Cheaters Anonymous (27 page)

“Are you okay?” My breaths were shallow as I pulled away from his lips.

“Never better.”

Straddling him, I dragged my finger over his pecs, along the lines of his muscle, then down the path of his happy trail. I drew the outline of his kissable V above his pelvis with paint. He looked gorgeous enough to be on display – a private one set up just for me.

“You’ll need to replace everything.” I snaked my hands over his body, which was covered in orange and purple and looked absolutely beautiful. The erection under his briefs was growing, and I licked my lips. It was a wonder how much skin a palmful of paint could cover. I hadn’t realized I was feeling every possible inch on his body with my hands. Prints from my palms and the lines of my fingers were everywhere, and so were his on my body.

“The paint is water-based. Remember? Jules, don’t take your mouth away from mine again.”

“Okay,” I nodded.

And he seized my lips again. Scar lifted me into his arms and carried me upstairs. I held onto him with my slippery arms, praying we wouldn’t tumble. My worry wasn’t about the possible broken bones or injuries, but only that this would stop. I couldn’t pull away from him; I needed this more than anything. It would solidify our relationship and prove to me that we were more than a one-night stand.

With a side glance we passed the bedroom overlooking the rest of the house and stepped into a bathroom. I moaned with need as Scar set me down in the shower and turned the knob. Cold water hit my back, abusing my skin, and I flew right back into Scar’s arms. The water warmed slowly. He removed the shower head and pointed it over my shoulders. Two-toned streams flowed down my skin, blending and swirling over the tiles. He carefully rinsed the smears of paint off my chest, back, breasts, and stomach before crouching and resting the nozzle between my legs. He slid the panties off my hips. I was pretty sure there was no paint there, but I couldn’t move. Instead I parted my legs and raked my fingers through his hair, feeling a slight hint of his breath on my pussy.

“What’s this?” He kissed the tattoo just underneath my hipbone.

Scar must have missed the mark the first time in the cave when he kissed my skin below the belt.

“A drunken mistake,” I lied. I wasn’t ready to tell him about that part of my past – or maybe I just didn’t want to. It was over. I didn’t want to think about it ever again.

He kissed that part of my skin again before trailing his searing lips across my tummy to the other hip, then down to my triangle.

Steam rose higher as his fingers slid between my folds. He spread them apart and pulled his tongue over my sensitive flesh. My hips pressed into his mouth. His licks were unforgiving and his tongue hard and swift over my clit. I could already feel my muscles give in as my thighs tensed, holding the flex. I gripped the shower head in my hand, not remembering how it got there, pointing it over his back as I held on with my other hand on his shoulder. Scar’s mouth closed over that special spot, and I couldn’t believe just how quickly someone could bring me to that euphoric state. I arched my back and steadied his head over that central nub. A few more licks, and I’d be done.

“Right... there... Scar!”

I couldn’t stop the scream. I let go of his shoulder and the nozzle. My arms flew apart, searching for some sort of support, but the shower was so wide I couldn’t reach its walls, and so I held onto his head, relishing each jitter and spasm as he sucked the orgasm right out of my body, finally knowing on his own when I’d had enough and he could pull away. He rose off the floor, fastened the shower back in its spot, rinsed his mouth, and brought his lips to mine.

“You’re delicious.”

I couldn’t answer him. I only knew that I needed more – specifically, his cock inside me, filling me and completing me.

Scar shed his boxers. I lifted my foot onto the tiled bench to the side and reached lower to his cock, wrapping my fingers around his thickness, positioning myself closer to him.

“Jules, one sec.”

He stepped out of the shower. I heard him fumble with a drawer, and when he stepped back in he was already wearing a condom.

“Turn around.” His voice was raspy and filled with need.

I twisted my body and arched my ass higher. With a slight bend at his knees, Scar entered me in one slick thrust and just like our first time, stayed there without moving as if savoring the moment.

“I can’t imagine this ever getting old.”

He didn’t even know those were the exact words I needed to hear. And then grasping my hips, Scar moved in and out of me. I leaned forward, resting my hands on the bench, bending lower and lifting my behind for him. My breasts shook underneath me with each push and slap of his balls against my pussy. It was insanely hot.

