Give and Receive - Bundle (Books 1-2): New Adult Romance (6 page)

With a machete.

“It’s how we amassed the family fortune. By the way, speaking of family, is your dad still fucking goats?”

“What?”

“I said does your dad still like boats? That’s one of his hobbies, right?”

Elizabeth visibly relaxed. A tad.

“Oh. Yeah, sure. That’s right. He loves them.”

“Great. Wonderful. Glad to hear it.”

Lena checked her phone a second time, immensely relieved. Sweet escape. Thank God.

“Well, listen. As much as I would love to stay and chat, I have some clients meeting me here tonight. You don’t mind do you, Elizabeth? Ty, I’ll see you in a few. I wanted to ask you a question. About that thing.”

“What thing?”

Now Ty looked puzzled.

“You know
that thing
we were talking about earlier?”

She glared at him pointedly. Feeling Elizabeth’s eyes practically bore a hole in her back. Lena turned, phony smile back in place. She was indeed giving them both a completely quizzical frown.

“Yeah. Sure.” He wasn’t really. But he knew better than to say anything else. She was probably going to have him killed for real this time, after the shit he pulled with Danny.

Lena never took kindly to anyone making her admit she was human, and actually had feelings. But the look on her face when he did it was so worth any ass kicking coming his way.

Elizabeth didn’t look like she was taking kindly to being dismissed.

“I understand Lena. You must really need the extra money with all this added responsibility. If you people just borrowed what you could afford, it probably wouldn’t be so hard on you. Then you could give up the welfare checks for good and try to get a real job. Wouldn’t you like to stop getting government handouts for once?”

Lena chuckled. Giving Elizabeth an award winning smile.

Coming to the conclusion that a machete would indeed do the job quite nicely.

“Of course not. Hand-outs are what I live for. Or, so I’ve been told.”

Elizabeth blinked at her as Lena grabbed her drink, preparing to leave.

“Oh, and before I forget, please tell your sister and brother I said hi, and congrats on the wedding.”

“What wedding?”

“Oops. My mistake. Must have been someone else’s sister and brother getting married. To each other.”

“Sure. Right.” She didn’t look entirely convinced, but Elizabeth grabbed her expensive, yet incredibly tacky purse to walk over to the lounge.

“Have Danny come find me when he gets back. And just think of what I said as constructive criticism, Lena. It’s nothing personal.”

She gave Lena a snide smile.

Barely acknowledging Ty as she walked away. He gave her the finger as she passed. The two of them hated each other with a passion neither even tried to deny.

She headed over to speak with Danny’s bodyguard. Her greeting just a shade too familiar for Lena’s taste.

None of her business though.

Not her woman. Not her man.
Especially
not her man.

Most certainly, not her headache.

For a moment, though. Just for a moment.

She was wistful.

“You know,” Ty said thoughtfully. “I wouldn’t fuck that bitch with someone else’s dick. I don’t know how Danny can hit that every night. I heard she got passed around like a joint on inmate appreciation day.”

Lena bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing at him. It would only encourage his asinine, often hysterically accurate, behavior.

“However he does it or doesn’t do it, ain’t none of my business. I don’t have time.”

Ty rolled his eyes. “Right. Whatever you say.”

“This is me. Ignoring your disbelief. And unasked for sarcasm. I really do have to see some clients. But you. Stay here.
Don’t move
. We need to talk.”

She jabbed him on the side of his cheek. Emphasizing each word.

“Damn…I said ok. It’s on the calm down.” He ordered another vodka tonic.

“And ease up on the drinks, dude. I haven’t seen you pay for glass one. You know I’m trying to get off those government hand-outs. So can you please let me earn my forty acres and a mule?”

She didn’t wait for him to reply, rushing over to greet several professional basketball players she was wining and dining. She looked over, pointing to him one more time for emphasis to
stay
.

Ty scowled after her, then grinned.

Cheap ass.

Bossy as hell too.

It was more than a little sexy.

He wouldn’t be opposed to shoving his cock deeply inside her at that very moment. He felt himself getting rock hard thinking about just how wet…warm…ridiculously tight…

Holy shit
.

Her pussy would slide around him like a damn glove.

He murmured a very soft, “Fuck,” under his breath.

Trying to focus on something else.

Jesus. He needed another drink. He tapped the bar for Dion, who frowned at him. At Ty’s pained expression, he complied without protest.

Danny approached just then. He seemed sullen. Withdrawn. Angry.

He didn’t speak. Ordering another drink as well.

They sat. Not speaking together for a few minutes.

Tyler broke the silence.

“She’s over there. In case you were wondering.”

“Who?”

