The Ex Games 2 (4 page)

“Yes, it has.”

“This time you can even order alcohol if you want to.”

“Funny.” I looked away from him and he laughed.

“Don’t tell me I can’t make jokes about your age. Not after all the laughs you had on my behalf.”

“What are you talking about?” I glared at him. “What laughs?”

“All the laughs you and your friends had when you told them what a fool I was for believing all your lies.”

“I never thought you were a fool.”

“I was a fool.” He sighed. “I don’t know how I didn’t figure out you were 18.”

“I guess I was a good actress.”

“That’s the problem, you weren’t.” He chuckled. “When I think back to everything now, it’s all so clear to me. How eager and happy you were all the time to see me, how open you were with your feelings. The fact that you were a virgin and the fact that you were always willing and eager to do whatever I wanted to do sexually.”

“Not everything.” I shook my head.

“That’s true.” He licked his lips as he stared at me. “I never got you to agree to anal.”

“Would you like to see the wine menu?” A waiter appeared at our side and I looked at him with a small smile, while dying of mortification inside.

“Thank you.” Brandon took the menu and opened it so we could both see.

“Mr. Kai, would you like me to order the wine?” Brandon addressed the only person in the business party who appeared to speak English.

“Thank you, Mr. Hastings. We would like that very much.” Mr. Kai nodded and then spoke to the others rapidly in Japanese.

“I don’t think I’m going to be able to help much.” I whispered to Brandon. “I don’t speak much Japanese.”

“Your presence alone is enough.” He squeezed my knee and smiled at me. I tried not to pull away from him, but every time he touched me I felt like I was flying and it was hard for me to come back down to earth.

“I think we’re all going to have a less fatty steak tonight. I’m guessing everyone will have a filet mignon, don’t you think?” Brandon spoke out loud as he studied the wine menu. “So I guess I’ll choose a bottle that has a bit less tannin.”

“How do you know?” I asked, interested.

“I tried to be a sommelier when I was in my twenties.” He looked up at me. “And I worked at a couple of wineries in Napa and Sonoma.”

“I never knew that before.”

“There are a lot of things you don’t know about me, Katie.”

“Have you decided on your wine?” The waiter reappeared, and I sat back while I waited for Brandon to order.

“Let’s see, we’re definitely going to go with a cabernet sauvignon.” He studied the menu and looked up at the waiter. “Will you check and see if you have a 2002 Abreu cabernet sauvignon from the Thorevilos Vineyard Napa Valley in the cellar, please.”

“Wines in the cellar start at $500, sir.”

“That’s fine.” Brandon shrugged. “That’s the wine we want, if you have it. Two bottles would be better than one.”

“I’ll go and check now, sir.” The apathetic-looking waiter’s eyes lit up as he departed the table quickly.

“That’s too much money.” I whispered at him. “You can’t spend $500 on wine.”

“If they have a bottle, it’ll be about $850, actually.” He smiled at me and his eyes crinkled. “I’ve got billions, Katie. There’s no need to be worried. Consider it a catch-up drink for all those nights I took you out to dinner and you only got a water.”

“Yeah, but we’re not dating anymore.”

“Whose fault is that?” His fingers caught mine and he squeezed them until I looked up at him. “Don’t tell me what to do, Katie.”

“I’m not telling you what to do.”

“You made me lose control in my life once, I’m not going to let you do that to me again.”

“What?” I frowned, but then Mr. Kai started talking about business, so I just sat back and smiled at the other women in the group. They smiled at me politely and I smiled back, not knowing what else to do.

The waiter hurried back to the table with a huge smile. “Sir, we’ve found two bottles for you. Would you like to do a tasting?”

“Yes,” Brandon nodded and raised his glass, and the waiter popped the cork and poured a sampling into his glass. Brandon gave it a quick sniff, swirled it in his glass and then sipped. He allowed the wine to sit in his mouth for a moment, and then swallowed. “Delicious.” He nodded at the waiter. “I like it a lot. The wine is deep, well-balanced and complex.” He turned to me. “Just like I like my women.”

“So you two married, yes?” One of the women on the other side of the table leaned forward. “Happy couple?”

“Yes.” Brandon nodded and I sat back with a fake smile on my face.

“She is younger than you?’ Mr. Kai questioned and looked back and forth at us. I was surprised at the bluntness of his question.

“Much younger.” Brandon nodded. “But what does age matter when it comes to love?”

