Page 34

S o, this is what it felt like to have your heart broken.

“Pop, do you know where I am?”

“Yes. I have a beat on your location little, Clem. But do you wanna tell me what the fuck you're doing at Connor Callahan's place?”

“No, Pop. I really don't. You remember our deal, though? Anytime I call for help, you just come. No questions asked,” I said.

I hated the way my voice trembled as I recalled what he’d told me when I was a teenager who’d only just started hanging out with my friend group.

People made mistakes. Things happened. And my dad just wanted me safe. Especially after the kidnapping thing. So that was our deal.

I call, he comes to get me. No questions.

“Yes, I remember our deal. The driver will be there in six minutes.”

“Thanks, Pop,” I whispered.

“Six minutes, Clem. Call me when you’re inside the car.”

The call ended, and I turned my head to the sound of Connor roaring my name.

I backed out of the door, holding my phone in front of me as if it was some kind of shield that would stop Connor in his tracks, but I should've known better.

He charged at me, cupping his large hand around my neck and fusing his mouth to mine.

Goddamn it. I was so weak. I let him kiss me. Hell, I even kissed him back.

Where the fuck is that car?

“No. Stop it. Let me go,” I sobbed and pushed against his big chest.

“I don’t want to, Darlin’. I don’t want you to go,” he said.

And that only made it that much harder when he released his hold on me.

“This is not over, Clementine. This is far from over.”

I shook my head, the sound of an engine drawing nearer gave me courage. I backed away.

“Just stay away from me. The game is done. I don't know you, and you clearly don't know me.”

“You don't mean that,” he said, moving to step closer to me.

“I mean it. I want nothing to do with you,” I said.

God, it hurt so much.

The pain of betrayal was squeezing me to death. I wanted to hate him, I realized.

I shook my head, stopping him from advancing, and he froze in his tracks. That was when I noticed he was barefoot on the frozen ground.

“I know you don't mean that. You and me, we are destiny, Darlin’. We're meant to be, and nothing will ever keep us apart.”

“You sound like a psychopath, you get that, right? Well, you don’t have to pretend to want me anymore.”

I turned as the SUV stopped, a part of me recognizing Balor would have had to let it in past the big gate. I saw him standing in the periphery of my vision. His hand at his side, ready to dislodge the weapon I imagined he had there.

Connor glanced at him and shook his head slightly, hands raised like he was confronting a wild animal.

Maybe he was.

That was how I felt. Out of control, frightened, and so damn mad.

“I am a psycho where you're fucking concerned. What you don’t seem to get, Clementine, is that you are mine. All fucking mine.”

I wanted to believe him, to listen to his lies. But that was exactly why I didn’t.

To think I’d accused Liam of marrying my cousin for her father’s connections, when I was the one who let some man fuck me for access to my father’s company.

Shit.

I still had to tell Pop.

One of my father's men, the one sitting in the passenger seat, jumped out of the SUV, gun in hand.

“Get in, Miss Aziz,” he said, holding the door open.

“Put your fucking gun down around her!” Connor snarled, moving forward.

The bodyguard raised his weapon.

“No! Don’t hurt him. Let’s just go,” I said and jumped in without looking back.

“Drive, Marcus,” the bodyguard said and dipped his chin at Connor and Balor.

I looked up, and Connor’s eyes were locked on mine. In the pale moonlight with the soft glow of the lampposts outside, his eyes seemed to glitter like obsidian glass.

“This isn't over, Clementine,” he repeated his earlier statement.

“It is very over,” I replied and rolled up my window.

“Where to, Miss Aziz?”

My attention was diverted to the driver, Marcus. I told him to take me to my penthouse. Then I pressed the button, closing the partition between the front of the vehicle and the back where I sat.

I texted my father I was safe, but I had no idea how to broach the subject of Connor’s betrayal and invasion of Sigma International’s system.

My heart was breaking and all I could do was let it happen. A sob racked my body, and I tried to focus on my breathing.

The wind whipped around the truck as my father’s men broke speeding records to get me home. I appreciated that. But even with them traveling so fast, I couldn’t contain the emotion clouding my brain.

With a shaky exhale, it all came flooding out. Shaking me with tremors of grief and despair.

How could he?

My tears rolled down my cheeks, unfettered and with no signs of stopping. I covered my mouth with my hands, shaking uncontrollably.

I just couldn’t help it.

Stupid, Clem. I can't believe I fell for it.

I grabbed my phone, not trusting myself to be alone. I texted Andrea and Lucy, telling them what happened and begging them not to tell Michaela. Then I asked them to meet me at my place.

Thirty minutes later, I was ensconced in my warmest, furriest pajamas with a half drunk bottle of Cabernet in my hands when my cousins came walking in.

“Oh God! You look awful,” Andrea said in that blunt way she had about her.

“Shut up, Annie,” Lucy chided. “Clem, we're so sorry. Honey, you know you did nothing to deserve this, right?”

They sat next to me as I nodded. On some level, I was aware it wasn’t my fault. Connor was very good at lying, apparently.

“Being gullible is my fault, though, right? I mean, I was so hungry for him, I just gobbled up every bit of attention he gave me.”

“Oh, honey, any of us would have! Look at the man, for fuck’s sake! He’s like young Sean Connory and Zayn Malik if they had a built ass baby man!” Lucy said, and I laughed through my tears.

