Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 127201 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 636(@200wpm)___ 509(@250wpm)___ 424(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127201 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 636(@200wpm)___ 509(@250wpm)___ 424(@300wpm)
I scoff. “Her. Every fucking time I’ll choose her.”
She gapes at me as if I’ve lost my mind, shaking her head in disbelief. “You’re lying.”
“Am I?”
She glances at Tilly in the kitchen before shifting her stare back to mine. “Tell me my name.”
I shake my head. “I’m sorry. I can’t do that.”
“It’s been three years.”
“I don’t know what you want me to tell you,” I say. “Yes, it’s been three years, but there’s nothing more to it. We fuck. It’s easy and convenient. You keep up with me, you know what I like, and accept it whatever way I’m willing to give it. But that’s it. If you stopped showing up at Vixen, I wouldn’t even notice.”
Tilly steps in behind me, gripping my arm as she watches the woman across the room. “There’s a patrol car in the area. They’re coming straight here.”
I nod, and the woman starts to back up, looking for a quick escape, but she won’t be getting away that easily. “How did you find my address? That information is confidential.”
She shakes her head and focuses on Tilly, scanning her up and down as if trying to work out what Tilly has that she doesn’t, and honestly, it’s simple. Tilly is everything that she isn’t.
“Why does it matter? You brought her here.”
“Exactly. I put her in my car and drove her here because the idea of not having her in my bed fucking kills me,” I say as Tilly straightens beside me, a soft gasp filling the air. “But you? The idea of you simply being inside my home makes me want to burn it to the ground. You are not welcome. Not now, not ever.”
A knock sounds at my door, and Tilly hastily excuses herself to answer it, coming back a moment later with two officers on her heels, already deep into her explanation of what’s going down as the Vixen woman desperately searches for an escape, her eyes flicking around my living room.
Within seconds, one of the officers is reaching for a pair of handcuffs, and the woman makes a break for it, sprinting toward me as though preparing to gouge my eyes out. Tilly screams in horror, only as the woman barges toward me, I reach out, grabbing her by her upper arm and slamming her down against the couch cushion, her wrists firmly behind her back.
“No. No, no, no,” she screams, pulling against my hold as though she’s not nearly finished here.
“Ma’am, please don’t make this harder than it needs to be,” one of the officers says, rushing through my living room to cuff her.
Once he has her under control, I step away, not wanting this to turn into something it doesn’t need to be. After all, it’s not the first time someone has tried to sue me for ridiculous reasons as an attempt to get their grubby hands on my money. They’ve never been successful, and I’m not about to let that change.
It takes both officers to drag her out of my home, and I make a mental note to mention this to Izaac. Tilly and I follow them to the door, watching as they lead the woman to their patrol car.
She fights them every step of the way, and seeing us watching from the door, she loses all sense of control. “Watch your back, Natalie Bardot,” she screams as Tilly stiffens beside me. “I know everything about you. There’s no escaping me now, bitch. I’ll end you for taking him away from me. You hear me? I’ll fucking end you.”
The officers tackle her into their car, slamming the door right in her face as Tilly stands motionless beside me. “How does she know my full name? Nobody knows my full name.”
I shake my head. That’s a good fucking question. Don’t get me wrong, I know exactly how I ended up learning her full name. But this woman shouldn’t have had access to it, and it leaves me scratching my head.
Once she’s locked in the back of their car, the officers return, quickly taking a statement from each of us, and twenty minutes later, we’re watching the officers get back into their car and drive away.
“It’s Annie,” Tilly says a moment later.
“Huh?”
“Her name. It’s Annie.”
“Shit,” I laugh. “You knew the whole time? You could have clued me in. Would have made me look like less of a dick.”
Tilly glances up at me, her brow arched. “I come here to find another woman, lying half-naked in red lingerie on your couch, waiting to surprise you with what I can only assume is a crazy sex-fest, and you thought I’d help make the situation easier for you? Hell no. I was enjoying watching you squirm. Usually it’s the other way around. It was a nice change of pace.”
“Jesus Christ.”
I pull my front door closed and place my hand on the small of Tilly’s back before leading her back into my home, heading for the stairs. Then just as I reach the bottom step and go to make my way up them, Tilly captures my hand in hers, pulling me to a stop.