The Devil You Know (Ashby Crime Family Romance Book 3)

by KB Winters

  “Well,” Kat sighed. “As fun as this has been, I need to get back to the office. Someone has to keep the empire running smoothly.”

  She finished off her second wine glass of whiskey with a loud, exaggerated smack of her lips, her gaze aimed at Jasper. “Do I need my babysitter or can I head to the office alone?” Her gaze glossed right over me, which was odd because yesterday we’d been fine.

  Until Jasper called, a small voice reminded me.

  “You’re not going alone,” Jasper told her and turned to me. “You mind spending a few hours keeping an eye on Kat? It won’t be more than a few hours, will it Kat?”

  She folded her arms, a challenge in her sapphire eyes. “It’ll take however long it takes, Jas. It’s business, not a fucking fight.”

  She tossed her napkin down and left the table after a quick squeeze of Sadie’s shoulder and a short hug for Maisie.

  I followed Kat out to her car, where she hurriedly snapped in the seatbelt and her gaze focused on the phone in her hand.

  As soon as I got in and started the car, I said, “You’re in a fine mood today.”

  She shrugged. “I am who I am, Terry.”

  She was pissed, and I was sure I was the reason. “You mad at me, Kitty Kat?” Before she could answer, I put the car in gear and placed my right hand on her thigh.

  “To be mad at you, Terry, we’d have to be more than fuck buddies. Which we are not.”

  “We’re also friends.” My hand slid up her denim covered thigh as the car rolled through the gates of Ashby Manor. “Aren’t we?” I let my pinky finger brush her pussy through her jeans until she moaned.

  “Mutual acquaintances,” she said on a lusty gasp. “At best.”

  “That’s not true,” I told her and added more pressure to the seam that covered her clit, making her gasp and moan inside the quiet car. “Say it’s not true, Kat.”

  “No,” she insisted with a mischievous smile. “It is true. Absolutely true,” she moaned as I applied more pressure.

  “Stubborn little bitch,” I laughed because she could deny it all she wanted, but by the time we pulled into the parking garage, she was halfway to an orgasm. Her skin was flushed pink and slightly slick from exertion, she was fucking beautiful.

  “That’s Miss Bitch, to you, Manning.” Her lips curled into a devious smile as we stepped onto the elevator because she knew there was nothing I could do with all the cameras in the garage and the elevator.

  But I was good at biding my time. “I was thinking sexy bitch, maybe even kinky bitch.”

  Kat arched a dark brow at me. “Or your personal favorite? Rich bitch.”

  The doors slid open, and I moved in close enough to whisper in her ear. “You’re my favorite, Kat. Period.”

  I didn’t miss the gasp she let out as she marched to her office to get away from me and the way I made her feel. I didn’t blame her at all, one of us had to be smart about this, and I was incapable of being anything but stupid where Kat was concerned. “Don’t confuse things, Terry. I don’t like it.”

  I closed the door and frowned at Kat when she got in my face, her blue eyes practically black with some emotion I couldn’t name.

  “I’m just as confused as you are, Kitty Kat.”

  “Bullshit,” she growled and pushed at my chest.

  I grabbed her by the wrists and pulled her close. “It’s not bullshit, it’s the truth. Even if it scares you.”

  “Scares me?” She laughed. “Nothing scares me, Terry. Not even you.”

  She pushed at my chest again and walked over to her desk, unbuttoning her jeans as her gaze lasered in on mine.

  “But we do want the same thing right now.” She shoved her jeans down her legs and turned to bend over her desk, giving me the perfect view of her heart shaped ass.

  Shit. She was right about one thing and that was how much I wanted her. Right now. Even from a few feet away I could see how wet her pussy was, how it glistened between her thighs.

  “Kat,” I said on a tortured breath.

  “Come on, Terry. Fuck me. Give us both what we want. What we need.”

  She wiggled her ass and it was like a magnet, pulling me closer and closer until I had a handful of her ass in my hands, squeezing and kneading while her moans echoed off the walls.

  Her head fell to the desk when I slid two fingers inside her and found her dripping wet.

