What We Do in the Night (Day to Night #1) - Stylo Fantome Page 0,55

again, and somehow felt even worse than before he'd tried to make her feel better.

Seriously, it's like a condition. Diarrhea of the mouth. Someone needs to tell him to shut the fuck up once in a while.

11

She'd gone to sleep a bundle of nerves, Ari had been able to feel the tension from the other side of the bed. And then when they'd gotten up at six, she'd been a little quiet as they'd gotten dressed and driven across town.

Valentine really was a creature of the night, though, it seemed. Being out and about in the darkness seemed to invigorate her, and she perked up a little during the drive. The sun hadn't started to rise yet, so everything was still inky black in the city, and she chattered away about her job at Caché.

Then, when they pulled up to her townhouse, she didn't get out of the car immediately. Instead, she straddled him in the driver's seat, her ass setting off the horn once. She raked her nails across his scalp and shoved her tongue down his throat, and when he cupped her butt, he was reminded that she wasn't wearing any underwear under her long t-shirt.

“See you tonight,” she whispered in his ear before climbing out his door. “Unless, you know, you feel like playing Parcheesi before that.”

Ari didn't say anything in response and watched as she skipped up to her front door. Just before she went inside, she flashed him a smile, then also flashed him her bare ass. Then she slammed the door shut behind her.

She's crazy. I'm insane and she's crazy and what the fuck have I gotten myself into.

He put the car in gear and started heading back across town to his place. About halfway there, though, his cell phone rang. He glanced at the screen, then frowned when he saw who was calling.

“Hey, Dad,” he answered, looking down at his watch to double check the time.

“You need to come to the office.”

Ari sighed and pulled the car over.

“I told you, I'm taking the next two weeks slow,” he reminded him.

“You don't tell me anything – last I checked, I was still your boss. Now get down here,” his father, Donald Sharapov, ordered.

“What could possibly be so important at seven in the -”

“After this garbage you've pulled with Harper, I can't believe you're giving me attitude about your job. What were you thinking? Do you have any idea what kind of conversation I had to have with her father!?”

Harper's father was Roy Kittering – deputy mayor of Chicago, and a former judge for Cook County. He and Ari's father had a long history together, hence why Ari and Harper had pretty much been destined to be together. It meant Roy Kittering got some of the best legal representation in the entire state of Illinois, and it meant Ari and his father had a strong political ally who could help them from time to time, or maybe in the future, help Ari with a political career.

Though that had been the elder Mr. Sharapov's goal, not Ari's. Dumping Harper had been step one in gaining some control over his own life.

But he knew better than to push it.

“I'll come into the office right now, I'm a couple minutes away,” he sighed.

“That's my boy. See you soon.”

Ari didn't exactly have a close relationship with his dad, which was strange considering how much time they spent together. His mother had died when he was a teenager, and he'd lived at home all through college. Then he'd interned at his dad's firm during law school, and had gone directly to a full time job there. They saw each other every day, and had dinner almost every Sunday.

Yet it was a superficial relationship, and not a very good one, at that. Ari's father had always treated him like he wasn't quite good enough. His 4.0 GPA should've been a 4.1. He should've graduated number one in his class, not just in the top .5 percent. He should've gotten a bigger settlement in his groundbreaking case – the “biggest in Cook County history” still wasn't big enough for Don Sharapov.

Asshole.

But it was a world Ari was comfortable in, and he made a shit ton of money, so he stuck with it. He spent his days elbow deep in the legal system and he trudged along knowing that eventually, hopefully, it would all lead him to greener pastures.

His nights, though, those had always been solely for him. He didn't answer his phone,