Best Man with Benefits Read online

  “Dude.” I put up a hand but didn’t rise. “You’re too worried about her. She’s fine on her own. She’s an adult. I’m sure if she needed your help, she’d ask. But she doesn’t need your help. She needs distance, to be left alone to do what she’s got to do.”

  Charlie narrowed his eyes at me. “And you’re an expert on what she needs?”

  Fuck, I may have gone too far there. “No. But as a fully functioning and independent adult, I can understand how frustrating it would be to have someone interfering in my life. Trying to, at least.” I snorted. That’d never happen.

  “Yeah, she’s those things, but she’s also my sister. And she’s stubborn as all hell. She won’t accept my help, and there’s something going on that she’s not telling me. She’s avoiding me like crazy, and she never does that. You know how close we are.”

  I exhaled slowly. Keep calm. Don’t blow this. “Dude, what can I tell you? Your sister is a grown-ass woman, and she does what she wants to do. If I had answers, I’d give them, but I don’t. My suggestion is you leave her to do what she wants to do.”

  “How can I?”

  “You can because you’ve got important things to focus on.” I finally rose from my chair, walked over to him, and stopped his incessant pacing. I grasped him by the shoulders. “Fact is, you are about to get married, Charlie. Your life is about to change drastically. Soon, you might have a kid of your own, and then what? Are you still going to drop everything to run after Chloe and protect her? She’s not a kid anymore.”

  Charlie paled slightly. “Fuck.” Sweat beaded on his forehead. “Oh shit, I didn’t think of it that way.”

  “Easy, tiger.”

  “I’ve got to sit down.”

  I guided my buddy to a chair, and he sank into it. “Shit, that’s…well, shit. I didn’t think of it like that. I didn’t realize.” He ran fingers through his hair again and again, til’ it stood on end. “This is huge. It’s a huge change.”

  “You already know that. I figure that’s why you’re freaking out about Chloe so much.” Which didn’t help me, since I was definitely not on the “good for Chloe or her future” list in his books. Or in hers for that matter.

  “Maybe,” he said. “Shit, I need to lie down.” He dropped backward into the chair and shut his eyes for a minute. “Fuck.”

  “You want me to come back later? We can grab something to eat.”

  “Yeah, yeah, that would be good,” he said absently. “That would be good.”

  I rose and walked out of the room, shut the door quietly behind me. I let out a long, low breath. This was shitty. The whole situation was a fuck-up, and it was because of me.

  My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I extracted it, unlocked the screen, and set off walking toward the elevator. I needed to take a break from this shit, maybe chill in my room for a while or go for a walk.

  I’d received a message.

  I opened it. It was from an anonymous number.

  “I know what you’re doing,” the message read. “Her name is Chloe. You’ve done things with her you shouldn’t have. If you don’t stay away from her, there will be hell to pay, and you’ll both be coughing up.”

  My insides went cold. Underneath the lines of text, a link had been attached. I tapped it with my thumb.

  It opened to a webpage. A video player.

  And there she was. Chloe on screen, swaying from side to side as she sang “Tougher than the Rest” by Springsteen. It had been recorded from backstage, and as the camera panned, I caught sight of me at the back of the restaurant watching Chloe on stage.

  “Shit,” I muttered.

  It had to be Pritchard. He was here, at the hotel. Fuck, was he crazy enough to have broken into the room himself? Instead of sending his goons?

  My heart thudded in my chest. I cut the video and skipped back to the message. I’d stopped dead in the hallway outside Charlie’s room, but I didn’t fucking care. This was too much. He had gone too far, and it was my fucking fault.

  I forwarded the message through to Smith, then dialed his number and pressed the phone to my ear. It rang ceaselessly. The longer it rang, the higher my anger and anxiety rose. The phone clicked off, unanswered.

  “Fuck,” I growled. “Fuck. Where are you?”

  The phone rang in my hand, flashing Smith’s number on the screen, and I answered. “Where have you been?” I grunted. “What the fuck is going on?”

  “Please, Mr. King, remain calm. Everything’s under control.”

