FOUR
ROUX RADLEY-ROURKE was one of her favorite people.
Sure, she had a lot of favorite people, but Roux was up there as the queen of badass and sass.
Rourke, so-called “man of the house,” was the kind of guy who played up to irritating everyone.
He didn’t shy from antagonizing people, from saying the controversial thing.
These days, a lot of that skill was directed at his wife, Roux.
For the couple, every word was foreplay in action. Hmm, she could identify with that.
The couple had a custom-built house on a large compound that also contained two businesses and Zane Dyce’s house. The place was like a retreat—with every comfort known to man.
“We should probably just give it back,” Roxie said, the rogue tablet on the kitchen island next to their bottle of wine. “That would be the polite thing to do.”
“Who gives a fuck about polite?” Roux asked.
“I didn’t plan to rake through the whole thing. Would like to prove he rounded up this Anjelica woman though. I can’t stand the thought of someone exploiting a person like that.”
“Reeve Crosby is an asshole. He deserves it. Tripp will drag Hotshot back here and we’ll dig in deep. Could be all kinds of embarrassing stuff on there. Wonder if Crosby would like to be the subject of his own news bonanza.”
“You think the world would care?”
“As much about his private life as yours? No. They’re smarter than that.
That doesn’t mean putting it out wouldn’t be embarrassing.
” And it does help that we have access to the CollCom microphone.
” Roux picked up her wine. “Or you do. I promised Knox I’d never call him again unless Rourke was dying. ”
“If you needed an alibi? Girl, you call me if you need a witness to get on the stand.”
“The promise was less about the dead and more about the not calling him.”
Roxie raised her wine glass. “Here’s to our humiliation eclipsing theirs.”
The affinity they’d always share.
“You’d think Knox would be smarter than to fall for that shit.”
“Right?” Roxie asked as Roux’s glass tinged on hers.
As they drank, their eyes met. Knox Collier was instrumental to both of their relationships being on their current courses. Knox accommodated both of their reunions with the men in their lives, the men they loved. And, thinking about it, he didn’t actually get anything in return.
Until now. Satisfaction came with their cunning plan. Yeah, she and Knox drew glares off each other whenever they got the chance, but she loved him, like a brother. They were family.
Giving Jane her special day might be the main objective, but Knox deserved his happily ever after too. And, damn him, so much of his happiness came from seeing Jane’s that Roxie couldn’t honestly dislike him. Had she told him that? No. Should she?
“I’m not going to ask if you’re nervous about the wedding because I know you better than that,” Roux said, topping off their glasses. Finally someone got it. “Doesn’t the wedding feel like this big… thing?”
“A spectacle? I’m okay with that. It’s Zairn Lomond for crying out loud, I have to break hearts across the world or those hos might think they have a chance with him.”
“Who’s to say they don’t?” Roux asked. “I’d lease Rourke out for the right price.”
“You have access to his bank account, you don’t need money,” Roxie said. “So barter? Or do you mean if he pisses you off too much?”
“He pisses me off every day and I have yet to find any takers. We’ll never know.”
“You ever sorry you did it the way you did?”
“Getting married? No. Not even a little bit. Shit, Rourke and I are not the ‘stand up in front of people’ types. We would, it’s not like we’re short of confidence, but you know how he likes to show off.”
“And you like to bait him.”
“That too.” Roux gestured with her glass.
“We’d be up there all day trying to one up each other.
” Or they’d go at it right there. One would push the other until…
“It would be an endurance marathon. We’d have to pay people to show up, provide hydration and power bars.
No way am I spending that much of my kids’ inheritance. ”
Of every couple in their group, Roux and Rourke were the only ones to state they didn’t want kids.
Was that decision permanent? Who knew? Though they did get pretty wrapped up in each other.
Could be that the kids would be forgotten in particular moments, the ones that got the couple hot.
DCFS tended to look down on neglect in deference to sex, or so she’d assume.
Although… they could pay for a nanny, a squad of them.
Pay? Yes. But would it be enough? They’d need a new road straight from their house to court, or a helipad on the roof.
With the couple’s penchant for exhibitionism, they’d probably end up hopping from one sexual harassment suit to another.
Would anyone ever be touched or coerced?
No, only husband to wife and vice versa.
The tablet flashed, then the screen went blank. Damnit, had Crosby disabled the thing from afar? If he could do that, what took him so long?
Words leaped to the screen.
HOTSHOT: Why is there an unknown device trying to connect to my network?
