Tempted (A Player Brother Romance Book) (A Standalone Novel) (Player Brothers Book 1) (25 page)

I pulled the gear into reverse, and carefully glanced
behind me. As I pulled out of the parking lot and onto the road, I shook my
head, imagining the negative thoughts tumbling out of my head, so as to no
longer darken my thoughts. I had better things to worry about now, I decided. I
had a date to get ready for.
 

I found Kelsey in the living room when I arrived home.

"I'm going out with Aiden tonight,” I said before
even saying hello. "Help me figure out what to wear."

"I can't,” she said as she pulled on her jacket.
"Blake is picking me up in fifteen minutes. How are things going with
Aiden? You two looked awfully comfortable this morning."

"Well I am going out with him tonight," I
said as I kicked off my shoes and landed on the couch, rubbing my soles.

“True." She grinned. "There he is. I gotta
run, but have fun tonight."

"You too," I called as she grabbed her purse
and headed for the door. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

"Based on recent developments that gives me a lot
of freedom,” she said with a smirk before disappearing out the door.

"What is that supposed to mean!" I called
but she was already gone.

The silence of the apartment surrounded me like a warm
hug. It occurred to me that I had been going nonstop for several weeks,
surrounded at all times by either Aiden, Kelsey, or the partners.

The thought about what Aiden may have been meeting
with the partners kept niggling at my mind no matter how much I tried to forget
about it. I knew that seeing him later would put my mind at ease. He would
probably tell me about it right away. I made myself a promise that I would not
ask him unless he brought it up.

Enjoying the silence, I laid my head back on the couch
and closed my eyes. My mind traveled even further back to the incident at
Aiden's house. In true lawyer fashion I examined my actions, wondering how I
could have handled the situation differently, and of course picking apart
Aiden's actions as well, trying to determine if I needed to be more concerned.
I didn’t think so. I only knew that I needed to stand by my promise that I
would not share this information with anyone.

The very thought of Aiden made a smile spread across
my face. I thought about the fun we would have later. Maybe I could even
convince him that we should have dinner at his place. I could already think of
a few things I might have in store to persuade him. I chided myself a little
bit for having waited so long to be with him, but enough day dreaming, I said.

I stood and headed to my room to find something cute
to wear. A minute later, I headed to the bathroom and turned on the shower,
hoping the hot water would cool my thoughts. No matter how much I tried to
focus on getting ready and being excited to see Aiden, I couldn’t let go of the
idea that the meeting had some meaning.

I knew I was a good lawyer.

I would not have even been offered the opportunity if
I weren't. The matter of who got the job might not even be an issue yet.

As I stepped into the shower, I decided with firm
resolution to put the idea out of my head and focus finally on getting ready
for our date. The hot water awakened my skin as I let it pour over my face and
body.

If Aiden was offered the job, the worst case scenario
remained that I would find another job at another firm. Absolute worst case,
would be that I would have to take an unpaid internship somewhere. I would have
to cross that bridge if it came about, but I truly believed that everything
would work out.

So far I remained confident that I had good standing
with Mahoney and Klein. I had been performing well in the courtroom, and the
case seemed to be veering in a direction in which I could show off my assets.

The game wasn’t over yet.

Not by far.

At a quarter to seven I stood in front of the couch in
my living room, wearing a red dress. I picked it out for the swishy skirt and
the flattering collar. I liked the way it accented my waist. My makeup looked
good and I had pulled my hair up into a dressy pony tail. I felt as if I couldn’t
do much with it, as thick as it was.

All in all I felt pretty and was excited to see Aiden
though it had only been a couple of hours.

I glanced at the clock, and sat down on the couch,
absently flipping through the channels to pass the time before he arrived. I
lay my earrings on the coffee table to give the pretense of putting them on at
the last minute when he would arrive.

I definitely had butterflies, but the good kind this
time.

Seven o'clock came and went. He was probably running
late, though in the time that I had been with him, he had never once been late.
He remained infuriatingly punctual. All I could do was match it at the firm.

At seven fifteen I stood and began to pace. I wondered
if I should call him, and I checked my phone to see no messages or missed
calls. I sat down again, crossing my arms and wondering if I should call or
just wait.

For the time being I opted to wait.

The television depicted a rerun of an old sitcom that
I used to watch back in high school. The humor rang hollow this time around,
but I watched it, nervously fiddling with the strap on my purse.

By seven thirty I stood and picked up the phone once
more, debating on whether or not to call him.

This definitely wasn’t like him.

I wondered if perhaps his meeting with the partners
had somehow gone this long into the evening, but that seemed unlikely. Besides
he would have found a way to step away and call, I imagined.

Of course my mind traveled then to another worst case
scenario. What if something had happened and he was unable to call? Who would
be notified if something had happened to him, I wondered. We had only just
begun the romantic element of our relationship. Would anyone know to contact
me? The idea of our longtime friendship being a factor didn’t cross my mind
until much later.

Finally I caved to my thoughts and decided to call
him. I checked my messages first just to be certain, but saw nothing from him.
Then I scrolled down to his name and hit 'call'. He answered on the second
ring.

"Hey Blair." His voice sounded strange.
Short and curt. He continued speaking before I had a chance to say hello,
"You almost had me convinced. How could you do it?"

"Do what?" I asked confused by his
accusatory tone.

