The Men With the Golden Cuffs

by Lexi Blake

She started to turn away. Jake didn’t like the way she looked. He’d seen the same blank, glassy stare on victims of trauma. When he’d been in the service, he’d seen the exact vacant look in the eyes of men and women who’d just had their houses blown up by a bomb. It was as though they couldn’t really process the horror of what had just happened.

  She seemed a little dazed and unsteady on her feet. For the first time since he’d seen that damn video, he felt uncertain about just what he’d witnessed.

  “Serena, do you need help?” He wasn’t going to let her fall over no matter how angry he was with her. God, just looking at her was making his heart hurt, and for the first time he had to really consider the fact that he might have to forgive her. Really forgive her because she had become necessary. He started to reach out. She really needed to get ice on that wrist.

  “Don’t touch me.” She stepped away, her jaw clenching. “Don’t ever touch me again.”

  “Serena, would you like to explain yourself? I’m willing to listen.” Adam’s voice came out on a shaky breath, as though he knew he was walking a tight rope, and he was pretty sure he didn’t want to fall off.

  “Listen? You’re willing to listen? Fuck your listening, Adam because I’ve been listening to both of you, and I don’t like a word I’ve heard.” Her fists were clenched at her sides, her face a deep red. She was crying again, the tears running down her cheeks. She looked young and vulnerable and so fucking fragile in Adam’s shirt and those glasses she hid behind. “You want the truth? I’m everything you’ve ever thought I was. I’m just a greedy slut. I used you both, and now I’m really upset that you found out because I haven’t hit the Times yet and I was really hoping to hit the Times. If you hadn’t found out, I was planning on faking my own rape and torture so I could move up on the best seller list. So congratulations to you both. You were right. I was always a wretched whore. Jake, you should go back to sulking, and Adam can go forth on his quest to find the perfect woman. It sure as fuck isn’t me.”

  She turned, but Jake was faster. He moved in front of her, cutting off her retreat. “No, Serena. I think we’re all going to sit down and talk. I apologize for what I said earlier. I was overly emotional. Now please sit down and let’s discuss this.”

  “Shove your apology straight up your ass, Jacob. Or you could have Adam do it for you. He likes to be helpful.”

  Fuck, she knew where to shove a knife in. Jake watched Adam’s face go a polite blank. It was the same look he’d had when his father had thrown him out. “Serena, I’m willing to admit I might have been hasty, but you have to agree it’s compelling evidence.”

  “I don’t have to agree with you. I have to go and get my things and leave.”

  “I’m not going to let you do that.” Now that he was thinking a little more clearly, he had a few questions. He got the e-mails. He could even buy that Lara had paid someone to trash Serena’s car. But the snake? Really?

  Adam’s cell rang. He pulled it out and answered it, his voice going to a quiet, professional tone.

  “Let me go.” Serena stared a hole through him.

  He couldn’t. He was panicking a little now. She couldn’t lie to save her life and the whole “I’m a whore” speech had been one long lie. What if she was telling the truth? What if she had no idea? He’d just fucked everything up, and if he let her go, he might never see her again. Might? Hell, if he took his damn eyes off of her, she would be gone, and he couldn’t let that happen. “No. Not until we figure this out.”

  “There is nothing to figure out.”

  But there was a whole lot Jake needed to figure out. He needed to know just how deeply screwed he was and how hard he would have to work to get out of the hole he’d dug. “There is and you know it. Serena, you are still under our protection.”

  “No, I am not. You’re fired.”

  “You’re not the client.”

  A bitter little smile crossed Serena’s face. “No, Lara is. But guess what, Jake? She’s fired, too. If you’re going to keep me here, you’re going to have to do it against my will.”

  He felt his whole body go on alert. She wanted a fight? He could handle a fight. “That can be arranged.”

  He’d wanted to tie her up since the moment he’d seen her.

  “Jake, we need to take her downtown.” Adam stood with the keys to the SUV in his hand. “That was Ian. He’s got Lara in his office. He wants to talk to all of us.”

