Chapter 11
ELEVEN
MASE
“It’s okay. I learned a hard lesson that day. Some men don’t know how to please you at all.” Her sexy ass sashays out of the room while her words ricochet around my mind like a drum beating repetitively.
I clench my teeth so hard they hurt.
Why the fuck do those words bother me so damn much anyway? Tara’s taunts come to mind. After years of her throwing insults at me, I shouldn’t be surprised Summer’s words cut so deep.
“Morning, sir, would you like me to make you a coffee?”
My eyes snap up toward Hugh’s. “Huh?”
“Coffee?” He nods toward the espresso machine with a supercilious smile.
“Yeah, thanks.”
“It was a late night for you, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah,” I grunt, replaying her words again. One after the fucking other.
My focus remains on the doors she walked through over an hour ago, and I realize I didn’t hear the garage door when she left.
“Does she drive to school?”
“I’m afraid Miss Summer doesn’t have a car. Your father liked to keep control over her. She can be quite the handful,” Hugh states, and my attention is back on him. “You did well to get the house straight for this morning.”
I ignore his comment. He knows damn well I had a team come in and take care of things. Instead, I ask what’s been eating away at me all night long. “How long does she have left at school?”
After leaving her room and organizing for a team of cleaners to come in, I was torn between slipping back into her bedroom and holding her hostage, convinced she was going to run after the punk who left her half-naked ass in bed, or spend the rest of the night jerking off to memories of her trying to take my cock while simultaneously not giving her a choice in the matter.
The latter won out, and now, when I thought I’d emptied my balls completely, they’re proving me otherwise.
I’m like a damn horny teenager all over again.
Only, this time, I’m more determined than ever not to get screwed over by a woman.
“Only a few months,” Hugh replies. “She turned eighteen just after your father passed away.”
I nod and breathe a sigh of relief. At least she was eighteen when I fucked her, just like she said.
That’s good; I can work with that. And do what?
I’m not sure. Fuck her again? Pack her bags?
Something along those lines. I drag a hand down my face.
Ugh. As. Fucking. If. I want the girl, so what’s the point in denying it.
“My father made me her fucking guardian until she finishes school.”
“I heard.” He grimaces, and I narrow my eyes.
The walls have fucking eyes in this place.
It was the same when I was a child. I never could take a step out of line without my father knowing about it, and I can’t help but wonder just how much input Hugh had in that.
How much does he know? Everything, no doubt.
“Who was her mother?”
“Miss Angie.”
“And she passed away?”
“Yes …” He ponders for a moment. “Possibly seven or eight years ago now. Or maybe more like ten.”
I sit there, stunned. Ten fucking years ago.
I’ve seen my father in that time, and there was never a mention of a kid.
Although, there was that one time when he introduced me to some woman in his office; she had a kid.
I shudder at the thought of Summer as a child, one I could have previously met and have now fucked.
Shifting on the kitchen stool, I scrub a hand over my head. Jesus, that’s fucked up.
“He married two more women after that,” he says, making his way around the kitchen to start breakfast. “Both of them didn’t last long.” His words come out laced with boredom.
“Sounds about right. But he kept Summer around?” That surprises me.
“He had a soft spot for her,” he confirms. I’ll bet he did. The dirty bastard had a thing for younger women. Thank fuck, she never came of age when he was around. My knuckles are pained, and I glance down to stare at the tight ball I hold them in without even realizing.
Hugh pushes a cup of coffee into my hand, and I give him a guarded smile while scanning him.
His hair is definitely silver now, and his shoulders are hunched.
Age has served him well, though, I’ll give him that.
He still wears the black suit my father provided and the white shirt with the cufflinks my father gifted to him for his fiftieth birthday a very long time ago.
Shouldn’t this dude be retiring soon?
“If I were you, I’d keep her away from that Travis.”
My muscles stiffen, and I cock an eyebrow. “Travis?”
“The boy she had in her bedroom. The one who left shortly after you went inside.”
The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
“He’s not to be trusted,” he adds on, staring at me pointedly.
This fucker knows all my movements, of course he does.
He’s one of my father’s minions, after all, and while I’m living here, that’s something I need to sort ASAP.
I need to call Owen and have someone come in and check the house for cameras.
I wouldn’t put anything past these fuckers.
There’s no way in hell I would leave Summer here, knowing how vulnerable a position she could be in.
My body calls to her, even though it shouldn’t.
The thought of leaving her at all sends a ripple of dread through me.
Of all the women to have this effect on me, it had to be her.
The one woman I shouldn’t want.