Twisted Desire (The Twisted Series)

by Christa Simpson

  That’s because he is.

  “I see you have a university degree, and you’ve graduated from a prestigious law school.” He points it out like it’s an utterly shocking find.

  “Yeah. So?” Her posture doesn’t budge.

  Harley raises his eyebrows. “I’m impressed.” Then those sexy eyes scour her body. “That’s a mighty accomplishment for a lowly bartender.”

  That is a low blow!

  “Lowly? Get out of my face.” She spins away, scoots to her bedroom and slams the door shut. “Asshole,” she adds, under her breath. She is truly pissed.

  He has really done it now. He invades her privacy, mocks an honorable profession and calls her names, all in a matter of minutes. He really has no clue what he’s doing when it comes to women. Especially this one.

  She doesn’t claim to be special. But Harley really is clueless. Master in her bedroom, he is. A danger to her heart, for sure. But it is clear he hasn’t had the life experience to know how to deal with women. Even Aliah’s four brothers have more concern for her feelings than he, and you would think they had been born in a barn.

  As she contemplates staying locked up in her bedroom forever, Harley’s on the other side of the door, without any ideas up his sleeve. He grabs his jacket and pulls it on over his shirtless chest. If she needs some time to settle, then he will give it to her. He stands outside her door, with his forehead almost pressed against it. He can’t hear anything. That makes him worry.

  He couldn’t have known that she was on the other side of that door, doing the very same thing, near tears.

  “Aliah. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.” His voice sounds believable, but she doesn’t buy it.

  “I find that awfully hard to believe. Get out of my house.”

  He presses his eyes shut. “Please forgive me.”

  “I said!” she shouts, clearly growing more impatient with him, as the door swings open and he nearly falls backward from being startled by her vagrant attack. “Get. Out. Of. My. House!” She pokes him with each word, and she truly means it.

  “But last night…”

  “Forget it ever happened. Goodbye, Harley. It’s been fun.” She shoves him, until he’s standing at the top of her stairs. “Now get the fuck out.”

  He doesn’t say another word. He’s fucked up and he knows it. What’s new? He’ll have to suffer from his own stupidity. But last night… She’d said it right. Forget about it.

  She follows him out to the garage and clicks the garage door opener to help him get on his way faster. He pulls on his helmet and delivers her a pointed glare, to show her that this isn’t over. He revs his engine and pulls away. The garage door comes down so fast that he just barely makes it out in time, having to crouch to avoid being knocked from his bike.

  Son of a bitch.

  Aliah lifts her phone with a trembling hand. “Abby. Please come. I need you.”

  She hangs up the phone before Abby can ask any questions. She can’t cry. The emotions won’t come, even as she scrubs her soiled office, begging for them to. She wants to scream. She wants to cry. She just hopes by the time Abby comes over she’ll have it together.

  Wishful thinking.

  Within thirty minutes, Abby’s knocking on her door with a baby in tote. Nothing has changed. Her head is still spinning. She still doesn’t know what to feel. She must be out of her mind.

  Aliah opens her door to Abby and they stare at each other in silence. The only sound that breaks her from this nightmare is that coming from the lips of a happy little girl reaching for her mouth.

  Baby Maya’s little fingers hook onto Aliah’s bottom lip. Aliah responds by nibbling at the adorable little hand, saving herself from sharing her condition in other, less productive, ways.

  Concern is written all over Abby’s face. “I got your message. I came as soon as I could.”

  Aliah opens the door wider and lets the two of them come in. But she still can’t find any words. Abby will figure her out for sure. This is kind of her thing.

  “What is it, Aliah? Is everything okay?” Abby slowly eases her pregnant butt onto the leather recliner and looks up at her expectantly. “Well?”

  “It’s happening again.” Tears start forming in Aliah’s eyes, but they won’t fall with another person in the room. That’s her own rule. There will be no waterworks here. She isn’t the emotional girl who needs her friend’s shoulder to cry on. But she’s having difficulty keeping it together this time.

  Aliah turns to run off, but a little girl latches onto her leg and giggles.

