He stilled her undulating hips with his loose hand. “I meant, what’s going on with you?” He asked, pulling back far enough to allow some space between his chest and hers.
She pouted for a moment, annoyed that he wasn’t allowing her to take back some control. “I told you. I’m trying to get on a reality show,” she said, watching him carefully.
Kevin let go of her slim hip and tapped her nose with one finger. “Bullshit. Just tell me the truth for once. Then, we’ll see. Maybe we can help each other.” Carelessly he flicked one of her nipples with his thumb and watched as her dark eyes clouded with lust.
“Fine. What do you want to know?” She asked breathlessly.
Leaning down he let his warm breath brush the shell of her ear. “Is there really a reality show?” He smiled to himself as she shifted in his embrace, trying to bring his lips closer to her skin. Instead he pulled back and waited for her response.
Impatiently, Kerry tugged at her wrists, trying to loosen his hold. When he just chuckled at her efforts she glared at him for a moment and then did the unexpected. She lifted up on her bare toes and whispered directly into his ear as if revealing a fun secret rather than an evil scheme. “Yeah. The show is real. But I don’t have any intention of being on it. Too much work. I just want Evelyn to believe I’m going to reveal all her family secrets.” She leaned back and gave him an impish smile, clearly expecting him to be impressed with her plan.
Surprised, Kevin just stared at her in shock. Was she serious? Quickly masking his expression, he nodded encouragingly and brushed his fingers along her exposed collar bone. “Go on.” He forced an admiring tone into his voice. “What’s going on in that beautifully devious mind of yours?”
She flung her hair back and preened under his gaze. “Well, you know how that old bitch hates publicity? Well, if she finds out I’m planning on becoming part of some tawdry reality show she’ll break a hip trying to buy me off.”
Kevin couldn’t believe it. Kerry had set this all up in a misguided attempt to extort more money from Duncan’s grandmother. This was about greed and revenge, not jealousy. Even though Duncan had provided a generous divorce settlement it still wasn’t enough for her. She wanted the millions she thought she was entitled to and would do anything to get her hands on that money.
How could Kerry justify being so cruel to an old woman? Evelyn was in her seventies now. Granted, she was still controlling and hadn’t been an ideal guardian to her two grandchildren. She was by nature a cold and imposing woman, but she had made great strides towards mending fences since Theresa had run away from Toronto two years ago. Kevin had been impressed at the change in the Reinhold family matriarch’s icy demeanor when he’d seen her this past Christmas. She’d appeared almost human.
He couldn’t allow Kerry to get away with this deception. He needed to convince her to give up on her plan. But how? She knew how paranoid Evelyn was about publicity. The old woman’s daughter, Duncan’s mother, had made quite a splash in the tabloids with her many husbands, drug rehabs and public displays of intoxication. As a result, Evelyn probably would pay Kerry to keep the Reinhold name out of the limelight. It was actually quite a brilliant plan. A person would have to lack a conscience to carry it out but he was somewhat impressed Kerry had come up with it.
His only hope was to undermine her confidence and act more concerned with seduction than diverting her scheme. She just might decide to abandon ship on her diabolical plan if she believed she didn’t stand a chance. Kerry was not a big risk taker. She wouldn’t make the effort unless she was fairly certain there would be a big pay off at the end. If he acted like her plan had no hope he might actually have a chance of avoiding another ugly scandal for the Reinhold family. He owed it to them to at least try.
“You’re serious?” He said with a chuckle. “And what about Ev’s army of lawyers? You think they’ll stand by and let you do this? Good luck, sweetheart. Now, about that whole Master and Servant game…” He leaned forward and nuzzled her neck.
Kerry went stiff in his arms. “What? You don’t think it will work?”
“Are you kidding? No way. Now quit distracting me and let’s get this skirt off you.”
She began struggling in earnest, twisting her wrists and fiercely rocking her shoulders from side to side. “Let me go,” she cried.
Kevin removed his hand from her wrists immediately and she nearly stumbled trying to get away from him. “What?” He asked, feigning confusion. “Did you want me to be the servant? ‘Cause I’m into that too.”
Kerry just glared at him and began re-fastening her skirt. “Kevin. Is that all you think about? Sex?”
He grinned. “Pretty much. I thought you liked that about me.”
“Usually I do. But I have to go. Remember? I have a meeting.”
“Right. A meeting. About the whole fake reality show. I almost forgot. Very important.” He gave her a mocking smile.
She eyed him suspiciously. “Why aren’t you trying to convince me to give up on this? I was expecting threats and promises from you. What happened? Aren’t you and Duncan friends anymore?”
Kevin shrugged. “What can I say? Duncan’s a big boy. More than capable of defending himself against you and your ‘big plan’.”
Kerry gave him a look of disgust. “Wow. You really have changed. You used to be so sickeningly decent. Even when you were chasing any slut with a pulse you were always so respectful and nice about it. Now you’re just a drunk who can’t write or fuck. What happened to you?”
Undaunted by her insults Kevin grinned and cupped the front of his jeans. “Hey. I can still fuck. I’d be glad to demonstrate. You’re the one who put on the brakes.” He grinned like an idiot, hoping he was convincing as the crude horn-dog with nothing on his mind but getting laid.
