"I have to go out." I extricated myself from her embrace and quickly left the study. Maria was going to make this difficult—very difficult indeed.
"Wait." She grabbed my arm. "Kiss me before you go."
"Maria," My voice was stern as I pulled away from her. "Go and get your bags packed."
“Why?"
"I think it's time for you to move." I cleared my throat. "It's been nice having you here, but it is time for you to move on."
"You told my father you would look after me."
"I've given you a roof over your head. I've protected you as best as I can, but enough is enough."
"It's because of that whore, isn't it? Maria spat out with hatred in her eyes.
"It's time for you to go." I turned around and walked out of the room before I did or said something I would regret.
“You'll never have her, you know!" Maria called out. "Not by the time I'm done. You two will never have a relationship. Not when she knows the truth."
“Maria, I’m warning you.” I took a step away from her, hatred burning in me.
“I know about the whores, you know.” Her eyes danced with evil joy as she studied me. “And I know about the files. I wonder if innocent little Katie knows. There’s quite a lot she doesn’t know, isn’t there?” She grabbed my hand and placed it on her breast. “Just make love to me, Brandon. Just make love to me so we can make a brother or sister for Harry. Then I won’t tell. I won’t tell Katie.”
“Don’t threaten me.” My voice was cold and deadly as I pulled my hand away. “You do not want to mess with me, Maria.”
“I think it’s you that shouldn’t mess with me, dear Brandon.” She smiled and took a step back. “Where’s Harry? I want to go and read him a story.”
“He’s gone to my dad’s house.” I felt myself thanking God for getting my dad and his new girlfriend to pick up Harry for the rest of the week. I’d had a feeling that shit was going to hit the fan, and I knew Maria would try to involve him.
“You didn’t ask me.” She glared at me.
“I didn’t need to ask you.”
“He’s my son!” she screamed, her eyes blazing.
“No, Maria.” I shook my head and looked into her eyes. “He’s never been your son.”
“She’s never going to take you back, you know.” Her eyes looked at me with a bitter glee. “Not once she knows everything.”
I turned away from her abruptly and left the house. I didn’t hit women, but I had come mighty close to slapping her. But I wasn’t even mad at Maria; I was mad at myself.
About thirty minutes later, I found myself outside of Katie’s apartment. I needed to see her. I needed to feel her. I called her phone and waited for her to answer.
“Hello?”
“You answered.”
“What do you want, Brandon?”
“Can I see you?”
“No.”
“Can I come over?”
“No.” Her voice was firm. “I’m having an early night. I’m going to bed now.”
“I can be there within five minutes.”
“Sorry. No.” And then she hung up on me again.
I stood there outside her front door, wanting to just open it up and go inside. No one told me no. But I didn’t. I knew I couldn’t invade her privacy like that. What if she moved out? I couldn’t risk losing every connection I had with her. I started walking down the stairs when the phone rang. I grabbed it eagerly, thinking it was Katie.
“You changed your mind?”
“Mr. Hastings?” Matt’s voice sounded surprised.
“What is it, Matt?”
“I found the bar.” He sounded proud of himself.
“I see. How do you know?”
“There are only three bars near me.” His voice sounded obnoxious.
“That doesn’t answer my question.” My voice grew angry as I became frustrated. “How do you know which one she went to?”
“Well, I happened to be in there just now.” His voice was quick and excited. “I was sitting in a corner booth. It’s dark in the corners so people can’t really see you, but you can see them.”
“Get on with it,” I growled.
“Well, I was sitting there, and Katie just walked in.” My heart stopped at his words and I hit the wall as I exited the building.
“And?”
“And the bartender looked up at her and smiled.” Matt’s voice rose. “And he said, ‘Well, this must be my lucky week! I get to see your pretty face two days in a row.’”
“I see.”
“So obviously, she must have been there last night,” Matt continued. “And I think something happened. Because when she sat down, he offered everyone at the bar blowjob shots. He said that everyone deserved to get as lucky as he was going to get tonight.”
“What’s the name of the bar?” I growled, furious.
“Getting Lucky,” Matt drawled. “I just left the bar and Katie was there flirting with the bartender. He also owns the place. But yeah, the name is Getting Lucky. And I guess we both know what’s going to go down tonight.”
I hung up, and this time I did throw my phone against the wall. I watched as it cracked and fell to the ground. Katie had blown me off and lied to me. I wasn’t happy, and there was no way in hell I was going to let some chump come in and steal my woman away from me. Not after everything I’d been through. Even if I had to play rough and dirty, I was going to make sure that there wasn’t ever going to be a relationship between Katie and the bartender.
Chapter 3
Katie
“I don’t know if I should take the job.” Meg made a face. “Not that I’ve gotten the job yet. I guess the first interview was just a screening interview.”
“A job’s a job, right?” I yawned from the couch, my mind elsewhere.
“I’m just not sure if everything is as it seems, you know?
“What do you mean?” I frowned and looked up at her.
“I don’t really know if it’s a regular bar. The girl who interviewed me said it was a private club.”
“A private club?”
“Yeah, I don’t know more,” Meg sighed. “I guess I’ll find out next week.” She sat next to me. “So what about you? Where’ve you been?”