by Zara Chase
“Ah, so you’re thinking the unthinkable, too.”
“Yeah, I guess so. She’s special. The hot babe we didn’t realize we’d been looking for. We’d be idiots to let her go.”
“You’re suggesting we ask her to move in here with us?” Ty asked, raising one brow in astonishment. Vasco had good reasons for not doing commitment.
“Yeah, I guess so. I’ve gotten used to having her around, and I kinda like it.”
“I thought I’d feel threatened by a permanent presence, like I was losing my independence. But having Sorrel here makes me feel…I dunno, complete I guess.”
“You know how I feel about all that shit, but…say, who’s that with Jenner?”
Vasco and Ty looked down from the second floor balcony where they were standing. “Couple of prospective new members, by the looks of things,” Ty said, shrugging. No big deal.”
“Those women look familiar. Where have I seen them before?”
“And awful interested in us,” Ty added when they glanced up at them and were slow to look away again.
“We’d best go and play nice,” Vasco said. “Can’t afford to turn our back on two membership fees.”
Before they could do so, Sorrel sailed through the front door, Marley tucked under her arm. She saw the guys and a huge smile broke out across her face. It faded fast when she saw the two women with Jenner.
“Mom, Maggie,” she said. “What are you two doing here?”
“Shit!” Vasco thumped his clenched fist against the railing. “This can only mean trouble for our babe.”
* * * *
“Hello, darling,” Mom said. “What a lovely surprise. This young lady was just showing us the facilities.”
“You don’t live around here,” Sorrel replied, narrowing her eyes at them both.
“Nor do you,” Maggie answered. “But you’re here.”
Jenner glanced between them, probably sensing the tension. Definitely looking embarrassed. “Why don’t I leave you guys alone for a minute?” she suggested.
“Thanks, Jenner,” Sorrel replied. “That would probably be best.”
“I assume this is no coincidence,” Sorrel said in a mordent tone once Jenner left them. “How did you find me and what do you want?”
“Good morning to you, too, sister dear.”
“I saw a café across the street,” Mom replied at the same time. “Why don’t we go and get a coffee?”
Sorrel was furious, and didn’t want to go anywhere with her family. But she could also see they were attracting unwanted attention and thought it would be better to take this elsewhere. Her mother and Maggie wouldn’t leave her in peace until they’d said whatever it was they’d come to say. Besides, she really did want to know how they’d found her. She glanced up at Vasco and Ty, watching from the floor above with concerned expressions. She shrugged and indicated to them that she wouldn’t be long.
“Come on then,” she said, marching through the street door ahead of them.
They sat at a table outside the café and ordered coffee from a lad who looked too young to shave. Marley jumped up onto Sorrel’s lap and her mother tutted her disapproval. She didn’t like Marley, and the feeling was reciprocated. Sorrel was starting to think her dog was a good judge of character when a low growl rumbled in his throat.
“Okay,” Sorrel said, once a coffee Sorrel didn’t want was placed in front of her. “I’ll ask you again, how did you find me and what do you want?”
“We were worried about you,” Maggie said. “You were seen dining with two strange men, then disappeared without a word. What were we supposed to think?”
“I spoke to Mom yesterday. She knew I was taking a vacation.”
“In a gym?” Maggie ran her eyes down Sorrel’s body, looking skeptical. “You hate exercise.”
Sorrel suppressed a grin. If only they knew. But she said nothing, knowing one of them would fill the silence.
“Are they the men you were at Dynasty with?” Mom asked. “The two standing in there on the balcony. I gather they own the gym.”
“You still haven’t told me how you found me?”
“Pete was worried to see you with strangers,” Mom replied. “They paid for that meal with a business credit card—”
“And you had Jordi give out that information?” Sorrel couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so angry. “You had no right to ask him, and he had no right to pry. The guys could sue.”
“Oh, they won’t do that. They’re more interested in fleecing you,” Maggie said. “Honestly, Sorrel, you’re so naïve, you don’t know when you’re being played.”
Sorrel turned upon her sister, making no attempt to mask her expression of unmitigated dislike. “Look around this table,” she said sweetly. “I’ve had plenty of experience at being fleeced.”
“We’re your family,” Mom said, placing a hand over Sorrel’s. “We have a right to expect your help.”
“Really?” Sorrel elevated one brow. “I obviously didn’t get that memo.”
“Dad left you way more money than any of us got,” Maggie said petulantly. “And you don’t have kids to think about.”
“God, listen to yourselves.” Sorrel sighed. “You got a very fair settlement in your divorce, Mom. If you’ve let it slip through your fingers, then that’s hardly my fault.”
Mom looked down at her perfect manicure. “You’ve changed, gotten hard, Sorrel.”
“Because I don’t give in to emotional blackmail anymore? Get used to it. And as for you and Pete, Maggie, Dad divided his estate equally between the three of us, but you guys took yours way back, whereas mine’s remained invested and earned good dividends. That’s why I got more.”