  “Like hell it is. Did you see the message I forwarded you?”

  “Yes, I received it, and I understand your concern. Don’t panic. We have everything under control.”

  “How?” I asked. “You’ve given me no information about what you’re planning or how I’m involved.”

  “We’re still moving people into position and performing reconnaissance.” Smith’s voice was reluctant. “Once we have a firmer understanding of Pritchard’s movements…”

  “Are you kidding me? That’s what you’re telling me? You don’t have a plan. You’re winging it, while I’m receiving threatening messages and having my room fucking broken into. What are you going to do about this? You asked me for help, and I agreed, but I did not agree to this shit.”

  “Please, calm down, Mr. King. Everything is being handled.”

  “It better be.”

  “Threats aren’t going to help you, Mr. King. Now, I advise that you keep a low profile. Stay away from the woman in question and…”

  “You’re not seriously suggesting I do what he wants. I’m at a wedding. I can’t stay away from anyone.”

  There was quiet on the other end of the line. Did Smith or any of the other agents he worked with have any idea what they were doing?

  “I’ll be in touch soon, Mr. King. Keep your eyes open.” And then he hung up.

  He fucking hung up. My finger itched to dial him back and scream at him for this, but it wouldn’t help. They were clueless.

  Chloe.

  I took off down the hall, hit the button on the elevator and tapped my heel impatiently. “Open, motherfucker. Open.” If he’d gotten to her, if she was in danger…I’d never forgive myself for this.

  The doors slid open, and I hit the button for 5. The ride to her floor was painful. I darted down the hall and skidded up to her door. I pounded my fists against it, mentally cursing at her to open the fuck up.

  But she didn’t.

  “Chloe?” I called out. “Chloe, are you in there?”

  “Hey!” a guy yelled from the end of the hall. “Can you shut up, please? You’re making a lot of noise.”

  I spun on the spot and glared at the fucker. He caught one glimpse of my face—I had to look like hell—and started backing into his room, paling around the gills. I spun toward Chloe’s door again and raised my fist.

  It was no use. She wasn’t in the damn room. She’d gone to that dinner.

  Pritchard could get her there. He could find her and take her.

  I ran for the elevator again, punched the button, grinding my teeth at having to wait for the doors to open. They did, and revealed Charlie, who raised his eyebrows at me.

  “Hey,” he said. “What the hell? Are you OK?”

  “Fine. Just, uh, had a business call.”

  “Oh, well, I’m ready to go out and get something to eat. Come on, man.”

  I couldn’t say no. Couldn’t give the game away and endanger him too. But Chloe… I had to get to her before it was too late.

  Seventeen

  Chloe

  I yawned as I walked across the hotel lobby, under the glitzy chandeliers. We’d way overstayed at the restaurant, and for once, I’d gotten along with everyone. Joked, laughed, enjoyed their company. Apart from Trisha, of course. She was still a raging cow and furious that she’d been rejected by Jacob in front of me.

  “Evening,” I said, nodding to the guy behind the reception desk.

  He waved to me cheerfully, and replied in French. I was too t
ired to register the words. I hit the button for the elevator, then waited, bringing my phone out of my handbag to check the time. It was past eleven, and I was full and tired, and ready for my bed.

  And to forget about Jacob and the complications that came with wanting him.

  The elevator doors slid open and revealed the inside of the far-too-bright box, along with a woman standing within it. Platinum blonde hair and lipstick that would’ve made a stripper blush. She glared at me, narrow-eyed.

  She was familiar, but I was too tired to bother trying to place where I’d seen her before. I nodded and smiled as I entered, then hit my floor number and shifted back.

  The doors closed.

  The woman cleared her throat.

  I caught her staring at me, one eyebrow raised.

  “Hello?” I blinked. What was this about?

  The woman didn’t reply.

  “Uh…?” I wasn’t big on random small talk with strangers, but this warranted it. “Do I know you?”

  “No.” The woman stretched out an arm and hit the emergency stop button on the elevator. It ground to a halt.

