Roman: Book 2 (The Hunter Brothers Series) (28 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

I looked out of
the window at the sound of the blaring car horn and the shining red Lamborghini
parked on the street outside, grabbing my bag and running to meet him with a
huge smile on my face. He opened the door as I slid inside, leaning across to
kiss him. An incredible white smile lit up his face and he spent the next ten
seconds running his eyes across every inch of my body.

“When were you
thinking of getting dressed?” he asked as I laughed, rolling my eyes.

“It’s a rock
concert, Charlie, and I’m still at the age I can pull off a mini skirt, boots
and a tight little T-shirt.”

 
“I am not disputing that, Chas, you look
hotter than the sun, baby. I’m more worried about how you expect me to keep my
eyes on the road, it’s a pretty long drive,” he winked as a little slither of
thrill ran through me.

“Just look
straight ahead and think of your girlfriend,” I smiled bitterly, wondering how
things were going with Scarlett.

“Speak of the
devil,” he said as the shrill ring of the car telephone system broke through
the enclosed space and he pulled onto the quiet street.

“Hey baby,” he
said as I tried not to grimace, wondering if Charlie actually addressed
everyone that way. I knew it was wrong and I’d just fucked his brother, but
Charlie was special, we had a connection and no matter how much I tried to deny
it, I was finding it more difficult than I should to come to terms with his new
relationship.

“Where are you? I
just wondered if you want to come around here and have that gorgeous, thick
hard cock of yours sucked,” she purred as I raised my eyebrows and stared at
him hard. The last thing I needed to sit through was telephone sex talk with my
best male friend and his sidekick sociopath.

He smiled, raising
his finger to his lips and bidding me to be quiet. So he hadn’t told her he was
taking me. I stared out of the window instead. “I’m on my way up to Manchester.
I told you, I’m going to watch Tyler’s gig tonight,” he said as she laughed
gently. “Of course you are, I forgot, Sugar Pie.”

‘Sugar Pie’.
Really? Bleugh. I turned to Charlie who realised my issue and threw me a smile
that looked almost apologetic.

“Well I’m missing
you already. Will I see you when you get back tonight?” she asked as he
frowned.

“No. It’ll be the
early hours when I get back, and that depends on how long Ty wants us to stay
for the after show party. You know how he is,” he laughed.

“Of course, but
will I see you tomorrow? I’ve got a surprise for you,” she said seductively.

“Yeah, I’ll call
round tomorrow.”

“Say hi to the
boys for me, and Jess. I can’t wait to meet her, Charlie, and your other
friend, is she going too? I can’t remember her name,” she said as my hands flew
to my mouth and I tried not to laugh.

Like hell she
couldn’t.

“Chas. Yeah,
she’ll be there. Listen, I’ll try and arrange for a get together with the
family, Scarlett, but you know how things are. You never got along before and
it could take a while,” he said as I shook my head.

“Anyway, I’d
better go, Sugar Pie, Daddy’s on his way over to sign some paperwork. I’ve
bought four new businesses this week,” she laughed as Charlie rolled his eyes,
ending the call.

I turned to
Charlie incredulously.

“Her Daddy’s on
his way round? Was she planning on letting him watch while she sucked your
‘gorgeous thick, hard cock’,” I uttered sarcastically, pulling my fingers into
quotation marks, just so he knew they were her words, not mine.

“What are you
talking about?” he laughed.

“Well, at first I
thought I was about to be the third wheel in a telephone sex chat, and the next
minute her Daddy’s coming over. Which is it?” I asked as he shrugged and
laughed.

“She always offers
me sex to get me round there. It’s kind of a long standing tradition of ours,”
he said as though that were the most normal thing in the world. I decided not
to push it.

“Why haven’t you
told her about me?” I asked as he frowned.

“I have, Chas.
Only after I stayed with you when Roman left, ditched her to come to your
birthday and abandoned her at a black tie dinner to spend the night at your
place after the burglary, she started to get a bit pissy. I decided not to tell
her we were going together tonight, just because I didn’t want a load of
grief,” he said which made perfect sense. If I were Scarlett, I’d be pissed off
too, although I knew one thing for certain and decided to challenge Charlie.

