Jesse had suffered through tar thick coffee, stale doughnuts, mouse traps in his desk drawer, thumb tacks in his chair and any number of nasty little surprises for attempting to put her in her place in the past. His arrogance had been a complete pain in the ass. Training him had not been easy and she would be damned if she would lose ground with him now.
“Of course, Tally.” She saw that worried little glimmer in his eyes even though his attempt at sarcasm was sufficient to fool his wife.
Nodding sharply, she released him but didn’t return to the liquor. She needed a clear head to get through this.
Breathing in deeply, she fought to still the tremors in her stomach, the nerves that caused her hands to shake and made her heart beat a frantic rhythm within her chest. Terrorizing Jesse always seemed to help restore her balance. If she could master him, surely she could master Dev and Lucian. Couldn’t she?
“Tally, are you forgetting that’s my husband?” Terrie asked her, though laughter lurked in her voice as she watched the byplay in interest.
Tally breathed in deeply. “Yeah, well, he was my problem first,” she reminded her. “I have years of his torture to make up for. He could have scarred me, you know, working for his depraved ass.”
“Scar you?” Jesse snarled from behind her. “My depraved ass? At least my brother has his own wife.”
“And you brought in Lucian when you knew I disapproved.” She turned to him sedately, her voice cool, sarcastic. Now here, she was on even ground. “You, my friend, deserve pain. But I’ll be nice since Terrie is a friend of mine.”
Yes, that returned her sense of generosity. See? She told herself soothingly, all hope was not lost.
Jesse snarled silently, glancing at his wife as she fought her laughter. “Deal with this crazy woman,” he snapped, pointing his finger at Tally as she arched a brow imperiously. “I’m going to shower. I want her gone when I get back.”
He stomped from the room and up the stairs, his muttered curses drawing a small smile to Tally’s face.
“I love it when they fear me.” Tally sighed in satisfaction. “It just seems to make my day better.”
“I take it Lucian and Dev weren’t too frightened of you?” Terrie asked as she headed for the kitchen, motioning to Tally to follow her.
Tally frowned at her friend’s back. That parting shot had to be in return for reminding her husband of his place in the scheme of Tally’s Perfect Order. There was no other explanation.
“I need coffee if I can’t have whisky,” Tally said, following her. “Then I have to leave. I just know those two think they can handle me now,” she sneered, thinking of the satisfaction that filled them as she had screamed beneath Dev’s thrusting c**k the night before. “I’m certain Jesse called them as soon as he escaped. I knew he couldn’t be trusted.”
Chapter Fifteen
Lucian disconnected his cell phone slowly after the brief discussion with Jesse. At least he knew where Tally was, knew she was safe. His jaw tightened in irritation at Jesse’s furious refusal to discuss her, though.
“If you want to discuss that viperous little witch then call my wife,” he had snarled. “Maybe she can talk about her reasonably.” Which meant Tally was there, at least. And evidently, she had once again struck the fear of Tally into Jesse’s heart. She was one of the few capable of it.
Across the room, Dev stared out into the steadily growing morning, silent, pensive.
“The woman is a pain in the ass,” Dev finally snorted. “You would make us fall in love with a control freak with commitment issues.”
Lucian winced, but grinned. He wasn’t pleased with Tally right now, to say the least, but he wasn’t exactly worried either.
“And she thinks we’re depraved perverts with sharing issues,” Lucian reminded his brother with a laugh. “At least she’s rational and safe. We can deal with the rest.”
He controlled his laughter as Dev turned back to him with a frown. “That woman is never rational,” he grunted. “Snide, mocking, psychotic maybe, but never rational.”
“And we are?” Lucian was having a hard time containing his amusement. “Maybe it takes someone just slightly off center to appreciate the relationship she’s stepping into here, Dev. Give her time, she’ll be her normal self soon.”
“Yeah, that’s what worries me.” Dev tucked his hands into his jeans and shook his head in exasperation. “Hell, she almost scares me.”
Lucian laughed at that. Tally terrified damned near every man she knew. She could cut them off at the knees with a look, or unman them with a few carefully chosen words. She would challenge them, amuse them, infuriate them to no end and he found himself looking forward to it, as he did nothing else.
“Let her get her bearings.” Lucian finally shrugged. “A day or two and she should begin to see that the loss of control isn’t as big an issue as she thought it was. She’ll want more then. Tally’s adventurous, Dev, and she’s had a taste of satisfaction now. She’ll be back.”
Dev hesitated as he moved from the window, heading to the doorway. He looked over at Lucian with brooding reflection as a grimace crossed his face.
“Yeah, but which one of us will she hurt when she does?” he grunted. “She likes Jesse, admits she does, and she has him terrified of her. That’s not a good sign, Lucian.”
Lucian laughed at this as he slapped his brother on the shoulder and they headed out the door. “No, simple pain would be too easy for her. Castration would be more Tally’s style. Maybe we should hide the knives for a while.”