  “What the fuck?” I slammed a hand to the wall and kept my balance. “Hey! What are you doing?” Fear panged in my chest, but I controlled it. This woman was smaller than me and not that threatening. She might have a weapon. “Hey!” I yelled. “What the hell are you doing?”

  “Shut up.” She turned on me. “The sooner you shut up and listen, the sooner we can get moving again and you can creep back to whatever whore hole you climbed out of.”

  “Whore hole?” I said.

  It was insulting but different. I was silently impressed.

  “My name is Carolina,” she said. “And you’re a home-wrecker.”

  I backed away from her, rested my back against the far wall of the elevator. I had to maintain a modicum of calm. But my mind and body were on high alert. I traced her face with my gaze, trying to absorb her features and memorize them.

  Sharp nose, fake lips, small chest, long blonde hair, not unattractive. She wore a leopard print shirt and a pair of jeans, and her perfume was too sweet.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “Is that name supposed to mean something to me?”

  She pointed. “Not yet, but it will. It will. See, whore-face, I’m doing you a favor by cornering you here.”

  Whore-face. Not as original as whore hole. I mentally deducted a style-insult point from her tally. “Give me a reason why I shouldn’t call the cops on you right now.” I flashed my cell at her.

  “Because it involves Jacob King, and you’re going to want to hear this.”

  That got my attention.

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought,” she said.

  “What about Jacob?”

  Carolina tossed her hair back. “Jacob is mine. He’s always been mine. In fact, we’re engaged.” She raised her left hand and wiggled a finger at me. On it was a glitzy ring. “Or we were, until you came along.”

  “What?”

  “I’m not stupid, you know. He breaks up with me, and next thing, I see him with you? Walking around, acting like…ugh, I can barely stand it. Going to a jeweler’s together? You know, he did the same thing to me too. Pretended like he cared and then, when he got bored, he tossed me aside like trash.”

  My head spun.“What? That’s not… No.” Jacob wasn’t that guy. He’d told me a relationship hadn’t worked out.

  Yeah, but he didn’t tell you when it ended. And this woman… She was so familiar. Hadn’t I seen her somewhere before? A memory struck me right between the eyes, and I inhaled sharply.

  She was the “waitress” I’d seen at the back of the hall, talking to Jacob. Except she clearly wasn’t a waitress. She was here in France. Had she come here with him? And then he’d dumped her? Slept with me?

  That wasn’t him, though. He wouldn’t do this.

  How do you know? He ran out on you.

  My pulse raced, and sweat beaded on the back of my neck. The pleasure, the warmth, the happiness I’d felt with him seeped into my mind and turned sour. “I don’t believe you.”

  “You don’t have to. We can go up to his room right now and ask him face to fucking face if it’s true. I know what he did. He left me for you.”

  “I’m not with him,” I said.

  “Then he left me to fuck around with you, which is so much more pathetic.” She fluttered fake lashes at me. “You don’t believe me? Let’s head to his room.”

  I stared at her, shaking my head. This alone was enough to put me off Jacob. Did I need to prove it as well?

  You saw this coming. You knew that he would wind up hurting you again, but you still let yourself get involved with him. You did this to yourself.

  “Let’s go, bitch,” Carolina said. “I’ve been waiting all week to do this.”

  “All week.”

  “Which floor is he on? I’m sure you know where he’s staying.” She did the classic head wobble.

  “He’s on four.”

  She hit the button, then hit the 1 to get the elevator moving again.

  “You should have checked he wasn’t involved with anyone before you jumped into bed with him,” Carolina said.

  I ignored her. She was furious and bound to be a bitch because of what had happened. If what she was saying was true. But even if it wasn’t, this was a total kick in the pants. It was a reminder that I should never have let this happen.

  The elevator doors slid open on the fourth floor.

  Carolina tromped out in her high heels, but I stayed behind, shaking my head.

  “This can’t be for real,” I said.

  “Oh, it is. Are you coming or what?” she asked, in an accent that was all New York.