  Fuck, he’d dug a hole with Adam, too. Adam had wanted to wake her up and ask her about it. Jake had been the one to work him into a froth over the situation. And now he’d gotten Ian involved. Jake had called Ian after he’d listened to the message on Serena’s voice mail.

  What the fuck was he going to do if Ian put a stop to the op?

  “Go and get dressed, Serena. And I swear to god, I will hunt you down if you leave this house. The alarm is on, so if you try to hustle out a window, I’ll be on your backside before you can get to the gate, and I won’t give a shit if you call the police later.”

  Her smile was a nasty little thing. “No problem, Jake. The cops think I’m a publicity-seeking whore, too. I think you’re safe. Let me go change. I have a few things to say to my ex-agent.”

  He stepped out of the way, satisfied she wouldn’t run.

  Not now, at least.

  She disappeared down the hall, and Adam stepped up.

  “She didn’t know about it.”

  “I know.” Jake wasn’t sure how the fuck he was going to get out of this. He’d been brutal, his past informing his present in a way that almost ensured he had no future.

  “She’s never going to forgive us.” Adam turned away. “I’ll go get the car ready.”

  He walked out like a man who had already given up. Serena was a woman scorned.

  But none of that could compete with a man on a mission. He wasn’t going to give up. Yes, he’d fucked everything up, but Serena was too important. He had a fucking future, and it was with her. He wasn’t going to allow his past to hold him back one second longer. He stared down the hallway, something opening up inside him. For so long he’d been closed off, maybe for most of his fucking life, but Serena had brought in the goddamn sunshine, and now he craved it.

  He’d screwed up, but he wasn’t going back to the dark. He would have the life he wanted, and it was only possible with her.

  He waited, a lion on the prowl. No matter what, he would have his prey.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Serena felt hollowed out, like someone had decided it would be a good idea to take an ice cream scooper to her insides. Or like one of those Russian nesting dolls. Yes. That was better imagery. She was like the largest of the dolls, a hollow thing who was only good harboring the smaller dolls which contained all of the great things about her. Someone had opened her up and broken her insides, and now she was a useless, futile thing.

  Yes. That was good imagery. She could use that.

  The floors ticked by, and she realized this was the rest of her life. Living inside her head. Deciding how best to put emotions to paper because that was going to be the only way she ever felt anything again.

  Maybe she was the drama queen.

  “How is your wrist?” Adam asked solicitously. He had been deeply polite, avoiding eye contact and anything that might be controversial. He was the bodyguard, and she was the client. There was nothing more.

  “I’m fine.” It hadn’t been nearly as bad as she’d made it out to be. She doubted she would bruise. It was nothing compared to the ache on her insides.

  Adam and Jake she could almost handle. After all, she’d known deep down that they wouldn’t really stay. Men like them didn’t end up in permanent relationships with women like Serena. They found trophy wives when they were ready to settle down. In some ways, it just spared her the pain for later.

  But Lara was another story.

  Jake pulled her arm into both of his hands. Serena tried to pull away, but he had her by the elbow and the palm, turning her forearm o
ver and inspecting her skin.

  “Stop it.” She didn’t want him to touch her. It felt too nice, his callused hands on her skin. It reminded her of how it had felt to be in his arms.

  “No.” He traced a finger over the light chafing on her wrist. “I think she’s fine. On the outside. We did a number to her on the inside.”

  Adam simply watched the floors go by.

  “He’s going to be the difficult one,” Jake said, his voice almost conspiratorial. What the hell was his game now? When she didn’t reply, he merely carried on the conversation as though she had. “I know. I’m surprised, too. I’m usually the obnoxious asshole. I don’t like this whole ‘being the moderator’ thing, but I guess compromise is key in this relationship.”

  “There is no relationship, Jacob. The relationship died about a half an hour ago when you called me a whore.”

  He shook his head. “I didn’t call you a whore, baby. I mentioned that you would make a good slut. A whore takes money. A slut just loves sex, and you really like sex.”

