Roman: Book 2 (The Hunter Brothers Series) (3 page)

“I didn’t even
give her the chance to tell me her version, or ask her about it. I can’t
believe Dad lied like that,” he sighed, taking another long drag of the cigar.
“The worst thing is, I can’t even ask him about it or get an explanation.
Scarlett isn’t responsible for what her fucking father did and that’s if any of
it is even true,” he said as I frowned.

“It sounded true
to me, Charlie,” I said as anger gripped his features and I could see how much
he was struggling to believe it, touching his arm again as he tipped back his
head, looking skyward and taking another drag of that cigar. His guilt was
palpable and all I wanted was to take his pain away. I had never seen Charlie
this way and my heart was aching for him. There was only one thing he could do
to try and rectify this, as much as I didn’t like the thought. I knew how that
relationship had affected him, it was the main reason he was determined not to
get involved again. He was still raw and still reeling; only it seemed that his
ex and his brother hadn’t been to blame after all. “Speak to her now, explain
what’s happened. You can’t undo what’s past, but you can offer an apology,” I
said softly as he smiled gently.

 
“It won’t do any good. Jesus, Chas, I behaved appallingly.”
I shook my head.

“You’re being too
hard on yourself. Roman left, and you had no reason to think your father would
be so deceitful,” I offered supportively.

 
“You don’t understand, babe,” he replied sadly,
looking back out across the lush green lawns, the fountains and the beautiful
lodge by the lake that stood in the distance.

“Then explain it
and I’ll try and help. At the very least I can offer you advice from a girl’s
perspective,” I said as he took a deep breath.

 
“She was head over heels in love with me. If
I’m honest with myself, part of me wondered for a second if he was lying. It
just seemed so implausible because of the way she acted around me, but I trusted
my father implicitly and had no reason to doubt him. If he’d have said Tyler or
Lucas I would have reacted differently, but Roman....well...he’s a puzzle and the
truth is; I believed he might be capable of it.” I was desperate to ask more
about his beautiful brother, but now was not the time.

 
“I know how Roman is with women; I’ve seen it
often enough. I’ve yet to meet one who hasn’t fallen for him when he turns on
the charm, and even when he doesn’t. It’s always been the same and I can’t
really explain it. It’s as if he radiates a strange magnetism.
 
You’ve experienced it yourself, Chas,” he
said, throwing me a look that knocked the breath from my lungs. He was right,
and not remotely happy about it.

“Go on,” I urged,
deciding that getting off the subject of Roman might be best all round. “When
Dad told me what he’d seen, I ended it. I called her and told her it was over.
I didn’t let her speak or reply, just announced that and cut her off. She phoned
me relentlessly, came to the house, the office and my apartment. Her messages got
more and more desperate, and I needed to find a way to get her off my back,” he
said, sighing regretfully.

 
“What did you do?” I asked, watching as he
shook his head, blowing out a long plume of smoke.

 
“The only thing I knew that would stop her
contacting me. I hit her with the lowest and most humiliating blow I could
think of,” he said, staring at the floor, absorbed in shame. I was intrigued to
know what it was, gazing at him as he turned to look at me. The Charlie I knew
didn’t seem capable of cruelty towards a woman he cared about. It couldn’t be
that bad, surely.

“Have you heard of
the Barbie sisters?” he asked as I nodded. They were blonde topless model-types,
infamous for threesomes with celebrities and appeared endlessly in the papers
in kiss and tell stories. My hands flew to my mouth in shock. “I fucked them
and told them to go to the press with an expose. Hunter Industries was big news
at the time. Lucas and I were out to show the world we meant business. Everyone
wanted to know more about us. Lucas is a private person and they weren’t
getting a story from him, so I utilised the situation to humiliate my ex and
give them what they wanted,” he sighed.

“Holy shit,
Charlie, that’s harsh,” I gasped, wishing I could suck back the words as soon
as I’d said them. Pain engulfed his features once again.

“I know. Everyone
saw it; her friends, her staff, probably even her dad. She was hurting and raw
and I put her through hell.”