“Yes,” Maggie replied, her eyes lit by spite. “But a fool and her money are soon parted, Sorrel, and if you think those two hunks are interested in you for any other reason, then you’re deluded. They are fine-looking men, and they must have women crawling out of the woodwork to get a piece of them. Why would they look twice at you, if not for your money?”
“Maggie!” Mom said sharply.
“She needs to hear the truth, Mom. It’s for her own good.”
“I don’t have to listen to this.” Sorrel threw a few bills on the table to cover their check. “Just leave me alone. I don’t think we have anything else to say to one another.”
“Sorrel,” Mom said. “I know you don’t want to hear it because I can tell from your face that you’ve been having some fun, and I’m glad for you. Really I am. But you ought to know the two guys you’ve become friendly with are in financial difficulties. They’re late with their payments to their bank and behind on their rent for the gym.”
Sorrel felt color drain from her face. “No,” she said softly.
“I’m sorry, darling, but it’s true. Pete made a few calls. It was easy to find out.”
“They haven’t once asked me how much I inherited,” she said slowly. “They haven’t shown any interest in my money at all,” she added, almost to herself.
“They’re professional leeches. They know better than to be so obvious. And as to knowing how much, the will’s been probated,” Maggie said, “so it’s a matter of public record.”
All Sorrel’s doubts came flooding back, but she pushed them aside, refusing to believe her mother and sister had gotten it right. Not everyone operated the same way those two grasping opportunists did. She would talk to the guys, ask them straight out about their business finances, and would know from their responses if they were out to use her, just like everyone else connected with her appeared to be.
“Come back to Seattle with us, darling,” Mom said. “I hate to think of you being exploited. We’ll look after you. We’re your family.”
“No, thanks. I have things to do here.” She stood up. “I’ll be back soon. I’ll call you when I am.” Perhaps.
Sorrel couldn’t stay with her family a moment longer. Her mother’s fake concern, her sister’s open spite, was unendurable. She knew the guys
were struggling to make ends meet—the telephone conversation she overheard Vasco make, the overdue bills, their desperate need to procure a corporate membership—but she hadn’t once thought they planned to ask her for a hand out. She still refused to believe it. She knew them better than that. They weren’t like her family.
They absolutely were not.
She darted back across the road, then slowed her pace, struggling to get her emotions under control before she re-entered the gym. Jenner waved to her when she walked through the door.
“The guys are in the office, if you’re looking for them,” she said. “They said to go on up.”
“Thanks, Jenner.”
On the point of entering the office, she heard them talking and the nature of their conversation stopped her in her tracks.
“It’s no good.” She heard Vasco shuffling some papers and sighing. “Whichever way we come at it, the numbers just don’t add up.”
“So, you’ll approach her?”
“We have no choice. I didn’t want to go down that route, but if we want to save the gym, I can’t think of any other way.”
Sorrel choked on a sob. So it was true. Mom had gotten it right. Fury and despondency waged war inside of her. She had never felt so bereft in her entire life. She couldn’t talk to them now and dashed up the staircase to the apartment instead, squeezing Marley so tightly beneath her arm that he yelped. Tears streamed down her face, and she felt physically and emotionally drained. What a fool she’d been! When would she learn? Hadn’t life already taught her that when something seemed too good to be true, it almost always was?
Well, that was it. She’d pack her stuff up and get a cab back to Seattle. There was nothing left for her here. And there was no point in talking to the guys about it. What was there to say? If they’d wanted money, why the hell didn’t they come right out and say so, she wondered, throwing her possessions haphazardly into her bag. They knew how she felt about her appearance, how little self-confidence she had. Why boost her up, just to let her down again?
Ah, of course. They wanted to make her fully dependent upon them before coming out with their request, making it that much harder for her to turn them down. She should have seen that one coming, but they were pretty damned good at what they did. She’d give them that. Their methods of distraction were in a class of their own.
The tears turned into a torrent, blinding her vision. She wiped them impatiently and rather inelegantly away with the sleeve of her sweater, calling herself all kinds of fool, too miserable at first to realize she was no longer alone. She gasped when she sensed two muscular bodies leaning against the door jamb, looking convincingly concerned.
“Babe,” Vasco said, reaching for her. “What’s wrong? What the hell did they say to you?”
Chapter Fourteen
“Don’t touch me!”
Vasco was taken aback by the force of the anger blazing from her eyes, and very concerned by it, but he respected her wishes and didn’t try to touch her. Instead he exchanged a glance with Ty, who shrugged, equally thrown by her reaction.
“Where are you going?” Vasco asked, pointing to her half-packed bag.
“Back home,” she replied shortly. “I’m done here.”
“Mind telling us why?” Ty asked.
“Like you don’t already know.” She scowled at them as she continued to throw things into her bag. “I’m not quite the trusting idiot you take me for.”
“Come again?” Vasco said, frowning.
“I thought we were going back to Seattle together tomorrow,” Ty said. “To check on the camera.”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m going back today, by cab. Right this minute.”
“At least tell us what we’ve done,” Vasco said, starting to feel a little annoyed. “Do us that courtesy.”
“All right, if you want to play it that way.” Her eyes continued to radiate hostility as she stomped past them into the main room. The guys shared a shrug and followed her. “Why didn’t you tell me the gym’s losing money?”
