shook his head. “No son, we don’t because I’m in charge here. If you’re choosing not to do what is best for this club and your future then you’re not ready to take over anything. I can’t promote you if I can’t trust you to make smart decisions. Your job at the club is safe for now but that doesn’t mean someone I can trust more to do your job won’t come along.”
Not only was he not going to give me the position I’d worked hard for he was threatening the position I currently had. I wanted to tell him to fuck himself and walk out. Before this was over I might end up doing just that. However, out of respect for the man who’d built this with the desire to hand it down to each generation of the Kerrington name, I would stay. That man I respected. The one in front of me I held no respect for. If he pushed me too far, I’d be gone. I wondered if he’d even miss me then.
Della
I changed into sweats and a tee shirt before walking back into the living room and talking to Tripp. I preferred to stay in this room and think about everything. I was still trying to figure out what happened and what I did wrong with Woods. He was giving me all kinds of mixed signals. Either he was disgusted by me and decided not to have sex with me or he had just been ready to get rid of me. I wasn’t sure. But then he’d made me wear his shirt and told me to change into baggy clothes. I wasn’t sure what to think about that.
As soon as I’d had that orgasm in his lap he’d been ready to get me the hell away from him. On the drive over here I had convinced myself that I’d screamed too loud and hurt him by pulling his hair like a crazed woman. Then maybe he was as embarrassed by the wet spot on my shorts as I was and that’s why he’d covered me up. He didn’t want Tripp to see me and know he’d been the cause of that. I reached over, picked his hoodie back up, and pulled it over my head. It smelled like Woods. I liked that. I had wanted to get to smell more of him tonight. The rejection I’d hoped to avoid was settling in.
I could talk to Tripp. I wouldn’t tell him exactly what happened but I could get his guy opinion on things.
Tripp’s eyes lifted from the book he was reading and he smiled up at me. “Already wearing Kerrington’s clothes. Damn the guy moves fast,” he teased.
I sighed and sank down on the sofa across from the chair he was sitting in. “Not what it looks like. Trust me.” The deflation in my voice had been a little more obvious than I intended.
“Uh oh. What’s wrong?” Tripp asked, setting his book down on the table beside him and sitting up straighter.
I thought about my words carefully. I didn’t want to tell him too much but I did want his opinion. “Woods broke things off with Angelina and we went to talk about that,” I began. Tripp nodded. He already knew this much but I was still scrambling on what to say to him. “We had lunch together and he explained that he wasn’t happy with her. He doesn’t want to be told who to marry. Then we went back to his place. He wanted to show me his house and I loved it.” I paused and chewed on my bottom lip a moment to think about my next words.
“He never takes girls to that house. It was his grandparents’ so it’s his off limits place. I’ve only been there a handful of times.”
That caught my attention. “His grandmother’s paintings are still all over the walls. They’re beautiful.”
Tripp’s eyebrows shot up. “He told you about her?”
I nodded and Tripp crossed his hands over his chest as he grinned. “Damn girl what have you done to Kerrington?”
Well, that was what I was wondering too. “I think he may have decided taking me there was a mistake. I… we… things got a little heated on the porch and then he stopped it and brought me back here. He said he had things to do. Just like that. No other explanation. It was weird.”
Tripp frowned and sat there quietly a moment.
“You two have, uh, had sex before, right? That was