He gave me a soft smile. “It’s nothing. Can I come in?”
“I think you already did that last night,” I said, then immediately slapped a hand over my mouth. “I’m sorry. That was terrible. God, why is this so awkward?” I stood to the side so he could enter the suite.
A laugh burst from his chest, and he shook his head. “It’s been a long twenty-four hours.”
When he was chest to chest with me, he paused, leaning down to brush the softest kiss across my lips. When he pulled back, I just stared up at him. Hell. What did I do? What did I say? Why wasn’t I better at this?
He frowned, reading my silence as something else. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed—” I lifted up on my toes and kissed him hard, without any finesse whatsoever.
“No, it’s fine. I mean, it's good. Ugh.” I walked to the bed and just threw myself facedown onto the mattress, silently screaming. When I was calmer, I sat up, looking at Evan where he still stood near the door. “I’m sorry.”
He shook his head, crossing the floor to me in two huge strides. “No, Aviva. You have nothing to be sorry for. I should have had better restraint. Protected you better. Not taken advantage of how vulnerable you were. Fuck, so many things I should have done better.” He waved his hand at his face. “I deserved this.”
I frowned. “We’ve been over this. I’m not stupid—I knew what I was doing. I’m a consenting adult. I’m depressed, not crazy.” I grinned. “Maybe I should have protected you better. I’m the one who’s been fucking a whole friend group. I could have given you the clap. Besides, you got me Plan B. I mean, it might be protection after the fact, but it still counts.”
He gave me an unamused look. “Don’t talk about yourself like that, Chaos. We both know what you feel for those three isn’t casual lust. I’ve been watching it from the outside.” He paused. “And Plan B isn’t a hundred percent effective.”
I screwed up my nose. “Are you about to give me the afterschool special about contraception? Because I can promise you, I was a straight A student. Pretty sure I aced that Health class in high school, and can put condoms on a banana like a champion. Apparently, it's just dicks I struggle with.”
“Aviva,” he rumbled. He had a great voice. Deep and growly. I kind of loved how he said my name. Not as much as I loved how he moaned ‘Chaos,’ but it was close.
“Tell me what you need to say, Evan. Rip it off like a bandaid.” I was waiting for the inevitable ‘this was a mistake, you’re too young, I’m too old, it can never happen again’ spiel. I’d hardened myself to the words already. I’d had this entire conversation in my head twelve times since last night.
“Sampson fired me. I’d like to stay with you, if you want that too.”
Well, plot twist. I hadn’t planned for that in any of my imaginary scenarios. I blinked at him, trying to wade past my shock. “He fired you for having sex with me?” He nodded. “I can’t pay you to be my security.”
He growled, and dragged me into his arms. “I don’t want you to pay me. I don’t want to be your bodyguard, Chaos.” He let go of me and stepped away, running his fingers through his hair. “I like you, despite the fact that trouble follows you like a magnet. You’re something special, and if you want to as well, I’d like to see where we go. Even if it is only until the end of this trip and then you go back to your old life.” He grunted and turned away. “I’m fucking this up, putting you on the spot. I’m shit at words. Pressuring you again.”
I raised my hand. “If you could take a break from the brooding self-flagellation for a moment, I seem to remember that it was me putting the pressure on you.” I reached out, grabbing his shoulder that still bore the gouges from my nails peeking out above the collar. “Are you just sticking around to make sure I’m not knocked up? Because I promise to call you if I am. I don’t know fucking jack shit about babies.”
A smile curled his lips. “No. Not just for that.”
I bit my lip. “The guys didn’t put you up to this? Otto?”
He shook his head. “No. Well, both Otto and Hendrick approached me about it, but I’d already decided I want to court you.”
I snorted. Who the hell ‘courted’ anymore?
He gave me an exasperated expression. “I know it sounds old school, but you know what I mean. This is what I want, if you want it too.”
