Chapter 2
2
NEW YORK, ONE WEEK LATER
“He killed her. He actually said that?”
“Yes. He did.”
“But… I don’t understand.” Keely looked at a loss, the way she had since Bethany had finally broken down and blurted out the scalding, condemning words screeching through her brain.
Bethany’s fingers convulsed around the cushion in her hand. Forcing herself to relax, she hugged the velvet square to her chest, blinked hard and concentrated on just breathing. Her eyes were gritty and aching with the tears she’d shed over the last seven days. Her ass was numb from being permanently glued to the living room sofa, and her heart thudded every now and then—normally when her phone rang—with some mocking semblance of beating.
All because of Zachary Savage.
Keely made another incoherent sound of disbelief and shook her head. She started to speak, but Bethany interrupted.
“Well, he said, quote: ‘Farrah was my wife. We were married for one day. Then I killed her.’”
Keely flinched, then reached for the bottle of red she’d brought with her. “Jesus.” She poured and took a huge gulp. “I can’t believe you kept this to yourself for a fucking week before you told me.”
“I didn’t… I couldn’t…” She heaved in a huge breath. “The way he was with me, Keel. No one’s ever taken care of me like that. I couldn’t cope with the fact that he could do anything like that… That he could… Oh God!”
Keely patted her knee. “I’m sorry, baby girl,” she said softly.
“Please don’t do that. It’ll make me cry, and I sure as hell have no fucking tears left.” Even as she spoke, her eyes brimmed. “Shit. I hate myself for doing this. I feel so pathetic. So fucking weak. After what he said, I still want him. I can’t stop thinking about him.” She realized her whole body was trembling, and she breathed in deep. The damn pain just grew larger. “God, how did I end up here?”
“You took a chance.”
“And it backfired horribly.”
For once, her friend didn’t have a quick comeback. She just nodded and drank some more. But Bethany could see the questions in her eyes, the puzzlement in the slight shake of her head every now and then.
Yeah, join the fucking club.
Angrily, she brushed away the tears and reached for her glass of wine. With a defiant toss of her head, she drained the full glass and set it down to find Keely watching her, one perfectly plucked eyebrow cocked.
“Umm… atta girl?”
“Yeah. Go me.”
“Bethany, maybe he didn’t mean it literally? Maybe?—”
“You weren’t there. You didn’t see the guilt on his face. The anguish. He looked as though his heart had been ripped out. He didn’t just blurt it out, he confessed it. Trust me, he meant it. And you know what that said about me? That I’d been sleeping with a man I had no clue about.”
“But you don’t really think he did that, do you? Killed someone?”
Bethany jumped up, her insides roiling with pain and heartache. “I don’t know! I’ve asked myself that same question a thousand times. And yes, I asked him. He told me he couldn’t talk about it!”
“Why the fuck not?”
Her heart did that thing it’d perfected over the last seven days every time she thought of Zach. It bungee-jumped from her chest into her stomach, set itself on fire and streaked about like a firework. “Because he was so damned ripped up about it? Because he loved her more than life itself and things went horribly wrong between them? I was merely the woman he was fucking six ways to Sunday at every opportunity who just happened to find out his dark secret at a weak moment.”
She clawed her fingers through her hair and barely felt the pain of her tingling scalp at the rough movement. “Bottom line is, I found out, it scared the hell out of him, and he clammed up. And I got the hell out of there.”
“How did you leave Marrakech?”
“He had his driver take me to the airport, and his pilot flew me home.”
“Okay, that kinda floors me a bit. But you trusted your instincts with him, B, or you would never have ditched the Indigo Lounge trip to go with him.”
“I know. Which is why I can’t think straight! My gut tells me he’s incapable of… whatever he did, that there’s more to the confession.” She shuddered. “But my head… I can’t unhear the words.”
Her phone buzzed loudly. They both jumped and stared at the number on the screen.
“Looks like he’s not ready to give up either,” Keely murmured. “Should I turn it off?”
Bethany swallowed, shrugged, and tried to keep breathing. More than anything she wanted to pick up that phone and hear his deep, dark, pulse-destroying voice again. Seven days had felt like a million lifetimes. She wanted to hear him call her Bethany in that husky, growly way of his, which promised insanely decadent things. She wanted to see his gorgeous face, run her thumb over his lower lip the way he loved her to do. Hell, she wanted to climb inside him and never come out.
Too damn bad.
She backed away from the ringing phone, her heart now making a slightly more valiant effort to do its job. “He’ll go away,” she replied shakily.
“I hear wishful thinking, but I also hear yearning and denial. Which is it, baby girl?” Keely eyed her, then eyed the phone as if she wanted to incinerate it with just her thoughts.
“You didn’t come here expecting coherency from me. Jesus, am I not allowed some leeway to be confused out of my goddamned mind?”
Contrition gentled Keely’s face. “Of course. I’m sorry.”
They both stopped as the phone cut off mid-ring. A second later, a text message beeped.
Bethany’s knees gave way, and she subsided back on to the sofa. Keely eyed her again and snatched the phone off the table.
She read the message, then sucked in a deep breath.
“What?” Bethany blurted, unable to stop her belly from flipping over.
Silently, Keely handed the phone over.
We need to talk. But until you’re ready I need to know that you’re okay. I’ll respect your decision for me to stay away but only up to a point, Bethany. Avoiding my calls will not make me go away. I think we both know that.
