Dirty News (Dirty Network Book 1)

by Michelle Love

  Dad was sitting at the head of the table, Mom to his right and Asia, then me to his left. It was the first time I’d ever had a woman with me at any family gathering. It felt nice.

  Aunt Sally waved at us from the other end of the long table. “Hi there. After lunch, I’m dying to get to know you, Asia.”

  “Asia, meet my Aunt Sally, my mother’s sister.” I gave my aunt a nod. “The man at the other end of the table is her husband, Pete, and the two little redheads that are sitting across from her are their ten-year-old twins, Bo and Joe.”

  Asia gave a wave back. “I’ll be sure to find you after lunch, Aunt Sally.”

  And there it was again, the guilt shot, going right into my heart again. Asia had called her Aunt. It was a lot to take. Then Mom took her seat across from us and extended her hand across the table to Asia. The two clasped hands. “Dear, it would be the greatest honor to me, and Jett’s father is you’d call us, Mom and Dad.”

  Oh, that was it!

  I couldn’t take it anymore! “Mom, she has a Mom and Dad. I think her parents might just hate if she did that. Don’t ask her to do that. She can call you two by your first names.”

  Mom’s eyes slanted as she looked sad. “Oh, Jett, I don’t mean to step on her parents’ toes. It’s just that I’ve always wanted a daughter, you know that. If I could hear her sweet voice, calling me, Mom and your father, Dad, then it would make my life, son. You have no idea. Please, don’t take that away from me.”

  For the love of Pete!

  I looked at Asia. “Is that something you’d be comfortable with, baby?”

  She searched my eyes for what I wanted her to say. But then I guess she read me wrong. She turned her eyes to my mother. “I’d love to call you two Mom and Dad. Thank you for that honor, Mom.”

  And there it was, my fake wife was now calling my parents endearing terms and I was getting in even deeper. The walls of the cave of lies were starting to get thicker and seemed to be depriving me of oxygen. How long would there be enough air to breathe?

  The first course was brought out, along with white wine and water. I leaned over to whisper, “You don’t have to drink the wine, baby. I know you don’t like it.”

  “I’ll drink it, Jett. I don’t want to be rude. It doesn’t bother me. It’s just not my favorite drink is all.”

  “I don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to. Don’t drink it.”

  She looked at me with an odd expression. “Are you telling me not to drink it when I told you I don’t mind and find it to be rude if I don’t?”

  I nodded. “Do as I say, Asia.”

  She jutted out her jaw, defiantly and picked up her wine glass, taking a sip. “Yum.” She looked at my mother. “This is delicious, great choice, Mom” She licked her ruby red lips. “You should taste it, honey. It’s great.”

  And there it was. The first time she went against a direct order. Asia would soon find out what it meant to be a sub. I had no choice but to teach her a lesson about defying me!

  Asia

  Everyone in Jett’s family was nice as they could be to me. I thought it was all going great, except for how Jett was acting. He was growing sullen and became quiet. It was as if he didn’t want us all to get along.

  Perhaps he thought there’d be more strife between us for some reason. Whatever it was, it was beginning to annoy me.

  Sitting by the pool, his twin cousins jumped in right by us, splashing us and giving us a good dousing. Jett stood up. “Damn it, you two!” He took my hand, and off we went, back into the house.

  I followed along without saying a word. He was overreacting to something so benign. When we got into the house, I found him taking me up a back set of stairs and then into our bedroom.

  When he turned around to face me, closing the door behind us, I saw something in his eyes I hadn’t before. Anger. “Asia, would you like to explain to me why you think it’s okay for you to defy me?”

  “What are you talking about?” I was at a loss as to what his main malfunction was.

  “The wine, Asia. I told you not to drink it, and you did anyway.” He walked away from me and went to sit on the bed. “I won’t have you disregarding me. Come here, it’s time for your first punishment.”

  Standing still, I put my hands on my hips. “Do you think for one damn minute that I’m going to come to you, bend over your lap so you can spank me, over that?”

  He nodded. “You’re my sub, Asia. I told you not to do anything you didn’t want to do.”