  “I’m coming,” I said, though it was the last thing I wanted to do. I deserved sleep, and rest, and to possibly blame myself for this for the rest of eternity.

  I stepped out of the elevator and led her down the hall. Each step brought me closer to Jacob’s door and brought another wave of anger. One on top of the other. Anger at myself and anger at him for the fact that this had happened.

  Finally, we reached it. I stood in front of his door, trembling.

  “Ugh, move out of the way.” Carolina bumped me to one side, then pounded her fist against the wood. “Hey! Open up, asshole.”

  “Keep your voice down,” I said. “You’ll wake everyone in the hall.”

  “I don’t fucking care.” She banged her hand against it again. “Open this door right now.”

  The latch clacked, and Jacob appeared. Jacob without his shirt on, tattoos scrawled across his chest and biceps, his hair rough, eyes red. He looked like he hadn’t slept a wink. What had happened?

  It doesn’t matter now.

  “What the fuck?” Jacob’s gaze moved from me to her. To her… God, that sounded bad in my mind. “Carolina?”

  “You know her,” I said, and my stomach turned. So it was true. “She’s your ex.”

  “Yeah, so?”

  “Your ex who you dumped to fuck around with me,” I replied.

  “Huh? What the hell are you talking about?” Jacob’s voice cracked. “What the fuck is this, Chloe? Why did you bring her here?”

  “I didn’t bring her here. She brought me here.”

  “Asshole,” Carolina said. “I knew you wouldn’t leave me unless it was for someone else. I knew it. And now I find you here with this ugly bitch.”

  “Thanks,” I said dryly.

  “I didn’t leave you for Chloe. I left you because our relationship was going nowhere, and you weren’t worth my time, Carolina. That was months ago. I told you to leave. I’m calling the cops.”

  “Wait, wait, wait a second. Months ago?” I blinked. Then he couldn’t have possibly left her for me. Or cheated on her.

  “Yeah, of course.” Carolina bobbled her head again. “Don’t try to act like you didn’t know. You were fucking him all along, you whore. I know who you are, Chloe. You were the first one. Bitch. Fucking bitch.”

&n
bsp; “Jesus, you are vitriolic and completely uninformed. What a combination.” I shook my head. “And I’m an idiot. I can’t believe this. I can’t believe I let this happen.”

  “Let what happen?”

  “You cheated on me,” Carolina shrieked.

  “Shut up, Carolina,” Jacob and I said, in unison.

  Again, my head shook. It was like my go-to reaction right now. How was I supposed to react to this otherwise?

  “I didn’t cheat on you, and I don’t have time for you now. Leave Chloe and I alone,” Jacob said.

  “No.” I lifted a hand. “No. I have nothing to talk to you about. This was a mistake, and I’m leaving.”

  “Chloe, don’t be ridiculous. This is some freak accident. Carolina shouldn’t be here, she knows that. But I have something important to talk to you about. Come in here, please.” The please was added on the end, but it sounded like a command rather than a question.

  And I was so over that.

  “No,” I said. “I’m done. This was a mistake. Just forget it ever happened.” I made for the elevator.

  Footsteps thudded along the carpet behind me. A hand settled on my arm and squeezed. “Wait, Chloe.”

  “No,” I said and pulled free of his grip.

  Down the hall, doors had opened and people stood, staring at us.

  “No, I don’t want to know what you have to say. I don’t want to talk. I’m so fucking done, period.” I hit the button for the elevator. “Just forget about this, please. Don’t talk to me again.”

  “Ha, even your side bitch doesn’t want you,” Carolina said, but tottered up and grasped at his naked chest. “Come on, honey. Let’s you and me talk this out. Your head is clear now, right? We’re good to go.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “You’re good to go. He’s all yours, Carolina.” The elevator doors opened, and I stepped inside. I hit the button for my floor.

  I put up a hand to stop Jacob from following. A last goodbye gesture. I was tempted to turn my middle finger on him. The doors slid closed and offered me my reflection instead.

  I pressed that hand to my face, covering it, shielding me from myself.