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Laughter rolled through the crowd as a scowling man with a glaringly bright orange tie pushed to his feed. “What about the secret sex club Ms. Carlisle mentioned? Is there any truth to that?”
He didn’t need Jaxson practically vibrating with furious energy behind him to know how to answer that question. Summoning some of his famous Barrick charm, he gave the crowd an easy, cocky grin. “Well, it wouldn’t be much of a secret if I went and told everyone about it, now would it?”
Goofy Tie’s scowl deepened at that, but Austin ignored it and picked on another reporter, a knockout blonde in a tight red dress. The curve of her smile told Austin he’d made a mistake even before she opened her mouth.
“Natalie O’Hara, withSilhouettemagazine. Did you break up with Chloe Carlisle so you could date Katherine Callahan?”
“No.” At least it was an easy question. “Chloe and I broke up several months before I even met Katherine.”
He looked around, searching for someone else to call on, but Natalie spoke up again before he could choose another reporter. “There has been some speculation that your… attraction to Katherine Callahan is based in some kind of kink. Isthattrue?”
“No.” Another easy question, though he let his tone harden. “That is absolutely not true.”
“Then how do you explain your relationship with her?” Natalie pressed. “You have to admit, it seems odd to move from a woman like Chloe to a woman, well, sodifferentfrom Chloe.”
The crowd went silent, as though they were all holding a collective breath, waiting to see how he’d respond to such a bold question. Red colored his vision and he had to take a deep breath before he felt in control enough to answer.
“Katherine Callahan is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known, inside and out.” Meeting Natalie’s wide-eyed stare, he held her gaze as he continued. “She is smart, and kind, and sexy as hell. I love everything about her, with absolutely no exceptions or qualifications.” He let some of the fury he was feeling seep into his tone. “My attraction to her isn’t strange. It isn’t a fetish. It simply is. And if you don’t understand that, well, the problem is with you. Not me. No further questions.”
Turning on his heel, he marched toward the side of the stage. But a single question rose over the din, stopping in his tracks. “Why are Jaxson Davidson and Chase Cartwright here with you? Are they into the same kinky things as you?”
Oh, fuck.
Spinning back around, he scanned the audience, his brain racing to think of a response. Before he had a chance to come up with anything, Jaxson stepped up to the podium. “Allow me to answer that, Austin.”
Looking out at the crowd, he smiled, sophisticated charm rolling off of him in waves. “Chase and I have been friends with Austin for years and we wanted to come out to support him. As for the second part of your question, well.” His smile turned smug as Chase stepped up beside him, snuggling up under his arm. “I’m married to two of the sexiest people on the planet. Did you think we were all living as monks or something?”
The room exploded again, but the pair simply walked away, ushering a shell-shocked Austin off stage with them. A pair of bulky bodyguards rushed them through a hallway, out a back door, and all but shoved the three of them into the back of a limo.
“So.” Leaning back in the seat across from Austin, Chase shot him a boyish grin as Jaxson whipped out his phone and began tapping away at the screen. “Wanna go play with the lawyers?”
“Will Chloe be there?”
Chase’s grin widened. “Yup.”
Something primal rose up in him, and he matched Chase’s grin with a wide, wolfish one of his own. “Then what are we waiting for?”
* * *
It wasworth showing up to the meeting with the lawyers just to watch Chloe’s eyes go wide and her face lose all of its color when he walked through the doors.
“What the hell is he doing here?” Her voice was several octaves higher than the smooth, sexy tones she used for interviews. He recognized it as her “I’m about to lose my shit” voice and he couldn’t help but smile down at her.
An older gentleman to her right patted her arm in an almost fatherly fashion before turning a stern glare on the pair of suited men sitting across from them. “We weren’t made aware Mr. Barrick would be attending this meeting.”
“Mr. Barrick was a last minute addition to our party.” One of the suits, a man Austin vaguely recognized from the club, smiled at Chloe’s lawyer, but there was no warmth in the gesture. “And since this is merely a deposition, I’m sure you know we aren’t obligated to inform you of who, exactly, will be sitting in.”
The other man sighed, but didn’t argue. “Very well. But if his presence unduly upsets my client, we reserve the right to call a halt to these proceedings.”
Austin opened his mouth to remind everyone thathewas the one who’d been accused of being an abusive monster, and since it was a hundred percentnot true,Chloe didn’t have any right to be ‘upset’ by his presence. But Jaxson laid a hand on his arm and silenced his diatribe before it could begin with a subtle shake of his head.
Clamping his mouth shut so tightly it made his teeth ache, Austin dropped into a chair beside the other lawyer. He did a double take when he recognized him as the Daddy Dom they’d run into at the club. Park, Austin thought his name was.
Good. Maybe since he knew Kit personally, he’d have even more of a reason to take the bitch down.
Once everyone was settled into their seats, the fun started. At least, he assumed the lawyers were having fun by the glint in their eyes each time one of them landed some kind of barb.
Then it was Chloe’s turn. It didn’t escape his notice that she glanced his way and tugged at her necklace when the Cartwright-Davidson’s lawyers addressed her. The necklace thing was her tell that she was nervous as hell. He’d seen it a few times when they’d been dating, usually when he’d caught her in a lie of some kind.
