Page 84 of Harder Betrayal

Once the high was over and reality set in, my mood soured. It was the first time I truly felt like a whore. I felt used. Felt worthless. I was good enough to screw, but I wasn’t good enough to love.

I guided him off me then left the bed. With my back turned to him, I quickly pulled on my clothes, knowing his seed was slowly seeping out of me and filling my panties. Then I walked out and headed down the stairs to the living room. I sat on the couch and waited for him to leave.

Moments later, he emerged, fully dressed in the clothes he’d arrived in. He stood there and stared at me, as if he expected me to give an explanation.

I stared at my blank TV, ignoring him.

“That’s how it’s going to be?” he asked, his voice filled with disappointment.

“You got what you paid for. Now, leave.”

“You enjoyed it.”

“Maybe I did. But that doesn’t mean it meant a damn thing to me.”

25

GRAVE

One of her legs was hooked over my shoulder, and she was folded underneath me like a goddamn pretzel. It was one of those nights when once wasn’t enough. Not twice either. She had to be sore, but like the consummate professional she was, she never complained.

I could tell when a woman faked an orgasm, and Elise had never faked any of them with me. The tears. The screams. The incoherent moans. It was all real. I paid top dollar to fuck her, but she reaped the same rewards. What I really paid for was passion and affection without commitment. I got to experience all the highs of monogamy without the strings. It was exactly what I needed in my life right now.

With her hands planted on my chest, she came, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes.

I pounded that pussy until I was thoroughly finished, marking my territory and erasing every man who had ever been there. Covered in sweat and catching our breath, we both breathed through the high and the fall. Then I rolled off her and lay on my side of the bed, needing the space to cool off.

Her labored breaths ceased almost immediately. Her eyes were closed, like she was already half asleep. The fire had died down at some point during our fucking, and despite how large the bedroom was, the windows were fogged from our heat.

She turned on her side, makeup running from the moisture she’d shed from her eyes. She seemed knocked out already, fucked into exhaustion.

I stared at the chandelier hanging from the ceiling and slowly cooled off, letting the sweat evaporate from my skin.

My phone vibrated on the nightstand.

The only calls I got this late were work-related, so I reached for the phone and glanced at the name.

There was no name.

I rolled out of bed and moved toward the window to keep quiet. “Grave.”

“Sorry to disturb you at this hour, but I thought you should know something.” It was a voice I didn’t recognize. It belonged to a man who seemed eager to ruin my evening, not apologetic. “I’ve taken the woman you adore. The only way to get her back is to take her place. If you refuse, I’ll fuck her in every hole I can find, and once I’m finally bored with her…which may take a while…I’ll kill her. You have twenty-four hours to decide.”

I stared at my own reflection in the glass as I listened to all of that. “Who’s the woman I adore?”

“Is that how you really want to play this?” he said. “Or should I just kill her now and come for you next?”

“Karl.” I didn’t recognize the voice, but I recognized the rage. “Roan is playing you. He’s the one who switched my patient with your brother—and you’re falling right into his trap.”

“Maybe. But there’s no way to really know, right? Since you killed him and everything…”

I stared at my reflection.

“Twenty-four hours. That’s it.” Click.

I listened to the dead line for several seconds before I finally lowered the phone to my side. Buck naked, I stood near the glass and stared before I turned around and looked at the woman he should have taken.

She was sitting up in bed, and judging from the horror in her eyes, she’d understood the details of the conversation. “Someone’s taken Camille…?”