  “Yes!” she said, telling me I’d found the spot.

  “All for me?”

  “Terry,” she growled, her voice a warning that made my dick even harder. “Now.”

  “Right now?” Even as I teased her with my fingers, my other hand worked quickly to free my cock and get inside her.

  “Oh fuck. Such a sweet little cunt,” I told her and licked her juices off my fingers.

  Her pussy clenched and pulsed around me and I knew she was close to orgasm. “Fuck. Yes!”

  This was a much different fuck from yesterday where I held her through a powerful orgasm that brought tears to her eyes. Today she wanted it hard and fast to match her anger, and I was too hard, too far gone to do anything but give Kat what she wanted.

  I hated that I couldn’t see her blue eyes or the way she bit down on her bottom lip when pleasure overwhelmed her, but this was what she wanted. What she needed. And I was a man who loved a fine ass and Kat’s was one of the finest, with just enough jiggle. Smacking her ass hard while I fucked her from behind made my cock harder and harder.

  But it wasn’t enough.

  I grabbed her by the hair and pulled until her back was pressed to my chest. I wrapped one hand around her throat and used the other to play with her clit while my dick invaded every inch of her cunt. She gasped in my arms as I tightened my grip on her throat and slammed into her until she trembled and vibrated.

  “Terry, oh fuck! Yes!”

  It was hard and fast. The air around us thick with desire and tension, the only sound was her moans of pleasure, my grunts and the sound of my cock plunging into her wet pussy.

  “I love the way your pussy is so greedy for my cock,” I growled in her ear.

  “Then give me more,” she choked out on a labored breath.

  I did just that, bending her over so she was trapped between me and the desk. I pumped into her cunt, hard and fast until pleasure exploded and her pussy nearly strangled my cock.

  “Oh, fuck yes! Yes! Fuck…yes!” Even after she collapsed against the desk, her pussy continued to milk my cock until my own orgasm shot from my body and straight into hers.

  “Fuck, Kat! Babe, yes!” I continued to thrust into her, unwilling to step away from the wet heat of her pulsing cunt. Or how good she made me feel.

  I was so thoroughly fucked but being buried inside Kat, I didn’t give a shit.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Kat

  I’d spent more time daydreaming about Terry over the past two days than I had throughout most of my teens, which was pretty fucking sad because I was a grown woman in charge of a multi-million dollar operation.

  I wasn’t some lovelorn teenager. Oh yes you are! that sarcastic little bitch who lived inside my head reminded me, and the kicker was, she was right.

  Even though I knew I shouldn’t be daydreaming about the man, or the way he’d fucked me, hard and fast on my desk two nights ago, I was. But it wasn’t just his cock or the orgasms that had me drooling over him, the worst part was the way he made me laugh. The way he held me last night, like I was precious, or the way he’d made shrimp scampi for me because he remembered how much I liked it. Put all of that together, and I had no doubt, I was in love with Terry Manning.

  A man who was currently doing a pretty impressive impersonation of rock or stone at the moment. He was entirely too fucking good at hiding his emotions. He gave nothing away, not with his gaze or his touch, and certainly not with his words. I felt like I was in love all by myself and that feeling sucked.

  A quick glance at the man of stone as he maneuvered into the parking lot of House of Ash
by, and the truth was, I was in this alone. Completely and totally alone. Even if Terry felt what I felt, he respected Jasper more. Which also sucked.

  But I wasn’t going to pout about it or push him. I wasn’t even going to be the angry, passive-aggressive bitch I’d been at Sunday dinner. I was going to be the strong, independent woman I was, and slowly learn how to live without him. While enjoying the crazy hot sex for however long it lasted.

  As soon as the car came to a stop, I grabbed my bag and stepped out.

  “I’ll be about twenty minutes. I hope.” Ravager still hadn’t surfaced and at this point, it was no surprise. But I still needed to talk to Rachel Cruz and the other winners about doing more promo. Right now, the whole world was talking about them, and we needed to capitalize on that to make up for the money Ravager had cost us.