  “I wanted to drink the fucking wine, jackass!” I stomped my foot.

  His face went red. “Do not cuss at me or call me names, sub.” He stood up and pointed to the floor. “On your knees, now!”

  Looking at him, I could see he was beyond angry. But it wasn’t because I drank the wine. And I wasn’t about to fall on my knees. “Jett, tell me what the real problem is. This isn’t about the wine. You can talk to me.” I took a step forward and eased up to him as he shook with anger. “Sweetie, you can tell me anything.”

  He was gritting his teeth and shaking his head. “Why are you not doing as I told you to, sub?”

  “Because you are not punishing me for drinking the wine. Something else is bothering you, and I want to help you deal with that. Is it about me calling your parents Mom and Dad?”

  He spun around and huffed then sat on the bed and put his face in his hands. “Fuck! Asia, God damn it! Are you insane? Do you know what any other Dom would be doing to you right now for how contrary you’re being?”

  I eased up to him and ran my hand over his head, gently soothing him. “I do. But you’re not an ordinary Dom. And I didn’t do anything wrong. You told me not to do anything I didn’t want to. I wanted to drink the wine. I didn’t disobey you, and now I know what really set you off. You don’t like how well your family and I are getting along.”

  He looked up at me, and I could see it all in his sea green eyes. Guilt!

  “Asia, I didn’t expect all of this. I didn’t know they’d all love you. How did you do that so quickly?” He shook his head and looked distraught. “How will I ever get them to understand things when we end this?”

  And there it was. He was planning on letting me go once the contract was up. He was worried about how his family would react to the phony divorce.

  “My poor Jett. You didn’t think this thing all the way through. I thought as much.” I cupped his face in my hands. “Don’t worry so much about what will happen in the future. Your family will be a bit upset by it, but you can blame me for the divorce. You can say you caught me with an old boyfriend, messing around on you. They’ll hate me and be there to comfort you.”

  He ran his hands up the backs of my legs, sending chills through me. “Asia, what did I ever to do deserve you?”

  “You paid a shit-ton of money, is what you did.” I smiled at him. “Can we go back down and act like a happy couple now. I hate fighting with you.”

  “Wanna know something?” He grinned at me as I nodded. “You’re the only woman I’ve ever actually argued with. I’ve never cared enough about anyone to actually hear them out. What’ve you done to me, Asia Jones?”

  I ran my arms around his neck and leaned in to whisper in his ear, “I’ve put a spell on you, Jett Simmons.”

  He picked me up and sat me on his lap as he ran his hand through my hair. “That, you have, my little Asia.” He pulled me back, and our lips met.

  I’d never made up after a fight before, his kiss was apologetic. Soft, caressing, and it told me he was sorry. More so than his words did. His hands grazed my shoulders and back as the kiss grew, gaining intensity.

  He eased back, lying on the bed. I moved my body to straddle his. Maybe another round of wild sex would settle his guilt. I was up for anything!

  I moved my body over his and felt his cock rising under his bathing suit. I had on a bikini with a thin lace cover up over it. His hand moved between us, pushing the top of his bathing suit down then easing my bikini bottoms to t
he side. He picked me up and slid me down onto his erection.

  “Baby, fuck you feel so good,” he moaned as he released my lips.

  We looked into each other’s eyes as he lifted me up and down at a slow speed. “When you’re inside of me, I feel like a part of you, Jett. Is that normal?”

  “I don’t think any of this is normal, Asia. Not one bit of it.”

  I kissed him again, letting that sink in. What we had wasn’t normal. I’d never had anything, so I had to go on what he said. But then again, Jett had never had anything more than sex with women, either.

  The word, love, kept going through my head. I was pretty sure we’d found it. But I had no idea what he’d do with the love we shared.

  I could see it more clearly then. Jett was fighting himself about how he felt about me. There was something in the back of his mind that had him either on the fence about me or on the fence about love, in general.

  Jett’s hands moved off my waist, and he pushed me up. I rode him and ran my hands over his bare chest as he ran his hands up to push my top up to fondle my breasts. “Asia, is this real? Can I trust you?”

