Chapter Six #2
A guard appeared like smoke and opened the door for them. They were immediately surrounded by more guards. Salem barely noticed. The couple held his full attention. No one ever spoke to him about JD without sneering at him, other than the boys, of course.
Noir flashed him a smile. “He spoke highly of you. JD had an eye for quality, so I was admittedly intrigued to meet you tonight. He said you would ensure his companies continued to run and profit exactly as they always had when he was gone. Truthfully, I thought that was bullshit, but I also know better than to judge a person by their age or where they started. He was right, of course.”
In minutes, they were sequestered in the back of a huge SUV. Salem barely noticed. He hadn’t expected to enjoy himself this much. Salem’s hands rose and fell. “JD was adamant about his wishes. Of course I honored them.”
“We should show you where we live. Maybe you can bring your puppies one day and visit.”
A smile exploded across Salem’s face. No one except JD and Salem referred to Quest and Dodge as puppies. Nothing else could have shown how well Noir had known Salem’s husband. “Are you sure? They can get pretty destructive.”
Lazarus and Noir both laughed.
Salem took a cleansing breath. The night moved to eight out of ten stars. He didn’t give another thought to Shaw.
The guy sat on their front porch. He had been there nearly an hour.
Quest might have gone out of his mind with worry when Shaw showed up without Salem.
Thankfully, Salem had immediately answered his texts.
Dodge and he had decided to leave the visibly drunk and enraged visitor outside to wait.
They stayed close to the door, though. Just in case.
Quest truly hoped Shaw would give up and leave before Salem got home.
He didn’t want to kick a lawyer’s ass. That was likely a lifetime of legal drama he didn’t need or want.
But when Salem appeared and Shaw shot to his feet, Quest was on his.
Dodge grabbed his arm. “You know damn well it won’t end well for you if you go out there. We can afford to win anything he throws at us. But Salem might not forgive you for thinking he couldn’t handle himself. Salem is a badass. He’ll take care of this.”
Quest settled back down and went back to eavesdropping on the pair through a phone app, showing them everything through the security cameras.
“What the hell? You just left. You didn’t even tell me before bailing on me.”
Salem looked completely calm. Just as Dodge pointed out, Salem knew how to handle himself.
“I did you a favor. You said you couldn’t afford to lose Noir as a client.
It didn’t look like you gave a fuck about that when you were fighting with your man.
Thankfully, Noir wanted to reminisce about the parties JD used to throw. ”
Dodge and Quest exchanged glances. Those had been some wild parties.
“ My man ?” Shaw’s outrage had them returning to the drama.
“Yeah. Your man. Surely you don’t think I’m an idiot. You don’t harbor that much animosity toward someone unless you’re fucking, and you were definitely both feet in on Joesph.”
“Ha!” The loud, obnoxiously snide laugh made Salem visibly jump.
Quest was back on his feet. Salem needed him.
Dodge pulled him back down.
“You have a lot of goddamn nerve. Don’t think I don’t know you keep accepting my dates as a way to run from the way you feel about dumb and dumber.”
Dodge was the one on his feet this time. They were barely holding each other back.
Except Salem held his own. He went toe to toe with Shaw.
His voice came out like ice. “Those two have twice the class you’ll ever have.
I honestly don’t know how you convinced Joesph to have anything to do with you.
You’re obviously a huge piece of shit and you should definitely find him and kiss the ground he walks on.
There’s zero chance anyone else sees how ugly you are on the inside and loves you. ”
“Goddamn.” Dodge sat back down.
Shaw stepped even closer, obviously not cowed.
“Oh. I see it now. Those poor bastards. Do they even realize you’ll never love them?
This little ice princess act toward me is just your way of hiding the fact that you’re incapable of loving anything except money.
I never stood a chance with you because no one does.
If I’m ugly inside, what does that make you? ”
Salem took a step back. “Realistic. I’m not incapable of love.
The opposite, in fact. But no one could love me.
Not really. It’s best I don’t believe otherwise.
If you go to the garage, there’s a flight of stairs that leads to the guest loft.
Don’t drive home and kill someone or ruin your career.
I could smell the liquor on you when I hit the sidewalk.
” He stepped around Shaw and headed for the door.
