Bowles, Jan - Love Slave to the Sicilian Billionaire [Guilty Pleasures 4] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic) (9 page)

The message was perfectly friendly.

Kirk, I just wanted to thank you for a great evening. Let’s do it again, soon. Kathy xoxo
.

Ella clicked on several more. Each message was slightly longer in length than the previous one, and becoming more intimate in their content. There were more than sixty communications in total. She moved forward a month, picking one at random.

Kirk, tomorrow I have something special planned for you. Forget about your wife back in the US. I’m here, and she isn’t. She doesn’t understand you like I do. She doesn’t know what makes you tick. She hasn’t shared what we’ve shared.

Just think, another week, and then we’ve got two days and nights to spend together. As soon as we get to the hotel, I shall enjoy stripping you naked. I’ll take my clothes off real slow, showing you just enough cleavage to get that big cock of yours rock hard. Then I’m gonna grind my pussy down that beautiful shaft. I’m so wet thinking of how you’ll feel inside me. Believe me, you won’t need to spend hours trying to get me to come. I’m not unresponsive like your wife. I enjoy sex, as you’ve probably already noticed.

Unable to drag her gaze away, Ella continued reading. It was only when she closed the e-mail that she realized tears were streaming down her face. Not only had Kirk had an affair, he’d shared intimate details of their sex life with this bitch. He’d told the trollop she didn’t like sex. He’d confided in the whore, and it made her really angry.

“You fucking bitch.” Ella threw the empty glass at the wall. It shattered noisily, breaking into a thousand pieces. “How fucking dare you speak about me like that. You don’t know me, you tramp.”

Shaking uncontrollably, she rose from the computer and returned to the liquor cabinet. She poured herself another measure. Who else had Kirk shared their most intimate and private details with? Max? Had he told Max, too? The more she thought about it, the more obvious it became. Of course he fucking had. He and Max were best friends. They’d known each other since they were kids. Max probably knew all along that Kirk was having an affair. And Joey, Kirk’s buddy in the Marines. Did he know, too? Was that why he wanted to speak to her at the funeral? Ella took a huge gulp of tequila. Yeah, he fucking knew, too. No doubt they all had a good laugh at her expense.

Well, she’d call a cab right now and go and confront Max at his office. She didn’t give a fuck if she caused a scene. The big Sicilian had to know that she wouldn’t tolerate being treated like a fool.

* * * *

As the cab drew closer to the center of Wichita, the adrenaline kept pumping, making her hands clench into tight fists. For ten minutes the traffic barely moved. The cab driver pulled back the dividing screen. “I’ve just received a message from control. There’s a burst water main up ahead. This is as far as I can take you, lady, sorry. We’re all blocked in from behind, too, otherwise I’d take you around.”

Ella handed the driver twenty bucks, more than enough to cover the fare and give him a handsome tip. “Thanks.” Then she began walking the remaining six blocks to Max’s office. She couldn’t shake the image of Kirk and that army whore from her mind. They were laughing—at her. When she passed a bar with the sign lit she went inside. She needed a drink—a large one. Then she’d give Max a piece of her mind.

She walked up to the bar. A jaded bartender stared back at her. “What can I get you, lady?”

“Give me a drink.” Her life felt like shit. Max must have known all along.

“You need to be a little more specific, lady.”

“Give me four shots of tequila.”

“Expecting company?”

“None of your business,” she answered sternly.

“Okay, lady, just making small talk. Take a seat, I’ll bring them over.”

She slid into a booth. The anger once more coursed through her veins. She’d spent the last three months feeling guilty over Kirk’s death. Well, not anymore she didn’t, not now she’d found out he’d been having an affair with some blonde floozy. That bitch must take some responsibility. Where was she now? She clearly didn’t give a fuck about having an affair with a married man, and causing his wife so much distress? Perhaps she’d secretly attended the funeral. Ella felt her hackles rise. At the time she hadn’t been in a fit state to notice much. She could so easily have even been there, and she’d not known. That would be the ultimate humiliation.

The drinks arrived and she quickly began demolishing them. Knocking each of them back in one swallow. So what if she was getting tight. She had every right to. Kirk had betrayed her trust. And Max, that bastard, wasn’t any better. He’d known all along. He must have. When she started on the fourth drink, she banged an empty glass on the table several times. “Bartender, bartender. Four more shots over here, and make it quick.”

A waitress came up to her. “Ma’am, please keep the noise down. You’re disturbing the other customers.”

Through blurred vision, Ella looked around the bar. “What customers. I don’t see any other customers. Just get me the drinks, sweetie, and be quick about it.” When the girl didn’t move, Ella dismissively waved her hand. “Run along. Shoo. I need a drink. Why the fuck am I still waiting?”

The surly, jaded bartender strolled over. “Lady, I think you should leave.” He went to touch her arm, but Ella snapped, “Take your hands off me. I still haven’t had my drink. Four more tequilas, four more tequilas. What’s so hard to understand about that? Listen”—she touched the bartender’s arm, aware that her words were slurred and her vision blurred—“let me tell you about my husband. He’d rather fuck some old army whore than me.” She burst into laughter. “That was a joke, right.” The bartender didn’t smile. Maybe he didn’t get it. “Jesus you’re fucking thick.” She looked nonchalantly around. “You call this joint a bar? I’ve had more fun in a morgue.”

“You asked for it, lady.” He turned to the waitress hovering behind him. “Brea, go and get Roscoe.” He looked at his watch. “He’ll be in the coffee shop across the road.”