  “You can trust me. I’m not faking anything. Is that a concern you have about me? I’m not a trained sub. I don’t know how to act as if I care for anyone. I’m not a liar, although I’m becoming better at since we came here.”

  His face fell, he looked sad. “I’m sorry about all that. I am. I think one of the reasons I got so mad was because I’m mad at myself for doing this to you and my family. And I have no idea how the hell I’m going to make things right for any of you.”

  I took a deep breath to try to find an answer to his dilemma. I couldn’t find one. “Jett, just let things play out. You’ll know what the right thing is to do when the times comes. You’ll see.”

  He caressed my cheek then rolled over with me, making gentle strokes as he looked down at me. “As a sub, you suck, Asia. As a wife, you rock my world.”

  I wasn’t sure how to take that. I’d signed up to be his sub, not his wife. Neither was a role I’d ever played or even thought much about playing. Jett came into my life and turned it upside down. In both good and bad ways.

  All I knew for sure was that the man would leave his mark on me. He’d forever have a place in my heart and head no man would ever be able to erase.

  Jett

  With Asia at my side, I began to feel better about things. The guilt was still there, but it was a weight I was getting used to. And when the neighbors came for a little dinner party on the fourth night there, I remembered exactly why I had a fake wife in the first place.

  My mother, the matchmaker!

  Five, very eligible rich bitches had come with their old-money families to Mom’s soiree. Three of them were tall, elegant, and snooty, two were short, chunky, and insecure. All three were green with envy about Asia. None of them were nice to her. A thing that was pissing me off to no end.

  Madison of the Greenberg family was the biggest bitch of all. One of the tall women, she kind of overshadowed them all. With her hands on her skinny hips, she looked Asia up and down as I came outside, finding the five had surrounded my little fake wife. “And where is it you came from? And how did you manage to get one of the most eligible bachelors into your claws, you little thing?”

  Asia looked up at the giraffe of a woman. “Um, uh, he and I met in Los Angeles while I was on vacation there. It was love at first sight.”

  There were many people at the party. I was having difficulty getting to the group as I had to zigzag through the crowd, and many stopped me, asking me how married life was. My answers were short and to the point, “Great, gotta get to my wife now.”

  The gaggle of women all laughed as if what Asia had said could never be true. One of the short women said, “I don’t see how that happened. You’re nowhere near the league of woman, Jett Simmons needs in his life. How’re you supposed to help him in polite society?”

  I stepped up, reaching through one short and one tall woman. Grabbing Asia by the arm, I pulled her out of the mean circle. “Baby, there you are.”

  Asia looked a little wide-eyed. “I’m right here, honey.”

  The five women looked me over as I ran my arm, protectively around Asia’s waist and kissed her cheek. The tallest and meanest of them all, Madison, sneered directly at Asia before she smiled at me. “Jett, my father’s having a charity ball in the fall. I know you’re married now, but do you suppose you could accompany me to it? You wouldn’t mind, would you, Asia? It is for charity. The wealthy patrons will expect me to have a man of their stature as my date. I’ve planned on asking Jett for months now, waiting for this chance to ask him. Surely, you have enough security in your marriage to let your husband take me to such a function, Asia.”

  Not waiting for Asia to answer that, I said, “I’m sorry about that, Madison. I’m not about to go out with another woman. My wife can’t answer that for me.”

  “But I need you, Jett.” Madison made a sultry frown. “Can’t you help me out?”

  “What’s the problem, Madison?” Asia asked. “Can’t you find a single man to ask to the ball? Or have you gone through all the eligible men around here?”

  The women gave Asia shitty looks. My poor Asia was out of her league with the bitches. They’d been bred to be bitchy!

  “Come, Asia, we have other guests to greet.” I turned her around, feeling the cold stares of the women as we walked away. I kissed the side of her head. “Baby, you gave it your best shot, but those women would’ve eaten you alive. Best to stay right next to me for the remainder of the night.”

  “Oh, they weren’t so bad. I was handling them.” She laughed and placed her hand on my chest, then gave my lips a quick peck. “But thank you for getting me out of the ring of fire they had me in. I was wondering if I’d have to drop and crawl out of them.”

