TWENTY-THREE
“HAVING A GOOD TIME,” Tripp muttered. “Until you showed up.”
How did Roman not see what his attitude did to the atmosphere? What a different life he could have if he was just a little more aware.
“I didn’t give you permission to be here.”
“Nobody asked,” Roxie said. “Especially you. I’ve seen enough of you to last me a lifetime. You’re just a scared little boy.”
“Insults don’t get us anywhere,” Magnus said, putting himself beside Roman. “They’re just having a drink. They’re friends.”
“When it suits them,” Roman said. “They’re hangers-on. Wannabes.”
“Said the washed-up has-been,” Roxie retorted. “And I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but my press is way more favorable than yours. And way more widespread. I have the world, and you can’t even get the zip code. I came here because I care about Struan. Just like Tripp. And we care about Bambi. She doesn’t deserve to have you foisted upon her. You should be kissing her feet for putting up with this to save your skin. Are you kidding?”
“Roxie…” Magnus warned.
“Okay, I know. I’m sorry. I’m poking the bear, I’ll stop. Subject change? What happened on set today?”
“Roxie,” that time it was Struan warning the blonde.
“God, a woman can’t get two words out without getting in trouble from someone.”
Roman sneered. “How does Lomond put up with you?”
“I’d tell you to ask him yourself, Roman, but I wouldn’t advise you get too close to him any time soon. My man still owes you an ass-kicking.”
“Like to see him try.” He thrust an arm toward Tripp. “And what is he doing here? I don’t want him anywhere near my sight. Show up to man up?”
“I already invited you to have your ass kicked.” Tripp exhibited no concern. Ease seemed to be his specialty. “Offer’s open-ended if you want to go now…”
In the middle of the living room in this multi-million-dollar mansion?
“Where is she?” Roman demanded.
“Sitting right there,” Tripp said, nodding toward her.
“Not her. You know who I’m talking about. Where’s Sway?”
“Not here,” Tripp said. “Bambi is the one you should be focused on. Isn’t she your fiancée?”
Did Roman know they knew it was bullshit, or were they back to perpetuating the lie?
“I’ve been calling her,” Roman spat, “sending messages. She’s not responding. You won’t let her, will you? Can’t back up the cocky playboy stuff when there’s a better guy on the scene, can you? She’ll never pick you.”
When Tripp laughed, everyone tensed… except Roxie. “She didn’t pick you. Regardless of her brief circle back to Deacon she’s not the type to travel old ground. A hot ass babe like that doesn’t need to pick up old trash.”
“You fucking asshole!”
Magnus grabbed Roman’s arm to haul him back. “No one’s fighting! Sway’s not here, is she?”
“No, and she won’t come within twenty miles of this place,” Roxie said. “Personally? I’d make it fifty, probably fifty states, but she’s scrappy, she knows what she’s doing.”
“Where have you got her locked up? With Knox Collier? You got her tied up with him? On a leash? Collared?”
“Jealous?” Tripp asked. “Never trusted you enough to engage in that kind of play. Guess some, trustworthy, men bring out the kink in her. I wouldn’t trust you to collar a dog.”
“Tripp, man,” Struan said, still holding ground on the couch.
Given the buzz in the air, if anyone moved too fast or too far, the lid would blow off the can and all kinds of worms would spill out. The permanent kind that couldn’t be put back or hidden away.
“He brought her up. You know damn well Sway’s better off without him. Bambi would be too. Guy needs to get himself in order. You know…” When Tripp shifted to the edge of his chair to dump his glass on the table, the tension pounced a few notches. Except he wasn’t getting up. Just adjusting his position. “You used to be okay, Roman. Back in the day. Way, way, back in the day. You always thought too much of yourself. Though arrogance isn’t short in our crowd, could be contagious.
“But, Sway, the way you treated her. They way you are now, the way you were on the island, and since rehab. You’re losing your grip, man. This isn’t even the addiction.”
“I’m clean,” Roman asserted.
“Maybe that’s the problem. Because whatever’s going on with you, it’s not about Sway or Bambi. You have a chance at getting your career back. All you have to do is show up and do your job. That’s it. Struan’s doing all the heavy lifting. Just make the faces and say the lines. That’s all they need you to do. Why are you still so hooked up on Sway? Why can’t you let her go?”
