Lovers and Takers (18 page)

“It’ll have to be tomorrow,” she warned.
 
“I’m loaded with meetings for the rest of the evening.”

But she didn’t understand how badly Jake needed to have her with him.
 
“How late do you plan to work?
 
I would love to have you in my arms as soon as humanly possible.”
 
He didn’t want to sound desperate, but he knew he was.

Roni exhaled.
 
It all seemed so fast and furious.
 
But if she was going to take the plunge, she may as well take it.
 
“We should wrap up by ten or so,” she said.
 
Then she thought about it.
 
She had a lot of meetings scheduled for the following days, but she knew Griff could handle all of them without her.
 
“If I can get home and pack, then I guess I could head out around midnight.
 
Provided I can get a plane out that late.”

“You can,” Jake said eagerly.
 
“My plane.
 
My car will be to your house at midnight to pick you up.”

Roni hesitated.
 
This jet-setting was all so new to her.
 
And the impulsiveness of it went against her very nature.
 
But seeing Jake again was too tempting.
 
“Well, I guess it’s settled then,” she said with still some trepidation.
 
“I’ll be ready.”

Jake wanted to leap for joy.
 
“Great.
 
That’s great, Veronica.
 
Can’t wait to see you.”

“Same here,” Roni said, which
was quite the admission for her
.
 
And then they said their goodbyes and ended their call.
 

Roni just stood there, still basking in the sheer excitement of the journey she had just agreed to embark upon.
 
And the idea of it was far more a plus than a minus.
 
She smiled almost whimsically.

But she would not have smiled at all, if she knew who was heading her way.
 

“What are you smiling about?” Kara asked and Roni, stunned to hear her cousin’s voice, turned to the sound.
 
Kara was walking toward her.

“Didn’t I tell Drena about letting you waltz up those stairs without being announced first?”

“That woman is too busy to be worrying about me.
 
What were you smiling about?”

Roni wanted to be urbane and sophisticated and keep her noisy cousin in the dark.
 
But she smiled again.
 
She couldn’t suppress her joy.
 
“Looks like I’m going to Europe,” she said.

“Europe?”
 
Kara asked.
 
“As in England, Europe, like that?”

Roni wanted to roll her eyes.
 
England, Europe
?
 
Seriously?
 
“As in Russia, yes.”

“And why in the world are you going to Russia of all places, Roni?”
 
But as soon as Kara asked it, she realized why.
 
Her big eyes stretched.
 
“
Mr. Varnadore
?” she asked, amazed.
 
“You’re going to Europe to be with Jake Varnadore?”

“Not so loud,” Roni said lowly, shushing her.
 
“But yes.
 
He asked me to come.”

“And you said
yes
?”

Roni nodded her head, feeling giddy.

“I don’t believe it.”
 
Then Kara shook her head.
 
“Big my ass,” she said.
 
“For you to do something like this, that man’s cock must be ginormous!”

“
Kara
!” Roni said, looking around, amazed at her raunchiness.

“Well, it does.
 
Especially for you to be going all the way to Europe to get some.”

“That’s not why I’m going to Europe.”
 
Although Roni was no fool, either.
 
It was a big part of why she was going.
 
She’d missed Jake’s body more than she realized she would.
 
“I’m going to Europe because he wants to show me the sights.”

“Yeah, and get some, ah huh.”

Roni gave up.
 
She was too excited to fight it now.
 
“That too,” she finally admitted.
 

And then Kara first, and Roni along with her, laughed out loud.

NINE

Druce knocked on the door of Troy’s apartment and Pam, tipsy, leaned against him.

“I thought we were going to your place,” she said, fighting sleepiness.

“We’ll get there.
 
I just want us to hang out with Troy for a little while.”

“Who’s Troy?” she asked as the apartment door opened.
 
When she saw that Troy was the same young man she had seen in Druce’s office about a month ago, the prettiest boy she’d ever seen, she smiled.
 
“Oh, that’s Troy,” she said with one of those assessing looks.

Troy was used to those looks.
 
Since he was a kid he had to deal with those looks, from men and women both.
 

“Come on in,” he said as he stepped aside and let the twosome walk through.
 

Pam smiled at him as she walked in first.
 
Druce squeezed his ass as he walked in behind her.

Troy wanted to roll his eyes.
 
That man nauseated him.
 
If he wasn’t somebody who could get Troy where he wanted to go he would have kicked his down-low ass to the curb a long time ago.
 
In fact, when Druce phoned earlier and told him that he was coming over, Troy was so irritated he almost told him that he couldn’t.
 
Almost every night lately that man wanted his dick all up in his ass and he was getting tired of it for real.
 
But when Druce added that he was going to bring along Pam for a nice little ménage, Troy’s mood lifted.
 

“Pam Varnadore?” he asked Druce at the time.
 
“Mr. Varnadore’s daughter?”

When Druce confirmed it, Troy actually became a little giddy.
 
He saw how Pam had looked at him that time at Druce’s office.
 
She wanted him, too.
 
Troy could spot it a mile away.
 
And as he
bathe
quickly to prepare for their visit, he couldn’t stop wondering how that little lady could very well be his ticket out.
 

