Page 34 of Broken Promises (Soho Knights #5)

He walked into the Blue Lagoon, and there was a woman dancing on a pole, hanging upside down.

Her perky tits were on display, and a group of men were drooling at her and pushing notes into the skimpy thong she was wearing.

Good for her, thought Jason. He made his way to the back, knowing that if Grant was here, he’d been in the back room or his office.

There was usually a security guard posted, but there was nobody there, which wasn’t a good sign that Grant was around.

Undeterred, he looked anyway. The back room was empty, so he went to the office.

The door was closed, but he could hear that someone was inside.

Jason didn’t want to walk in on some important mob meeting and witness a crime and have to go into hiding.

Although he would rock a nun’s outfit, he couldn’t sing a note to save his life.

He would definitely want to call his version Sister Sass , but he was getting distracted.

Listening closely, he heard the distinct sound of moaning, and it wasn’t just anyone– it was Grant.

He’d not heard that moan for years, but he knew it like it was yesterday. Oh, this was too good to be true.

Jason listened intently, feeling nothing about what he was overhearing.

When he knew it was the perfect timing, he opened the door and saw a startled-looking Grant with his cock down some blonde woman’s throat.

He’d passed the point of no return, so Jason couldn’t help but smirk as he came down blondie’s throat, who seemed oblivious to the fact she now had a spectator.

The fact that Grant was with a woman didn’t bother him.

Grant had always been open about his bisexuality.

It had once been attractive to see a man who operated in such a straight alpha space be open about who he was.

Now he felt nothing. Even if it had been another guy, he knew he would have felt the same.

“Still into blondes, I see,” said Jason.

This made the woman look up. She had spunk dribbling out of the corner of her mouth, and her silicone-filled lips looked well used. Grant did like to play rough.

“Who the fuck are you?”

“Is that any way to talk to the boss’s husband?” he joked.

Her jaw dropped. He’d been doing that to people a lot lately.

“Make yourself scarce, sweetheart,” said Grant. “Clean yourself up and get back to work. We’ll talk later.”

Jason watched as she got to her feet, and Grant tucked his cock away. The whole situation was amusing. He’d never seen Grant look flustered before. He was masking it, but Jason knew him too well.

“How did you get in here?” asked Grant.

“Just walked in. Your guard dog must have left his post.”

“I’ll deal with him later. What do you want?”

“Is this how it’s going to be?”

“What? ”

“I come back to you, and you’re sticking your dick in cheap whores all the time. Am I allowed to do the same?”

“Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to? Close the door.”

Jason didn’t want to close the door. He felt more comfortable saying what he thought when there was an easy escape. But if Grant wanted to stop him from leaving, he could, even if the door was open, so he shut it but leaned against it.

“Come over here and sit on my lap.”

“I’ll pass. I don’t want to catch something from your whore.”

“Are you jealous, Jason?”

“No.”

“Because I’ve stood back while you fucked your way through all the eligible men in London over the last three years.”

“I doubt you’ve been celibate in all that time.”

“Why are you here, Jason?”

“I quit my job today.”

“Why?”

“Because we’re moving back to Liverpool.”

“I don’t know about we , but you do what’s best for you. I didn’t think you’d want to leave your brothers behind again.”

“I don’t understand. What’s going on?”

Grant laughed, but it wasn’t a fun laughter. There was a cruelness to it.

“Haven’t you worked it out yet?”

Jason shook his head. He had no idea what was going on. His brain was coming up with so many scenarios. They weren’t moving to Liverpool. What the fuck was happening?

“Are you missing Patrick?”

That was like a gut punch. He felt his heart break even more. Patrick had promised he’d come back to him, but that had been almost a month ago, and he’d not heard anything. Now Grant was saying different things to what he’d said before. Jason wasn’t sure what was real anymore.

“That’s what I wanted,” said Grant, a satisfied grin on his face.

“What?”

“That pain on your face. I wanted you to feel what I felt when you destroyed everything we had.”

Jason was speechless.

“We had a wonderful life together, and because you were lonely when I was trying to build us a future, you took everything we had and fucked it up. And if that wasn’t enough, you would have left me for dead at the bottom of the stairs.”

“But . . . but you told me to leave.”

“Of course I did. I knew you didn’t love me anymore.

Why would I force you to stay? All you had to do was be honest with me, Jason.

Sneaking around all the time, behind my back.

I loved you, for fuck’s sake. I would have given you the world.

All this would have been dropped in an instant if you’d asked me to make a choice, but you didn’t.

You caused this because of the choices you made. Actions have consequences.”

Jason couldn’t believe what he was hearing. His legs were shaking, and he couldn’t stop himself from sliding down the door so he was sitting on the floor.

“It took me years of watching you. I knew you’d run back to your brothers. I just monitored you, waiting for an opportunity. Then along came Patrick. I knew this one was different. It took time for you two to get closer, but it was worth it. That way, it would hurt even more.”

“Is that what this has all been about? You wanted to get revenge on me for leaving?”

“You broke my fucking heart, Jason,” Grant shouted. “Now you know how it feels. You can go. Have a nice life.”

Jason wasn’t sure what to say. His brain felt like it was on fire.

He was being bombarded with so many emotions at once that he wasn’t sure what he was feeling.

Anger at Grant for going to such lengths to hurt him.

Relief that he didn’t have to leave his brothers behind.

And could there be hope? Now Grant had got what he wanted. Could he go back to Patrick?

“I can hear you thinking from here, Jason. Let me make one thing clear. Yes, the slate is wiped clean with us. I’ve signed the divorce papers, but Patrick is off limits.”

“What?” His voice broke.

“Did you think I’d do all this so you could just run back into his arms?

You can go off and find someone else. I won’t interfere with that.

I have no problems with you finding a man to settle down with, like all your brothers have, but it won’t be Patrick.

If you even think of going back to him, Jason, it won’t be a beating; I’ll end his life. ”

Jason looked into Grant’s eyes. A man he’d once loved.

He knew he’d hurt him, but for him to do this?

It would have been less painful if Grant had just killed him.

How could he ever be happy with someone else knowing his perfect man was out there and he couldn’t ever be with him?

Grant may have said he still wanted Jason to settle down with a guy, but he knew that would never happen.

It took Jason time to build trust with someone, and Grant knew that.

Any man who came now would be compared to Patrick.

His brothers were moving on with their lives, and Jason would be left alone, like he’d been since the day he was born.