Mr. Kai didn’t respond, but instead seemed to explain the conversation to the others at the table. Some of the women’s eyes changed from polite to accepting and I realized that now they thought I was the wife, everything was okay.

“What sort of business dinner is this?” I whispered in Brandon’s ear. “Only one of them speaks English and I can’t imagine this is a setting where any deals are going to get made.”

“The Japanese culture is different from ours, Katie.” Brandon kissed my cheek as he whispered. “This may seem like an informal dinner to you, but it is also a vetting process. A process where they will evaluate whether I am someone they think they can trust.”

“At a dinner?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, at a dinner.” He pulled away from me and raised his glass. “Kanpai.”

“Kanpai.” They raised their glasses and smiled back.

I lifted up my glass and repeated the phrase they had used “Kanpai.” I took a sip of the wine and immediately felt soothed. This was a good glass of wine, indeed.

“Enjoying it?” Brandon looked at me as I continued sipping and I nodded. “It’s a very delicate wine. The blueberry, boysenberry jam, vanilla, licorice, chocolate, truffle, earth and smoke scream from the glass, don’t they?”

“I, uh, guess.” I laughed. “I mean I do taste some blueberry, I think.”

“I’ll have to teach you about wine one of these days.” His eyes danced as I took another sip. “There’s a vineyard in Napa, owned by some family friends, that I love. They have a castle and I always thought it would make a romantic trip.”

“It sounds like it.” I smiled back at him, but I wanted to question him. Was he saying that because he really wanted to take me, or because he was playing a role?

“How long you two been in love?” The one lady who seemed to know some English asked. I felt tongue-tied and nervous at her question. I was scared that it would be obvious to Brandon that I still loved him if I answered.

“I think I’ve loved, Katie from the moment I first met her.” Brandon responded. “My heart only began beating the moment I met her.” He stared at me with love in his eyes and his fingers brushed a piece of hair away from my face. “She was my angel. She found me at a time when I was in an emotionally bad place. She saved me from myself. Her love, her beauty, her kindness, her love of life, they saved me.”

“Oh, Brandon.” My heart melted at his words and I reached over and grabbed his hands. “I feel the same way.” I couldn’t stop the words from gushing out of my mouth. ”I feel like I was made to love you, that a part of you has always been in me, just waiting for us to meet.”

The couples across the table stared at us, not really understanding what we were saying, but feeling the love flowing between us.

“I knew you were the one for me in the very beginning,” Brandon continued in a soft tone, but then his eyes hardened as they looked at me. “I think a large part of it was your honesty. I always knew that no matter what happened, we would always have the truth. And I knew that nothing can break up a couple that has the truth on their side.” He pulled away from me, still smiling, and I felt a deep pain shatter my heart as he hammered the nail in. He was never going to forgive me. It didn’t matter that it had been seven years since the lie. Seven years for him to get over what I had done. He was determined to continue making me pay for what I had done. Taking this job had been a mistake. Everything had been a big mistake. I lectured myself to stop trying to give him second chances and to stop hoping for the impossible. How much more did he have to tell me or do before I would accept that we were over forever? All I had left to do was to do to him what he had done to me. I was going to fuck him and then leave him as if he meant nothing to me. I knew that it may not break his heart, but it would definitely hurt his pride, and that’s all I could hope for right now.

***

“Did you enjoy dinner?” Brandon was polite and distant as we walked away from the restaurant. The dinner had gone well, and his guests had gone off in their taxis looking fairly pleased. I wasn’t sure if it was due to the wine or the company, though. The two bottles of wine had turned to five and we were all a bit jolly by the end of the meal.

“I had a good time. They were nice.” I walked slowly, trying not to stumble. He placed his arm in front of me, but I ignored it.

“Let me guide you, Katie. I don’t want you to fall.”

“No, thanks.” I shook my head. “I’m fineeeee.” My words slurred slightly and I giggled.

“You’re drunk.”

“No, I’m not.” I hiccupped.

“Katie.” He sighed and pulled me towards him. “Hold on to me.”

I wrapped my arms around him and pushed my breasts against him, as I let my left hand fall down casually and brush against the front of his pants. His body grew tense as he held on to me and I kissed his neck.

“Let’s go dancing.” I whispered in his ear, letting my tongue lick his inner ear before I nibbled on his earlobe.

“You should really get home.” He shook his head, but I could see desire emanating from his every pore.

“I don’t wanna go home yet.” I hiccupped again. “Let’s go dancing, I know a place.”

“How do you know a place?”