She turned away from him and put her hands to her head. “Damn it. This wasn’t how this was supposed to go,” she muttered to herself, clearly distressed at this turn of events.
Kevin was glad she’d turned her back to him. His relief would have been difficult to hide. Pretending he was attracted to her had been hard but letting her believe he didn’t give a damn about her scheme was nearly impossible. From her worried demeanor it appeared that he’d been successful in deceiving her for once. After all these years, she should know him better than to think he would allow her to victimize anyone.
“Ker. How did you imagine this would play out exactly? Don’t you remember what happened a few years ago when you tried to blackmail Duncan? His grandmother unleashed her pit-bull lawyers on you and you had to walk away with just a small payday rather than the ten million you were looking for. That’s what usually happens when you deal with these people. They have huge resources at their disposal and don’t take kindly to people trying to cheat them. Just accept it and move on.”
She whipped around and glared at him. “I expected you to do what any good friend would do and tell Duncan about the reality show. Then he’d come to me and offer me money to leave this god-forsaken town and we could avoid bothering Evelyn and her lawyers with all this. Or better yet I expected you to do the whole noble thing and offer to pay me off yourself. What I hadn’t counted on was you finally fulfilling your asshole destiny and becoming such a selfish prick.”
Well, that explains why she was willing to reveal her plan to him so easily. It didn’t matter if he knew or not. She’d wanted him to tell Duncan and save her the trouble of confronting Evelyn. She certainly had put a lot of work into this. She’d set the groundwork with the reality show, knowing Evelyn would do anything to avoid the publicity. Then all she really had to do was prey on Duncan’s heroic nature to step in and solve the problem before it threatened his grandmother. The intricacy of her plan was almost elegant.
He held up his hands in surrender. “Sorry. Hate to disappoint you but what did you expect? I hang around monsters for a living. Some of that psychopath shit is bound to rub off.”
Kerry flipped her hair back over her shoulder. “Oh please.
You don’t actually believe that.”
“Actually I do believe it. You said it yourself. I’ve changed.”
“Kevin. You’ve become a self-centred booze-hound. That’s hardly in the same league as the animals you deal with. You’re the least violent person I know.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. You were totally pissed off when you walked in here, right?”
He nodded, a little surprised at the turn this conversation had taken.
“Do you think I’d open the door if I was the slightest bit worried about you getting physical with me? Not likely. I knew you were too nice to do anything more than yell at me. You couldn’t hurt a woman if your dick depended on it. You couldn’t even hurt that drunken oaf last week. Hurting anyone weaker than yourself isn’t in you DNA. Plus, I thought I could distract you with sex.”
“Why even open the door then?”
“Because I needed you to be part of my plan. Angry, horny guys are way easy to manipulate. Didn’t you know that?”
“Apparently not. Don’t have a lot of experience manipulating horny guys. Angry or not. So now what?”
She sighed. “Well, I still have a meeting to get to, but if you’re still into playing Master and Servant I could always tie you to the bed with some lovely Givenchy scarves before I go. I’ll be back in a couple of hours and we could work out all your anger then. How does that sound?”
He ignored her offer. The thought of being at her mercy didn’t turn him on in the slightest. “I meant your plan. Are you still going to go ahead with it?”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “I thought you didn’t give a damn.”
He shrugged. “I don’t. Just curious. Also, what about Jamie?”
“What about her?”
“Well, if you take down that YouTube video, I could be persuaded to mention your reality show to Duncan. I doubt very much he’ll hand over his check book to you, but I will tell him about it.” He’d been planning on giving Duncan a heads up anyway.
She paused, still watching him carefully. “I thought she wasn’t interested in you. Why would you care if people found out what a bitch she is? In fact, if she rejected you as you said then you should be thrilled about that video.”
He threw his hands up in exasperation. “Jesus. Have you always been so vindictive? Just because she isn’t into me doesn’t necessarily mean I want revenge on her. She’s a nice lady who’s sacrificed everything to get her store off the ground. She doesn’t deserve to be publicly embarrassed like that. So, do the right thing for once and take it down, ok?”
“No.”
“No? Why not?”
“Because you obviously have feelings for her.”
“So?”
“You really have no idea, do you?”
“Enlighten me.”
She glared at him. “Kevin. I’ve been throwing myself at you since I came back. How do you think it made me feel when I saw those pictures of another woman in your room?”
Feel? “Kerry. You said you didn’t care. I’ll always be Mr. Right Now. Remember?” He’d suspected that Kerry’s attack on Jamie had been motivated by jealousy but he’d also believed her when she’d claimed otherwise. It had never occurred to him that Kerry had been actually hurt by his interest in Jamie.
“I lied. Unlike you I’m pretty good at it. Now. I’ve got to get out of here. Will you be here when I get back?” She said the words like a challenge but there was just a hint of hope in her dark eyes.
Kevin shook his head. “I’m sorry. Ker. I have an AA Meeting to get to. Dylan is waiting for me.”