“If she’s so
pissed off with me, how come she doesn’t remember my name?” I asked as he
laughed.

 
“She’s bought four businesses this week, Chas.
She probably can’t remember her own,” he said as I smiled inwardly.

“She had a stand
up row with me and called me a jealous, gold digging skank, Charlie. I’m pretty
certain she damn well does know my name,” I said, crossing my legs as I turned
to look at him.

He seemed to be
less interested in what I was saying than what I was wearing, and I caught the
lingering glance at my smooth tanned legs and it sent a flash of excitement
racing through me. I knew I shouldn’t be feeling this, but I just couldn’t help
it.

“That wasn’t a row,
at least not to Scarlett. She’s pretty misunderstood. Honestly, babe, she never
even mentioned that again. She’ll have moved onto someone else after another
wine, she’s a passionate woman,” he smiled.

Well that was just
bullshit and I began to wonder if Charlie was becoming as deluded as her.
Passionate – she was a fucking psycho.

My phone broke the
silence as I saw Patrick’s name flash up on the caller I.D, wondering if he’d
forgotten he’d given me the night off. “Hi Patrick, is everything okay?” I
asked as he sighed deeply.

“I know you’re not
working tonight, but I had to let you know, it’s just been announced that we’ve
been bought out. It makes sense now why they’ve had us doing shitty events that
are beneath us, waiting on people with cobwebs in their wallets and the fucking
pomagne posse. They’ve been trying to increase the bottom line to get a better
price. Bastards! According to the owners, no jobs are under threat, and as far
as we’re concerned little will change, but I thought you should know before you
heard it from anyone else.” He was speaking in a hushed whisper and I wondered
if they were still actually in the meeting. Patrick loved a good gossip and he
wouldn’t have been able to hold this juicy titbit for long.

“Who bought it?” I
asked, looking at Charlie as a creeping dread spread over me and I convinced
myself I was just being paranoid. It couldn’t be. It was too much of a
coincidence.

“Everett Holdings,
whoever they are. I’m going to Google them now, I’ll let you know,” he said.

“Don’t bother,” I
replied as anger spawned in my gut, but he’d already gone. I stared at Charlie
who was humming to himself as we pulled onto the Motorway. I didn’t need the
internet.

I sat there for a
moment, processing the information I’d just been told, and wondering how to
handle it. Female intuition told me this was no coincidence.

“What kind of
business does Scarlett work in?” I asked as innocently as I could, trying to
hold back the rage that was bubbling in the pit of my stomach. It wasn’t
Charlie’s fault and he clearly didn’t know. I was sure he’d tell me if he did.

“She deals in real
estate mainly, commercial office space and rental for big business in the city.
She dabbles in smaller concerns, when she thinks they can be useful to her
wider portfolio, but she tends to stick to what she knows. Everett hasn’t given
her that long of a leash yet, he still has the final say on everything,” he
said, turning to smile at me and clearly taken aback at the look on my face.

“Why do you want
to know?” he asked as I tried to stay calm.

“I was just
wondering why she’d want to suddenly buy out Elite Entertainment,” I said as he
frowned at me, his jaw gaping slightly.

“Is that what
Patrick said?” he gasped, clearly as stunned as I was by the news.

“Everett
Holdings?” I asked as he nodded mutely, processing what I’d just shared.

“I have no idea,”
he said, shaking his head. “To be honest, babe, Scarlett and I never discuss
business. Some of our interests overlap, and Lucas is paranoid that she’ll use
information gleaned from me to gain the upper hand in business, despite our
relationship. We agreed early on to keep the boardroom out of the bedroom.”

“I’ll only say
this once, Charlie, because I’m certain you’ll just think I’m being paranoid,
but trust me, I’m not. If that bitch is out to get me because you’re my friend,
then she’ll have a fight on her hands,” I said as he chuckled gently.