I sucked in a few deep breaths, looking up into his brown eyes that seemed to swirl with emotion. Earnestness was so refreshing, yet terrifying. The thing about the other guys was that we’d always expected it to end badly. It didn’t feel like Evan was going into this with quite the same pessimistic outlook.
So despite the age difference, the tumultuousness of our beginnings, and the fact my heart still belonged partially to three men I’d never have, I found myself saying, “I’d like that.”
A sigh of relief flowed from between his pretty lips, and he gave me a genuine smile. Leaning forward, he kissed me hard. “Thank fuck.”
It didn’t seem real until we were all standing in the lobby of the hotel, two different cabs waiting for us. I stepped into Otto’s arms, and he pulled me tightly to his chest. I could hear the pound of his heart, even though mine was breaking. But I held it together, barely.
“Be good, Viva. Call me if you need anything, anything at all. Hell, message me every day anyway.” He kissed the top of my head. “I’m going to miss you, sweetheart.”
My eyes welled, and I blinked them rapidly. “I’ll miss you too.”
I pulled away, swallowing the lump in my throat, as Hedrick grabbed me up in his arms. “Bye, Viva. Live long, okay?” He kissed my temple, his arms encompassing me against his solid warmth. Despite the fact he’d been the detonator for this relationship, I found it hard to stay mad at him.
“It’s not goodbye forever, Hendrick.”
He just made a low humming noise, holding me tighter before letting me go. I stepped back, looking over at Sampson. I swallowed back the emotion, clenching my back teeth to keep my face from crumpling.
“Bye, Sampson.”
He gave me a half-smile. “Be good.”
The pain in his eyes tore at my heart, but he was the first to move away, his eyes snagging on Evan who stood a few feet behind me. I was stealing the one constant in his life, and I felt miserable. They all climbed into the cab, and I watched the car pull out into traffic. The other bodyguards were on point until Sampson made it back to the States, where the rest of Evan’s team could pick up the slack.
Evan bundled me into the other cab, directing the driver to the airport. My hands shook as I tried to buckle myself in, and when Evan’s warm, strong fingers took over, buckling me in easily, I burst into tears.
He slid closer and held me to his chest as I cried. He didn’t give me empty consolations, just stroked my back while I soaked his shirt with tears. This was stupid. This wasn’t what I was here for. I wasn’t meant to fall in love with those assholes. I was meant to find Nemo, but it was like chasing a dream, when what I needed had been standing in front of me the whole time. Then I’d lost them, simply because I was dumb and didn’t figure it out until too late.
When we arrived at the airport, we waited in line to check our bags. Evan bought us both coffee and some bread-like pastries, and we walked to the gate that would take us to Hong Kong. Despite Otto’s insistence that he could afford to fly us first class, I told him I was happier in coach. It was where I belonged, with the average people, not in the glittering world with rich princes. These people were just as special, but they weren’t wrapped in the falsity of the upper class. They were average people who were just worried about surviving. A woman juggled her baby, and several businessmen typed on their laptops, but most people just stared at their phones, looking for a connection.
Evan stroked his hand down my spine. “Are you okay?”
I nodded. “I will be.”
“We can chase them down. I’ve watched romance movies. We win over the kind-hearted gate attendant, burst onto the plane and the
n you sing them a song about how much you love them.”
I smiled sadly. “This isn’t that kind of story, Evan. I’ll be okay, I promise.” I reached out and grabbed his hand, lacing our fingers together. “I’m glad you’re here though.”
“Me too, Chaos. Me too.”
Chapter 41
Sampson
Everything in me rebelled at the fact that Aviva wasn’t here with us. How had everything gone so wrong in such a short amount of time? I wanted to run through this airport to her gate, grab her, haul her over my shoulder and take her home with me. But I couldn’t. I hadn’t respected any of her other rules, but I could respect this last one. She’d made her decision. She’d chosen Evan.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw them naked and wrapped around each other, and rage flooded my system all over again. If she stayed, we would destroy each other, and I couldn’t do that to her.
I looked between my brothers, my best friends, and they looked how I felt. Miserable as fuck.
