24. Brantley
B rantley~
I didn’t want to be here, but I’d known about Ares Cormac accepting his invitation, so I was here just to show my face. In a few days, I was about to forfeit the mines and file for divorce, and I was not going to let anyone think that I was broken over it, no matter how tight my chest felt.
It had taken only two days for me to realize that Keris was like a drug to me.
There would be no being married in name only because I couldn’t be sure that I’d stick to my end of the bargain.
Keris was all or nothing for me, and I knew enough to know that.
Like a true junkie, if I had access to her, then I was going to take a hit sooner or later.
So, after that revelation had hit me in the face, I’d met with my father, telling him my plans to give up the mines and divorce Keris.
Of course, he’d lost his damn mind, ranting and raving over the lost possible revenue, but I hadn’t cared, still didn’t.
Greed wasn’t going to ruin the rest of my life, especially when it wasn’t even my greed that we were talking about here.
The only downside to attending tonight’s charity auction was that it was for the arts, and I’d known before accepting that Keris might be here, along with her two friends.
Antiquities, art, and gems usually ran together, so that might be a problem.
Luckily, I had invited Shera Holgram as my date, hoping to make my point.
Though there was nothing going on between me and Shera, no one would know that.
She was actually one of our charity heads, and her expertise was in antiques, so she had a good eye for the best investments tonight.
Magnus and Onyx were also in attendance, though they had chosen to arrive alone. Still, the more the better for me.
With Shera off examining the pieces, and Magnus stalking her because he wasn’t our CFO for nothing, it was just me and Onyx nursing our drinks, watching the flurry of activity that always accompanied these types of events.
“Look, I know this might not be the best time to bring this up, but are you sure, man?” he asked, and I didn’t even have to ask him what he was talking about.
I wasn’t sure what was going on, but for the past week, Keris had been calling, texting, and leaving voicemails until I’d had to block her number.
After that, she’d had the gall to show up at the offices, having her escorted from the building a fortunately discreet affair.
Not having read her texts or listened to her voicemails, I had no idea what was so important, but again, I was an addict where she was concerned, so I’d made sure not to tempt myself.
I also knew that she was still at the house because my housekeeper had been kind enough to keep me informed of Keris’ activities.
It could be that Keris had been calling to ask me for some more time before forcing her to move out because nothing else made sense.
“I can’t be married to a woman that sees me as a monster, Onyx,” I answered. “Not when I care for her the way that I do.” Onyx and Magnus knew all the dirt, including how I’d gone and fallen in love with my wife. “Besides, she deserves to be happy.”
“And you don’t?” he challenged.
“I guess that depends on who you ask,” I answered before taking another drink of my whiskey.
“Well, brace yourself, my friend,” he grumbled. “She just walked into the building.”
Unable to help myself, I turned to look, and I wished that I hadn’t. With her hair piled up on the top of her head, whisps of dark chocolate cascading all around her neck, her face looked flawless. Still, that was nothing compared to the dress that she had on.
Holy fuck.
It was a dark emerald-green shade that pushed her tits up, clinched her waist in, and hugged her hips before dropping into an elegant waterfall with two slits that ran up her legs all the way to her fucking neck. Not really, but it seemed that way with each step that she took.
“I’m going to fucking kill her,” I swore under my breath.
“Yeah?” Onyx drawled out. “Before or after you take Shera home?”
I deserved that.
I deserved a lot of shit.
When Keris spotted me, she immediately made her way over, and I shouldn’t have been surprised.
The woman was not a coward, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she were only here just to corner me after ignoring her for a full week.
With that much determination in each step, it finally dawned on me that she was probably here because of her sister.
Something must be going on with Lindsey, and since I had promised to cover all of her out-of-pocket expenses, I could see Keris refusing to let me shy away from that particular commitment.
Stopping only a few feet away from me, she looked over at Onyx, then gifted him with a tentative smile. “Hello, Onyx,” she greeted. “It’s nice to see you again.”
Onyx looked like he might choke, but he still managed to greet her back. “Good evening, Keris. It’s lovely to see you again, and I have to say, you look absolutely beautiful.”
“Thank you,” she replied graciously, unlike the last time that they’d met.
Knowing how to read the room, Onyx said. “Uh...I’m going to go check on a few pieces, and...yeah...I’ll see you guys later.”
As soon as Onyx was gone, Keris’ green eyes looked up at me.
She was so fucking beautiful that it almost hurt to look at her.
It also didn’t help that I didn’t see this perfect picture of her whenever I looked at her.
Whenever I looked at her, I saw the mess that she was in my bed.
I saw her lips swollen from sucking my dick, I saw her makeup worn from the tears, I saw her hair a matted mess from how tight I fisted it, I saw her big tits bouncing with each thrust, I saw her pussy and asshole stretched open around my cock, and I even saw love in her eyes when I’d been too high to know the difference.
“What do you want, Keris?” I asked coldly, an alcoholic faced with his favorite beer.
“Would you like to dance?” she asked, and that had my head rearing back.
“What?”
She gestured towards the dance floor. “I asked if you would like to dance.”
“So that you can leave me stranded on the dance floor like a putz? Yeah, no thanks.” I had no idea what she was up to, but this woman had nearly accused me of rape not even a week ago. Yeah, I was treading carefully on this one.
“I just...I just thought that we could talk if we-”
“Can’t see what we need to talk about, Keris,” I reminded her. “Besides, we agreed to let our lawyers do the talking for us, remember?”
If I didn’t know better, I’d say that she looked hurt and unsure, but I did know better. There wasn’t a meek bone in this woman’s body.
“How about a drink-”
“So that you can spit in it? Yeah, again, no.”
Letting out a deep breath, she said, “Look, Brantley...I know that I-”
“Brantley, I found the perfect piece.”
We both turned to see Shera saddle up next to me, and while I knew that the glowing look in her eyes was because she had a hard-on for whatever she’d found, to the outside world, she looked like she was adoring me with that gaze.
“It’s perfect,” she went on. “You have to come see it.”
Turning from Shera, I looked back at my wife, but her green eyes were focused on the lovely raven-haired beauty standing next to me. It also wasn’t lost on me that we probably looked like a very powerful couple together. Shera had that kind of confidence about her.
“As you can see, I’m busy,” I said, my gut tightening with the cold words, but I refused to let Keris Bishop send me to my knees. At least, not in front of the entire world. Not where Ares Cormac and the rest of my enemies could see.
Without looking back up at me, Keris said, “I can see that.” She took a step back, giving Shera more room. “I hope you guys get that piece,” she added. “The bidding can be brutal at these things.”
“Luckily, I have enough money to outbid anyone for whatever I want,” I reminded her, and that’s when her shoulders straightened, though she still refused to look at me.
“Have a good evening,” she said quietly before walking off, and it took everything in me not to chase after her.
“Isn’t that your wife?” Shera asked. “I really would have liked to meet her, Brantley.”
Not ready to admit the state of my marriage, I suggested, “Let’s go see what you were looking at.”
Shera’s dark brown eyes widened. “Oh, crap,” she rushed out. “Was it supposed to be a surprise for her?” Her face grimaced theatrically. “Sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I assured her. “It’ll be fine.”
With the strength of a hundred men, I turned in the opposite direction of my wife, then walked over to see what piece Shera had been gushing on about, and to make sure that Magnus wasn’t throwing a fit over the price. No matter how much money Kingston Industries had, Magnus was Magnus.
Minutes later, I was refereeing between Magnus and Shera, and it was just the distraction that I needed.