"You threw me under the bus, Blair,” he said, his
voice thick with emotion. "You told them about the medication."

Chapter
Twelve

"Aiden, what are you talking about?"

"You know damn well what I'm talking about!"
he said.

My confusion had begun to veer into feelings of anger.

He was accusing me of something, but I refused to
believe his thoughts would go that way.

"You promised to keep my secret, Blair. You said
you would help me though this."

It occurred to me that he wasn’t so much talking to me
as he was talking at me. I let him go on for a few minutes before I
interjected.

"Aiden, what happened?" I said, trying to
get his attention back to me. "What did Mr. Mahoney want at the
office?"

"As if you don't know!" he bellowed.
"Stop pretending, Blair. You were the only one that knew!"

"I didn't tell anyone anything,” I said, seething
at his mistrust.

"We need to have a serious talk,” he said.
"I'm coming over."

"Well, please do!" I said, my voice raising
in volume with each word.

He mumbled something before he hung up.

Oh no you don't, I said.

Whatever he had in mind to tell me would pale in
comparison to what I wanted to say to him. After the length of our friendship
and the course of our new romance, he had already lost faith in me this soon
in. If that was the merit of his trust for me than our problems were bigger
than I had originally thought.

My mind had gone red with the anger that bubbled up
inside me in the few minutes it took him to get to my apartment. I opened the
door without a word, when I heard him tap at the door. I stalked back to the
middle of the living room and turned to him.

"Is this about the medication?" I said,
trying to control my voice and keep myself from shouting in his face.

"What else would it be about?" he spat the
words at me, crossing his arms.

"Why do you think that I told anyone?" I
said.

"Didn't you?" he said, raising his eyebrows.

"No, no matter what."

"Is that so?" he said with a laugh.
"You know what, Blair. I want to tell you something and I want you to
listen closely because this may come as a surprise to you.
I don't believe
you!
"

"Aiden, I..."

"No," he said cutting me off. "I don't
believe you, because they do know about it somehow. Funny how that is. Isn't
it?"

I stood helpless and silent watching him pace and
rant.

"Let's look at the evidence, shall we?" he
said, tenting his fingertips beneath his chin. "You have said repeatedly
that your priority is to the case, to the job. You have made it clear that you
will do whatever it takes to win the full time position with the firm. Isn't
that true, Blair?"

"Aiden, let me..."

"
Whatever it takes!!
" His face had
gone pink and I saw from across the room the vein in his forehead, pulsing each
time he spoke. He continued, "I knew I should have watched out for you. I
underestimated you. I thought I was bad, but this... wow. I mean. Bravo."

He clapped his hands together in a parody of applause
in my direction.

"What are you talking about, Aiden?" I said.

I was beginning to grow weary of this tirade, but he
had said something that had sparked my curiosity and concern.

"You’re not the only one playing at this game,
Blair,” he said. "I knew the moment I laid eyes on you that first day,
exactly what I needed to do to win this job from you."

"Oh really," I said with a tired tone.
"And what's that?"

"As soon as I recognized you, I knew I couldn't
win this job from you on pure merit and performance. I knew I needed to throw
you a curve ball."

"Go on," I said as my stomach began to turn.

"You see, Blair. You’re smarter than me. You’re a
harder worker than I am. I needed to find a way to distract you if I was to win
the full time position." He curled his lips up on a sinister snarl as he
spoke.

I was beginning to feel sick.

I couldn’t believe this was happening.

"All this," he whispered in a voice as if
revealing the killer at the end of a mystery play. "Has been part of the
game."

I sank down on the couch feeling as if the room were
spinning around me. "What are you saying?" I asked.

"You know what I'm saying,” he said.
"Everything I have been doing from day one has been part of the plan.
Catching up, going out with you, that first kiss. Sleeping with you. All of it.
And the best part is, it's worked! The partners have noticed the way you seem a
bit distracted at work. With your brilliant mind you didn't even see the one
thing right in front of you standing in your way. I played you, Blair, and now
you have gotten me back. You just evened the playing field without even
realizing you were at a disadvantage."

He laughed in a humorless way as the blood drained
from my face.

At first I didn’t know what to say.

The man who stood before me seemed to me like a
stranger, only bearing a resemblance to the man that I had begun to fall for.

"I don't believe you..." I stammered, unsure
how to reply.

"It doesn't matter if you believe me,” he said in
an arrogant tone. "What's done is done."

"How could you do this to me?" I said in a
slow and even tone. "I didn't say anything to anyone about your
medication. But I owe a debt to whoever did, because now I know just who I’m
dealing with. I want you to get out of my house. Outside of the case don't
expect anything from me again,
ever
!
I never want to speak to you again!"

"Gladly," he said. "I can only ask the
same of you. I'll see you in court tomorrow."

"Get out of my house,” I said.

He sneered another laugh, and headed towards the door.

I decided that he wasn’t moving fast enough and I
stood crossing the room and opening the door for him.

If I could have shot fire out of my eyes he would have
been fully ablaze.

"Until tomorrow,” he said with a crooked smile.

I had tried to hold it in, but something about that
last little comment pushed me over the edge.

"Get out!" I screamed, picking up one of the
candles from the coffee table and hurling it at his head. "Get out and
never come back! You piece of shit! Get out!"