Grace Anne - By Kathi S. Barton Page 0,32

Monday morning and he still wasn’t in. Thomas just knew it had something to do with that girl.

He thought about the woman who had approached him Sunday afternoon. How she’d gotten his name and address was still a little fuzzy to him, but he liked her idea about getting back at Michael. He smiled when he thought of her plan.

“You bring me the man and I’ll let you do whatever you want to him after I get the girl. She’s all I want anyway. After that, I could care less what you do.”

He nodded and knew that for whatever he thought of doing to Michael to get back at him, this woman could do worse to him. He sat back on his chair and looked at her. “And what is it that you expect me to do with him? You must know that he’s my brother. And what is it you want the girl for anyway? I might want to fuck her instead of giving her to you.” Thomas stroked his cock. “She and I had a connection at dinner on Friday. I think I might want to pursue it.”

She looked at him strangely before answering. “All right. You can fuck her, but she’s still mine. When you’ve had your fun, then I take her away and you will have your stepbrother. I know all about your relationship with him. You should be more discreet when you two have a fight. The underlings talk a lot.”

So here he was trying to make nice with his stepbrother and get closer to him. Thomas thought about using Trace as bait, but didn’t want to have to convince the kid to come with him. Trace hadn’t trusted him almost from birth; another reason to hate his stepbrother, for making his nephew hate him.

When Michael finally came into the building at nine-fifteen Thomas had been about ready to leave. He was just standing up to do so when he spotted him coming down the main lobby. He walked toward him and tried not to look like he felt—like he wanted to murder him right now.

“I need to talk to you. It’s about working for you again.”

Michael didn’t stop moving toward the elevators as he answered, “no.”

“Please. I need to have a job or my parole officer gets to put one of those ankle things on me. And that shit just isn’t going to set well with what I have planned.”

Thomas stepped into the elevator as soon as Michael did. “Well, you should have thought of that before you fucked the girl on her desk. It may not seem like much to you, but I do have a reputation to uphold.”

Thomas wanted to pull out the knife he’d purchased this morning and plunge it into his heart. How dare he to talk down to him as if he were better than him. Thomas took several deep breaths as he tried to regain control of his temper. He counted to ten, then again before he spoke, but by then the elevator had stopped on the upper floor and Michael we getting out.

“You have to give me another chance. I promise I’ll try and not screw up again. You have to give me something here, Michael. I don’t want to go back to jail.”

Jail had been some place he’d never go again, even if he had to shoot a couple of cops to do it. It was a place that he’d been low man on the food chain and not a place he liked. Thomas shuddered as he thought about the person who had introduced him to being a “girlfriend.” Thomas caught up with Michael, trying to outrun the memories. The man, Jack, had taught him a great deal about submission and what happened to his “girlfriend” if he didn’t.

“Look, I don’t have the energy to fuck with you today,” Michael said as he hung up his jacket. “You come back tomorrow and I’ll see what I can do. I’m not making any promises, but I’ll see.”

Thomas wanted to tell him to go and fuck himself, but knew that he’d never get the job if he did. Instead, he thanked him and walked out of his office and down the hall to the elevator. He was just stepping inside when he saw Trace. The boy was coming toward him at full tilt and stepped in the elevator before it closed. He was sure the kid was going to regret it the moment he realized who was with