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“Fuck, I have a lot to explain, don’t I?”
“Not to me. But you do need to tell me why you aren’t a cheating fucker so I can decide whether or not my fist and your face are going to make a frequent and bloody acquaintance.”
“Fair enough.”
AJ waved his hand in a gesture for Sly to continue.
How magnanimous of him.
“With as much money as I’m worth, and how Insta famous Loni is, we knew that things would get messy if we tried to do things publically. I didn’t need the hassle, and Loni wanted to use the divorce to get more sympathy and followers. So…we agreed to get an uncontested divorce as quietly as possible, then let it “slip” after a month or so, so that she could use it to her advantage.”
“She used your divorce as a tool to get followers and likes?” AJ inquired, his lips curled in distaste, not that Sly blamed him. It was pretty shitty, but Sly couldn’t say shit about it.
“It was the least I could do after our less than stellar marriage, and it didn’t hurt me, not really. Before the divorce, I was already lambasted as the billionaire asshole with more money than heart—” by the media and his wife— “What was one more thing to add to it?”
“So, you were legally divorced before you met my sister?”
Leaning forward, he determined for AJ to know the truth, to hear and understand the depth of his regret over what happened with Sallina.
“Yes. I was married for five years, never strayed once. That isn’t me. I make a vow. I keep it. I never would have touched your sister if I was still married to Loni.”
Rather than remarking on what Sly said, AJ stared, his piercing gaze seeming to take in every nuance of Sly’s face.
Probably memorizing all the best places to punch it.
And he couldn’t blame the guy—he’d really done a number on his sister.
After long moments where Sylvester could literally feel his heartbeat through his hands, AJ stood up, crossed the short distance to Sly’s desk, and held out his hand.
Stunned but relieved as fuck, Sly stood, too, taking AJ’s hand and shaking it once. Hard.
“I don’t envy you your task, partner. I love my sister, and she is one of the best people I’ve ever known. But there is a whole fuck-ton of things in her past that she doesn’t even talk to me about that will make this—whatever it is I think you want with her—that much more difficult. Especially since you started off fucking her and then ditching her.”
Sly groaned, rubbing his hand over his face.
“I have a lot to explain—maybe I have a better chance if I talk to Anna,” he inquired, suddenly very interested in chatting with Sallina’s best friend. “Maybe she has some insights into how I can possibly get Sallina to talk to me…perhaps listen to my apology.”
AJ chuckled darkly. “Yeah, I don’t think so, man. Those two are closer than sisters. The only thing you’ll get out of Anna is an ass-kicking. But not before Blaze cut off your dick for even thinking about talking to Anna in the first place.”
Sly smirked. “He that threatened by me?”
“Hell no. He’s just insanely possessive of Anna. He’d been pining after her for most of his life, and now that he has her, he’s holding on to her with two fists.”
“Damn.” To feel that deeply for someone….
Something dark and haunting crossed AJ’s face, but it was gone before Sly could put a name to it.
“I know it’ll probably lose me my man card…but I’m jealous as fuck.”
Now that took Sly by surprise. AJ, the typically stoic, quiet, rigidly self-controlled man, was…a romantic?
“Seriously?” Sly barked, shocked. “I’ve seen you with some of the women down at Happy Jack’s; you don’t seem like you have a problem finding women to…err…be with.”
Behind AJ, Sly could see his assistant, Maeve, come to the door and stop as if hitting a wall, her eyes huge. She was staring at AJ’s back.
Huh?
“Those women? That’s not what I want for real, man. What Blaze and Anna have? That’s the forever stuff. That’s what I want. Playing around with the beach bunnies looking for fat cock and bed-breaking sex—I can do that, but that’s not going to be me forever. I want what they have.”
