Friends with Benefits (Club Risqué Book 5)

Chapter 39

Christian paced agitatedly around Club Risqué”s employee lounge where Logan had asked him to wait while he dealt with Bianca. He couldn”t believe she”d had the gall to come here, never mind to call herself his wife… and in front of Trinity, of all people.

The anger, which had never been very far from the surface for the past few days, rose up inside him all over again. It was such a common occurrence he was starting to get used to it, as pathetic as that might be. He didn’t want to be that person, and it infuriated him all the more that Bianca had the ability to evoke such strong emotions in him.

Christian wanted her to mean nothing—less than nothing. He wanted to look upon her with indifference and feel nothing at all… but he wasn”t quite there yet.

He gave a cynical laugh and the noise sounded overly loud in the quiet room.

Not quite there? Who was he kidding? He wasn”t even in the vicinity. The anger and resentment were still far too fresh, even after four years.

And where the hell was Trinity? He hadn”t seen or heard anything from her since he”d arrived with Logan, forty-five minutes ago, and been filled in on the situation by Micah, who”d told him he’d taken matters into his own hands because he didn”t want Trinity dealing with it.

Perhaps she didn”t want anything to do with him now.

Christian ploughed his fingers into his hair and pulled hard, welcoming the pain.

Who the hell could blame her? He didn”t exactly have the best track record, and Bianca had told the very person who would take it in the worst possible way that they were still married and were attempting a reconciliation.

Jesus! What the hell must Trinity be thinking? He needed to talk to her.

Making his way to the door with renewed determination, Christian didn”t get as far as he hoped when he ran into Micah again. And yeah, there was still a hint of ongoing resentment there over the man”s relationship with Trinity. Jeez! What a fucking hypocrite he was!

”Going somewhere?” Micah asked, his easy tone not fooling Christian at all.

Christian tried not to bristle, but his nerves were stretched thin. Still, the other man was built like a brick shithouse, so there was no way Christian was getting past if Micah had a mind to stop him.

So instead he opted for honesty and hoped it had the desired effect. ”Yes, I need to talk to Trinity.”

”Don”t you think you”ve done enough damage there already?” Micah asked, folding his arms over his massive chest and making himself into a human door.

Was he for real? Christian grabbed hold of the doorframe with both hands and squeezed before blowing out a frustrated, rumbling breath and slapping the wooden surround with his fist.

”That”s not fair!” he growled out. ”How was I to know Bianca was going to turn up here and zero in on Trinity?”

”Because she”s your wife?” came the curious reply.

Was he serious or just playing devil”s advocate?

Whichever it was, Christian didn”t have time for games. He might pride himself on his desire for privacy, but now wasn”t the time to get sidetracked by it.

”Look,” he declared, staring Micah directly in the eye. ”I don”t know what that woman did or what she said, but she is not my wife, and if I have to lay my eyes on her, even once, during the rest of my life, then it will be one time too many!”

”So, you”ve left Logan to deal with it for you?”

Christian snarled and his hands contracted into fists on the doorframe. What the hell was with this guy?

”I would be more than happy to send Bianca packing, myself, regardless of any threats she wants to sling at me, but Logan parked me in here and insisted he deal with it himself. Since it”s his club, I”m respecting his wishes, and since he”s a lawyer and not involved in this fiasco, I also trust him to know what he”s doing.”

Contemplation at his answers flickered in Micah”s eyes, and Christian had the distinct impression he was weighing each one carefully.

”Very well.” Clearly Micah had come to a decision. Christian could only hope it was in his favour. ”I can tell you that Trinity is rather upset with everything that has transpired. So much so that she was physically sick.”

Christian”s heart sank, but his protective instincts kicked in at the same time. ”What? Where is she? I need to make sure she”s okay!” He peered over Micah”s shoulder, checking out every place he could see. He tried to push past, but Micah stopped him with a hand to his shoulder.

”You won”t find her. She”s not here,” he revealed.

That stopped Christian in his tracks. ”What the hell, man? What do you mean she isn”t here? Where is she?”

”She wasn”t up to all of this, and I didn”t want her upset any further. She went home.”

”I need to get to her,” Christian implored. ”Let me out of here!”

It was Logan”s voice that stopped him this time. ”That will have to wait, I”m afraid, my friend. There are a few loose ends that need tying up, first.”

Christian pushed away from the doorway and took a step back. Rubbing his hands over his face, he sighed, his shoulders slumping in defeat.

”Yeah, of course,” he mumbled, stumbling back to the couch and flopping onto it.

He knew this crap with Bianca had to be dealt with, but it paled into insignificance compared with his desire to find Trinity and explain what was going on.

Of course, despite his impatience, he accepted it was probably in his own best interests to be able to give Trinity the full and unabridged version of events, rather than one that still required them both to wait for an uncertain outcome.

He needed to be able to tell Trinity the matter was closed, so they could put it behind them and move forward.

The thought of losing her now was literally killing him. Christian had never been so terrified of anything in his entire life, and that was saying something since there had been quite a few times when things had absolutely sucked.

It was in that moment, when the thought of losing her hit him so hard, that he realised the true extent of his feelings for her.