  Asshole. When had he decided to try to get back into her good graces, and why would he bother? Was he afraid his boss would get pissed off? She was pretty sure Ian Taggart was about to tell her she was on her own. Lara had lied to him, too.

  Were Bridget and Chris in on it? She didn’t know if she could handle it if they were. She would really be all alone in the world.

  “Can I have my arm back?” Serena asked.

  His thumb made little circles over the pulse at her wrist, a tiny touch that threatened to send shivers right through her. It reminded her that she might not have loved sex before, but after Jake and Adam, she was an addict. And she would just have to go cold turkey because she wouldn’t fall for their line of bullshit again.

  “Serena, don’t make this hard. You know you want to forgive us. We were wrong. We were complete assholes, but you saw that evidence. Come on, baby, let’s get through this meeting with Ian and then we’ll take you out to breakfast, which is exactly what we should have done in the first place. It’s what Adam wanted to do.”

  “It doesn’t matter what Adam wanted. All that matters is what happened, and I won’t ever trust either one of you again. So give me my arm back, and let’s get this little farce out of the way so we can get on with our lives.” After today, she might never trust anyone again.

  Jake brought her hand up, kissing her palm. “I’m not going away, Serena.”

  “Great, so now I can have two stalkers. Oh, wait. One was a fake, so you can be my first.”

  He let go of her hand, but his eyes heated up in that dark, Dom, sultry, get-her-panties-wet way he had. Damn him. “I was your first in other ways, too.”

  He’d been her first real man-given orgasm, and it didn’t seem like he would let her forget it.

  The doors opened, and Serena walked out. At least Adam seemed to have given up the game. He didn’t look her way or say anything that didn’t need to be said.

  Grace looked up from her place at the front desk, a bright smile on her face which disappeared when no one returned it. “Oh crap. They fucked up, didn’t they? I knew something was wrong when Ian called us all in on a Saturday. He’s in the back with your agent. Is everyone all right?”

  Serena liked Grace, but she didn’t need to plaster her problems across the walls for everyone to see. She gave Grace what she hoped was her best smile. “We’re fine. I think the case is wrapping up, and that’s a good thing.”

  Jake wouldn’t let up. “We’re not fine. We did fuck up. We accused Serena of lying and using us, and we were complete assholes and now she’s not talking to us and it’s shut Adam down emotionally.”

  Adam turned cold eyes on his partner. “Really? You want to go there?”

  Jake shrugged. “We have to go somewhere, buddy. If you don’t like how I’m handling this scene, then feel free to come out of your shell and take over. Trust me. I will be deeply relieved. You’re supposed to handle the emotional shit.”

  Grace’s eyes went from Adam to Jake and back again. “Do ya’ll need to see Eve first? She does group rate therapy, I think.”

  Jake smiled at the thought. “Not a bad idea. Can she schedule us in for this morning?”

  Serena rounded on Jake. He wasn’t giving her the option of keeping her humiliation private. “What the hell are you doing?”

  He took her by the elbow and led her away from Grace. Adam stayed in his place, the only one who seemed to be behaving as he should. Jake kept his voice low. “I am trying to salvage what was a complete cluster fuck of a morning.”

  “Why? You’re out, Jake. You don’t have to worry about me. You don’t have to protect me. Just leave it where it is, and we can both move on.”

  His eyes were steady on her. “I have zero intentions of moving on without you.”

  “That’s not what you said this morning. I believe you said you couldn’t stand the sight of me.”

  He softened a little, his voice lowering. “And after all that evidence, I was already trying to justify in my mind why I should keep you. I was already trying to figure out how to fix it or how to punish you so I could be okay with staying with you.”

  He was so frustrating. “Why?”

  He started to say something and then his whole face closed off. “Because we’re good together.”

  Not the answer she’d wanted. Not the answer she would accept. She’d hoped, just for a second, he would say the one thing that her stupid heart wouldn’t be able to handle. I love you. She would have thrown herself into his arms and forgiven him with those three little words, but she was just convenient. He was Dominant. She was submissive. She was interested in a ménage. She probably looked like a pretty good deal to Jake now that he was sure she wasn’t a lying, gold-digging whore.