“She didn’t even
know that it finished because you thought she’d slept with Roman?” I asked,
feeling all of a sudden quite sorry for the woman I didn’t know, who had gone
through this agonising devastation even though she’d done nothing wrong.

“No. I mean, I
assumed she’d know why we’d finished, because I thought she was guilty of it.
We never had the conversation. I couldn’t face hearing what I thought would be just
more lies. She must have been so confused, Chas. She had no idea why I ended it,
and then I’m all over the papers breaking her heart for screwing the Barbie’s.
I even made an on record comment that it was the best night of my life. I was
hurting and I wanted to stick the knife in,” he sighed as I shook my head.

“Shit, Charlie,” I
said, slightly stunned at his admission as he stared at me long and hard.

“What should I
do?” he asked as I thought about it for a moment. Roman had called her a
sociopath and Silus had clearly hated her. The last thing I wanted was to push
Charlie back with someone his family didn’t like, but the poor woman deserved
an explanation at the very least.

 
“You need to talk to her,” I said, placing my
hand on his arm. “It won’t be easy and she may not want to hear it, but you have
to call her and tell her everything. It’s the least you can do.”

 
He nodded his head. “I don’t know whether
Roman wants to share that he’s Everett’s kid,” he sighed as I thought about it
for a moment.

“Then don’t tell
her that. Just tell her you don’t know why your father lied. If he hated
Everett as much as you all say he did, then she’ll probably believe he wanted
her out of your life just because she’s Everett’s daughter. Roman will have to
decide whether he wants to tell her he’s her half brother, and that will depend
on whether he wants to tell Everett he’s actually his son,” I said as Charlie
nodded.

“What’s Scarlett
like?” I asked, desperate to know more about Charlie’s mysterious ex, and
Romans half sister.

 
“She’s unique, a bit of an acquired taste” he
quipped, turning to face me. That didn’t sound altogether a positive thing as a
small smirk curved on the corner of his mouth. “She’s adopted, so she doesn’t
look anything like Roman. She’s a redhead with green eyes and just about as spirited
as they come,” he grinned. “She gets a hard time though. There’s a really sweet
side to Scarlett that no one ever sees. It’s as though she has a hard shell
that she shows to the world, but underneath she’s a different person. Most
people just see the feisty ball-breaking bitch,” he laughed softly.

“You like feisty
women,” I winked as he laughed, flashing his eyebrows and putting his arm
around me, sending a soft warm shiver down my spine.

“I certainly do,
Chas,” he flirted as I kissed his cheek.

“Go and call her.
It will make you feel better,” I said as he stood, crunching out his cigar on
the flagged stone and making his way back inside. I sighed deeply, wondering
whether sending Charlie back into the arms of his ex might have been my worst
idea yet.

Roman was staring
at me as I made my way through the patio doors. Electricity shot through my
skin just from the penetrating glare of his eyes as I shuddered, wondering how delectable
it would feel if that glorious specimen actually touched me. Tyler glanced up
at me, tearing me from my wayward thoughts, his furrowed brow betraying his
concern. “Where’s Charlie gone?” he asked as I glanced at Lucas who looked
equally as worried as his brother.

“He’s gone to call
Scarlett to explain what happened,” I said as Roman came to sit beside me, my
body responding immediately to the proximity. Fuck, he even smelled of testosterone.

 
“What’s he going to tell her?” he asked,
turning to face me. My breath hitched as his thigh rubbed mine, gazing deeply
into my eyes and studying me far too intensely. I forced myself to look away. Charlie
was right. He did have a strange magnetism and it was taking me all my effort
to breathe as every eye in the room landed on me, waiting for answers.

“He won’t tell her
that you’re Everett’s biological son, or her brother. He’s just going to tell
her why it ended and that he’s sorry about the Barbie’s,” I said, glancing back
at Roman, whose eyes were twinkling with amusement, a small smile playing
around his mouth.