As if he could sense my thoughts, could sense me wavering, Hendrick lifted his head and met my eyes. “This is right.”
That was all he was giving me after destroying everything. If she hadn’t run, she wouldn’t have ended up in Evan’s arms. This was all Drix’s fault. Though the logical side of my brain argued he’d just sped up the inevitable ending to this story. Good Girl had never been meant for us.
Otto hadn’t said a word to either of us, and guilt ate at me. I didn’t doubt he would look her up when she came home, because even I knew that they had a connection. He’d resist for a little while, but he wouldn’t be able to stay away forever. She was an addiction that was well and truly under all of our skins, but Otto wasn’t enough of a masochist to ignore the crawling need to have her.
First class wasn’t the same without Aviva wide-eyed in front of us, whispering about the size of the seats and the fluffy pajamas. The world was duller without her barely-contained wonder.
We took our seats, and the flight attendant was a no-nonsense, sixty-something woman, making me breathe a sigh of relief. I couldn’t have politely shaken off a flirty attendant today. I would have lost my shit and probably got us bumped from the plane.
Hendrick downed two glasses of champagne straight away, and Otto didn’t even lecture him about it. Those two had a distance between them that I’d never seen before, and I was worried about them. They’d been a couple for as long as I’d known them, but this had damaged that. More than Hendrick’s cheating, or the shit they copped from the other trust fund babies back home, this had caused a rift that I didn’t know if Drix would be able to mend.
“Go easy on the champagne, Drix. I don’t want to be thrown off the plane before we get home.”
He gave me a droll look that broadcast his thoughts well enough. He didn’t give a fuck about what I wanted or my opinion right now. Aviva had done a number on us—or we’d done a number on ourselves—and I wasn’t sure our friendship would survive.
I plugged in my headphones and pulled out my phone, ignoring everyone and everything. I looked through my emails, messaging my assistant a list of reports I wanted tomorrow. I didn’t care that it was three a.m. there right now—he could get his ass out of bed.
I’d need some recommendations for a new security firm too, and the pain in my chest at the loss of Evan was another thing I was ignoring. So too was the panic that crawled along my skin at not having him close by, watching my back. I hadn’t been without him, really, since I was fifteen. Since he’d pulled me out of that basement, bleeding and broken.
I wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but Evan had become more than an employee, and that was why his betrayal had hurt so badly. This whole thing was a nightmare, and the sooner we got back to reality, the better it would be for us all.
Fourteen hours later, I dragged myself from the plane. Despite the fact I’d spent the majority of the flight pretending to sleep, I was exhausted. The last leg of the trip had been nearly unbearable, and I’d snapped at the flight attendants until I made one of them cry. I’d felt guilty, leaving her a huge tip, but still, I was at the end of my rope. I was about to lose it.
“Thank you for flying with us, Mr. Rubio. Welcome home.” Her mouth smiled, but her eyes told me to go fuck myself. Fair call.
I grunted my response. Otto thanked her softly, and Hendrick just ignored her completely. Hendrick was more than a little drunk now. He’d imbibed steadily since we’d boarded, taken a Valium, and yet still remained awake for most of the flight, so he was now staggering like an alcoholic. Otto strode in front of him, leaving him behind.
I worried that Otto would take off as soon as we were out of customs, and I wasn’t sure when we’d see him again. He needed time, and I’d give it to him. I would prop up Hendrick for as long as he needed it. Somewhere in hour twelve of the flight, I’d realized I was just as much to blame for the implosion of everything. I couldn’t blame it all on Hendrick being a dick. If I hadn’t reacted the way I had about Evan, we could have swept it all under the rug and continued on in blissful ignorance. But I hadn’t, so here we were...
There was a bit of a commotion at the top of the ramp, and I sighed heavily. Great. If it was a fucking flash mob, or worse, if someone had tipped off the photographers that we were here, I was going to be pissed.