“I saw it yesterday.” I grabbed his hand. “Please.” We stood there in the middle of the street, and he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“Fine, we can go for an hour. That’s it.”

“That’s all the time I need.” I whispered to him as excitement filled me. An hour was going to be more than enough time.

“Welcome to the club.” A scantily clad lady ushered us into ‘The X Room’ and I pretended that I didn’t notice Brandon’s look of surprise as we walked into the dark club.

“Katie,” he hissed as I dragged him towards the booming music. “What sort of club is this?”

“I don’t know.” I lied. “I just want to dance.”

“Katie.” He grabbed my hand to try to pull me back, but I just laughed and pulled away from him. I pushed my way through the crowds of men until I found an empty booth in the side of the room and sat down. “Katie.” His eyes narrowed as he sat next to me. “This is a strip club. We can’t do any dancing here.”

“Yes, we can.” I moved into him. “I can dance for you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I want to dance for you.”

“Dance for me?”

“Or would you rather I said strip?”

“Katie, I don’t know.” He looked around and then back at me. “This isn’t what I had in mind for tonight.”

“Just because you didn’t plan it doesn’t mean it can’t happen.” As I spoke, I thought back to everything I knew about Brandon, and I realized that several things were starting to add up. “You like to be in control, don’t you, Brandon?” I stood up and straddled him as I spoke to him.

“What man doesn’t?” He shrugged.

“No, I mean, you need to be in control. Everything about you screams it.” I shook my head in wonder. “I’m not sure how I never realized that before.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“What was your life like before we met?” I pulled my dress up at the sides so that I could rub back and forth on him easier. “I know you had lots of flings and you were focused on your job, but I didn’t really know you.” My eyes gazed into his as I kissed him lightly. He stared back at me with a guarded expression.

“It doesn’t really matter now, does it?”

“It doesn’t matter, but I want to know.” I started unbuttoning his shirt and kissed down his neck to his chest. I gasped as his hand ran up my dress and grasped my ass.

“Hey guys,” a cute topless girl walked up to us. “You’re welcome to do what you want, but if you want to remain in the booth, you need to order a bottle.”

“A bottle of what?” I questioned.

“Champagne, Katie.” And Brandon laughed. “We’ll have a bottle of Dom, please.”

“Coming right up.” The girl shook her breasts at Brandon and he smiled at her appreciatively.

“I can’t believe you were staring at her breasts.”

“What?” He looked at me with a bemused expression. “You can’t be serious. You brought me to a strip club and now you’re upset when I check out another ladies’ tits.”

“I’m not jealous.” I bent my head and bit his shoulder. I didn’t want to analyze my feelings too closely because he was right. I was pissed at the girl for flirting with him and even madder at him for seeming to enjoy the view. My inner brain was screaming at me:
She’s the least of your concerns, Katie. He has a fiancée.
“It doesn’t matter to me.”

“Sure.” He laughed and his expression seemed more relaxed. “Why don’t you continue with your dance?” His hands pushed against my ass and brought me in closer to him. “Dance for me and I’ll see how many singles I have.”

“What?” I frowned as I realized that the mood had changed. I had gone from being in control and having the power to being his personal plaything. I knew that if I continued with my ‘seducing him in the strip club’ plan, I would be the one who ended up feeling hurt at the end of the night. I continued to grind back and forth on him and he reached up and pulled the top of my dress down so that my breasts were rubbing against his chest.

“Move a little bit faster.” He groaned in my ear as his fingers slipped inside of my panties and rubbed me. “That’s it.” His voice was devious as he slipped his fingers inside of me. I continued moving, but I felt conflicted inside. I wanted him so badly, but not like this. Not with him calling the shots. I jumped up quickly and rubbed my head. “I’m not feeling well.” I made a face. “I’ll be back.” I hurried away to find the bathroom and quickly washed my face with water and drank some to clear my head. I didn’t know what I was going to do. My plan had been to pretend I was really drunk, take him to the strip club, fuck him and leave. But it would only work if he wasn’t the one in control. Now he was the one guiding me. He was the one turning me on. If we had sex in that booth, it was going to be him leaving me and making me feel guilty. I wasn’t going to let that happen. Tears fell from my eyes as I stared in the mirror at my reflection. Who was I becoming? It was one thing for me to have this plan when I thought he was single, but now I knew he had a fiancée and I was still going through with everything. How could I do this to another woman? I took another gulp of water and walked back through the flashing lights, loud music and naked women and knew I had made a mistake.