“You, you and your network,” Roux barked at the screen. “So frickin’ precious.”
“Is that…?”
“My beloved? Oh, yeah, guy can’t keep his snout out a conversation.” Again her ire landed on the tablet. “We can’t respond to you, fool, the thing is locked. It’s probably poisoned and—”
The screen flickered and there it was, the home screen. Oh, God.
“How did he do that?” she asked. “Is it—”
“Impressed, Kyst-meister?”
Rourke strolled on in, well, more like swaggered. Arrogance wasn’t a big enough word, though he always wore enough of a smirk to betray he didn’t really take himself that seriously. That was one of the reasons she loved him. Who had time to be offended left and right?
“She’s not impressed,” Roux said. “Neither of us are impressed, Hotshot.”
When Tripp came in not long after, the parade of the cocky and blessed was almost comical.
“How many more of you are there?” she asked. “This wedding’s going to be a meat market.”
Roux opened her arms when Tripp came over to kiss her, then the two hugged. “You’ve been hiding.”
“Never stay still,” Tripp said. “Always got somewhere to be.”
“Where do you have to be now?” Roux asked, handing him her wine.
After drinking some, he gave back the glass. “Here. And that’s warm.”
“I know,” Roux said and landed a glare on the man opening the fridge. “Someone filled the shelves with his special, revered beer and I couldn’t be bothered going downstairs. Rox and I are troopers. We rally.”
And had lived most of their lives in a lower tax bracket… a much lower tax bracket. And in that bracket, the best of things weren’t always immediately on hand. If the wine was warm, the wine was warm, it wasn’t undrinkable. Such was life, no tragedy there.
“Tripp’s here, we need the good beer on hand,” Rourke said, closing the fridge and popping open two bottles. “It’s party time. I’ve invited the whole posse.”
“Your boy posse?”
Mmm, his boy posse included Zairn. If he was coming, he might have mentioned it to her on the phone, except there were a couple of problems with that.
First, Zairn wasn’t averse to surprising her.
She really had to return the favor somehow.
And second, staying on point, she hadn’t spoken to her guy since she woke up.
Those conversations could be a little fuzzy.
When he called that early, he woke her, it was the best time to finagle out her secrets.
Especially when she was naked and he turned on his own brand of seduction.
She’d like to say that after a year and a half, it wasn’t as effective as it used to be.
But it was. Very was. Damn, why did he have to be so good at it?
“Nah, just hookers and drug dealers,” Rourke said. “My boy posse’s busy switching their lives to autopilot. We’ve got a marathon coming up.”
Tripp swung into the stool behind Roxie’s. “What happens at the bachelor party…”
She twisted to tip her chin his way. “You’re going to the bachelor party?”
“Was thinking about it. You didn’t get an invite?”
“Buddy, if I wanted to be there, I’d be there. To that man, I am the party.”
“Yet you’re over here flirting with me,” Rourke said, flashing her a wink as he reached past her to hand a bottle to Tripp. “Admit it, you were a little impressed, Kyst.”
“That you can access any piece of tech? Try being the guy who can access any woman’s panties. My guy can charm his way in anywhere.”
“I would prove my ability to do the same…” Rourke flopped an arm around Roux. “But the little woman gets jealous when I talk to other women. She’s probably jealous right now.”
“Talk. Talk away,” Roux said, giving him a push, though he rebounded to rest against her again, his arm never leaving its perch. “Touch. Screw. I don’t care.” Another feeble push. “Just do it on vacation, far away from me.”
“‘Cause it breaks her heart to witness it. We don’t like to talk about how she struggles to satisfy me.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, are you the guy who lays on top of me at night?
Most of the time I don’t even know you’re present.
I’m too busy getting myself there, picturing hot guys, really any guy—any other guy.
” Crossing her legs slowly, Roux licked her lips while looking past her to Tripp behind.
“You look like you’d be a lot of fun, Little Breckenridge. ”
“Not so little, so I’ve heard.” Rourke squeezed his wife to sway with her. “You keep him busy, I’ll get the wallet.”
“Hey, you don’t want to joke about that,” Roxie said. “This scrounging Breckenridge will move in and eat you out of house and home, him and his cronies.”
“Don’t worry, Rox Out.” Tripp’s arm came around her shoulders from behind. “They don’t live in a nightclub like you, I’m not going anywhere.”
“Oh, please, please go,” she said through her smile.
Tripp kissed the back of her head.