“I’m certain she
isn’t, Chas. She doesn’t even know your name and you’re right, I do think
you’re being paranoid. It’s not like you to be this prickly.”

“It’s exactly like
me, Charlie Hunter, and if you think this is prickly, you ain’t seen nothing
yet. Any more encroachment into my life and I’ll turn into Freddy fucking Krueger
on crack,” I said as he looked at me for a moment and started to laugh.

“I can’t visualise
that, baby, you’re just too beautiful,” he smiled and I wasn’t certain if he
was being kind or just delusional. Either way, if Scarlett Everett wanted a
war, she’d get one.

I called Jess. “Hi
Chas, we’re just getting on the jet. I don’t know why Charlie wanted to drive,
this is luxurious in the extreme, and we’ve got about forty minutes to make the
most of the bedroom,” she giggled and I could hear Lucas in the background.

“Who makes the
decisions in your business?” I asked as she went quiet for a second.

“I’m the main
partner, why?” she asked as I took a deep breath.

“I want a job,” I
said as Charlie stared at me before turning his attention back to the road.

“Yes, definitely!
I wanted to ask you, but I didn’t think you’d want to leave Elite. What’s
happened?” she asked suddenly and I knew she’d be concerned. I loved my job,
Patrick, and everyone I worked with. Jess knew this wouldn’t be a step I’d take
lightly.

“Scarlett Everett
is my new boss,” I said as she gasped disbelievingly.

“I’ll speak to
Lucas and get you the best terms I can. I’ll see you in Manchester,” she said,
ending the call. Well at least that part had been easy, and I was glad Lucas
had set Jess up in a business I actually knew my way around.

I typed my text
immediately.

‘Patrick, I
quit. Can’t explain now, meet on Sunday for lunch x’

“What did you just
do?” Charlie asked as I smiled across at him.

“I quit Elite. I’m
not working for your girlfriend,” I said as he frowned deeply.

“Stop calling her
that.”

I sighed, shaking
my head and wondering what the hell Charlie was playing at. I couldn’t make
sense of their relationship and wasn’t sure why he just hadn’t ended it. Surely
he’d know by now if he wanted in.

“I’ll give you a
job, Chas,” he smiled, resting his hand on my knee in an intimate gesture that
fired up my skin in a way that was entirely inappropriate. My timing was
certainly off. We’d had weeks to make things sexual before I’d wound up in bed
with his brother and he’d gone back to his ex. I wasn’t certain if it was
because there was someone else on the scene and I had competition, or because
he seemed to be open to the idea of a relationship now at least. Maybe it was
seeing him naked, or just that every time I looked at my list I realised I was
looking at Charlie; but something had changed fundamentally in me. The
chemistry had always been there, sizzling like a low electrical charge between
us. We laughed, shared and flirted relentlessly. Charlie was the one that I
wanted.

And the one I
could never have.

“Doing what?” I asked,
trying to lighten the mood. “Your P.A?”

“Jesus, no, I’d
get nothing done,” he laughed.

“So what were you
thinking?”

“Girl Friday. A
little bit of everything, but I guess that’s just a waste of your talents,” he
smiled as I laughed at him.

“And just what are
my talents, Charlie? Sitting in the office in my red underwear, serving you
cups of coffee on demand?” I laughed as he blew out hard.

“Fuck, how much do
you want? Seriously, Chas, I’d pay you more than my senior managers for that
post,” he smiled as I shook my head, still laughing.

“Pervert! But for
you, baby, I’d do it for free,” I said as his face clouded over and I decided
to change the subject again. That probably wasn’t fair.

“Why did you
decide to drive?” I asked, thinking a ride in a private jet would have been
pretty awesome. He went quiet for a moment and I knew instinctively there was
something that he didn’t want to tell me.

“Are you afraid of
flying?” I asked as he shook his head, turning to smile at me.

“Do you want the
honest answer, or the one that doesn’t make me look like the world’s worst bastard?”
he asked as I stared at him, stunned and wide eyed.