“I don’t need his protection or yours,” Marey spat furiously. “Damn you, Ella, you had no right to lie to me.”
“Why not?” she snapped. “You lie to yourself all the damned time. It shouldn’t bother you so f**king bad when someone else tries to do no more than protect you from your own foolishness.”
“I’m here aren’t I?” Marey nearly screamed. “I’m sleeping in his damned bed and he’s f**king me regularly. Isn’t that what you wanted?”
“More to the point, it’s what you want and deny yourself with any and every excuse,” Ella accused her, crossing her arms over her br**sts, her expression mulish, defiant. “I just wanted to make certain you didn’t come up with a new excuse.”
“It was none of your business…”
“The hell it wasn’t. Do you think we enjoyed sitting in that goddamned hospital room with you after he nearly killed you?” Ella yelled, her own voice hoarse with her anger. “Get a clue here, Marey, he wants you dead.”
“Get a clue here, Ella, you’re a nosey bitch,” Marey snarled.
“And you’re a stubborn bitch.” Ella was nearly in her face now, nose to nose, her face flushed in anger. “And if you try to walk out on Sax over this I’m going to beat you myself.”
“Oh, be careful, baby, you might make me hot,” Marey mocked her heatedly. “Wouldn’t that be a new stroke of pleasure for the bastards?”
“Ewww. They’re going to get all pissy and gross now,” Tess announced to one and all. “Someone go find Sax and James to cool them down.”
“Shut up, Tess.” They both turned on her, snarling furiously before turning back to each other.
“Well, I can see we left you ladies alone too long,” Sax spoke from the sliding doors, his voice calm, a shade mocking as Marey turned to him slowly.
His arms were crossed over his broad chest, his teeth flashing in a mocking smile as the others stood behind him, watching the scene outside with varying expressions of disapproval.
Her eyes narrowed on him before she looked to each one in turn.
“Remember me telling you that you were going to piss me off?” she asked him then, her voice sarcastically sweet.
His brows lifted slowly.
“Consider me pissed off.”
She swept into the house, shaking with rage and fear. Fear uppermost. It crawled through her system, twisting her stomach in knots that threatened to send her to the bathroom heaving.
Vince wouldn’t stop, she knew. He was proving it. And dear God, she didn’t know if she could bear losing Sax.
Chapter Ten
“This is a mistake, Marey, please don’t do this.” The driver pulled the limo into the parking lot of the hotel as Ella voiced yet another plea that she return to Sax’s.
“I have to think,” she muttered, staring out the window into the brightly lit interior of the hotel lobby.
“Vince isn’t sane…”
“I know that, Ella,” Marey sighed tiredly.
“Sax loves you, Marey…”
“Ella.” James voice was low, soothing. “Sax and Marey have to fight this out themselves.”
Marey looked over at James, the concern on his face, the worry, before she looked back to Ella.
“I love you, you old harpy,” she said softly. “And I know he cares. I just have to figure out what I’m doing here. I can’t do that with him hovering over me. I’ll be careful though, I promise.”
Ella sighed regretfully. “Fine. And I love you too. Even if your decisions do suck sometimes.”
“Most of the time,” Marey admitted with a sigh, already missing Sax, uncertain if the decision she had made in anger was one should stick to now that the rage was dimming.
“We can take you back, Marey,” James offered, his voice gentle.
“No.” She drew in a deep breath as the driver opened the door and stood aside patiently.
She hugged Ella quickly.
“I’ll call you tomorrow.”
She jumped from the car before she could change her mind, striding purposely into the hotel, refusing to look back.
“You know, if stubborn had a name, it would be Marey.”
Marey froze in the act of securing the hotel door and turned slowly.
Sax.
Well, this explained why James had the chauffer drive around aimlessly while Ella argued with Marey.
“Boy, when they say Trojans stick together, they mean it,” she snorted. “How much did you have to bribe the concierge to arrange this one?”
The hotel was the best in the city, security had always been exemplary.
“Delacourte/Conover holds an account here,” he informed her, his voice cool. “The owner also happens to be a member of The Club.”
She snorted at that. She should have figured that one out on her own.
She stood silently, her hands fisting in the loose material of her dress as she stared back at him.
He stood in the center of the room, his feet braced apart, his head tilted as he watched her, his eyes dark and brooding.
“If you’re finished being pissed, we can go back to the house now,” he said patiently.
Her teeth snapped together angrily.
“Can you get any more arrogant?” she snapped. “Maybe I don’t want to go back.”
“And maybe you like to lie to both of us too damned much,” he suggested silkily, moving to her, slow, relaxed, his steps stalking.
She wasn’t going to run from him, she promised herself. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. Or was that, deny herself the satisfaction? She was as sick as Ella and the others.
“You know, Marey,” he whispered, his voice soft, dangerous. “It occurs to me that somewhere, somehow, you’re going to have to trust someone. Trust starts here and now. Bend over on the bed.”
She gaped back at him.
“Excuse me?”
He shook his head slowly. “Excuses are over. Bend over, baby. Now…”
Running from him wasn’t going to work. She had admitted that while she was arguing with Ella. It was useless. He was her weakness, the one she feared most, and was most helpless against. She moved slowly to the bed, licking her lips nervously at the determined, dominant glint in his eyes. Her pu**y was heating, dampening, her br**sts swelling in anticipation. Perv, she accused herself. But she moved to the bed, gave him one last nervous glance then bent over slowly.