But he knew he had to be careful.
 
Dreadful Druce was territorial if he was anything.
 
He wasn’t going to mind Troy giving some
to
his lady, but he was going to mind mightily if Troy enjoyed getting some
from
his lady.
 

But for Troy his feelings didn’t matter. He never enjoyed fucking anybody, and he was certain Pam Varnadore wouldn’t be any different.
 
But if he pleasured her to such a high level that she’d keep secretly coming back for more, he knew he would make it to that inside track in ways he could have only dreamed about through Druce.
 
Dating the boss’s daughter, after all, carried its’ own rewards and risks.
 
All Troy had to do, he felt, was turn on the charm tonight.

But he didn’t get the chance.
 
As soon as they crossed the threshold of his apartment, Druce started escorting Pam toward the bedroom.
 
But Pam, to Troy’s delight, wasn’t cooperating.

“No, Druce,” she said, pulling back.
 
Her tipsiness had her mentally slow, but not so slow that she couldn’t now realize why he had brought her to Troy’s apartment in the first place.
 
“I told you I don’t want to do that.”

“And I told you
it’s
okay.”

“But it’s not okay.”

“Do you trust me?” Druce asked as he wrapped his arm around her waist again.
 

Troy wanted to puke.
 
It always amazed him how some of these females fell for Druce’s bullshit.

“Yes, I trust you,” Pam said, falling again.

“Then trust that I won’t lead you wrong.
 
I love you,” he said as he kissed her.
 
“I just want to make you happy.”

“But I’m happy with just you,” Pam said, rubbing his shirt collar.

“I know, baby,” Druce replied, and began trailing kissing along her long, thin, brown neck.

Pam lifted her chin and enjoyed the feel of his mouth on her.
 
But when he began inching her toward that bedroom, she pulled back again.

“I said no, Druce!” she said angrily.
 
“I’m not having sex with
no
two men!
 
Don’t you understand how disgusting that is to me?
 
I’m not doing something that vile, and I don’t understand why you would want me to do it!”

“Ah, come on, baby,” Druce said, taking her by the arm.
 
“You’ll love it.
 
You’ll get it both ways.”

“I said no!” Pam said even more angrily and Troy, amazed by her defiance, looked at Druce.
 
And just as he expected, she had gone too far.

Druce slung her back toward him and then slapped her violently across the face, causing her long, dark hair to whip sideways when he did.
 

“Who do you think you’re talking to, bitch?” Druce asked angrily.
 
“I’ll put you in your grave before I let you talk to me that way!”

Druce’s slap wasn’t surprising to
Troy,
he’d been subjected to Druce’s violence in the past.
 
But it surprised the hell out of Pam.
 
She looked at him as if he had lost his mind.
 

And then she lashed back.
 
She slapped him hard across his face and tried to scratch his eyes out, but Druce fought to grab her and hold her.
 
He knew he had crossed that line.
 
If she told old man Varnadore, or even Aubrey, he’d be out on his ass.
 

“Oh, baby,” he said, attempting to pull her back into his arms. “I can’t believe I did that to you.”
 
Then he placed his hand on her chin, looking at her face.
 
“Did I hurt you?” he asked her.

“Get away from me!” Pam angrily insisted and fought her way out of his embrace.
 
Then she hurried to get away from him.
 
She’d put up with a lot of Druce’s bullshit in the year that they’d been together, but laying a hand on her wasn’t something she was going to take.
  

And Druce panicked.
 
“Pam, I’m sorry,” he said, reaching for her.
 
“Pam, wait,” he added, as he managed to get a hand on her.
 
He then bundled her into his arms,
lying
his head on her back.

“Oh, baby, I’m so sorry.”
 
He
turned
 
her
around, tears magically appearing in his eyes.
 
Pam was ready to fight out of his embrace, until she saw those tears.

“Please forgive me,” he said.
 
“You can beat the shit out of me, Pam, if you think I meant to hurt you.
  
Here,” he said, offering up his jaw, “hit me hard as you can.”
 
He knew she wouldn’t do anything that savage, but it would prove to her that he was serious.
 
“Please,” he said.
 
“Give me your best shot.”

To his ultimate surprise, Pam did.
 
She took her fist and hit him smack on the jaw, causing him to stagger back and grab hold of it.
 
He was stunned.
 
That bitch, he thought.
 
But he was not so thrown that he knew he had to continue to show contrition.

He smiled at her.
 
Troy feared for her.
 
“Wow,” Druce said, holding his jaw and coming to her.
 
“You sure pack a punch for a little lady.”

But this was too serious for Pam.
 
She might be young, and the carefree girl, but she was not about to let him beat on her.
 
“If you ever hit me again,” she made clear, “I’ll pack more than a punch, Druce.
 
I don’t allow that.”
 
Her father taught her from childhood to never, not ever, let a man lay a hand on her.

Druce nodded and, to Troy’s surprise, didn’t attempt to wallop her back.
 
He extended his hand to her.
 
“And you’re absolutely right,” he said.
 
“Don’t you ever let me get away with anything that heartless ever
again.
”