All warmth left her expression and she shook her head in pity. “It just figures that you’d finally get sober for a woman who doesn’t even want you,” she said in disgust as she snatched up her purse and stormed towards the door. “I hope that cow breaks your heart. I really do. I can’t think of anyone who deserves a good ego crushing more.” She shot these words over her shoulder as she exited the room in a flourish of dark hair. The resounding slam of the door echoed behind her.
Kevin sat down on the bed, completely stunned by her revelation.
Was Kerry even capable of caring about another person or was this just another manipulation? He didn’t know the answer to that question. He sincerely hoped she was. As a teenager she’d been wild and fun. The ultimate party girl - she’d been up for anything. Clearly something had happened to her along the road to adulthood and she’d turned into this cold, scheming seductress. As much as he disliked the woman she’d become there was a part of him that would always remember the girl he’d known and even cared about at one time.
Oddly enough, she’d actually done him a small favor. She’d somehow managed to reassure him that he wasn’t prone to violence as he’d come to believe. Dylan had tried to convince him that the nightmares were just signs of stress rather than premonitions or insights into his character. Kevin had pretty much ignored his younger brother’s suggestion because obviously Dylan cared about him. He’d say anything to make him feel better. Kerry, on the other hand, had no such agenda.
Kevin still had doubts and fears regarding the nightmares but Duncan’s ex had inadvertently shown him that he was capable of controlling his darker tendencies. When he’d been standing at her door he’d been out of control. That video of Jamie, obviously manipulated by Kerry, had driven him into a fit of rage. Yet when he’d confronted Kerry about it he hadn’t had the slightest inclination to hurt her. Even with her arms trapped behind her back, completely at his mercy, he hadn’t been tempted to do her any harm.
Perhaps the nightmares weren’t a sign that he was on the brink of violence but some kind of outlet for all the darkness he’d been exposed to over the years instead. He hated to admit it but it was possible that Dylan had been right all along. For the first time in a long time Kevin entertained the possibility that he wasn’t predestined to become a monster. Maybe he was just a guy with an active imagination and a serious case of psychopath overexposure.
Or maybe he was fooling himself.
Chapter Seventeen
Love Law #7 – Rebuttal: In Defence of the Man-Whore
By Kevin Hall
Cinnamon Spice, the author of The Love Laws, makes several good points. The most important of which is that yes, there are bad men out there who will tell blatant lies to get women into bed. Yes, they will prey on the romantic nature of the fairer sex and concoct a viable commitment-friendly scenario to convince them that casual sex isn’t really casual when the connection is so undeniable. Some of these losers will be sly and hint at a bright future together while thinking about how quickly they can sneak out of your bedroom the next morning without leaving any DNA evidence. Others are more overt in their deception and will make false promises, swear their undying devotion and basically say anything to get what they want. These creatures are the true man-whores and should definitely be avoided if you are looking for something real and lasting.
Where Miss Spice goes wrong, however, is on four points:
(1) She assumes quite wrongly that women are totally innocent in this deception. This is insulting to her genre. Yes, I’m sure that there are a few naïve victims out there who have been hurt by the machinations of the evil man-whores, but for the most part I believe that today’s modern women are not so easily fooled. If they allow themselves to be deceived they may be looking for an excuse to fall into bed with someone they hardly know simply because they want to get laid. Most true man-whores are fairly obvious. (For instance, if he doesn`t give you his phone number or last name then he`s not looking for a relationship. Also, if he makes indefinite statements like ‘we should get together sometime next week’ or ‘let me check my calendar’ when you suggest future plans then odds are he falls into the deceptive category of man-whoredom. Guys who are looking for a real connection will do anything, and I do mean anything, to spend more time with you.)
(2) The ugly truth is that women have needs just like every organism on the planet. Sometimes they are willing to
be seduced to fulfill that biological imperative. (Or maybe they’re just curious about the prowess of the man-whore as opposed to lesser men as Miss Spice suggests). Afterward when both parties have been used, hopefully to their mutual satisfaction, only the woman has the option of blaming the ‘convenient man-whore’ for taking advantage of her. She gets what she wants without feeling like a slut and the man-whore becomes the scape-goat. This is a testament to female empowerment rather than their victimization.
(3) Another injustice that has been perpetuated by Miss Spice is that all men who are successful with women make false promises or tell lies. This is simply untrue. Some men who are perceived as man-whores actually go out of their way to state that they are not looking for a relationship to last longer than their current erection. And yet they still get lumped together with the true man-whores. In this case, the ‘apparent man-whore’ is the actual victim and deserves our sympathy, not this self-righteous condemnation. The fact is that some women think they can reform the man-whore before he is ready with just the power of their own self-delusion. These types of females honestly believe that sex with them is always the beginning of a real relationship even if the man-whore’s position has been clearly stated. The obtuse female in this scenario will agree to the casual preamble and then proceed to ignore it if it suits her purposes. Whether she’s using her body as relationship bait or her ego simply can’t accept that she is so resistible, either way she is forcing herself on her chosen man-whore. When the man resists this trap he is once again the scape-goat who has used and discarded the poor, helpless female. Even if he was clear and direct in his motivations, he is somehow transformed into a villain. Now does this seem the like the action of a predator? Or a victim?
The Love Laws Page 25