  “Let it alone, Jake. You want me to forgive you. Fine. I forgive you, but I can’t forget that the first time you had the slightest doubt about me, you were ready to toss me to the wolves. I asked for one thing, Jake. A little kindness when you were done.”

  His face became as hard as granite. “I’m not done, Serena. And I’m sorry to shatter your illusions, but I’m not particularly kind, either. And you know what, you gave as good as you got, sister.”

  “What are you talking about?” She’d held it together.

  He pointed back at Adam. “What was that crack about Adam shoving something up my ass? Do you know what that did to him? I know he’s a big boy and he should be able to handle it, but god, Serena, you opened about a thousand wounds in that man that have never healed.”

  She glanced over. Adam wasn’t talking to Grace. He stood there, his arms crossed as though he was just waiting for it all to be over. “I meant you two protect each other, and you were both pushing me out. I didn’t mean it that way.”

  “I don’t care how you meant it, Serena. It’s how he took it. So can’t we all just acknowledge that we said some stupid shit and move on?”

  And what would happen the next time she screwed up? The next time she upset Adam? That seemed to happen a lot. It was too much. She couldn’t handle the drama. “I don’t want this anymore. I think I’m saying my safeword.”

  He shook his head, disappointment clear on his face. “We aren’t in the dungeon, so it doesn’t count. I’m not giving up on this, Serena.”

  Ian walked in, his face stern and unforgiving. “Serena, will you please come on back to my office? We need to talk about something. Jake, Adam?”

  The men nodded, and everyone started the walk to Ian’s office.

  Ian opened the door, and the first thing she saw was Lara standing at the window. She turned, and Serena almost took a step back. Her always perfectly polished agent was red faced from crying. She’d obviously scrubbed her face clean at some point, and Lara Anderson without makeup looked younger and much more vulnerable than Serena had imagined she could look.

  Looks were almost always deceiving.

  “Serena, I am so sorry.” She started to take a step forward, but stopped whe
n Jake moved slightly in front of Serena, his gesture clear. He would protect her. Oh, he would casually rip her heart out, stomp on it, and then decide, hey, he didn’t mean it after all, but he would protect her.

  Serena noticed Brian leaning against the back wall of the office. His arms were crossed, and he was practically vibrating with discomfort. Still, he gave her a tight smile when he noticed her looking his way. “Serena, hello. I would like you to know that this wasn’t a publicity stunt the firm itself had anything to do with.”

  “Shut up, Brian. Can we talk about this like friends? Do we have to start in with the legal crap?” Lara asked, her eyes narrowing.

  Brian flushed. His hair was conservatively cut, and he was dressed in a full suit, looking every inch the successful literary agent. According to Bridget, he wasn’t particularly happy with his wife’s new romance clients, but he liked the money they were bringing in. And now he seemed to be worried about a lawsuit. “You’ll wish we’d brought our lawyer into this when Serena uses every fucking thing you say in this office to sue us for everything we have. She needs to know you did this, not the firm.”

  “I think we’ve established that Mr. Anderson doesn’t like his wife’s business practices.” Ian took a long breath as he sat behind his desk. He looked right there, a king on his throne, deciding what to do about the peasants. “I take it Jake and Adam filled you in on what they discovered?”

  Jake held out the nearest chair to Ian’s desk. He sent her a look that said he would make a big deal out of it if she didn’t sit down. Serena believed him. He seemed utterly willing to humiliate her at every turn. She sank into the chair and looked Ian Taggart squarely in the eyes. “Yes. I understand that this was all a publicity stunt cooked up by my agent. I know you probably won’t believe this, but I had nothing to do with it. I deeply apologize for wasting your time and resources. If you would just send me the bill for the last week, I’ll pay it.”

  She stood to go. She didn’t need any explanations. Now it was all out in the open, and she would pay the piper and Adam and Jake could be out of her life. And she didn’t need an agent. She would go independent. That way she wouldn’t be forced to rely on anyone.