Buyer’s Market(337)

“When I’m done with all this I’ll go and join you… Or you can come back to New York. Whichever you prefer, babe,” I continue, but she’s not buying it.

“No, Austin, stop it. That’s not happening.” She’s laying the law down and I know it. Her decision has been made, and she won’t change her mind. Fuck, I really don’t feel comfortable with her staying in New York. “I get it why you want to stay… And you’re right, we can’t turn our backs to this. Strokes doesn’t have a chance without us.” She takes a deep breath, mentally preparing for her next words. “What’s your plan?” She asks me.

“No, I don’t want you involved in this any more than you are right now,” is my only answer.

“The plan, Austin. Tell me.” Do I have the right to make decisions for her? She’s as tough as I am.

With a resigned sigh, I start explaining what’s on my mind. She sits there quietly, just taking in my words and nodding slightly.

“That’s it,” she says afterwards. “We’re doing it.”

“Babe, I don’t feel comfortable about it… Not anymore, now that I know you’re pregnant.”

“We’re doing it,” she whispers, her lips a straight line, and that’s it. We’re doing it. “It’s going to work, Austin. I know it will,” she says in a soothing tone, placing one hand on my face and laying a tender kiss on my lips.

It’s going to work.

I know it will.

I mean, it has to work.

Or we’re all fucked.





23





Destiny





Here we go, I think as I raise my closed fist to knock at the door right in front of me. I drop my hand against it three times in quick succession and then I wait, my heart beating anxiously inside of my chest. I hear footsteps inside of the house, and then a man inside roars, “Who’s there?”

“Guess,” I respond in a calm and poised voice, and the door swings open as if someone yanked on the doorknob from the other side. Lester is standing in the doorway, barefoot and wearing jeans and a plaid shirt. “Hi there, handsome,” I purr with a smile, and walk past him and inside his house. I smile inwardly at the look of confusion on his face, but then I hear the door slam shut and I remember what’s at stake here.

“Destiny,” he simply says, his lips a straight line.

“Oh, you remember me,” I tease him, walking straight into his living room and sit down on the couch where he was just watching a game. There’s an open beer sitting on the coffee table, and the Giants are preparing their next play on the flat-screen TV. I lean back against his couch, crossing my legs and allowing the hemline of my tight dress to climb up and reveal more of my legs. At the same time, I take my jacket off, revealing the low cut of my dress, Lester’s eyes darting straight to my cleavage. “Lovely place you have here.”

“Don’t fuck with me, Destiny,” he hisses, walking around the couch and staring me down. “What are you doing here?” I sigh and look down at my hands, trying to organize the right words into a coherent sentence. Then, I look up at him and let my smile fade away.

“I’m sorry, Lester,” I start, putting on an expression of commiseration. “I was an idiot.”

“What are you talking about?” he asks me, a confused frown on his face.

“I… I let myself be fooled by Austin,” I stammer, pursing my lips and trying to look like a damsel in distress. “He sweet talked me and he… I was a fool, Lester. All these months I had the perfect man right in front of me, but I guess I never realized it before,” I continue, my heart galloping inside my chest. This has to work, I pray to myself, this has to work.

Slowly, Lester walks up to me and sits by my side, placing one hand right on my knee. “You came to your senses, then?” he asks me, that awful grin dancing on his lips. After what he did to me—and after I discovered who he really is—I can’t help but feel disgust every time I glance at him. He shouldn’t even be in jail, he should be hanged. You think that’s harsh of me? Well, just remember who he really is; Lester, someone who profits from human fucking trafficking. From selling women. Scum of the Earth.

“I did come to my senses, yes,” I tell him, running my tongue between my lips and looking into his eyes. I place my hand on top of his and squeeze it lightly. “I don’t even care about the club anymore, Lester… I don’t know, when I realized what you can do, the power you hold… I want someone like that in my life. A real man, a powerful man… Someone like you,” I whisper, lowering my voice as I stroke his ego.