The bartender moved away, leaving Ella to finish the last of her drinks. When a shadow fell across her face, she looked up. Ella snorted indignantly. “What can I do for you, Officer?” she asked the aging cop. He looked like he’d just stepped from an episode of the cartoon
Top Cat
.

“It’s time to pay your tab and leave.”

“What if I’d rather stay here?”

“Lady, you need to sober up. You’re a danger to yourself and everyone else. Go home.”

“What would you fucking know?”

“Ma’am, I’m warning you not to cuss like that, or you’ll be sleeping in a cell tonight. We got one ready and waiting for you, down at the precinct.”

Ella laughed hysterically. “Oh, Officer Dibble, I’m so scared.” What was wrong with everyone? They all wanted to tell her what to do. Well no more. From now on she was going to be in control. “Look, Officer Dibble, while you’re here, why don’t you make yourself useful, and get me a fucking drink from the bar.”

“Right, you’re under arrest.” Without warning she was hauled from the booth. Her hands were held behind her back and then a set of handcuffs locked around her wrists.

“Are you into BDSM, too, officer?” She laughed at her own joke. “There seems to be a lot of it about.”

Chapter Eleven

The custody officer spoke in a matter-of-fact manner. “Bail has been set, at let me see, two thousand dollars.”

“Two thousand bucks? Why so high? What the hell did she do?” Max asked, surprised by the amount. It was so out of character for her.

An hour ago at Ella’s request, he’d received a telephone call from the precinct, telling him she was sleeping it off in the cells, and did he want to come and collect her. How had this happened? For Christ’s sake he’d only dropped her off a few hours ago to pick up some fresh clothes and toiletries. How the hell did she manage to get herself arrested, and in a sleazy downtown bar, too?

The custody officer continued, “Causing a breach of the peace, resisting arrest, and public intoxication are all serious misdemeanors. She’s due to appear in court in ten days’ time. I advise you to make sure this lady attends the hearing, sir.”

“Too right,” Max muttered through gritted teeth. Just wait until he got her home. There’d be some serious punishment meted out. He signed the papers for her release, and then waited for her to be brought up from the cells.

As soon as she came through the door, he knew something was wrong. She didn’t look worried or contrite. Her eyes burned into his as she waited for her personal effects to be handed back. In his opinion, she looked angry. She certainly didn’t look guilty or remotely ashamed of her actions. Damn it, this was not what he’d expected. This was not the Ella he knew. Why was she so angry? After all, it was him who’d had to go out of his way to come and collect her. Not to mention the significant matter of the two thousand dollars he’d had to put up for her bail. Ella needed a firm hand, his firm hand. He was definitely the right man to deal with a wayward, out-of-control woman.

“I’ve never known you act like this before. What’s got into you?” he whispered close to her ear. It had been six hours since she’d been arrested, yet there was still a strong smell of alcohol on her breath.

“I know everything, Max.”

“What do you know? I’ve no idea what you’re talking about?”

“Yeah, that’s right, Max, play the innocent, but I know. You don’t have to pretend anymore.”

Once her possessions had been handed back, Max roughly took hold of her arm and guided her from the building. “You had better stop talking in riddles, Ella, because as soon as you get home, your training begins.”

“Huh, training. You couldn’t train your way out of a paper bag, Max. I know all about the affair. There’s no point keeping up this charade any longer.”

Max bundled her across the parking lot to his car, resisting the urge to push her into the Porsche. “Get in and stay there.” He raised his voice, hoping she wouldn’t try and run off. She didn’t.

When he slid into the driver’s seat next to her, she began screaming hysterically at the top of her voice, “You fucking bastard.” Her fists rained down onto his face and body. Taken by surprise, it took him a while to control her. She struggled like a wildcat even though he held both her wrists, twisting and writhing in his grasp. She dropped her head, and he knew she was just about to bite him. What the fuck was the matter with her?

Max raised his voice. “Enough, Ella. I’m warning you. What has got into you today? You were just fine when I dropped you off this morning. You only had to pick up some clothes for Christ’s sake.”

“That’s just it, Max. I did a little digging, and I found out Kirk was having an affair with some army slut called Kathy.” She couldn’t hide the venom in her tone. “You know the little tramp, Max. The one he told you about.” Her eyes flared accusingly, connecting with his. “So there’s no need to keep pretending.” She shook her head, and rolled her eyes. “I’m such a fool. To think I thought you actually cared about me. You and Kirk must have had a good laugh, and now you’re just scraping up the stale crumbs that he didn’t want.” Tears began to stream down her cheeks unchecked, and her lower lip trembled.

Max felt his brows draw together. “Did you say Kirk was having an affair?”

Ella clapped her hands, mocking him. “Huh, you’re really good, Max, I’ll give you that. If it wasn’t for the fact that you were Kirk’s best buddy and he always told you everything, then I might almost believe you.”

Ella sounded so sure, but as she said, Kirk was his best buddy. Why hadn’t he known? “If it’s true then—”

“If?” She sounded incredulous. “There’s no if about it. I saw it with my own eyes, Max.”

“Saw what? Where?”

“He had this memory stick hidden in the garage. I connected it to his laptop.”

“Look at me, Ella.”

She stared straight at him, but he knew she didn’t really see him. “I mean look at me properly.” He raised his voice. “Just do it, woman.” Reluctantly, she stared directly into his eyes. “I’m telling you now, I didn’t know. This is as much a shock for me as it is for you.”