Shaw threw his hands in the air.
Salem didn’t look back.
Dodge and Quest closed the app and immediately headed for the door to meet him.
Quest’s chest hurt. He supposed he knew Salem felt that way.
There was no pretending Salem wasn’t a mental mess, just like them.
The funny thing was, Salem was the one who couldn’t see them. He didn’t see how fucked up they were.
When Salem walked through the door, he barely spared them a glance before walking past them and into the bedroom.
They exchanged a glance and followed. Salem removed his jacket and bow tie.
He untucked his shirt. The entire time he was wooden—like he might snap at any moment.
They didn’t even look each other’s way before wrapping Salem in a tight embrace.
A lump grew in Quest’s throat at the way Salem trembled.
Salem let the hug go on for a few seconds before pushing his way out from between them. He paced away. Before Quest knew what would happen, Salem broke.
“FUCCKKK!” He bent at the waist and screamed at the top of his lungs.
Quest and Dodge stood frozen. They had never seen Salem be anything less than controlled.
“Why did I do this?” He tore at the buttons on his shirt, as if he needed to rip something to pieces on his way out of his tux.
“I knew better. Three fucking years. I’ve always known how this would end.
You two have each other. You always will.
I don’t. It’s just me and it’ll always be just me until the day I die.
I was okay. I had accepted that. Then I let this thing tempt me over the edge and now I can hear the goddamn clock ticking. ”
Dodge looked his way. He looked as devastated as Quest felt. Salem was melting down, and they were useless in the face of it.
“It’s only a matter of time before I watch you two realize I’m in the way.
I’m just the third wheel in what should be a two-man operation.
I fucking knew that, and I still fucked everything up.
” Salem focused on them and Quest nearly took a step back at the pain he saw in Salem.
“I was okay. We were happy.” Tears fell from his lashes.
“Now I’ll be alone again soon. Why did I do that? ”
Dodge wrapped his arms around Salem again. Quest quickly jumped in to hold them. This time, Salem stayed lifeless in their hold. It was like he had let go of control for a single minute and it had broken him. Quest didn’t know how to fix it. He never knew how to fix anything.
“My mom’s death wasn’t an accident.”
Quest’s eyes fell closed at Dodge’s quietly spoken confession. “Please don’t.” Quest couldn’t watch Dodge tear himself open too.
Dodge took a breath so ragged and loud, it sounded like it came through a bullhorn. “I have to. He thinks he’s alone.”
Quest set his forehead on Salem’s shoulder and wished to go deaf.
“Women can be predators too.”
“You don’t have to do this.” Salem’s voice sounded dead.
“Yes, I do. I knew as soon as you got here. You have that same look in your eyes—like you’ve seen more than anyone should.
My mom wanted nothing more than she wanted a rich man, and I was her ticket.
I was pretty, and she kept me that way. She had me distracting wives while she slipped into their husband’s beds, doing her best to steal them.
JD, well, I don’t think he ever really fell for her bullshit, but she was way younger than him and beautiful.
Thankfully, he didn’t have a wife for me to play with. ”
“What he had was a son who saw right through her.” Quest spoke his greatest shame and chose to take whatever punishment Salem doled. “So, of course, she had to keep me busy.”
Dodge took another painful-sounding breath. “Except, this time, it was real. I had never had anyone look at me like Quest—like I was more than a toy.”
“I definitely went for all the flirtation, but I wanted more than his body.” Quest couldn’t stop adding his side, helping Dodge through exposing the worst of his life.
“So, one night, I told Quest everything. I needed him to know I loved him for real. My biggest fear was him finding out the truth one day and hating me. Mom loved to blackmail me by promising to tell. It was like walking toward my judgment day. I was terrified of losing the only love I had ever known. Like you, it didn’t feel like I deserved to have it, so I was doomed to lose. ”
“But I went straight to JD.” Quest still didn’t know if he had done the right thing. They could’ve run away together. There were dozens of choices he could have made, but he had always trusted JD with every big decision. That night had been no different.
“She was dead the next day.” Dodge held Quest’s stare as he said the words and a weight lifted from Quest’s shoulders. He had always wondered if Dodge hated him for telling. Now he knew. He saw the relief in Dodge.