Once she realized he wouldn’t give her what she wanted, she would move on and he could forget her again.
Except he’d never managed to forget her in the first place.
“Does she know that? Because I don’t think she got the memo,” Sean said. “Look, why don’t you tell me the story from the beginning? Where did you meet her?”
He had no intention of rehashing old history. Something was wrong. It played around in his mind. He was missing something important. “She was at a club. I fucked her. She wouldn’t go away. Then she died. Story over.”
“God, you’re obnoxious. You married the woman. There has to be more.”
What the hell was he missing? “I’m not joining your pussy-whipped men’s therapy group, Sean.”
Sean shot him the finger. “It’s called a poker club, asshole, and we wouldn’t have you.”
The bacon. That was the problem. He got still, forcing himself to really listen. Someone was cooking, and it sure as hell wasn’t Sean. “Did you bring Hans with you?”
Sean waved that idea off. “Nah, that’s Alex.”
Motherfucker. He rose to his feet, his head only threatening to crack wide open. A man couldn’t simply drink himself to death quietly around here. No. His friends had to show up to watch the show. “He’s supposed to be on his honeymoon.”
Alex’s big body was suddenly in the doorway. “Eve and I canceled. This is so much more important.”
God, Alex was going to kill him. He really was going to vomit. “I don’t need anyone to hold my fucking hand.”
“Oh, no. You misunderstand. I wasn’t talking about being here for you emotionally. I know you would never let me do that. I was talking about how much fun it’s going to be to watch you deal with Kris…Charlotte. Eve and I agreed watching this shit go down is going to be way better than Hawaii.”
Now he sent his best friend his happy middle finger. “Fuck you, Alex.”
“Come on, man. You were always there for me. You have woman troubles. You can lean on me.”
“You make it sound like I’m menstruating, Alex.”
Sean nodded. “That would explain the mood swings, and so very much of my childhood.”
He sent his brother a look that should have had him running. “I don’t have mood swings. I just hate everything. See, that’s what they mean by even tempered.”
Alex just chuckled. “I think Eve would disagree, but it’s good to see last night didn’t change you. I worried your beloved would come back from the dead and you would be a changed man, all hearts and flowers.”
“She’s lucky I didn’t kill her.” He hadn’t really even thought about it. He’d had a gun in his hand. He’d had someone who betrayed him in his sights, but no, he’d just convinced her to give him a blow job and insulted her and sent her away. Maybe Alex was right. He was totally going soft. If he didn’t watch out he would be at Sean’s Thursday night “poker” club which was really just an excuse to drink imported girlie beer and discuss their feelings. They played poker so they could nominally call themselves men.
He should have shot her. Then he could be in a nice comfy jail cell far away from his meddling friends.
Alex frowned a little. “I was actually surprised she wasn’t still here. I thought you wanted to question her. I came over to make sure she wasn’t tied up somewhere.”
But if he’d tied her up, he wouldn’t have been able to leave her alone. He would have spanked that juicy ass of hers and it wouldn’t have been long before he shoved his cock up her tiny asshole.
God, he’d never fucked her ass. He’d been training her for it when she’d “died.” That’s what he should have gotten out of her. He should have gotten some nasty anal sex.
“I don’t care what she has to say.” He wasn’t going to talk about what was going through his head. Alex didn’t need to know he still had a perverse obsession with his ex’s ass.
“Ian, she’s smart,” Alex pointed out. “If she says she has a line on Nelson, we should check it out.”
“She was working for Nelson, so we can’t believe her. She’s also a criminal.”
“I don’t think she does that anymore. You didn’t see her in Florida.” Alex leaned against the doorjamb. “I think she’s been trying to redeem herself. For you.”
Getting remarried had made mush of his best friend’s brain. “She’s a liar. She fucked me for money and information, and that’s why she’s here now.”
Sean whistled. “Tell me you didn’t call her a whore.”
Ian shrugged. He tried not to lie to his brother.
“Fuck,” Sean cursed and reached into his pocket, pulling out what looked like a stack of twenties.
Alex took it with a shake of his head. “I told you.” He turned to Ian. “We had a bet on how you got the shiner.”
“Fuck you both. Get out of my house.” He stalked toward the bathroom. He needed a shower. He needed to get back on an even keel. Whatever Charlie was trying to do by contacting his brother, it didn’t matter because it wouldn’t fucking work.
“Don’t feel bad. It’s how he says I love you,” Sean explained to Alex.
Alex laughed, shaking his head. “Breakfast is ready when you can stomach it, brother.”
He slammed the door. Those two wouldn’t go away. He might be able to scare Adam into leaving. Jake would follow orders. Simon didn’t care enough to fuck with him, but Sean and Alex wouldn’t believe him even if he threatened to shoot them both.
Maybe he needed to rethink the whole “inner circle of trust” thing. It was kind of biting him in the ass now. He should be able to wallow in his misery, but no, he had to deal with this crap.
He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. Damn, he looked like shit. He reached up and touched his left eye. It wasn’t horrible, but it had bruised. Charlie knew how to throw a punch.
He didn’t like to think about how many she’d taken. There it was again, that gnawing guilt that he wasn’t going to give into.
He turned on the shower, not bothering to let the water heat up. He didn’t fucking need any heat. Ice. He needed to remind himself that he had ice in his veins. He shrugged out of his slacks. He’d apparently passed out still wearing them.
What the fuck had that woman done to him? He’d lost control. He never lost control. He’d gotten drunk and blacked out. Even during all the years of mourning her loss, he always remembered every moment. Once a year, on the day she died, he would listen to that fucking song and drink Scotch and remind himself why he wouldn’t let another woman in. Not once had he passed out and forgotten the majority of the evening. It was dangerous. It was stupid.
She was going to kill him in the end.
He stepped into the shower, his head still pounding. The cold blasted his system, but he welcomed it. At the very least, it shriveled up his cock some. The damn thing hadn’t gone down since the moment she’d walked in.
Despite the ache in his head and his rolling gut, the minute he’d thought of Charlie, his cock had gotten hard as a rock.
It didn’t matter because she was gone, and he wouldn’t let her in again. If she showed up, he would call the cops. That little criminal mastermind wouldn’t want to see the police. Despite what Alex said, he knew damn well she was still working some sort of con. It was just who she was.
And he was a professional with a job to do. He couldn’t let Charlie get in his way.
“Coffee?” Alex held out a mug. “Holy shit. Is that cold water?”
No one left him alone. Not even when he was naked. He took the coffee, downing about half the mug before handing it back. “Yeah. It’s the only way to wake up. I’ll take that breakfast to go. You’re going to be sorry you missed your honeymoon because all that’s going to happen today is another meeting. Call and make sure everyone’s at the office. I have some intelligence to check out about Eli Nelson.”