdly, you weren’t jealous of Tempe’s friend, and we both know what you meant about there being a new possibility with him.”
“Everything is fucked up right now.” He didn’t like how easy he was to read.
“I always love it when a businessman talks dirty.”
“Hey, that’s me you like talking dirty,” Russ said.
“I’ll leave you two alone.” Richard got up and made his way toward the door.
“Talk to her,” Anna said. “Talk to Temperance before you start assuming what she wants, and try to make sure she’s part of the decision. You billionaires are a little self-centered at times.”
Richard nodded. “Take care of yourself.”
“I will.”
****
“Tempe, can I come in?”
Curled up in bed, Temperance stared at the door that concealed her best friend from her. She didn’t want to deal with Jay right now. He was a problem that she didn’t see coming. Yes, she loved him. He was her best friend, and she couldn’t imagine life without him in it, but that kind of love, that had disappeared long ago, or at least she thought it had. Now she was struggling with all of her feelings.
He took her virginity because she asked him to, and she didn’t want anyone else for her first time.
“Come in, Jay,” she said.
Seconds later he was lying beside her on the bed. “Hey, bumpkins.”
“Don’t. Don’t use childhood sweet names right now. I’m not in the mood.”
He sighed. “I’d have told you sooner.”
“How long, Jay?”
“Forever.” He didn’t even try to pretend that he didn’t know what she was talking about.
“That makes no sense. You’ve been screwing your way through every single woman that comes your way. You’re telling me that you’ve loved me all that time?” She didn’t believe it, not for a second.
“Yeah, I’ve loved you since the beginning. The night I took your virginity, in my head, that was it. You finally understood what I felt.”
Temperance remembered the day, and she felt her cheeks heat. She’d woken the next morning and asked that they never talk about it again.
“You could have said something.”
“How? You couldn’t even look into my eyes as you spoke. I didn’t want to lose my friend, and you’ll always be my friend.”
“This is going to be hard.”
“Give me a chance, Tempe.”
“Don’t.”
“I’m not going to go anywhere,” Jay said. “Richard, do you really think he’s the sticking around kind of guy?”
“I don’t know what kind of guy he is. I know bits about him, but, don’t do anything stupid.”
“Tell me something,” he said.
“What?”
“Do you like him?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Do you think you could love him?” Jay asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Do you think you could love me?”
“I do love you, Jay.”
“Not as a friend, as a lover?”
Temperance closed her eyes. “I can’t answer that right now.”
“Okay, we’ll just go to sleep.”
****
Richard was everything Jay hadn’t imagined. How could his luck be that bad? Temperance had always wanted a man like Richard, and it didn’t have anything to do with the money either. She liked them muscular, strong, and with a sense of humor. When he’d been in high school, and she’d admitted her fantasy to him, Jay had signed up to the gym and begun tryouts with the weight lifting team.
Damn, one of the reasons he’d held off pursuing Temperance was his own desires. He loved threesomes, and over the years had come to see how erotic it was to watch his woman let go in the arms of another man. There were moments where he’d imagine Temperance as that woman. Together they could find another man who they could trust to give them both what they needed.
All this time he’d truly believed Temperance wasn’t the threesome kind. There was no way he could share her with Richard, was there? His cock thickened at the thought. Temperance was clearly attracted to Richard, there was no doubt. Could this be what he’d been hoping for?
It had been some time since he’d allowed himself to dream of a future with her.
When he actually thought about what he’d done to gain her attention, Jay wanted to kick himself. He’d done everything—apart from actually tell her he wanted her. On the night he took her virginity, he truly believed their relationship was going to start over, and he would finally have her.