“I might help,” Fee backpedaled, not liking the underhanded vibes. Thoughtful, she took a bite of her sandwich. While Fee pitied Kendall’s grief over the loss of her job, it was her own fault. But she wouldn’t get any information, if she seemed against whatever they were up to. “I need to know some particulars.”
“Of course you do, Fee.” Kendall leaned closer to her. “Counts needs your brother’s help for a very important project. Life being as strange as it is, it so happens, one of the Bobs is Count’s sister.”
Fee lost her appetite as she thought of what Christopher would say if…when…um…if she told him. She slid her plate away. “I’m not quite following you.”
“Don’t hate me, okay, Fee? There’s this girl. Her name’s Daphne.”
Daphne! The gorgeous woman who’d been all over Cash at the clubhouse? Kendall knew her?
“She’s Counts’s sister,” Kendall went on, oblivious to Fee’s increasing resentment. “She’s crushing on your brother. It’s hilarious. I just need her to distract him long enough that I can work out a deal. What I’m planning will benefit the firm and show Outlaw how invaluable I am. He’ll allow me to work for Brooks again.”
“You’re paying a woman to seduce my brother?” That woman especially. The one who had Cash eating out of her hands. “Are you kidding me?”
“He has ice in his veins. No real woman can tempt him. Me, you, and Daphne are real women.”
“W-we are?”
“Ummhmm. We’re sexy career women who keep men on their toes. Men, in the plural sense.”
Fee frowned.
“Daphne was at the park yesterday,” Kendall continued. “Johnnie told me. CJ was there, so I can almost guarantee he ran and told his mother.” She gave a long-suffering sigh. “Meggie probably put up an obligatory objection, then forgave Christopher immediately. However, every woman has a breaking point. Even our sister-in-law. Daphne was supposed to go to their house today and...I don’t know what she would’ve said to Meggie. Not that it matters. It worked out better than expected.”
“Daphne agreed to this?” Fee asked in outrage. “Hold on. What did you mean when you said she agreed to step up her game?”
“Sometimes, to have fun, I’ll give Daphne a few dollars to taunt Meggie. She refuses to have Christopher bar those women from the club, so why not use them against her?”
“What does that mean?” This was sounding worse by the second. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“Nothing. Anyway, before she got to the house to see Meggie, Daphne ran into Christopher outside the clubhouse.” A small smile on her face, Kendall lowered her lashes. “After Daphne and I made the arrangements, I left my house and came across her and Christopher, so I called Meggie. Mayybbeee, I embellished things a little bit.”
“Oh my god!” Fee cried. “Kendall! Oh my god! That’s the evilest, vicious, and most diabolical plan I’ve ever heard. What the hell’s wrong with you? You can’t do that to Meggie and Christopher.”
“Fee, we’re friends. Remember that.”
“Not if you’re fucking over my brother and his wife.”
“I’m not! I swear. It’ll be a week at most, then I’ll come clean to them.”
“No! I’m not being a party to this. A lot of damage can be done in a week’s time.”
Tears rushed to Kendall’s eyes and she grabbed Fee’s hand. “Please, Fee. I’d never do anything to hurt them,” she swore around a small sob. “They mean the world to me. I intended to build my career at the firm. I have tenure there. With my partnership gone, I feel so worthless and lost.”
Understood, but what Kendall was doing had the ability to destroy her brother’s life. “I can’t—”
“Please, Fee,” she wailed. “You’re my friend. You said so yourself.”
“Kendall, I can’t believe you’re doing this to me! The position you’re putting me in. You’re making me choose between Christopher and you.”
“I’m not!” She sniffled and sobbed again. “I’d never make you do that. I respect my friends too much to ever put them in such a position. I just need a few days. That’s it. Then I’ll fix everything. I’m not asking you to choose. I’m just asking you to hold this secret.”
Elbows on table, Fee covered her face. “I could’ve done without this. I’m not bringing anything to the table, so my being here is pointless.”