“Because she’s mine,” he barked. “You don’t understand, you don’t get it. She’s my soulmate.”
“Then you’ve spent too long in this town. Because happy ever after is a rare thing. Even rarer when it’s unrequited. Sway is moving on with her life. Take a breath. Go to some Thai spa retreat, whatever it is you need because you’re putting too much on her.”
“You’re only saying this because you want her for yourself. What did you do to her? You don’t screw around on a woman like Sway Sheridan, stick your dick in her and then take it to the next ‘ho at the party.”
“Sway is not a whore,” Roxie stated, clear, concise, and extremely unimpressed. “I’d go so far as to say no woman is. There’s no such thing. If males are so rarely held to that standard, why should women be?”
Roman scoffed out a snicker. “Guess your guy’s got his work cut out for him. All those late nights in the club, how many guys you take hard and fast in those dark corners? Do you even know their names? Shit, I’d be surprised if you even looked at their faces. You take any guy who’d bend you over and ram his cock inside you.”
“I wouldn’t take you,” Roxie said, cheerier. “Not in a million years. In fact, when it comes to you and me, I’m the exact opposite of a whore. You can consider me a goddamn nun. I’m Mother Teresa. I’m the Virgin Mary. That goes for me and all my girls, which I’m sorry to say for you, includes Sway.”
Roman pounced a stride toward the blonde. “You have no right!”
Struan rose in a half crouch, ready to move, but Magnus got in front of the actor.
Roxie laughed. “Until you work on your boundaries, this conversation is over.” When the beauty slammed her glass on the table and stood up, she took Bambi right along with her. “Tripp.”
He got up a flash before Struan.
“What the fuck is happening?” Roman asked.
Tripp came around the back of the couch to close in on her other side. His long arm encompassed both her and Roxie as they beat a path toward the front door.
“We’re getting out of here.”
“No, no, I don’t fucking think so,” Roman said, rushing to put himself in their way. “She stays fucking here.”
“If she wants to go, she goes.” Struan’s voice—firm, a little impatient, and a lot resolute—brought them all around. “Get out of her way, Roman.”
“You’re going to let these fuckers take my fucking fiancée?”
“She’s not your fiancée and she’s put up with enough shit from you this week.”
“We had an agreement—”
“No one’s cancelling anything,” Roxie cut Magnus off. “We’re taking her to a safe place to be surrounded by people who actually give a damn about her needs.” Roxie showed Struan her hand. “And I don’t give a down how many times you felt her up or stuck your tongue down her throat. The fact that she’s still here and he’s still standing means you prioritize your brother. Which means she’s not as safe here as she should be. I will not leave a woman in jeopardy. You can let this happen quietly. We’ll walk out the door without incident and go from one private driveway to the next where no one knows who’s getting in or out the car. No one’s busting open your secret, or tarnishing your so-hard-won reputation that you clearly care so much about.” Not. “But if you want to make this difficult, we can do that too. I’ll call Ballard. It’s no trouble, I have him on speed dial.”
“I’ll call Ax,” Tripp said.
“What’s your brother going to do?” Roman snickered with ridicule. “He’s in New York.”
“He’s not, actually, but his location doesn’t make any difference. You don’t think he has agents everywhere?”
“So which is it to be?” Roxie asked, finding the diplomacy Bambi hadn’t been able to muster. “We walk out. Everybody’s smiling. Or we bring a goddamn army and half the world’s press? You know I have the Colliers.”
“You know I have the Wheys,” Roman countered only to be startled by Roxie’s laugh. “What the fuck?”
“Oh, you think Ricardo Whey’s going to save your ass? He cares about his own far more, darling, believe me. The shit I know about that man. That Knox Collier knows about that man, that Caspian Collier knows… Want to play fast and loose? Shake those dice? Place your bets. Let’s just see. If you light the fuse, I’m more than happy for the dynamite to blast your pathetic little life to shit.”
“Roxie…” Struan again.
Her eyes met his. She didn’t want to be separated from him, but Roxie’s description of this being a clusterfuck couldn’t be more on the money. All she wanted to do was curl up somewhere with him and learn everything there was to know about the man who had her hooked.
Roman kept coming between them and after last night…
Said man stomped off like a petulant toddler. No surprise.