When I reached the top, I frowned at the group of police hovering around the check-in desk. One of them spotted us and stepped forward, and my heart began to pound. Something was very, very wrong. I instinctively looked for Otto, and found him on the other side of the crowd, staring in confusion. Hendrick was somehow instantly stone cold sober. When I looked behind the cops and saw his old security detail, I knew something bad was about to go down—and that his father was behind it.
Dread crawled up my spine as a cop came over, his face serious. “Sampson Rubio? You are under arrest, charged with kidnapping and human trafficking. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law...” He continued speaking, but I tuned him out, looking over at Otto, who was staring back at me in horror.
“Call my lawyer,” I yelled over the sound of the shocked crowd.
He nodded, just as one of Hendrick’s security guards stepped forward. “Hendrick. Your father, Senator Kenley, has been very worried. We are to escort you directly to Mount Sinai Hospital to undertake a mental health and wellness check.”
My security was still arguing with the cops, as they spun me and cuffed my hands behind my back. Hendrick backed up, stepping around me and the cop, out of reach of his father’s henchmen. “Are you fucking kidding me? You aren’t taking me anywhere, especially not to a mental institution.”
One of the bodyguards thrust a trash magazine into his hands, his lip curled in disgust. Hendrick looked at it and went pale. His wide eyes flew to Otto. I strained to look at the magazine cover, but when I did, I immediately wished I hadn’t.
On the front of the magazine was a slightly blurred photo of Hendrick being fucked against the window of the London hotel. You couldn’t see Otto’s face in the picture, and I was fairly sure that was the only reason he wasn’t on trumped-up charges of kidnapping too. We were in so much trouble.
Hendrick’s security leaned forward and snarled, “Move it, you fucking fag, or we’ll take your boyfriend too and beat the shit out of him on the way.” He spat on the floor at Hendrick’s feet.
I didn’t know what the fuck to do. I could tell my security was losing the argument with the police, and I desperately wished Evan was here.
Hendrick, that fucking crazy asshole, reared back and headbutted the bodyguard who’d just spat at him. Then he lurched toward the cop holding my cuffs and cold-clocked him until the other cops broke away, tackling him to the ground and putting him in handcuffs too.
“Son of a bitch. You are under arrest for assaulting an officer,” one of them growled. We were definitely going to get the rough treatment on the way to the station, but it was easier to get out of pris
on than an institution.
I looked at Otto. He was going to have to save us all now. “You know what to do,” I yelled, and he nodded.
We’d been planning for Hendrick’s dad to make a move for a while now, but the bullshit kidnapping charges to get me out of the way were a surprise. He wouldn’t have planned for Otto though; he’d always underestimated him since he wasn’t filthy rich—like he was just some weak hanger-on, rather than the glue that held us together and kept us grounded.
The cops frogmarched us out of the airport, and the paparazzi were right there, snapping pictures. Fuck. Senator Kenley may have made the first move, but he wouldn’t win the game. I was going to eviscerate him. When I was done, he wouldn’t have a reputation to fall back on. I was going to destroy the man piece by piece.
Thank fuck Aviva wasn’t here.
Notes From The Author
Times have been a little wild over the past few years, and it’s taken its toll on us all. So, listen to Mama Grace. Take care of yourself. You’re important, not just to me, but to countless other lives you touch every single day, and you may not even know it.
You are never selfish or a disappointment for seeking help or needing to talk.
Suicide prevention Hotline America: +1-800-273-8255
Lifeline Australia: 13 11 14
Samaritans UK: 116-123
INSIDE THE MAELSTROM: Part Two (Preorder here)
About the Author
Grace McGinty is eclectic. She has worked as a chocolatier, a librarian, a forensic accountant and finally a writer. Like her professional career, the genres she writes are also eclectic. She writes romance, reverse harem romance, fantasy, contemporary young adult and new adult books.
She lives in rural Australia with her crazy family, an entire menagerie of pets, and will one day be crushed by her giant piles of books that litter every room.
Inside the Maelstrom Page 23