“The Barbie’s?” he
asked, and it suddenly dawned on me that Roman didn’t know. He’d taken off and
this part of the story was as much news to him as it had been to me.

“Yeah. There are
these girls, they call them the Barbie sisters,” I said as he smirked.

“Yeah, I know the
Barbie’s.” From the look on his face he clearly knew them well, intimately
even. My stomach lurched in a sudden illogical jealousy that nestled in the pit
of my gut as I tried to keep the annoyance from my face. It was a completely
unwarranted reaction that I hadn’t anticipated. I pulled myself together
quickly.

“Well after he
found out what you did, or at least what he thought you did, he screwed them to
get Scarlett off his back. They went to the press with their story,” I said as
Romans mouthed formed a delicious looking ‘O’ and he sat back, momentarily
shocked before he burst out laughing.

“Jesus fucking
Christ, the humiliation of that must have absolutely crucified her,” he said as
I stared at him, wide eyed.

“Yes it probably
did, so it’s not really funny, Roman,” I said seriously as his smile faded,
gazing into my eyes. I swallowed hard as another surge of electricity raced
through me and I tried to maintain my composure.

“You don’t know
Scarlett, Chastity. She deserves everything she gets. The woman is an out and
out bitch and she doesn’t even know it. She thinks her behaviour is normal. She
might not have lied about this, but she lied about everything else while they
were a couple,” he said as I frowned, looking across at Tyler who was nodding
in agreement.

“Do you think
they’ll get back together, Lucas?” I asked quickly as he shrugged.

“I don’t know,
Chas, but he’s not in a good place. He’s filled with regret and remorse,
feeling guilty and in mourning and he won’t be thinking straight. It would be
better if he didn’t do anything too hasty where Scarlett’s concerned,” he said
as my stomach sank. “She had a hold over Charlie that I’ve never seen before.
In spite of all the warnings we gave him, and everything she did, he couldn’t
see it. He only ever saw the good in her, and believe me, that’s not easy.”

The more I was
hearing, the more concerned I felt. “Surely she wouldn’t take him back after
what he did to her,” I said as Lucas laughed coldly.

“Don’t be
surprised. When it comes to Charlie, Scarlett doesn’t behave rationally. He
called it love, but it wasn’t. It was unhealthy, bordering on obsession if you
ask me,” Lucas said as I blew out a long, slow breath.

“You look
worried,” whispered Roman and I wasn’t sure what the comment meant, keen to let
him know exactly where I stood.

“Of course I’m
worried, he’s my friend,” I whispered back as he cast me a narrow eyed glance,
pushing the firm muscles of his thighs closer to mine and leaning into my ear.
My skin bristled with excitement at the contact.

“Are you sure
that’s all he is?” he growled softly as I nodded mutely, strangely overcome by
the closeness and feeling suddenly bereft as he moved away. He strode to the
other side of the room, chuckling gently as he poured himself another brandy. I
risked a quick look at my sister who flashed her eyebrows momentarily, grateful
that apparently no one else had noticed the interchange.

“To Dad,” Roman smiled,
lifting his glass as we all turned to him, slightly shocked at the sudden
toast. “He may have been one almighty bastard, but he was our almighty
bastard,” he said as everyone raised their glasses, silently thoughtful. Roman
took a huge glug of his brandy, leaving the room as I followed him, moments
later, to try and find Charlie.

The house was a
maze, huge and elegant, stately and beautifully furnished as I made my way from
room to darkened room, listening for any sign of life. What Lucas had said
worried me, but even more than that, I needed a few minutes to gather my wits.

Roman Hunter had
me seriously off my game and it unnerved me. I never behaved like that around a
guy, but it was involuntary; a mix of emotions and physical reactions as
powerful as they were intimidating, and the rush was addictive. Ordinarily I
would have work, the gym, shopping or coffee with my girlfriends to still my
raging hormones, give myself a mental slap and get back on an even keel. This
weekend I wouldn’t. I was trying to convince myself that was a bad thing, but
there was a little voice with a very big message currently at play in my head.