town. A little crowded. A spot up front at the bar. Public but private. No one will think twice about the two executives in suits having a tense conversation.”
“Stop with the bullshit. The standing in front of her house in the middle of the night. The threats about risking Lucy’s adoption. The intimidation. That might work in your fights on the Senate floor, but it doesn’t play well here.”
“Stop or else what? You’re going to make sure my wife takes me to the cleaners? Oh, I’m scared.”
“This has nothing to do with your wife.”
“You’re fucking her too, then?”
“I don’t sleep with clients.”
“Apparently Vaughn does,” he says and then tsks when I shift in my chair, my fist clenched as I bite my tongue. In our last conversation, I basically confirmed that Vaughn is Vee. There’s not a chance in hell I’m going to make that mistake again. Stupid, because Carter already knows it, but I’ve learned my lesson. “It’d be a shame for you to take a swing at me right now. My security detail is a little bored as of late and might be a little too eager to take care of you. Besides, there are too many connections between us right now, so you don’t want to risk being noticed.”
“It just might be worth it.” I meet his glare and lift an eyebrow in a taunt. The tension thickens as I wait for him to make the next move.
It’s his call. Ramp this down, or take the hit my fist is begging to throw.
“You know what, Lockhart? I’ll tell you the same thing I told your hired help.” He shakes his glass so the ice rattles.
“What’s that?”
“I’m not the best guy to threaten. While I’m sure your ego is large enough to think that a part of this has to do with me pursuing Vaughn to get back at you for screwing me over with Bianca, you’d be wrong. While I normally wouldn’t put it past me to be that vindictive, don’t think so highly of yourself that I care anything about you one way or another. If I want to get back at you, sure, I’d fuck her and take every ounce of pleasure hearing her cry out my name . . . but it’s easier than that. All I have to do is let Roxanne talk. Offer to pay my old friend what she’d stand to lose if that divorce settlement of hers is overturned due to her attorney’s misconduct. She’d be more than willing to throw you under the bus for that with the whole woman-scorned bit she’s playing. A few gossip mills later and your reputation will take a big hit over how you sleep with your clients’ wives and then go soft during negotiations against their favor. That would be payment enough.”
And Roxanne resurfaces once again . . . fucking cocksucker. If he’s trying to hit every please-break-my-nose-with-a-punch button, he’s more than succeeded. I shift in my seat to abate the urge and take in a deep breath.
Keep your focus, Ryk. While punching the hell out of him will make you feel better, it does nothing to get him to back the fuck off of Vaughn. De-escalate the situation.
“Vaughn’s off limits,” I grit out. “Not because you want to get back at me, but because she’s not someone you want to get tangled with. She goes down, you go down.”
“She’s going to go down all right, and it’s going to be on me.” He tilts his glass up and empties its contents with a satisfied sigh. “You see? I don’t care if she’s with you or not with you or if you’ve gone soft and now are a pussy. I want her, and I will have her for no other reason than to even a score. Yes. I’m a sick bastard like that. No woman gets the upper hand on me and gets away with it. And I’ll fucking get off on every goddamn moment of it.”
I try to remain calm and not engage. I’m realizing that the more I react, the more I fight, the more adamant he becomes to have her.
“No man uses fear to corral a woman.”
“She’s not a woman, Lockhart. She’s a whore. And you’ll thank me in the future for reminding you of that little fact.”
“Half of Washington has dirt on you, Senator. You going to hate-fuck all of them as well?”
“If I need to.” His smile is cold and calculating and begs me to say more, but