Jesus. Zachary Savage couldn’t help his arrogance even as he respected her decision. There was a mild threat to the text that promised punishment for her silence.
Punishment. As in, retreating to nurse her completely shattered heart, and reeling senses would only be tolerated up to a point.
Sliding her finger across the interactive surface, she tapped her keypad.
I’m not okay, Zach. I think we both know *that*. And I don’t see the point of talking when you won’t answer the questions that are creating the problems between us. Hell, is there even an *us*? Or was there always going to be me, blowing my stupid feelings out of proportions and you taking advantage of that?
She pressed send and dropped the phone beside her.
“More wine?” Keely asked.
“Why not?” She held out her glass and took another big, fortifying gulp. Getting hammered was a stupid idea, especially since this was the first time she’d replied to Zach’s incessant attempts to contact her all week. The likelihood of her weakness and pain bleeding through was very high, but her own silence was eating away inside like acid.
“Feel better?” Keely asked.
“Not even a little bit. But keep it coming.”
“What—” She stopped at the sound of another text message. “He’s fucking persistent. Gotta give him that.”
Bethany made a sound between a snort and a sob. “You don’t know the half of it.” She picked up her phone and read the message.
Her shaky sigh had Keely’s eyes narrowing. “What did he say?”
“He’s calling in thirty seconds. He wants me to pick up. God.”
“And are you going to?”
Bethany typed “No,” pressed send and held up the phone to Keely.
Her best friend slowly nodded her approval. “You know that’s bought you, like, one minute, of course. But hey, I’m happy to kick his ass for you?”
Bethany attempted a smile. “Thanks, sweetie. I appreciate it.”
The phone rang. They both ignored it. “Okay, let’s talk about your birthday,” Keely said brightly. “We could hit Shades, that new club downtown. I organized a premium tequila taster there last month for some bigwigs from Mexico. The owner was so impressed he put me on the permanent guest list. Or we can do karaoke? You missed a hell of a Fourth of July Karaoke Special at… Oh fuck, what did I say?” The touch of gentleness was fading from her expression to be replaced by exasperation as tears welled up in Bethany’s eyes.
“It’s not you. Zach told me not to make any plans for my birthday… Christ, I’m sorry. This is just a little unbearable.”
“Don’t fucking apologize. If he wanted to make your birthday special, then he shouldn’t have confessed to being a possible murdering psycho.” Her flinch made Keely groan. “Fuck. I’m sorry but I kinda wanna tear his head off right now. In fact…” She snatched the phone off the table and jumped up.
“Keely! What are you doing?”
“Sorry, B, this needs to be done.” She hit dial and put it on speaker. Bethany’s insides turned over as she listened to the loud ringing.
“Bethany.”
Dear Lord. His voice hadn’t changed. Of course it hadn’t. It still dripped sex, danger and dark secrets. And despite every heart-wrenching emotion she’d been through, it still curled effortlessly around her heart and held on with a vice-like grip.
“No such luck, Savage. You’re stuck with the wicked stepmother.” There was a dark delight in Keely’s voice that a tiny part of Bethany was proud of.
“Put her on,” Bethany heard him say. “Now, please.”
“No can do, hotshot. Now, listen up. Remember what I said about coming after you with a blunt instrument if you hurt my girl?”
Deathly silence.
“Well, guess what? You’ve just been upgraded to a hot poker stick up the ass if you don’t stop calling.”
“Let me speak to Bethany.”
“You’re still not getting the message, Savage. Stop. Calling. Or fucking else.”
More silence. Maintained long enough for Keely to purse her lips and raise an eyebrow at the phone.
Then, “How is she?” Even from a distance, the gravity of his voice made Bethany’s breath catch. God, he was so good at that. So good at making her believe he cared.
Except how could he genuinely care about her when he refused to give her the one thing she’d told him time and again would make things right between them? A little access. Was that too much to ask for?
“Tell me how she is. Please.”
Right before her eyes, she saw Keely waver and begin to crumble. Bethany wanted to tell her that she’d graduated to the big leagues. Zach Savage never begged. But she was too busy holding her breath so she could catch every single thing he said.
“She’s fucking peachy. What do you expect?” Keely attempted to snap, but it came out half-hearted. When her gaze met Bethany’s, she rolled her eyes and shrugged in an I’m-not-quite-sure-how-to-handle-this way. Another first from her friend.
Bethany’s eyes widened.
As if realizing just how easily she’d succumbed to Zach Savage’s wizardry, Keely shook her head. “Was that all? Because we have lives to be getting on with and wild birthday parties to be planning.”
“Whose party?” he snapped, the solemnity gone from his voice. Keely’s eyes narrowed.
“None of your business.”
“Miss Benson?—”
“Oh, is that tone supposed to frighten me? Try again, Savage. Or no, actually, don’t try again. Give it up. Or I will make good on my promise.”
She stabbed the end button and sucked in a breath. Striding over to the sofa, she collapsed beside Bethany and looked over at her with a slightly stunned understanding.
“I’m getting why you’ve been avoiding him. He can get kinda intense when he doesn’t get his way, huh?”
A shiver went down Bethany’s spine as she recalled just how intense Zach could be. He’d pursued her with a single-minded focus from the moment he’d seen her. Giving in had been an exhilarating experience, and a crash course in diving in off the deep end. “Yeah. A little.”
Keely blew out a breath. “So, what now?”
Bethany took her friend’s hand and squeezed it tight. “I really want to high-five you right now for having my back. But I’m terrified you’ve just made things worse.”