Epilogue （Two）
Isaac
She was late.
I’d agreed to this bullshit interview for the Daily Queen, partly out of loyalty to Jack’s girl, partly out of curiosity, and partly for my own purposes. But I had plans tonight—plans that involved very enthusiastic triplets—and I didn’t have time for little journalists who couldn’t even keep track of time.
As I rose to leave the bar, she came running in. Her hair was in her face, her shirt was partially unbuttoned. Her cheeks were flushed. She looked freshly fucked. A growl rose in my throat, but I immediately tamped it down. I didn’t get jealous, or territorial. Especially over girls that got around like Tovah Kaufman did.
So then why did the idea of some other douchebag fucking her make me want to throw this pitcher of beer against the wall?
“I’m sorry I’m late,” she said. “Something distracted me. ”
I looked her up and down, aware I was leering. “I’m sure it did.”
She glared at me, but didn’t defend herself.
“I agreed to this interview under the impression that you’d be respectful of my time,” I told her.
She sat, ignoring the glass I pushed toward her. “You know, you come off as this easy going charmer to everyone else. Why do I get this grumpy asshole whenever we talk?”
I grunted in response.
“See!” Her eyes flashed in triumph. “I don’t know what I did to hurt you, Isaac, but?—”
Her mere existence hurt me. Knowing she breathed the same air as me, after what she’d done— that hurt me. Seeing her face at night, in my dreams, when I jacked off in the shower, when I was fucking some other nameless, faceless girl or woman— that hurt me.
And she was going to pay.
“So what’s the content of this interview? You never sent me questions.”
“I didn’t want to give you a chance to figure out a lie.”
My hackles rose.
“What would I have to lie about?”
“Why you’re pretending your last name is Jones, for one.”
My heart roared in my ears. No one but Jack knew my real last name, who my family was. It was the deal I’d made with my father; I’d take over the family “business” if he gave me these four years at Reina without interfering. The strings of the deal that I’d tried to ignore tightened; I could feel them around my throat.
I narrowed my eyes. “If you know my real last name, you know better than to threaten me, little journalist. ”
She puffed up her chest. “I don’t know who you’re calling little, Isaac Sil?—”
My hand shot out, covering her mouth. The feel of her breath against my palm made my skin go tight and my cock harden. Tovah growled, and then bit me.
I didn’t release her. “You like to play rough, huh? Or at least, that’s what I’ve heard about you.”
She glared at me.
With my free hand, I dragged her chair closer to mine, dropping a casual arm over it. My hand closed around the back of her neck.
I squeezed.
She shuddered.
Fuck. My cock turned into a rock.
“You might know my last name, little journalist, but that doesn’t come close to what I know about you. That’s right,” I stared into her angry, defiant, terrified eyes. “I know your secret. And while you revealing mine would be an…inconvenience at best, if I revealed yours, it would blow up your entire life, wouldn’t it? I could take it to the police, to the dean…even tell Aviva.”
She shook her head back and forth in negation.
Of course she did. She didn’t want me telling the world what she’d done.
“After all, if you know my real last name, it’s helpful that I know yours…Tovah Lewis .”
I could practically hear the dun dun dun in the silent bar, echoing in her head.
I glanced at the mirror behind the bar. My grin was terrifying—a shark about to take a bite out of its prey.
Focusing back on her, I released her mouth to tuck her hair behind her ear. The way she shivered beneath my touch? It pleased me .
“Now,” I began. “Here’s how this is going to go…”
THE END