17. Brogan
The doctor had told, or more like warned us, that Enslee would regain her memories sooner rather than later.
She was already remembering voices in her head, so how long would it be before she remembered the last ones she’d heard before she’d fallen.
If she happened to regain her memories without us getting anything to hold over her, this clusterfuck would go from bad to worse in a nanosecond.
Declan and I had exchanged a look that meant that we knew what needed to be done.
I knew both of us had fucked women in the past, especially before college when we’d first started hooking up together.
And I’d also seen him make out with various women over the years, but that had been different.
It’d all been a role, and one that ended when he came home to me.
And I’d never fancied myself much of an actor.
I liked to stay in the here and now and not pretend.
Although, pretending was what I’d done for an entire fucking decade.
To the outside world, I was the son of one of Big Pharma’s most notorious and scandalous CEOs of all time, and I’d slid into his shoes and picked up where he’d left off.
Only, his scandals involved bribery, corruption, and adultery.
Layla and I were never together romantically, but the world didn’t know that.
If they’d known Declan and I were together, I’d be labeled with the same scarlet letter as my father and generations of Sinclairs before us.
There’d been no lack of headlines over the years when it came to us.
We were powerful men and had lawyers, police, pharmacies and physicians, insurance companies, and government officials in our pockets, and had for nearly an entire century.
Unfortunately, none of those could help me get out of the mess I’d gotten myself into now.
If only I had chosen love instead of greedy familial obligation, then I could’ve been openly out with the man I loved.
We could be doing any number of things together right now openly, and I wouldn’t have to keep him hidden away like some dirty little secret.
“But, you know there are reasons I can’t publicly claim you,” he’d told me last night in the theater room.
And he’d been right. Not only did his publicist and talent manager think it was for the best for him to remain the sex symbol of heterosexual masculinity, but his own parents had nearly lost their lives in support of him.
As it were, his father’s life had been spared, but the cost had thrust him into such a dark place that it’d been literal hell getting him out of it.
And to be honest, it’d opened my own eyes too.
This world wasn’t kind to those who didn’t believe and live the same way others did.
Free love only applied to those that loved the same way as them.
Anyone who dared to be different became a target, and it wasn’t only in this country, either.
Worldwide, we were persecuted and worse.
Layla’s desperation to help fix her father’s financial troubles had been a blessing in disguise, or so I’d thought.
She’d wanted and needed to stay relevant in society, and being on my arm provided that for her.
The only problem was that she hated me as much as I hated her.
Her disgust over my relationship with Declan was oftentimes made known by her.
Once or twice, she’d even tried to seduce me. I suppose that was either greed or the influence of someone like my father that had made her try. I couldn’t stand to be within three feet of her, so there’d been no chance I’d willingly fuck her.
We’d agreed to an open relationship. She could fuck whomever she wanted, and I would get to stay with Declan.
It’d worked out well initially, but she became more unhinged.
Her father continued to put himself into trouble over and over, and she had started to spend time with someone whose identity was still unknown to me.
“Did this week’s lover see what we all have?” I’d asked her the night she’d stumbled into my office with tears in her eyes. I’d been there alone, but Declan had been on his way.
“Will you stop being an asshole for one night?” she’d asked me.
“Probably not. What the hell do you want?”
“Why do you always suspect the worst of me?”
I’d regarded her current attire and could see the slight tear in her dress and the cum coating the inside of her legs. “If you honestly have to ask, then you might want to look at yourself in the mirror.”
She had, and when she returned, she’d looked more put together. She still looked tired, which was likely the only thing we both had in common.
“I repeat, what the hell do you want, Layla?”
“I need more money,” she’d said quietly.
“More money? If I gave you any more, you’d be able to open your own damn bank. The vault is closed, and the ATM is out of order.”
“You owe me,” she’d responded.
“I owe you nothing.” Declan had arrived at that moment, and I’d grinned at the sight of him in a tuxedo, even though I’d quickly undressed him with my eyes. “But Declan, on the other hand… I have a date.”
“I’m not finished talking to you,” she’d cried out.
“Then schedule an appointment with my secretary,” I’d told her, and our very next conversation had ended up being our last one.
Layla disappeared right after, and I was sure this act of hers was either some sort of scare tactic to make me plead for her return, or she’d simply come to her senses and realized I’d reached my end. She was likely already working on her next mark, meanwhile punishing me at the same time.
The blonde had always been a deceitful bitch even as a child.
She’d been her daddy’s princess and was often photographed out and about with him and his friends, one of which included my father.
It’d been how she had ended back up in my orbit.
My father had insisted I’d be disinherited if I didn’t take her as my wife.
Like the obedient son I’d been forced to become, I’d eventually given in, and only after realizing she’d wanted me as much as I wanted her, which was not at all. Layla tended to prefer men who were more mature, from what I could see, and I just preferred men in general.
No, not men. One man. Declan.
And she’d known that and had been okay with it too.
She’d needed money, which I had more than enough of, and I needed a cover out in public so I could be with the one I’d truly wanted to be with in secret.
It’d been a perfect plan until it wasn’t.
She’d gotten greedy, and the more money she’d tried to extort from me, the more unhinged she became.
From threatening to give an exclusive detailing my attraction to men to the highest bidder, to ones accusing me of violence against her.
I didn’t want to touch her for pleasure, so I sure as hell wouldn’t touch her in anger, either.
But I did now. I wanted to throttle her and I just might.