“Jesus, Jules. Your ass... ah fuck!”

And he sped up. I bit my lip, relishing the feeling of him inside me. His thrusts were quicker and deeper, and in this position, with my body bent in half, I felt a spark I never had before. I wanted more and needed more. I braced my hands, pushing myself onto him, lost to the sound of water mixed with our heavy breaths. I needed my release and I needed it fast.

“Fuck me, Scar. Please fuck me.” I reached between my legs and massaged my swollen clit, feeling that bliss build and crest at the same time Scar screamed behind me.

“Ahh!” My words had pushed him over the edge. The next three thrusts were forced and meant to milk the last drop of his seed.

When he stopped, he gently pulled out, rolled the condom off, tied it, and tossed it over the glass shower door directly into a trash can. “Do you know how perfect you are?”

I laughed. “You’re a sweet talker.”

“No, just telling the truth.” Scar reached for the shampoo. He washed my hair and then the rest of my body, being extra gentle between my legs where I was still swollen.

“Like a ripened fruit,” I heard him say.

I returned the favor, massaging the suds over his body, for the first time paying attention to every white mark on his back and chest. While they were scars of pain from his past, they were beautiful to me, and I made a note to kiss every one of them at night.

“I know Brad’s in jail, but stay here. I want you to spend the night with me,” he said, as if reading my mind, as he dried me with a towel.

“I would love nothing more.” I kissed the first mark over his bicep.

We ordered take-out and sat on the kitchen stools – one of the few pieces of furniture in this house – waiting for the food to be delivered. The sun was lowering, streaking ribbons of light through the back windows, illuminating the house and reminding us of the smeared paint on the floor. Now that I had a closer look at it, it was quite beautiful. A footstep here and there, another one dragged over toward the staircase.

“The cleaning service will have questions,” I said. Scar had called and rescheduled them for tomorrow. Today was ours.

“They won’t. They’re professional.”

Just as the doorbell rang with the food, my phone buzzed. As Scar paid, chatting with the driver, I slid my finger over the screen to unlock it.

There was an email marked “urgent” from Chris.

“Attaching the information you wanted on Beth Wagner’s IVF. All documents from the clinic have been scanned into the system.”

I should have stopped at that point. I should never have clicked or read the documents that spelled out much more than Scar’s biological mother’s name. They also had the information on Beth’s switched egg. It had been implanted in another woman seeking treatment that day: her name was Candice Watson, and she had given birth to a baby boy named Bradley.

C
HAPTER
26

The bulletproof glass separating me from the room of convicts didn’t seem thick enough. I tapped my fingers on the counter and bounced my knees. It had been three days since I’d received the letter from Brad asking me to come see him in jail – on my own. At first I wanted to burn the paper and ignore the request, but the little symbol he drew at the bottom, the same one I had tattooed underneath my hipbone, opened a gate to the life I thought I’d left behind. In the pit of my stomach the feeling that I was about to make a big mistake was growing, but in all honesty, I didn’t have much choice. If Brad knew my secret, I would do anything to squish it.

I sneezed into my elbow as the orange-suited asshole sat down on the other side. He picked up the black receiver and I reached for mine with my shaky hand, bringing it to my ear.

“Well, hello, Doctor Blakely. Did you miss me?” Brad’s voice still had the same traumatizing effect on me. I hated him. If I could have, I would have pretended he didn’t exist. Except with the trial set to begin in one week, I didn’t have much choice. Scar and his father had ensured no bail was set, and so Brad had been stuck here for over three weeks. And now my gut twisted, telling me that I was about to play a bigger role in Brad’s trial than I wanted to.

Looking at him from behind the thick partition, the feeling of angst from when he’d nearly raped and killed me, returned. Maybe coming here wasn’t a good idea. I should have ignored the letter and let the judge send him away forever. Unfortunately, from the conversation I’d overheard between Scar and Axel, I was beginning to wonder whether that was even going to happen. The Wagners weren’t the only ones with connections, or with a father who was a lawyer. Practicing international law, Brad’s father not only knew Mr. Wagner quite well, but his connections stretched all over the world.

“What do you want, Brad?”