  Janice Duncan, the party planner, popped out of the crowd in front of us. “Hello, you two! Are you getting excited for your party this weekend?”

  I was anything but excited. “Oh, I’d forgotten about that whole thing.”

  Asia gave me a scowl. “He’s kidding, Janice. Of course, we’re excited. Neither of us can wait to see what you’ve come up with.”

  Janice smiled and shook her head. “Jett, you rascal. On Friday the clothes you two are to wear will be brought over. Your mother gave me the sizes. It’s going to be fancy. You’ll see that when the things arrive. We want to give your marriage a great start. And East Coast royalty will be there to bring you into their fold. I know you’ll love it.” She looked over her shoulder as some man said something about his daughter turning sixteen next month. “I’ll see you guys later.” Off she went to cash in on another party, and I took my fake wife to the dance floor.

  “It looks like you’re going to the dancefloor, Jett. I actually can’t dance. I’ve never danced at all.” Asia looked worried as she watched the other couples dancing around the floor my mother had brought in for her party. A small, three piece band played on a temporary stage at one end of it.

  “We’ll be expected to dance at our party. May as well learn now.” I found a dark corner and held her tightly. “Feel my feet right next to yours?” I placed one leg between hers and made sure our feet were touching.

  “I do.” She looked nervous, and it made me chuckle.

  “It’s just dancing, baby. Nothing to fear.” I moved one foot. “Let your feet follow mine. I won’t make any fancy movements. I’ll keep it very simple.”

  “I’ll try not to step on your toes.” She moved her foot alongside mine.

  “That’s right, keep your feet on the floor, don’t lift them, slide them. It’s easy, see?” I slid mine and hers slid along with them. Before she knew it, we were dancing across the floor. “You’re a fast learner, Asia.”

  She smiled then rested her head on my shoulder. “My body seems to follow yours in every way, Jett.”

  It did too. We were so compatible it wasn’t even funny. Where I ended, she began. We
moved all over that dance floor. I got fancy with my footwork, and she effortlessly followed along. When the song ended, we found people had stopped dancing to watch us, and everyone clapped.

  “Oh, goodness!” Asia blushed, furiously and buried her head in my chest. “Everyone was watching us, Jett!”

  “And you did a fantastic job, baby. Now let’s take a bow.” I moved her out beside me, and she followed along, bowing to our supportive audience. “Thank you, thank you.”

  I led Asia off the wooden floor and found one man, in particular looking my fake wife up and down. Asia was wearing a thin, silk, dark blue dress and black flats. Her hair was pulled back into a sleek updo. She looked radiant, and the blush on her cheeks only served to make her even more beautiful. The young man’s hand came out, and he had Asia’s in his before I knew what had happened. “Excuse me, I’m Sebastien Greenberg. I wanted to introduce myself, Asia. It seems Jett here has found himself a little slice of Heaven. Are there more at home like you?”

  Asia smiled at him. “Nice to meet you and no, my sisters are married, Sebastien.”

  I didn’t recall knowing the man. “Sebastien? Oh, wait, didn’t you just graduate from high school?”

  His dark eyes lingered on Asia. “College, Jett. I just graduated from Harvard Law School.” He looked at me. “Mind if I take your wife for a little spin on the dance floor? I promise I’ll bring her right back to you.”

  Asia looked up at me with worried eyes. I knew she didn’t want to tell the man that was the first time she’d danced. And I also didn’t want to see another man holding her. “Sorry, she and I were about to get a drink. Maybe another time, Sebastien.” I ran my hand off Asia’s waist, and took her hand, then walked away from the man who was looking at my woman much too hard.

  “Thank you, Jett,” Asia whispered. “I was afraid etiquette would force you to allow him to dance with me.”

  “Normally, it would. But this is an abnormal situation we’re in.” We stopped at the first bar. “Two screwdrivers, please.” I took her chin between my thumb and forefinger. “Everything about you and I is abnormal. I can’t think of seeing you in any other man’s arms. You evoke jealousy in me. Now, why do you suppose that is?”