77. Hawk
Tori was drunk.
That wasn’t something unusual; she tended to be drunk most days, starting with her breakfast mimosa and then her lunchtime martini, and by the time the evening rolled around, she tended to be a bit sloppy.
But tonight, she was more than sloppy. She was drunk and horny and that was a terrible combination for me.
“Hello, husband,” she slurred, and I looked up to see her standing in the door to my studio, a black silk and lace negligee hanging off one shoulder as she leaned unsteadily against the door frame.
“Victoria,” I said tiredly. She knew I hated it when she bothered me in here. The studio was the one place in the house that truly felt like mine. It was where I did most of my writing, and having her in my space tended to fuck with my mojo. “Is there something you need.”
“You know exactly what I need, Hawk.” Pushing off the door, she stumbled across the floor, the half-empty wineglass dangling from her fingers as she ran her other hand through her hair, trying to be seductive.
She failed.
“Go to bed, Tori,” I sighed, beyond done with her shit. Even though Tori and I were still legally married, I hadn’t fucked her once in all that time. When she and her daddy were coercing me into this sham of a marriage, they’d neglected to lay down specific terms regarding my husbandly duties. There was nothing in the fucking contract they’d made me sign that said I was in any way required to dick down my wife, therefore I hadn’t.
Not even once.
There was, however, an infidelity clause. Apparently, Victoria didn’t like the idea of being humiliated by me, so if I ever dipped my wick anywhere outside our marriage bed, then all bets were off, and Cornelius would make good on his threats to end our careers.
Unfortunately, there was no such clause for Victoria, and I had on more than one occasion, walked in our house to find her bent over a random piece of furniture, offering up fake moans as some guy she’d probably just met gave her what she wanted.
She probably thought she was making me jealous, but nothing could have been further from the truth.
I was fuckin’ grateful those dudes were keeping her busy and out of my hair. Saved me from a million more conversations as awful as this one.
But every once in a while, when the mood struck her just right, or she’d had just a little too much to drink, Victoria figured she’d try her luck with me again.
She was always disappointed, and tonight would be no different.
“Come on, baby. You didn’t used to be this boring.” Coming into the room, Tori sat her ass on the edge of the soundboard beside me, hiking one leg up and showing me a flash of her naked thigh. “Remember that time in Atlanta? We got high and fucked in the rooftop pool of the hotel?”
She reached for me, attempting to run her fingers through my hair, but I pulled away, pushing the rolling chair back and making sure she knew exactly how I felt about her touching me.
“Fine.” Standing, she tossed back the last of the wine in her glass. “If that’s how you still want to play it, then that’s just fine.” Blinking back the tears that were gathering on her lashes, Tori lifted her chin in defiance. “But you know what happens if you cheat on me.”
“Like you’ve been cheating on me?” I scoffed. “I haven’t broken the deal, Tori.”
“Liar!” she screamed, tossing the glass at the wall beside me. I didn’t even flinch when it shattered, the tiny pieces of crystal scattering over the dark carpet like diamonds. “I know you’re fucking someone else! There’s no way you’ve gone this long without fucking someone.” Sniffing, she crossed her arms over her chest, her artificially enhanced breasts nearly spilling out of the lace. “I know you, Hawk. I know how much you love sex. You’ve been cheating on me, and I’ll make you pay.”
“Tori,” I said, keeping my voice even. Nine years of marriage to this lunatic had taught me that engaging on her level only made things worse. “Believe me when I tell you that a decade without sex is a small price to pay for keeping my band and my boys safe.” Her mouth popped open at my words, spots of color rising on her cheeks when she realized I was serious. That I hadn’t been with anyone else.
Frowning, I thought about it, realizing that also meant I hadn’t been with anyone since that night.
Since my Bird.
Shaking off the melancholy that always rose up when I thought of my mystery girl, I stared back at Tori, wanting to make sure I drove my point home.
“I’ll go the rest of my life if that’s what it takes, and there is not a single thing you or your father can do that would make me change my mind.”