  “Ally,” Maya mumbles, in the sweetest little voice.

  Aliah starts to laugh, scaring away the tears. “Come here.” She scoops Maya into her arms and gives her a great big hug. “Hey, little one. I’d bet a hug from you is just what I need. What do you think?”

  Maya giggles again, loving the attention.

  Aliah takes the seat across from Abby and swallows a deep breath. “I’m seeing someone. Well… I was. Now… I don’t know. It’s complicated.”

  “Okay,” Abby starts, then smiles. “Let’s start with his name.”

  “Harley.”

  “Ooh. Sounds sexy. But I don’t know any Harleys. Is he not from around here?”

  Aliah chews on her bottom lip. “To be right honest with you, I don’t know much about him.”

  “How long have you been seeing this Harley? You didn’t say anything about a new man last week.”

  “Let’s just say you’re right when you say new. We only just met last Thursday. But our chemistry…” Aliah looks lost in her dreams.

  “I get it. So what went wrong?”

  Aliah throws a sideways glance at Abby. “Where do I start?”

  Abby smiles again, and it eases her worry just a bit. “Why don’t you start at the beginning and we’ll go from there?”

  So she does. And wouldn’t you know it, Abby convinces her to give Harley another chance. How she does it is anyone’s guess, but the second Abby and Maya are out the door, Aliah finds herself at her desk, feverishly searching her phone for his home address. She is sure it must be plastered online somewhere, if he is who Spencer says he is.

  After doing a little digging, Aliah makes a stop at Harley’s office. Jillian, his assistant, advises her that Harley’s already gone home for the day and that she can’t give her his home address. But when Jillian excuses herself to answer the bell at the back door, Aliah helps herself to the woman’s contacts. That’s what she gets for not password protecting her cell phone.

  Aliah photographs his information with her cell phone and shouts out to Jillian. “Thanks anyways.”

  She wants to pay him a visit but loses her nerve. She has stolen his information after all. But by noon the next day, she has a plan in place. Abigail agrees that making him wait another day won’t kill him. Aliah wants to make him sweat. At least she sure hopes he’s sweating. If he isn’t already, then this visit will certainly get the job done.

  Aliah makes the trip across town and double checks the address. Now she’s the one who’s stunned. If this is the right place, then Harley Gates is living pretty damn high on the hog. There’s a mint black Camaro in the driveway, with the windows tinted to black. Aliah’s willing to bet on her life that it’s his wife’s ride.

  The house is practically a mansion. All brick and grand, with a country style porch and three car garage. If the stamped concrete driveway doesn’t give away his family’s wealth, then the rod iron fence, bound by brick pedestals every ten feet, certainly does. The front lawn is so perfectly manicured that she wishes she had a dog just so it could take a shit on it.

  Aliah casually approaches the house, steps onto the massive front porch, and knocks on the front door, eyeing up the two-seater swing.

  Why would an unmarried man have one of those?

  She fends off her pouty lip, but just barely, replacing it with an angry snarl.

  Harley opens the door to her. He’s shocked to find her on the other side
. In fact, he’s completely and utterly surprised. “Aliah.” He glances over his shoulder, like there’s someone in there that she’s not supposed to see.

  Like his wife, maybe.

  Aliah barges inside, ready to be over with the lies. She sees a beautiful young girl there. It’s even worse than she thought. Not only is he married, but to a girl who looks ten years her junior. Aliah starts to put the pieces together herself.

  “Do you even have a sister? Or was that just a cover for your sugar baby?” she snaps, glaring at the girl.

  “Dad?” the girl says, looking incredibly confused by Aliah’s intrusion.

  Aliah makes a grab for the end table to stop herself from crumbling to the pristine marble floor. “Back that up a second. What did you just call him?”

  Harley throws his hand down from his forehead and confesses. “She’s my daughter.”

  The poor girl looks so uncomfortable, and that’s because Aliah is so indelicate. She’s convinced herself that Harley is a cheating bastard, when in reality he’s just a father. Aliah instantly feels like a cruel toad, but if that is the case, then Harley must be the lowly toadstool. She still wants to walk all over him, with her tallest heels on, and is sure his baby momma is about to make her appearance any minute.

