Twenty-Six
Linc
The call that had come last night from the governor, wanting to see the videos and photos, was annoying. I’d had plans after Stevie was tucked in tight, and I’d been working that angle, reeling in Branwen all evening. Having to leave before Stevie was even in bed pissed me off. Bane went with me and said nothing about my foul mood. It was why I’d taken him and not Luther. He’d not have shut up about it.
I wanted that fucking excuse for a diamond ring off her hand. To get what I wanted, I needed less distractions and more time with both Branwen and Stevie.
Today’s outing had been just that, and my mood had improved immensely.
Taking a drink from my glass, I watched as Branwen and Stevie sat on the floor in the corner of the great room with all the things that Stevie had wanted for Maui. The blue merle goldendoodle she had chosen had clear blue eyes the color of the ocean.
He had also not been for sale. The couple hadn’t even mentioned the third puppy because, according to them, he was a rare pattern, and they hadn’t known the gene was in his line. But the owner was holding him, and Stevie fell in love.
The amount of money I had to pay them to get them to let me have the damn dog should have lessened their heartache. If they didn’t get a divorce. The wife had left the room, slamming the door behind her.
But Stevie was happy. She had her puppy, and from the looks of it, Branwen was pretty damn happy too. I hadn’t seen her smile that big or laugh like that before. At least not since Vegas, but I hadn’t truly been in the state of mind to appreciate it the way I was doing now.
This was all playing right into my plans. She’d drop the fiancé and be addicted to my cock soon enough. Then, I could rest easy, knowing no other man would be in Stevie’s life.
My gaze traveled over Branwen’s face as she held her head back, laughing as the dog licked her chin. It wasn’t like having a woman who looked like her wanting your cock was a bad thing. This wouldn’t be a chore. The drama that would probably come from it would be annoying, but we wouldn’t be living like a married couple.
What I had gone through with Maggie was different.
With Branwen, I would make no promises. There would be no understanding that I wouldn’t fuck other women. This wasn’t about love. It was ultimately about Stevie. I also wanted Branwen to pay for having lied to me. This was the best way to do that and get to have my daughter in my life.
“We got a dog?” Luther asked as he walked into the room, wearing nothing but a pair of athletic shorts and tennis shoes. He had a sheen of sweat covering his body, which meant he’d been in the gym, working out.
“Stevie got a dog,” I corrected him.
The corner of his mouth curled up as he looked at the scene they made.
Stevie took the dog from her mom and stood up with him, then proudly held him to show Luther. “This is Maui!” she exclaimed as if she were holding an award.
“Maui?” he repeated, his eyes cutting to me.
“It was almost Bluey,” I said.
“Mommy said he don’t look like Bluey. He has eyes like the ocean. So, we named him Maui,” she explained to a man who had never watched a kid’s show in his life.
His grandson was three years old, and you’d think he’d know something about Bluey and Maui by this point.
“I see,” he replied, although he didn’t see shit.
His eyes shifted from my kid to her mother, and I watched him check her out. What was it with those damn tops of hers that didn’t reach her waist and her stretchy, tight-ass pants? She needed to wear something else.
I cleared my throat to get his attention, and he took his time tearing his eyes off her tits to look over at me with an amused glint in them. Bastard.
“You leaving?” I asked hopefully.
I had been enjoying watching them with the dog I’d paid three times more for than the other two they had for sale.
He shrugged and sauntered over to sink down onto the leather sectional, closer to them than I was. “Wasn’t planning on it. You?” he shot back at me.
I glared at him, which only seemed to amuse him more. He could be a dick. I turned my gaze back to the girls and their puppy to catch Branwen looking at Luther. What the fuck? Hadn’t she just been telling me she was engaged?
“Look at him, Mommy!” Stevie exclaimed, drawing her mother’s attention off Luther’s bare chest.
She laughed as she watched whatever the dog was doing, and, damn, that sound was nice. Not only did she look like an angel, with the body of a fallen one, but she had a laugh like one too. The woman needed some physical flaw. She had plenty of personality flaws, which would be what saved me from feeling anything for her. I had enough beautiful, selfish, and shallow women in my life. Other than fucking them, I wanted nothing else to do with them. I was too old for their bullshit.
The puppy sank its teeth into a blanket and started to pull it from the basket where Jayda kept them neatly folded. Branwen moved onto her hands and knees to crawl over and get him. My hand tightened around the glass while her ass was in full view, leaving little to the imagination with those damn pants.
Cutting my eyes back to Luther, I caught his complete attention on her ass. This had been enjoyable until he came in and ruined it. His eyes needed to go elsewhere, as did his naked chest. I stood up and he turned to look at me.
“I have some business we need to handle in my office,” I said tightly.
He raised an eyebrow, then shook his head with a small chuckle. “All right.”
I waited on him to get up and followed him out of the room to block any view of him that Branwen might have. I wasn’t intimidated by how he looked shirtless. Hell, we’d shared women before. But I didn’t like her looking at him. I had no reason for it. I just didn’t like it.
We were almost to my office when he asked, “She’s got you fucked up already, huh? Didn’t take her long, but then with an ass like hers and those tits—”
“Shut up, Luther,” I snarled.
He walked into my office and went straight to the bar. “I thought she was engaged,” he said, taking a glass.
“Not for long,” I clipped.
“Really? You wanna stay married to her?”
If I did, then she couldn’t marry anyone else. I wasn’t planning on marrying someone again. Love wasn’t for me. We’d been married for five years, and it hadn’t affected my life. Why let it now?
“I was kidding,” Luther drawled. “But the look on your face tells me you are seriously considering it.”
“I thought you told me to talk to Bane if I needed to talk about it,” I reminded him, wishing he would just stop talking altogether.
He shrugged. “I did, but here you are, glaring at me for looking at her and making up shit about needing to talk business in your office because of it.” He took a drink. “Someone needs to remind you how bad you are at marriage. Hell, Maggie moved continents to get the fuck away from you.”
As if he could say shit.
“At least she married me. You couldn’t even get Chloe to the altar. She refused your ass.”
He smirked. “And I am ever so grateful. Not that Chloe isn’t a beautiful woman, but she wouldn’t have been enough. I’d have wanted a variety. Not just one cunt.” He pointed his glass at me. “Which is why your marriage was a fucking disaster. You couldn’t keep your dick out of other cunts.”
My marriage to Maggie had had way more issues than my infidelity, but I didn’t want to talk about that or her. It was the past. A mistake made in my youth. Those days were well behind me.
“The fact that we have sons who are so fucking pussy-whipped confounds me,” he added, then took a drink. “Well, more so Levi than Kye. I saw the Kye and Genesis thing back when they were kids. He just lived in denial; plus, the boy has a lot of his momma in him. The faithful shit. But Levi?” Luther let out a chuckle. “He couldn’t be more like you if he tried. Then, he went and got obsessed with a magic pussy. Must be the virgin thing that did it for him.”
I shook my head. The shit that came out of his mouth sometimes. I did not want to think about my daughter-in-law’s pussy. Jesus.