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“Don’t you dare pity me. ” Her hands fisted at her sides, fury enveloping her as she faced him, knowing by his expression that she would never regain the respect he had once watched her with.
“Tally?” He was saved from answering by Terrie’s incredulous voice as she came down the stairs. “Tally, your hair is still wet and you’re wearing jeans?”
Tally turned to her, seeing the concern, the worry in her friend’s face and fought back the tears that suddenly clogged her throat. She was shaking. God, she hated the feel of the nervous tremors shuddering through her body.
“Tally. ” Terrie’s eyes were wide as she glanced at her husband, then back at her friend as she stepped to the landing. “Hon, what happened to you?”
Tally swallowed tightly. “I really need a drink. Something strong. ”
She turned and moved quickly for the bar in the large living room. The forest green and cream toned room was unlit, the faint glow of the rising sun outside the only illumination she used to light her way.
“A drink?” Terrie exclaimed as she rushed in behind her. “Tally, its barely six-thirty in the morning. You never drink before evening. ”
She pulled the whisky decanter from the back of the bar, grabbed a shot glass and was preparing to pour when Jesse caught her hand. She stilled, swallowing tightly, fighting the overwhelming urge to attack.
“Tally, this won’t help,” he said gently, setting the decanter back on the bar as he pried the glass from her other hand. “Whatever happened can’t be that bad. ”
She stilled the snarl that trembled on her lips, though her teeth snapped together in fury. Rounding on him, she clenched her fists in the edges of his shirt as she jerked at it hard, watching his eyes round in surprise as he bent to her involuntarily.
“I can still hurt you, Jesse,” she snarled into his narrow-eyed expression. “I am to be feared. In all ways. At all times. Is this understood? You are not safe from me. Never think you are. ”
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 cock 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.