The next time I saw her, it better be in Hell because I’d send us both there when I choked the life out of her venomous body for all the pain she’d caused Declan and me.
After all, there was a saying about cutting off a snake’s head to kill the body.
To end corruption, one sometimes had to take out the source or the leader.
Only, her death was never something I wished would happen.
My father’s maybe, but not hers. That was quickly changing, though, with every day that passed.
“Hey,” I heard seconds before I felt Declan’s hand on my shoulder. He pulled me against him, and I could feel the steady beating of his heart against my back. “Where have you been? You look like you’re thinking about Layla again.”
He was ever perceptive and I sighed. “I know. Where’s Enslee?”
“She’s getting into her swimsuit. I’m glad she had one in her things.”
“We should get into our trunks too,” I said in a resigned voice.
Declan wouldn’t let me go as his arm wrapped tighter around me. “I know we’d talked about this last night, but we don’t have to do this if you’ve changed your mind.”
I tilted my head to the side as he kissed along my neck, collarbone, and side of my face. “We can’t change our mind.”
“We can do anything we want, including leaving this fucking country,” he said as he kissed his way to my mouth.
I quickly sucked his tongue into mine, then turned in his arms. We both ran our hands up each other’s chests as the kiss deepened, and our tongues dueled for control.
This was something I loved so much about our relationship.
The give and take, push and pull, submission and domination.
We were basically what the other needed at any given time.
To love someone meant putting another’s needs ahead of your own at times. And we’d perfected this over the years.
“We can’t flee the country,” I finally said as soon as our mouths pulled apart. “I’m ready to do this. Tonight, we start.”
Declan sighed. “Agreed. Lee said she could recover her memory at any time. We can’t risk this much longer.”
“No, we can’t. I’m just so fucking glad that you’re here with me. I couldn’t do any of this without you.”
“Twin flames, Brogan. You and I…”
“Twin flames,” I repeated back before pulling completely away.
Not long after, we found Enslee and all went to the indoor pool.
It’d initially started out as an outdoor one, but since swimming in New York wasn’t possible all year long, he’d had an insulated sunroom built around it with tinted windows to hide it from view of the neighbors, or worse, the paparazzi.
I couldn’t understand how Declan handled it all the time.
I knew how he spent almost every second of his time away from me because those bloodhounds chased him mercilessly and snapped pictures.
Most ended up sold to those sleazy tabloids, but no matter how they tried to make him look, he had no bad side, and each picture was true fucking perfection. Just like the man himself.
And when I glanced over at Enslee and how hot she looked in her one-piece, I actually started to remember how her naked body had looked that night. I was now imagining touching all that flesh while she was conscious.
I wanted to make her writhe and cry out in pleasure, and we’d need to in order to sell this.
That meant I’d have to start touching her now.
There were no cameras here, but we’d finished installing one in our bedroom the night before.
It was needed in order to gain the footage we’d one day use for blackmail.
Now, as I watched Enslee tentatively move across the pool as Declan stood in front, coaxing her to move toward the center, I was watching a true hunter luring his prey to him. And since he was playing the role of hunter, that would make me the predator.
I entered the pool and the moment I came up behind Enslee and pulled her taut against me, she shrieked, and my cock hardened. Declan closed the distance between us, and her breathy gasps had my cock twitching in my swim trunks. She shivered, then moaned the moment his mouth came down on hers.
As Declan kissed Enslee tentatively, I teased her by licking and nipping her earlobe. Her head fell back on my chest and she angled it to give me better access to her. Such an eager morsel of prey. And as Declan’s gaze turned to mine, I could tell he agreed.
Not wanting to overwhelm her too much all at once, I pulled away, and Declan did the same. Enslee looked between us both, and a single word escaped. “Wow!”
We then spent several hours in and out of the pool.
Not having to leave to go anywhere felt good, and maybe too good, if I were being honest. We’d even fired up the grill and thrown some steaks on it.
They were paired with a salad and baked potato.
Something simple, and for the first time since Enslee arrived, being here with her felt natural.
It wouldn’t always be like this, so I enjoyed the time knowing my days were very well numbered.
After dinner and a little more time in the pool, we all returned inside and showered before reconvening in the living room to pick up where we’d left off in Declan’s latest series.
All was going well until Layla’s character appeared.
There was obvious tension from Declan and me, but Enslee was too busy talking about how pretty Layla was to notice our discomfort.
“I’m sorry. I forgot she came in at the end of that season,” he mouthed to me.
I threw my hands up in surrender, and as I stared at the blonde, my blood began to boil more.
The sight of her smiling face normally would’ve thrown me into a rage, but as I had done in my office that night because of Enslee, I had to once again feign nonchalance where she was concerned.
Finally, that season ended and Declan turned off the television.
“That was some cliffhanger,” she said. “Does the blonde girl die?”
No, she ups and leaves town, framing her duped fiancé for the crime.
I wanted to say as much, but she was talking about fiction when I was fully rooted in reality. I couldn’t blame Enslee, as what she thought was real right now might as well have been an episode of that, or some other, television show too.
“You’ll have to watch the next season to find out,” Declan replied to her.
She pursed her lips together. “Do you dance as badly as you did in that one episode? It was my favorite one of the whole season,” she said, effectively changing the subject.
“I can dance pretty well, but not as good as that guy over there,” he said as he pointed to me.
I arched a brow at him, and Enslee turned and looked up at me expectantly. “Did we ever dance together?”
Remembering our plan, I grinned at her. “A time or two.”