The damn woman has been hankering for me to move back to Texas since I left on the heels of my dad’s arrest over five years ago. I haven’t so much as visited my home state, the memoriesof his betrayal too painful to confront. Besides, I need to be close toher.
My chest aches as I shake my head roughly, dispelling the visions of blonde hair and sweet kisses. Stolen touches and a bone-deep longing I still feel all the way to my soul.
And despite knowing I did the right thing all those years ago, I can’t help but wonder what we could have had if things might have been different.
With a wistful sigh, my feet take me across the cobblestone street, where I slip in the side entrance of Rogue, the newly revamped kink exploratory club to the elite of Manhattan.
I make my way through the staff quarters and into the main bar,Rapture. After shooting a grin at Jo Fratelli, head of security since my departure from the role three years ago when I’d launched my own security firm, Sentinel, I slip into the almost empty reserved area where I find my friends conversing lowly over their tumblers of whisky.
My old boss and billionaire owner of Rogue, Vaughn Burton, is as suave as ever in his black-on-black impeccably tailored business suit. His jet-black hair is slicked back, and his almost-as-dark eyes are as impenetrable as the day he saved me five years ago.
My mind is whirring when I take a sharp left and stride into Rogue, but my feet falter on the expansive red carpet beneath them.
It’s this or Texas, Holloway.
The thought gives my body the impetus I need, knowing that if I can’t bewithher, I can at least benearher, and before I can change my mind, my stomach hits the bar.
A familiar dark-haired man twists about to meet my eyes, and he arches a surprised eyebrow when he recognizes me. “Ford Holloway, if I’m not mistaken…” He shrugs nonchalantly. “And I’m rarely, if ever,that.”
Without waiting for my response, he looks back at the screen in front of him. “If you’re here on that asshole Caden North’s behalf, you can fuck right?—”
“I need a job.”
His hands freeze mid-typing as he slowly turns his head back toward me. “Don’t you own a multi-million dollar cattle ranch in Texas?”
Haltingly, I shake my head, my forehead creasing as I force the words from my throat. “I have no doubt you’re aware that all of my father’s assets have been frozen since his arrest. The trial is coming up later this month, and I can’t go back home…”
A deep frown crosses my brow as I trail off, and my next words escape before I can stop them. “I don’t know who I am without?—”
My Emmy.
I press my lips closed at the last second as I finish that sentence in my mind. The knowledge of having broken her as much as I’ve broken myself sends a pang of agony clear through me.
Seemingly oblivious to my internal turmoil, Burton regards me for a long beat, assessing me with shrewd eyes, and I’m entirely sure he’s about to find me lacking, when he nods at the seat beside him.
“How muchdoyou know about security?”
And just like that, Vaughn Burton took in yet another stray. The man has a penchant for it, as showcased by the men on either side of him.
Alex DeMarco, COO of DeMarco Holdings, one of the globe’s largest entertainment companies, and Grayson Hunter, his right-hand man, lean close to Vaughn. Grayson is just rising and saying his goodbyes when I slide in opposite.
“What’s the latest drama, fellas? Y’all looking shady as shit over here.”
“Good evening to you too, Tex.” I chuckle at his nickname for me, as Gray sighs in exasperation with a shake of his head. “Parker just called to say that Gracie locked the nanny in the attic…but what else is new in the Hunter household.” And without another word, he marches out of the reserved area like a man on a mission.
I can’t help but laugh as I turn to face Vaughn and Alex. “That girl will be the death of him.”
Grayson’s wife, Talia, had been killed in a car crash almost four years ago, leaving behind twins Parker and Gracie and a husband who’d never quite recovered. For all his pretenses, I can see his pain as palpably as I can feel my own.
Both men nod in agreement before Vaughn pushes a tumbler closer. He fills it with whisky from a nearby decanter, regarding me with unfathomable eyes while taking a healthy sip from his own glass.
“Where was your trip this time?”
“California.” My friend sends me a narrowed, somewhat suspicious gaze, but when I don’t elaborate, he shrugs, shifting his eyes between myself and Alex.
“You’ll know about Vesper, DeMarco Holdings’ newest studio, right, Holloway?
When I nod profusely, grateful for the redirection, he continues. “One of the productions that finished filming monthsago needed to do some last-minute retakes. While prepping for it this morning, a fan,presumably, was able to break into the dressing room of one of the actors.”