“Oh my God. I can totally see that,” Andrea agreed.

I laughed with them at first, but all my chuckling soon turned to weeping and I dropped my head forward. Lucy and Andrea crowded around me, offering me companionship and solace like only my best friends could.

That's the thing about sisters and cousins and found family like Shelley, who we all kind of adopted, we were always there for each other. Always up in one another’s business.

So, instead of pushing away their concerns and pretending I could handle this along, I clung to them instead. I told them everything that had happened just this past week.

I mean, really, it was only a few days. But it felt like more.

Connor hurt me. He did the thing I feared most from a man, pretending to like me just so he could fuck with my father. Having sex with me without caring or feeling a thing for me beyond basic attraction, which I assumed was something every man felt for anything with a pussy at one time or other.

“Cuz, that is not true. Our parents taught us that,” Andrea said with the firm conviction of someone who’d never had a man run a game on them.

And I sincerely hoped she never had to experience that. As for me, well, I felt wrung out and raw, and only a little buzzed, which was not okay.

“We need more wine,” I said.

“I’ll get it,” Lucy volunteered. She searched through the cabinets, coming up dry, and I whined.

“Relax, I’m texting Aella,” she told me, and I nodded.

Our cousin had her own winery in South Jersey, and I knew she was in town for the holidays visiting her mom and dad.

If we were lucky, she might have some of her special label with her. Five minutes later, Lucy whooped, and I grinned.

“Score! She’s out with Coral, but they are going to swing buy her Dad’s place and then come right here.”

Her dad’s place was the Viper’s Den, a badass bar and club in Jersey City that none of us were allowed to frequent. I snorted. That wasn’t exactly true.

Uncles Angel, Nico, and Luc welcomed us anytime. They just had so many of their guys watching us we couldn’t flirt or dance or do anything fun, which was the whole point of going out.

“How long?”

“She said ten minutes. I’m going to throw some of this cookie dough in the oven,” Lucy said, and I nodded, on board with the idea of wine and cookies.

Fifteen minutes later, Aella and Coral were sitting in the living room with the three of us.

They’d brought a bottle of wine for each of us, and paired with the platter of warm chocolate chips sitting on the coffee table, it was a veritable feast.

“Okay, so hang on, Clem. Your Daddy is trying to fuck Pop over? And he used you to do it? What does he have a death wish?” Coral asked.

“She calls him Daddy ? OMG! I miss all the best stories,” Aella snorted.

“Connor Callahan is a total butthead. Our cousin is hurting here, so be compassionate, for fuck’s sake!” Andrea ordered.

“Okay, okay. Wait, Connor Callahan? I know him!” Aella said.

“You do?” I asked, sitting up straight besides feeling a little tipsier now.

“Yeah. His family did something to fuck the Vipers over, but I heard my dad talking to Uncle Nico about how the Callahan heir went legit, starting a security group or something.”

I was all ears, pestering her for more info, but she’d heard what she’d heard and that was it.

“Least it makes sense, right? I mean, his father fucked shit up and Connor is just trying to rebuild,” Aella explained around a mouthful of cookie.

“Yeah, I suppose. I just wish he hadn’t used me to do it.”

They all looked at me with sympathy shining in their eyes, and once more I was struck by how lucky I was to have them. Sisterhood came in all forms, born and found, and these women were all mine.

“You do know Uncle Josef is going to kick Connor’s ass, right?” Andrea asked, as she wrapped me up in a hug.

“I told Pop not to. I mean, I didn't explain everything that happened. I just asked him not to retaliate yet and to give me some space. But I did warn him about the virus.”

“I hear you, but you know Uncle Josef. He won’t let it rest and really, he shouldn’t. Fuck Connor Callahan and his whole poisonous family tree,” she snarled.

“Damn, Annie. You are vicious,” Coral said.

“Damn straight. Anyway, we're all here for you, Clem.”

“Oh my God! I know what will cheer her up!” Aella shouted, making us all groan.

“What's that?” I asked, smiling indulgently.

“There's a party at the Den! I know, I know, but look we’re not fucking around trying to flirt. We just want to make Clementine feel good. And the DJ is hot!”

“What kind of music?” I asked, intrigued.

“You are going to love this,” she said, grinning at Lucy, then the rest of us in turn.

“It's an 80s freestyle jam, and it is taking place two nights before Christmas Eve!”

“No shit,” I said, eyebrows raised.

“Yes, shit! It'll be fucking perfect.”

“I like where this is going,” Andrea chimed in.

“Hell yeah! We'll get our dance on and our drink on before we spend the weekend with the family to celebrate at your family farm,” Aella stated.

“Oh my God! That does sound great.”

Really, it did. I couldn't wait to go to our farm.

It'd been so long since I saw Sprinkles. That was the name of my favorite horse.

I've had her since I was a teenager, and even though she was too old for riding, she was just right for cuddling. Sprinkles always lifted my spirits, but the girls had a point.

First, a night dancing to some 1980s Freestyle, which we all learned courtesy of Aunt Destiny, sounded perfect.

I just had to survive another week of work before the festivities began. I could do that.

Sure, you can.

A week without Connor.

Without his kiss and touch.

But I would have to get used to that, wouldn’t I?

Connor was not mine. And it was time I faced it.

Shit. This was going to suck.