  Even though my thoughts were on business, I couldn’t help but feel like I was being watched as I walked across the parking lot. Again, maybe even still. At this point, I wasn’t sure anymore. I wasn’t even sure someone was watching me, but the feeling lingered whenever I was out in public. I walked a little faster, ignoring Terry’s masculine scent or his proximity.

  The creepy sensation followed me inside the gym, so I tried to focus on my job. I studied the fighters lifting weights and jumping rope, sparring. I watched their movement exercises, the way they hit the bag, and all of those details helped me worry about what was important. The company. The fighters. Yet, through all that, the feeling stuck with me that there were eyes on me, but I shook it off and slipped easily into the role of barracuda. It was what everyone expected, and I was happy to do it. More than happy, at the moment.

  “Emmett, you’re looking much better.” I wrapped him in a hug and smiled, happy to see he was getting back to his old self.

  “Much better than hell? Thanks, I think.” He stepped back with a friendly smile on his face, the bruises fading and cut healing. But I could see the way tension had settled in his shoulders and the wary tone in his voice. “What brings you by?”

  “A few things. I need to talk to a few fighters about promo stuff, but I wanted to check in with you to see if you’d seen or heard from Ravager?”

  It was a long shot and I knew he would have said something if his fighter had reached out to him, but I had to ask.

  Emmett shook his head and raked a hand through brown hair that had grown longer than I’d ever seen it.

  “Nah, haven’t seen him and I don’t think I will. But I’ve had plenty of time to think while waiting for the bruises to heal.” He let out a bitter laugh and shook his head, “and I think someone put him up to it.”

  Interesting. “Really? What makes you think that?”

  “I don’t have any proof, but a couple of days before the fight I spotted a new gold watch on his wrist. At first, I just chalked it up to him getting an advance based on the odds released before the fight. Now, after all that’s happened, I don’t know.”

  He shrugged again and his eyes took on a far-off look that said he wasn’t finished. “I know what went down, Kat. I wouldn’t have agreed to it, but I know how these things work sometimes.”

  I nodded, acknowledging his words. “I know, Em, but I didn’t want to put you in that position.”

  “And the others?” I knew what he was asking. I could feel Terry’s gaze on us from across the gym, so I shook my head.

  “Just Rob. If you see him or if he reaches out, tell him he needs to talk to Jasper, will you?”

  “Sure will. Believe me.”

  I laughed at the hint of vengeance in his tone. “I do. But now we need to talk to a few fighters.” Emmett groaned and I laughed. “Since I’m already here, it’ll be easier to get them all scheduled for press and photo ops at once. We don’t want the public forgetting about our fight card.”

  He nodded reluctantly and thirty minutes later, we had interviews, signings, and youth outreach scheduled for our champs. “It’s all on the books,” Emmett told them all, “but put them in your personal schedules, because I’ll only remind you the day before. Back to work.”

  The fighters dispersed and I turned back to Emmett with a smile. “As soon as your face isn’t green and yellow, we’ll get you back out there too.”

  He nodded and let out a loud laugh. “Never thought I’d be so damn happy to be all busted up and ugly.”

  “Hey, I’ll bet you get tons of women if you did some press like this,” I motioned to his face with a laugh. “In fact, if that’s what you want—”

  “I’m good, Kat. Thanks.”

  “Suit yourself,” I told him with a shrug. “And thanks, Em.”

  “My pleasure, Kat.” His smile changed a little, and I felt my stomach tighten in anticipation. “So, you and Terry, huh?”

  I froze, wondering if Terry had said something, a thought that pushed a bitter laugh from deep in my gut. Of course, he didn’t say anything, he’s too worried about Jasper finding out.

  “Nope. Not at all.”

  “Not even a little bit?” He smiled and held up his thumb and forefinger a few centimeters apart.

  “If you must know, it’s just sex. For now.” When Emmett’s shoulders fell in disappointment, I felt an even greater fondness for him.

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  “Me too, but it is what it is. I’ll see you around, Em.”

  I couldn’t think of the confusion that was me and Terry, not now. Not with him so close and my feelings so raw. I kept my head held high and signaled Terry we were leaving. We marched through House of Ashby until we were outside and the feeling of being watched intensified.