”So, how bad is it?” he asked dejectedly, sitting forward with his elbows resting on his knees and looking from Micah to Logan who had both settled themselves into seats opposite him. It felt a little bit like an interrogation.

Logan leaned back and crossed his legs, looking relaxed and somewhat out of place, in his immaculate three-piece suit, mirror-shined oxford shoes, and precisely knotted, coordinating tie.

Since Christian usually saw him at the club, he was barely recognisable, his distinctive amber eyes shuttered behind a pair of spectacles and his shoulder length hair, his only outward rebellion against the straitjacket of societal norms, neatly contained with a leather cord.

Next to him, Micah was his antithesis, lounging nonchalantly in his matching leather vest and pants.

”Actually, it”s not as bad as you might imagine. Especially since you were prepared to pay her off. We both know Bianca”s main objective here is money, and clawing back what she thinks she was denied during the original divorce negotiations.”

Christian nodded. As much as he hated to give the conniving witch anything, including the time of day, it would be worth it to get her out of his life once and for all.

Right now, he was just preparing for how much of a hit he was going to take. He resented giving one damn penny to someone who had lied and manipulated her way into bleeding it out of him. But at the end of the day, the money wasn”t as important to him as getting all of the loose ends tied off, so he could finally put it behind him—again—and make things right with Trinity.

Christian nodded. ”So, what”s the damage?” he asked, trying not to cringe at the thought of giving anything to somebody who was, in effect, trying to blackmail it out of him.

If it hadn”t been for Trinity, he might have called Bianca”s bluff. But sometimes in life, you had an epiphany and the things that were truly important stood up and shone so brightly in front of you that everything else paled by comparison and became insignificant.

”Nothing!” Logan replied with a grin.

Christian sat up arrow straight in his seat, and even Micah raised a surprised eyebrow.

”What? How is that possible?”

”Yes, I”m kind of interested in that, myself.” That from Micah.

”It seems Bianca miscalculated,” Logan informed them both. ”She went about seducing your lawyer, Christian. Then she used their illicit assignation to coerce him into ”forgetting” to file your decree absolute.”

”You mean she set him up and then blackmailed him!” Christian spat derisively, shaking his head in disgust.

”Pretty much,” Logan agreed. ”However, what she didn”t count on was the fact that your lawyer had a conscience. He came clean and told his wife, who was a rather smart cookie and managed to see past his infidelity to the way that he had been used. She agreed to stick by him and work things out, as long as your lawyer nixed Bianca”s plans by filing the decree after all. Which he did… but on the quiet and without forwarding the paperwork to any of the other parties involved.”

”Jeez, I don”t know if I want to punch the idiot or hug him!” Christian laughed cynically.

A small smile played at the corners of Logan”s serious face in acknowledgement. ”Bianca, believing you were still married despite her initial settlement, decided it was time to call in some markers. She knew your trust had matured and that the situation with you taking over your father”s position within the company had been resolved, so she decided to cash in. You should know that she was all out for everything she could get, since she blames you for impeding any future sources of income by drawing attention to her illicit behaviour.”

Christian snorted. ”No surprise there, then!”

”It seems her last couple of marks fell through, largely thanks to your intervention, but homing in on Trinity here tonight was actually a coincidence. She didn”t recognise Trinity as Tara or even from last week”s charity event. Since her interest is so fixated on men, she tends to overlook women completely. Her only interest in Trinity was as a way to manoeuvre you into a publicly humiliating corner, at the kind of venue that might raise a few eyebrows if leaked. Her plan was to then coerce you into agreeing to whatever terms she had dreamed up, in return for your divorce settlement and her silence. She certainly knows how to go in for the kill.”

”So why Trinity and not me?” Micah interrupted. ”You already said she overlooks women and manipulates men. I might have rather enjoyed the challenge.”

Logan laughed outright. ”Your reputation precedes you, Micah. Bianca already knew you”d be a tough nut to crack, and while she might have been interested in trying her luck, there was far too much riding on her not being caught out. In her warped little mind, pulling the sob story and relying on another woman”s compassion and sense of romance was a sure-fire way to get herself through the door. Underestimating women, as she does, she thought Trinity would be a soft touch and an easy mark.”

”Okay, I can understand that logic to some extent.” Micah frowned. ”But where is she now?”

”I had her escorted off the premises with a promise that if she causes any more trouble, we will press charges for blackmail and perverting the course of justice by coercing a purveyor of the law not to fulfil his obligations.”

”So, we just let it go at that and hope she behaves?” Micah sounded incensed.

”Not at all,” Logan denied. ”I have everything under control. I”ve already alerted the authorities. They are investigating my claims and accumulating enough evidence to charge her with.” He looked at Christian with deadly seriousness. ”You should certainly expect a visit from the feds if they think it”s worth pursuing a criminal investigation.”

Christian wanted to wilt with relief. It was over.

All the grief and misery Bianca had caused was at an end, hopefully not just for him, but for any other poor, unfortunate soul.

Except that wasn”t quite true. The damage Bianca had caused had further reaching consequences than how it had affected him. And Christian still needed to find out whether her manipulations had crushed his relationship with Trinity, for good, this time.