Vasco just stared at her. All sorts of scenarios had run through his head that might account for her mood. He knew she must be pretty pissed at her family for stalking her, and wondered what they’d said to make her so mad at them. Their finances hadn’t figured amongst his cogitations.
“We’re struggling,” he admitted. “It’s a new venture, there’s lots of competition which doesn’t fight fair, but—”
“But, you stumbled upon me, and I was so pathetically grateful to be noticed by you studs that it stands to reason I’ll bail you out.”
Ty’s fixed her with an angry glare. “Just a goddamned minute—”
“Is that what you really think this is about?” Vasco asked at the same time, pointing in the direction of the bedroom they’d used for their games the night before. “You think we used you for financial reasons?” He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. “Jesus. You don’t have a very high opinion of us.”
“What else am I supposed to think? I’ve seen the way all those slim young things chase after you. I couldn’t figure why you’d preferred me when you have hot- and cold-running babes on tap. Now it’s starting to make sense.”
“If that’s what you think then I’ll help you pack, while Ty calls you a cab,” Vasco said, striding furiously towards her room.
“I heard you just now, in the office, talking about approaching her and asking for money,” Sorrel threw back at him, pointing a finger at his admittedly gorgeous chest. “So you have no business claiming the moral high ground. You don’t have to be a genius to figure out who she has to be.”
“Is that right?” Vasco fixed her with a scathing look. “You think it was you?”
“Who else could it be?”
“Darlin’, even if we were the low lives you seem to think we are, the few hundred thousand bucks, or however much it is that you inherited, wouldn’t begin to fix our problems.”
“You must know—”
“You might as well tell her, Vas,” Ty said, glowering at Sorrel. “If she really thinks we’re capable of using her like that then she ain’t the person we thought she was. Still, and all, there’s no harm in telling her the truth, just so she knows. But it’s your call.”
* * * *
Sorrel felt the full force of their blistering glares and had a terrible feeling she’d jumped to the wrong conclusion. But that was wishful thinking, surely. Except, why would they be so angry with her if she’d gotten it right. They’d be more likely to use sweet words and their magical hands to talk her around, wouldn’t they? In spite of her doubts, or perhaps because of them, she couldn’t stay and listen to their excuses.
“I’ll wait for the cab downstairs,” she said, zipping up her bag and hoisting it over her shoulder. “You don’t need to worry about the camera you set up at my place. Now I know it’s someone close to me, I’ll have the locks changed and be more careful about what I leave lying around. Send me your bill and I’ll write you a check. Come on, Marley.”
The dog hesitated, whined, then trotted after her, tail between his legs. Hell, this didn’t feel right but what else could she do? Call me back, guys. Make me understand. She sensed them watching her, still radiating hostility, as she struggled down the stairs with her bags. She ignored the startled looks she received from the people in the gym, tears blurring her vision as she pushed through the front doors. Jenner called out to her, but she couldn’t allow herself to be distracted and simply waved over her shoulder without turning back.
She sat in the cab and sobbed all the way back to Seattle. But by the time she was inside her apartment she was all cried out, and had hardened her heart. She’d made a mistake, but she would get over it—get over them—somehow. It had been fun while it lasted, she reminded herself. She was grateful for the introduction to their lifestyle and would definitely check out clubs in the area to see if she could get more of the same—but with no strings attached this time.
Sorrel took Marley for a long wa
lk, returned home and hit the shower, standing under the hot jets for a long time, trying to decide where she went from here. To her astonishment, she wasn’t hungry. That had to be a first. She managed a mirthless smile. Perhaps she ought to market the broken-heart diet. It would be a surefire success.
There was something niggling at the back of her mind. Something one of them had said that was significant. She sat up a little straighter when it finally dawned on her. Vasco said something about her inheriting a few hundred thousand. He sounded as though he genuinely thought that was all she had gotten. Could it really be…
The sound of the doorbell startled her. She briefly considered not answering it, but Marley started barking so whoever it was would know she was home. Hope briefly flared. Could the guys have come after her? If they had, she would probably buy into whatever story they’d concocted because, much as she tried to tell herself otherwise, she was addicted to them.
Her face fell when she opened the door and Jordi stood on the threshold.
“Hey, you’re back,” he said, pushing past her without being invited inside. Marley tried to bite his ankle. Jordi swore and shook the dog off. “What’s his problem?”
“If I had to guess, I’d say it was you.” Sorrel folded her arms beneath her breasts, in no mood for this encounter. “What do you want?”
“I was worried about you, babe. You appeared in the restaurant with two strange men, then disappeared and weren’t taking calls. Anything could have happened to you. You don’t seem to realize that you’ll be a target for just about every fortune hunter on the planet now that you’re rich. You need protecting.”
Goddamn it, the man had more front than Macy’s. “And you’re the one to do the protecting, I suppose?” She held up a hand to prevent him from answering her. “Has it not occurred to you that I might be able to attract a man just because of who I am, not what’s in my bank account?”
“Sure.” He shrugged. “I was attracted to you. I still am.”