  Aliah glances at his daughter. She’s clearly not used to seeing her father around other women. She watches Aliah with eyes of a predator. Aliah turns her eyes back to Harley.

  “You have some explaining to do.” Her first impression of Harley’s daughter is that she is an innocent, so Aliah’s completely shocked when the girl gets right up in her dad’s face, interrupting their private conversation.

  “Aren’t you going to introduce me, dad? Or are you not planning on keeping this one around long enough to bother?”

  This seems to anger Harley. “Your mother did not raise you to have a mouth like that. Apologize to Aliah. Right now.”

  The jab about her mother seems to hurt her, but it doesn’t permanently remove the sass from her voice. “I’m sorry,” she says, but it’s about as believable as the idea of a witch bursting into the house and flying around on a broomstick.

  “Hannah,” he warns.

  “I’m sorry,” she says, magically making the sarcasm leave her voice. “My dad doesn’t bring prostitutes home every day. You’re his first.”

  Aliah has to laugh at that. “A prostitute? That’s what you think I am? Trust me, honey, I’m no prostitute. If you ask me, marriage is prostitution. I don’t see your dad buying me any jewellery and I certainly haven’t seen any money out of this relationship.”

  “Oh, so you’re a gold digger. Big surprise there,” Hannah mumbles.

  Aliah’s mouth drops open. “Oh, hell no. No amount of money can buy this, sweetheart. You can’t just give them all the goods up front. You have to make them work for it.”

  She tries to act like their relationship has been based on something more than desire, which is the exact opposite of the truth.

  “Hmm, good talk,” Hannah mocks, then shares a roll of her eyes.

  And just for a second, Aliah sees a glimmer of herself when she was a teen. She smiles over at Harley. He has never looked more uncomfortable than he does this minute.

  “I’m Hannah, by the way. Not that you care.”

  Aliah turns back to the girl, stunned by the offering, and smiles. “Aliah.” She reaches her hand out, but Hannah steps backward and scowls at her like her hand might have cooties.

  Harley sighs out of frustration. “Hannah, could you please give us a few minutes?” Harley flashes a glance at the girl, who bears a striking resemblance to him. “Please?”

  Hannah leaves the room, but stares back at Aliah again, this time flashing a smile. But not just any smile. A devious smile, that looks so painstakingly similar to Harley’s that it stabs at Aliah’s heart and makes her wince once she’s relieved of the teenager’s glare.

  Hannah stomps off and heads for the front door.

  “Where do you think you’re going, Missy?” Harley’s tone doesn’t manage to scare her in the slightest.

  “Anywhere to get away from you.” After snapping at him, she slams the door shut.

  Aliah snickers. “She listens well.”

  Harley flashes her his angriest glare. “She reminds me of someone else I know.”

  “Don’t look at me.”

  “Oh, I am looking at you.”

  After an awkward silence, Harley reaches for Aliah’s hand. “Is that why you really came here? For an explanation?”

  She refuses to allow him the pleasure of her touch, after he’s just drilled a hole through her heart. He’s had his chance. Now it’s her turn. She throws his shirt at him and it swats him right in the face.

  “Actually, I came to return your stinking shirt… and to hear your apology. Maybe I should have burned it instead.”

  “You’re still mad,” he mumbles, more to himself than to her.

  “If you would have just told me you had a daughter, I wouldn’t have been faced with murderous thoughts when I walked in that door. And maybe, just maybe, things would have gone down at little differently.”

  “I doubt it.” Hannah’s outburst has clearly made Harley irritable. “She’s been getting more and more sassy these past few weeks. Tonight, it’s hit an all-time high. I thought it was because I’ve been spending less time at home. Because of you.”

  “Blame it on me. She’s clearly having boy troubles. But leave it up to a dad to get it all wrong.”

  Harley waves a hand at her, but the words don’t make it out at first. “No. No. No. No boy troubles here.”