“Why, your wife, of course.” Ty gave a self-satisfied smirk. “Who else could you
possibly
be pining for in that pretty little head of yours, Daniel?”

Danny ignored him.

Ty nodded his head in Elizabeth’s direction.

“She fucking him?”

Danny glanced over. Watching her lean in close to his bodyguard, Remy. She caressed his arm in a way that looked entirely too intimate.

Remy didn’t look like he minded, either.

Danny didn’t look like he gave a tremendous fuck, one way or the other.

“I don’t know. Probably.”

He downed his scotch and soda in one mouthful, without turning around.

“Why do you care?”

“Oh, believe me, I don’t. But you should.”

Ty watched Lena talking to one of her clients. He turned, seeing Danny watch her too. He realized Tyler saw him, and quickly looked away.

“Oh, really. Why is that?”

Danny’s laugh was brittle and forced.

“Because she’s making an ass out of you, and living off your money while doing it. And what the fuck for? Out of some misbegotten sense of loyalty? Dude, she’s a straight up whore, who will fuck anything with two legs.”

Danny snorted.

“So are you. Yet, we remain friends.”

Ty refused to take offense.

The truth was the light.

“Maybe so, but I’m not your wife. Your wife would be the one practically on her knees, sucking Remy’s dick. And doesn’t seem to care if you know.”

Ty detested Elizabeth. To him, she would never be anything but a money grubbing, gold digging bitch.

Her sights set on Danny from day one. The fact that she was smart enough to get in at the ground level when they had nothing, meant little to him.

He was almost uncanny with his accuracy. Usually spotting a fake or a phony from a mile away. He thought Danny could too. Apparently, he suspended all suspicion where she was concerned, out of some sense of guilt or obligation.

Or whatever.

Something was going on there.

He just didn’t know what.

“Watch how you speak about her. She’s still my wife.”

Danny held up his glass for a refill.

“Oh come on. Don’t act like you care now. You don’t need to put on a front for me. We both know you were never in love with her in the first place. For some reason, known only to you, God and possibly the Devil, you married her anyway.”

Danny’s lips pressed into a thin line.

Continuing his silence.

“The fuck she got on you, baby? She know where the bodies are buried, or some shit like that?”

He laughed, amused at himself.

“Leave it alone, Ty. Don’t look for what’s not there.”

Ty grinned, looking sly.

“Struck a nerve?”

Danny didn’t answer.

Naturally, Ty never could leave well enough alone.

“Maybe you could tell me where she keeps your balls, because mine have been feeling heavy lately and-”

Before he could move, Danny had him up against the bar. Knocking his glass to the floor. Ty continued smiling. Ignoring Danny’s arm. Currently wedged across his throat.

“I’m
asking
you nicely. Leave. It. Alone.”

“And I’m asking
you
nicely. When are you going to finally kick that bitch to the curb and go after what you really want? You know, if you keep waiting, somebody just might beat you to it.”

“Danny, oh my god- What are you doing?”

Lena rushed up, grabbing his arm.

“Jesus, what is wrong with you? Get off of him.
Now
.”

Danny eyes refocused as his vision cleared.

He went to that place only Ty…and maybe Elizabeth could take him. The hazy, red fog dissipated. He realized the sound he heard was his own breathing. Harsh and irregular.

He let Ty go, shoving him back onto the barstool. He took a couple of deep breaths, trying to relax. His breathing finally returned to normal.

He looked down where her hand was.

Still on his bare arm. She followed his gaze.

Danny watched her throat convulse and swallow, as she snatched it away. He smiled. Mocking, bitter.

“So sorry I repulse you.”  Muttering under his breath.

She heard him anyway.

He could tell by the way her body tensed. Then went on as if nothing was wrong.

“Clearly you guys can no longer be trusted to play together unsupervised. Do I even need to ask what happened?”

“Oh, you know us. Party and bullshit. Like we always do. Right Danny?” Ty sounded amused.

Danny knocked back another scotch and soda.

Gripping the glass. He stared at it.

His gaze twin daggers of muted rage.

“Yeah. That’s us. Party and bullshit.”

Lena looked unconvinced, but realized she wasn’t getting anything out of either one of them.

“Both of y’all are lying through your damn teeth. But whatever.”

She frowned at Ty. She knew whatever it was, he started it.

“Why can’t you act like you’re not twelve, for like, once? Can you do that? I don’t have time for your fuckery.”

She looked at Danny. “Or yours.”

She meant that on many levels.

“I think, maybe, you’ve had enough for the evening. Don’t you?” Her tone was somewhat gentler with him. Ty glared at them both. Petulantly.