Kelly was my personal drug, and I was hooked on him. I was addicted to every violent high and cruel low that he made me feel.
When he felt my orgasm pass, he pulled his fingers out of me, but kept a steadying hand around my waist so that I didn’t topple over. When he went to move, my hand shot out to wrap around his arm. “Is it true? Do you and Godfrey visit Stephanie every week?” I asked quietly, my face flushed from my orgasm.
He sighed. “It’s true. But not in the way that you think. I can’t tell you more than that.”
It was my turn to sigh. “That’s the thing, Rogue. I told you already, I’m done with the lies and the omissions. I’m either in, or I’m not,” I said, before pushing off the wall and walking away.
I didn’t know what hurt more—the fact that he wouldn’t talk to me, or the fact that he let me walk away.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
I couldn’t hold back the glare on my face as I sat across from Mr. Taylor at our family dinner. Even though it had been a week since the guys told me what he forced them to do, I was still fuming with anger. I closed my eyes as he spoke, imagining myself lunging across the dinner table to rip his beady little eyes out of their sockets. The only reason I didn’t was because Mama and Daddy were actually having a decent night together. They’d only fought once this past week. It had been about the new couch Mama bought that cost a year’s tuition at Smith Academy. It was an ugly peach color, but her purchases usually coincided with Daddy’s trips to the Bahamas with his girlfriend.
Usually, we only got together once a month, but Daddy won a high profile case. I knew he’d rather be out celebrating with a woman half his age rather than be here with me and Mama, but Mr. Taylor thought a family dinner was in order, and since he called the shots at the law firm, there we were. Personally? I think everyone was just waiting to call my parent’s bluff. Their marriage was a sham, and I was pretty sure all of Savannah knew it.
Godfrey was on my left, barely picking at the roast Mama bought from the Piggly Wiggly off main street. Naturally, she placed it on her best silver platter and even printed off a recipe to reference for when Mrs. Taylor asked for it—and she always asked for it. Mrs. Taylor was just waiting for Mama to slip up and admit that she wasn’t nearly as domestic as she pretended to be. The effort spent on lying probably could have gone towards actually preparing dinner, but Mama didn’t like to do things the honest way.
“I’m just beside myself with excitement. Royal is gonna come home for Christmas this year,” Mrs. Taylor said while beaming with pride. Every damn time she came over, she looked for a reason to brag about her eldest daughter. “She’s just changing lives down there in Ecuador. She says she’s really enjoying Doctors Without Borders.”
Godfrey and I choked back laughter at the same time. Godfrey’s older sister, Royal Taylor, was probably on a beach somewhere writing checks for vaccines and not actually doing any work, but their Mama didn’t want to hear that. It was practically sacreligious to say that Royal was anything less than perfect.
“So, Daddy, tell me about this case you just won,” I said in a sickly sweet tone.
Since learning the darker sides of Mr. Taylor’s firm, I’d been dying to know if Daddy was involved in it, too. Something told me that my father wasn’t smart or confidential enough to coordinate something like that. Carlisle Livingston liked to brag, and he’d probably blow the whole operation by posting about it on social media, but I wanted to be sure.
Everyone turned to look at me with surprise. It was rare that I actually paid any mind to anything regarding the business, and it didn’t escape me how Mr. Taylor gave me a fastidious look, like he suddenly grew suspicious of me.
“It was a fun case,” Daddy said excitedly. “It was a merger between Massey Industries and a new business, Lone Wolf. They didn’t want to sell, but didn’t really have a choice.” Daddy was a corporate lawyer. It’s how he made his money. He used to tell me that nothing else was really lucrative enough to be worth his