  Leaving their own argument alone for a second, Aliah delves into another doozy. “Face the facts, Harley. You’re daughter’s getting to that age. She’s a beautiful girl. How old is she now? She doesn’t look a year over twenty.”

  He grabs at his heart in a dramatic display of pride. “I may be old, but I’m not that old. She’ll be celebrating her eighteenth birthday in a couple of months.”

  “You’re in trouble.”

  He’s glaring at her, just waiting for her to take another jab at him. “Why am I in trouble?”

  “I can see that she’s already having boy troubles. You can only hope that it’s not too late. The ones without a good mother figure in their life are usually the worst ones.”

  “You?”

  “Not me. But most. My father would have killed me if I went sleeping around. But by age seventeen, there weren’t many of my friends who could still call themselves virgins. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but…”

  “Then there’s still hope,” Harley blurts, unwilling to believe what Aliah’s implying. Besides, Hannah knows better. She’s a smart girl.”

  “You can hope.” Aliah turns to leave, but he stops her with a firm grip on her shoulder.

  “Oh… uh. Thanks for the lesson in marriage, by the way.” After giving her a sarcastic squeeze, he releases her.

  She shoots him a narrowed glance. “I only speak the truth. Sorry if it isn’t the perfect picture you try to sell your little toddling princess.”

  Harley makes a fast approach around her, and it has her back stepping. “You’ve really thrown the idea of marriage under the bus?” he asks. He’s standing over her now, his eyes a sight of dark seduction. “Tell me you haven’t given up all hope.”

  He’s so big and tall that she should be scared. But intrigue is all she feels screaming from every orifice in her body.

  “For me?” She pauses. “Yeah. There’s not a hope in hell.” Aliah shrugs her shoulders and slides away. She’s already given it a lot of thought. Her chances at a truly happy life are non-existent.

  “You’re so young yet.”

  Aliah rolls her eyes at that. “Oh, and you’re such an old man. If you wanted a wife, you could have one. Look at this house. It looks like you’ve ripped a page straight out a home magazine. You clearly have money. And you aren’t a bad looking guy. For all I know, you have a hoard of girlfrien
ds you pick from to take out each night of the week.”

  “Gee. You paint me in such a pretty picture.”

  “The truth,” she states, as he reaches out to her and skims a finger down her cheek. It has her shivering, as he leans in closer.

  “I have a good housekeeper,” he growls. “And my gardener is pretty damn good too.” His words are by no means intimate, but the way he says it has a delicious chill skipping up her spine. “There are no girlfriends. There’s only you.”

  That confession has Aliah swooning, but she refuses to let it show. “So clearly you’ve given up too.”

  Harley boops her on the nose like she’s an adorable child. “I gave up a long time ago. But just because I didn’t find love, doesn’t mean I don’t want that for Hannah. There’s no reason why she can’t secure a marriage based on love, trust and companionship. I’m trying really hard to teach her that there is such a thing as true love. Can you respect that?”

  “I think so. Just because I’m doomed, doesn’t mean your beautiful daughter is.”

  Harley smiles. “She is beautiful, isn’t she?”

  Aliah nods, glancing up at him adoringly. “She has your eyes.” She wonders how she manages to let that one slip.

  Harley steps toward her and she steps backward again. He glances over his shoulder at the closed door and then turns his gaze back on her. He reaches out to her, waiting for her to give in, then lets his hand fall.

  “Why are you being like this?” He’s begging for her forgiveness, but he hasn’t confessed anything.

  “You must think I’m stupid. You haven’t given me an inch.”

  “I don’t think you’re stupid at all. I don’t invite stupid women into my home. Hannah doesn’t need that kind of shit in her life. She’s an impressionable young girl, and she has enough issues of her own. I’m not about to add daddy’s ditsy girlfriend to that list.”

  Did he just call her his girlfriend? Maybe, in some fucked up sort of way. It confuses her. “Why were you looking through my things?” You can hear the hurt in her voice.

  He pauses for a minute, and she takes that opportunity to order him to be real.