  “What’s the hurry?” Terry’s long legs caught up to me quickly. “Can’t stand the stench of gym sweat?”

  I glared at him and shook my head. “No, I feel like someone is watching me.”

  Terry smiled. “You’re a beautiful woman. People are always watching you. Don’t tell me this is the first time you’ve noticed?”

  The honesty mixed with amusement in his voice made my heart skip a beat, because that was how far gone I was over this man. Even backhanded compliments made me feel good, and I blushed like a schoolgirl.

  I shook my head, refusing to respond to his unintended compliment. Terry was trying to be a peacekeeper, to keep me from getting upset about our lack of a future without decimating my confidence. I appreciated it and loved him even more for it, but I couldn’t let it matter.

  “Emmett thinks Ravager came into some cash right before the fight.” I texted Cal and Jasper the information to see if anything came of it.

  “You think someone else paid him to win the fight?”

  “Possibly.”

  That narrowed the list considerably if that was the case. There were only a few people who knew enough to know the damage his win would do to the Ashby family.

  “It’s getting late. Feel like having dinner with me in Mayhem, Kitty Kat?”

  I should have told him to shove his invitation up his gorgeous ass. I should have just said no, but the smile that spread across my face at his question was unstoppable, as was the rapid beat of my heart. I was too gone, too in love to say no. I’d grab any chance I had to spend time with him.

  “I’d love to.”

  It was probably the closest I’d ever get to saying those words to him.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Terry

  “Any progress on Madison’s sister?” Jasper and I shared a back booth at Midnight Mass, catching up since I’d been spending most of my time with another Ashby. Kat. Dinner in Mayhem had been more romantic than I’d intended, but the Japanese steakhouse had offered up a private terrace for a starlight meal and a little too much Japanese whisky.

  “Well?”

  I blinked away the memories of that whisky and the tangled hotel sheets, the thick brown hair draped across my chest. The slow, sensual goodbye later that morning.

  “Nothing good. She’s alive but not willing to give us any details or provide her sister with any peace. Kat and
I are both pretty sure the old dude called Miller is actually Mueller.”

  “Fuck. It was too much to hope that it was all some big fucking coincidence, I suppose.”

  Lines of strain showed around his eyes and mouth, the uncharacteristic way he raked his hands through his hair. “You think he’ll come after Madison?”

  I nodded and took another pull of my beer.

  “If I were him, I wouldn’t let it go. She might not be able to name him, but she’s seen his face. If she sees one local mass service or one of his many appearances in the newspaper, it could be all over for him.”

  In response, Jasper drained his beer and motioned to the waitress for another. “Between Mueller, the fucking green Lambo fiasco and the mysterious fucking resurrection of Brendan Rhymer and his sister who’s in the wind, I’m about to lose my shit, man.”

  I could see the truth of his words in the tense set of his shoulders, the way his gaze jumped around the room, from other diners, to the servers, and finally back to me.

  “No other sightings of Brendan?” I asked to get his attention.

  Jasper shook his head. “Or Savannah, goddammit.” His hand smacked the table hard enough to draw stares just as two more beers arrived at the table.

  “Thanks,” I said and smiled at the server to assure her all was good.

  “Look man, we know Brendan is alive and that he was probably the figure Bonnie saw in the parking lot.” If she even saw anyone. With her behavior lately, she wasn’t a reliable witness in my eyes. “He seems to be getting off on this cloak and dagger shit. We should put a team on finding him and nothing else.”

  He gave me a guarded look over his beer. Before he took a swig, he asked, “And where would you like them to start?”

  I shrugged. “Who gives a shit? Tear every inch of Glitz apart until they find him. Casinos and card rooms, whore houses, clubs, and anywhere else he might have an ally or a place to hide.”

  Brendan was hiding out somewhere, that much I knew. We just had to find out where.

  “Do it. Can’t make things any worse.”

  And that was exactly why I couldn’t let this thing with Kat go too far, because it was one more thing and that might be the thing that forced Jasper to do something reckless. Or worse.