If looks could kill, then I’d have been dead on the floor. Licking her lips, Tori ran her hands through her hair to straighten the mess her tantrum had created. The mascara she’d put on was smeared under one eye, and if she’d been wearing lipstick, it was long gone. Everything about her was a mess, inside and out, and not for the first time, I felt the stirring of pity for her.
Victoria Castor had been raised to believe that money could buy her anything, and she was getting a hard lesson in the fact that that was far from the truth.
“I’m telling Daddy,” she whispered, all her earlier bravado gone. “I’ll tell him you hit me. That you cheated on me, and then when I confronted you about it, you hit me. He’ll believe me. You know he will.”
Any pity I felt for her died a quick death at her words.
“Your daddy isn’t going to do a goddamn thing, Tori, because I am just one fuckin’ bad day away from walking away from him and his goddamn label for good. Let him find himself another band to pimp out for money.”
“What?” she gasped, her hand coming to her throat in a panic. “You can’t! Hawk, no, please. Black Kite can’t leave Castor Records. Daddy would never recover. Not when he’s—”
Her hand flew from her throat to her mouth, eyes going wide as she stopped herself from saying whatever it was she was about to say.
“When he’s what, Tori?” I asked, slowly standing from the chair. But she just shook her head, backing out of the room slowly, her eyes on me like she was afraid. “What would he never recover from? Tori!”
When I barked out her name that seemed to break whatever spell she’d been under and she turned and fled the room, and I was hot on her heels, not willing to let this go.
Her drunk ass didn’t make it far, however, as she tripped over her own feet and stumbled into the wall with a soft cry. When I stopped beside her, she sagged, all the fight leaving her as she slid slowly down the wall. I could see that she was so far gone, drunker than I could ever remember her being, as she collapsed onto her butt, tears pulling her makeup even farther down her cheeks.
Crouching down before her, I lifted her chin with my finger, forcing her to meet my eyes.
“Tori,” I started, but she only cried harder.
“Why couldn’t you just love me?” she sobbed, her chest heaving with every breath. “All I’ve ever wanted was for you to love me. Would it have really been that bad?”
I wanted to say something reassuring, something about how there was someone else out there for her, but I was just so filled with rage at the shit she and her dad had put me through for all these years that I just couldn’t muster a single ounce of sympathy, no matter how pathetic she looked as she wailed on the floor.
“Tell me what the hell is going on, Tori. Why can’t Black Kite leave Castor Records?” I knew we were contracted for four albums, but the fourth was almost finished; there was nothing else tying us to them besides this sham of a marriage.
Was there?
Swallowing hard, Tori took a shuddering breath before she closed her eyes, steeling herself for whatever it was that she was about to tell me.
“Daddy’s in trouble,” she whispered, as though her father might be nearby and overhear her spilling all his secrets. “The money, all the assets, it’s all a lie.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I snapped, softening my tone when she flinched back. “Tori, what does that mean?”
Leaning her head back against the wall, Tori sighed, the alcohol in her system combining with the emotional exhaustion she must have been feeling, causing her words to be even more slurred than when she’d first accosted me tonight. I was losing her; if she didn’t answer me quick, she’d pass out, and I’d never get my answers.
“Victoria.” Opening her eyes, she smiled at me, and it was the most soft and honest expression I’d ever seen on her face. “Tell me what’s going on at Castor Records. Please.”
“It’s in the sales reports,” she muttered, her head rolling on her neck. “The shareholders think there are record profits, but it’s all a lie. The earnings are not there because Daddy took it.” She sighed, a small crease developing between her perfectly manicured eyebrows. “He took it all, and now there’s nothing left for me.”
With that, she slumped over, her body curling up like a child as she settled into a deep alcohol-induced sleep.
Sitting back on my ass, I stared at her, stunned. If what she had just told me was even remotely true, then not only was Castor Records in a whole fuckload of trouble, but so was Cornelius himself.
And that information finally gave me something I could use.