“No
hi, how are you?
”

“How about leave me the fuck alone?”

“I love that mouth of yours. Especially when I picture your lips around my cock.”

“Fuck off.” I slammed the receiver onto its hook and stood up, ready to leave. I should have known better than to talk to a psycho.

The bang on the glass brought my attention back to him. Brad’s palm was pressed against the divider. A mark that must have been burned into his palm some time ago had left a scar in the same shape as my infinity tattoo.

A wave of panic crushed my chest and the world spun around me. I grasped at the edge of the chair, holding my body steady, taking in deeper breaths. I lifted my eyes to see Brad’s vicious smirk. His mouth was moving, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying – not until I sat back down in my chair and picked up the receiver. Angst slowly crept up my spine as I waited for him to speak.

“That’s a good girl. I’m glad I got your attention now.”

My lips pressed into a thin line. I wouldn’t say anything. There was no way he knew about the past I’d left behind. Scar was the only person I’d told my secrets to; but I didn’t tell them all. I waited for Brad to speak again.

“You’re going to drop the charges against me. You’re going to convince Scar and Trish to do the same.”

“There’s no way they’ll ever agree.”

“If your career is at all important to you, you’ll find a way, Julia. What would your co-workers think when they found out you whored yourself?”

“You have no proof.”

“I have plenty.”

There was a moment of eerie silence between us. There was no way. Zoey used her money to free me. I cleared my name before leaving Washington. Besides, when I did business, I had done so anonymously.

“Do you still think you ran into me at Hounds by accident? Do you think Scar ended up at the hospital covered in all that paint with a cock pump on the evening you were working by chance? Coincidences like those need a bit of help, Julia. It was no fucking fate that brought you two back together, it was me.”

Why would Brad do that? What was in it for him? Was he really that obsessed? And did he really know about my past?

“You’re lying.” I could barely hear my own voice. It sounded like a whisper trying to cross thousands of miles.

If we dropped the charges, would he leave me alone? I doubted that, but I didn’t have much choice either.

“I want anything you have on my past before the trial. And you will sign over your ownership of Hounds to Scar. I’ll talk to them about dropping the charges once I have everything.”

“That’s a hefty price to pay just for the charges to be dropped. That club is a cash cow. Besides, I have a better team of lawyers than OJ. I may be freed. And then you’d have no bargaining power at all.” He sat back in his plastic chair and rubbed his fingers through his stubble, slightly twisting his body to a more relaxed position.

What the hell does he want now?

“What is it that you want, Brad?”

He leaned forward until he was almost against the glass. His breath collected on the partition, fogging it up. That devil’s spark was back in his eyes as he said, “What do you think, Julia?”

I was afraid to give him the answer I knew he was looking for. My mind screamed at me to leave, yet I sat in the chair, completely frozen, actually contemplating the unspoken offer.

No, never. I’d never sell my soul to this devil.

“I said I will try with Scar and Trish.” Maybe if I ignored his sick intention, he’d forget about it.

My cell vibrated, and Scar’s name showed on the display. Feeling guilty that I’d lied to him about what I was doing today, I flipped the phone over. Technically I was out on a lunch break, so I was still at work. And if I had any luck, Scar wouldn’t come to the hospital with a surprise visit the way he sometimes had during the past two weeks. Ordinarily, of course, I loved how much effort he put into this relationship. While with my work and his business, it was difficult to find time to see each other, he was definitely trying to make it work.

“I don’t think you realize how much is at stake here, Julia. Why don’t we just make this a conjugal visit and get it over with?” His eyes widened with hope – as if I’d agree to his request.

Gross.

He rubbed his chin again. The orange jumpsuit definitely suited him, and I wished I could be sure that it was the only piece of clothing he’d get to wear for the rest of his life. His psychosis knew no bounds.

“Maybe I’m going about this the wrong way,” he continued. “You see, if I don’t get what I want – and if you or anyone else for that matter files a restraining order against me – I will send every last copy of the video I have of you fucking countless men to all the emails on the hospital’s database. Good luck keeping your job after that. If my request is not met, I may as well stay locked up. You’re gambling way more than I am if you don’t take my offer.”