forehead before getting into his own comfy clothes, namely, a black T-shirt and gray pants. His feet are bare. His strong arms strain against the material around his biceps. Every muscle he has seems more prominent, even through his clothes. “Good workout?” I ask, pulling my hair into a ponytail.
A light nod gives me my answer, though something tells me it wasn’t so good. I study him as he rakes a hand through his wet hair, pulling it off his face. “Ready?” he asks.
“What are we doing?”
“Watching TV.” He claims my hand and pulls me along as I balk at his profile. “I just want to do something normal,” he adds.
“What are we watching?”
“The Godfather.”
I roll my eyes as he turns a dirty smirk onto me, nudging my shoulder playfully. “That’s not funny.”
He laughs lightly and looks down at his phone when it rings, coming to a gradual stop. “You go. I’ll take this and join you.”
“The theater room?”
He nods and ushers me on, turning and heading back to the bedroom. I hear him say hello to whoever’s calling, his voice short and clipped, and then the door closes, and it takes everything in me not to press my ear to the wood to listen. Trust him. I breathe in and walk backward a few paces, eventually tearing my eyes away and turning. I take the stairs, the cold marble sinking into the bare soles of my feet, the slap of flesh on hard stone feeling good. When I arrive in the theatre room, I scan the cream space for a remote control to turn on the TV. Nothing.
“Lost something?”
I startle and turn, finding Amber in the doorway, her blonde hair secured tightly in a bun. It makes her face look sharp and unfriendly, her dark lips and black trouser suit adding to the hard look. “No, I—” I pull up, for the first time wondering why she’s here. Again. “What are you doing here?”
Her unfriendly persona turns downright hostile. “I could ask you the same question.”
“Well, that would be stupid, since you know the answer.” And just in case she doesn’t, or maybe just needs it confirming, I subtly reach for a loose strand of my hair and tuck it behind my ear, hoping the dazzle of my diamond blinds her. Her eyes widen, no doubt, but her body remains still, her face expressionless. “So, why are you here?” I ask again, this time moving forward, demonstrating that I’m not threatened by her. Not even when she’s dressed to kill, and I’m dressed to veg out. “To fuck Danny, or one of his men?”
“He has feelings for me, you know.” Her chin rises a little. It doesn’t dent my confidence. The woman is deluded. “Before you, we were a sure thing.”
“Clearly not such a sure thing,” I reply, refusing to allow her animosity to get under my skin. Or her tall tales to worry me. I’ve had so much taken from me, I’ll be dead before I let another woman try to take Danny. “Shouldn’t you be leaving, since you have nothing here anymore?”
Her dark lips twist. “You’re nothing but a whore.”
“Maybe. But at least Danny wants this whore,” I fire back, my irritation threatening to show. She will not get a rise out of me. “And at least he doesn’t share this whore.”
She can’t disguise the shock on her face. “Will he want you when I tell him you’re a rat?”
I smile. I can’t stop myself. She’s in it for the win, obviously. Shame she’s already lost. “Do what you’ve got to do, Amber.” I brush past her, set to go find out where Danny hides his remote control.
I get only a few paces before I have her claws in my back. Literally. Her nails sink into my shoulders through my thick sweater and haul me back, and she screeches something inaudible, slamming me into a nearby drinks cabinet. I’m momentarily disorientated, stunned that she would physically attack me, then I gather myself and wrestle her away, channeling my energy into shoving her back and using the time to compose myself. I refuse to have a catfight with a woman. Jesus, what on earth is wrong with her? “You’re showing yourself up, Amber.” I straighten myself out. “Have some self-respect.”
“Fuck you. He would have been mine had you not seduced him.” She stands and reaches behind her back, pulling a gun out and aiming it at me.
“Are you kidding me?” I stare at the black weapon in her