“Get the fuck out of here,” Magnus snapped.
After another glance at Struan, she was guided in the huddle of her new protective friends into yet another limousine.
What just happened? “Did I just leave him?” she asked when the static white noise cleared from her ears.
“You’re welcome,” Roxie said, popping open a bottle of champagne.
“We’re celebrating?”
“No, this is what they stock the car with by standard,” Tripp said, reading her mood and retrieving flutes. “This is a rental.”
“Because we couldn’t be in a car anyone in the press might identify as ours,” Roxie said, pouring slowly to maximize liquid and minimize bubbles.
“We’re about to drive through them,” Tripp said, shifting to put his back to the door as Roxie pushed her head down.
There was a clamor and some shouting and less than a minute later, it quieted.
Roxie let go and Tripp put a flute in her hand. “You’ll get used to it.”
She gulped the alcohol. “So people keep telling me.”
“You didn’t leave him, either of them,” Roxie said. “Unless you want to, we can facilitate that too.”
“I don’t know you. Either of you.” Why was she in that car driving away from the one person in the state she did care about? “Why would you help me?”
“Because right is right.”
“You really hate Roman, don’t you? What did he do to you?”
Roxie and Tripp touched glasses and drank.
“Hate’s a strong word,” her new friend said. “There’s few people I’d apply it to. I strongly dislike him.”
Tripp tipped his glass her way briefly. “She hates DA Ackley.”
The beauty carried on. “I don’t like anyone who takes advantage of women or anyone who thinks they’re better than anyone else. I haven’t known Roman Lowe for long.”
“She’s known his younger brother longer,” Tripp added.
With a smirk, Roxie peeked over her shoulder at him. “Would you stop?”
“Facts are facts, Rox Out. Logan Lowe got closer than the rest of us.”
“You were never interested. Dry your tears, playboy. I was never broken enough for you and never will be. He has a hero complex. He likes to save women. For a limited time.”
Which explained, sort of, why they were there and their current predicament.
“Does your friend know we’re going to appear at her house?”
Uninvited.
“Jane? She’s in bed already, and Knox wouldn’t appreciate the interruption. She left the club a couple of hours ago.”
Club? Crimson?
“You were at Crimson?” She gasped. “You left the club to come here? Oh my God, I’m so sorry!”
“For what?” Tripp asked. “We live in the club.”
“In New York, we live in the club,” Roxie said. “Here it’s more of an evening retreat. A place to get Zen.”
For them. What about others? Sway wasn’t with the duo, and she didn’t blame the actress for staying away from Roman. She’d never got a straight answer on Sway’s reluctance.
“Is Sway still in love with him? With Roman?”
Roxie scoffed.
Tripp smirked. “Not a chance.”
Amusement faded to a curiosity until the blonde asked, “Do you care? Are you worried she might want him back?”
“No! She can take him. She can have him,” she said maybe too quickly. “I worry with the way he’s fixated on her… She could be in trouble.”
“She’s not the only one.”
Bambi shook her head. “I think Roman will be happy when this is over. As happy as I’ll be.”
“Don’t count on it. He likes the attention, and to have as many people in his orbit as possible.”
“It’s causing damage. I can see it.”
“Damage?”
“To their relationship. Him and Struan.”
“They’re brothers, twins, have been through their whole lives together. Trust me, you’re not causing any harm that wasn’t there already.”
“Struan doesn’t deserve this.”
“So we keep telling him,” Tripp said.
“How do we help? How do we stop it?”
“All we can do is be there for him. He has to make his own choices, his own mistakes. At some point, maybe now maybe in fifty years, it will combust and Struan will realize what life with Roman has cost him.”
“Will it cost him you?” Roxie asked. “You could be enough to make him see—”
“I’m not.”
“You’ve asked him to walk away?”
“I’d never do that. He’s stood up for me. I know he cares. But this is temporary, it’s not enough. When I’m gone, the record will keep spinning.”
“Don’t worry, girlie, we got him.”
Would that be enough to alleviate her guilt about walking away? Struan had people in his life who cared about him. People who hadn’t been able to convince him to leave his brother’s side in all the years they’d known him. Was she doing damage? Was she making it worse? Would the brothers’ relationship survive this, or would the abuse continue?
He’d be okay without her, wouldn’t he?