the woman she became. And did I hate myself for it? Yes. Did that make me stop thinking about her in every way I shouldn’t have? No. It made it worse. Like the forbidden fruit I wanted to pick and keep for myself.
“Perhaps,” he agreed casually. “But I have a feeling you’ll change your mind. You can only handle so much. You’re only one person with limited power.”
“Are you trying to tell me something?” It was a nicer way of asking if he was threatening me. Even I had my limits on how to go about conversations with assholes like The Dick. He got his way by waving his money around and talking smack. He was the kind of guy who could charm anybody if he wanted to, so people listened. That left me at a disadvantage if he decided to go that route, which I had a feeling he would.
“I’m just making a point, Theo. Nothing to get upset about. We’ll talk another day. Maybe over lunch. My treat.”
His treat, my ass. People refused to let him pay wherever he went. I’d heard the rumors. He had enough dirt on people to get his way. It was how he played dirty. The more scandal he could collect, the likelier he won at whatever endeavor he went after. I just needed to know what his intentions were with me because it certainly wasn’t innocent.
“You still look after the Saint James girl, don’t you?”
My phone cracked when I tightened my grip around it. “Watch yourself, Pratt.”
The fucker chuckled. “Relax. I happen to know she’s still friends with my youngest. Samantha. Remember? They’d play together all the time when they were younger thanks to the wives.”
The wives. I remembered everybody Della was around, and I never did like that little girl with half the fucker’s DNA. Samantha Pratt always got into trouble. She was just like her mother and wanted to be the center of attention. I didn’t doubt she picked up a few traits from her father too. Whichever they were, I highly doubted they were good.
“I recall,” I said dryly.
“Considering their friendship, we’ll be in each other’s lives one way or another. I have it on very good authority they’ve rekindled their friendship quite recently. I’m just saying, we might as well make the most of it.” His or else lingered in the dead air between us. I wasn’t stupid enough to believe he brought up Adele out of genuine curiosity. Hell, last I heard he didn’t even like the family he was stuck with because his daughter could cost him his reputation and his wife was no better with the amount of money she spent and men she tried roping in.
My lack of response fueled his amusement, but it was better than me feeding him anything else. He wanted a reaction and I wouldn’t give him one.
“You have a good night, Theo.”
If I ground my teeth any harder, I’d need to get them fixed. “You too.” Jackass. “Tell your wife I said hello. I’m sure she’d be happy to know I’m thinking about her.”
The disgruntled noise he made was satisfying right before I hung up. I didn’t know his wife well, but that didn’t mean she didn’t know me. She tried to get me in her good graces years ago for her own benefit. What that was, I didn’t care enough to think about, but from what I heard, it involved a lot less clothing.
When I arrived on the ground floor, I said my usual goodbyes to the employees who worked the front desk and doors with the tip of my head and decided tonight was a good night to bust out the good whiskey while I finished up some work at home. A nagging feeling told me to be cautious because whatever Richard referred to was going to involve more than just me if he didn’t get his way.
Like it did too often, my mind drifted to Della.
A few days into the new week, I decided to stop holing myself up between my offices. It wasn’t a surprise that I found myself at the high-rise apartment complex that a certain blonde was living in, five floors up. It’d been a while since I checked in and I never liked texting her if I could see her instead. She couldn’t bullshit me face to face like she could on a screen.
I wasn’t expecting the muffled sound of something sounding oddly like a dog on the other side of the