Page 8 of Gluttony (Seven Deadly Sins #4)

Chapter Six

Orion

“Do we have to go to this thing?” Hadley slumps into one of the plush armchairs surrounding our glass-top coffee table and pulls out a small box of Tic Tacs.

“Yeah, we do. They’re a new sponsor for the summer music festival and they need a little CEO facetime. It’ll only be for like an hour, so after that you’re free to find something to fuck.” I chuckle as I pull out the stopper for the bourbon and pour myself a glass.

“Better pour another two if you want us to be sociable tonight, ‘Ry.” Hayes is sitting at the large desk in front of our wall of glass that gives us a great view of the city lights.

His laptop screen is lighting up his stern face as he taps away at the keys, seemingly oblivious but completely aware of everything going on around him.

“Two more, coming up.” I actually pour three because I know my best friends. Hayes will down the first one and immediately demand another, so I’m just saving myself a job.

“What ya workin’ on, H?” Hadley looks to me and gives an exaggerated wink when I pass him his bourbon. “Cheers, bro.”

They’re not my biological brothers, but they’re the closest thing I have to family and I love the fuck out of them both.

Hadley said he likes to call me bro to make me feel included, but I know it’s because I’m nicer to him than his own twin, and he can call me whatever the fuck he likes as long as it’s not late for dinner.

“You know what I’m working on, fucker.”

“Ooh, bitchy. You wound me.” Hadley dramatically holds a hand to his head and slides down the chair, careful not to spill his drink in the other hand.

“You still trying to find shit out about the new executive assistant?” Rolling my eyes, I knock Hadley’s feet from the arm of the chair and sit facing Hayes.

Since last Friday, when Hadley officially hired Bella, Hayes has been spending every spare moment trying to dig up some dirt.

He’s insistent that she’s not what she says because she’s, and I quote, “too fucking perfect.”

“Something’s off with her. I don’t like it.” More tapping as he predictably downs one of his bourbons before sipping at the second.

“Just because she’s good at her job doesn’t make her suspicious.” I sigh because I know nothing I say will make a difference. Once he has his mind set on something, that’s his sole focus until he proves himself right or wrong—usually right because he’s a smart fucker.

“Yeah, just because she’s good at blow jobs and just because she has a fine, peachy, fuckable arse, with perfectly bouncy tits, doesn’t make her suspicious.

” Hadley closes his eyes and groans, grabbing his crotch to rearrange.

“I can’t decide if I wanna fuck her arse or her tits first. Maybe her face… with those plum—”

“We don’t know her and she’s our employee for the next three months.” Hayes doesn’t even move his eyes from the screen as he casually scolds his twin. “You’re not fucking her.”

“That sounds like a challenge if I ever heard one.” Hadley’s grin turns feral and he sits up, crunching on his Tic Tacs before sipping at his drink.

“Why did you have to go and do that, H?” I groan and shake my head.

“You can’t fuckin’ talk, you’ve already had her lips around your cock. Jammy fucker.” Hadley growls playfully at me, his jealousy not even a little bit real.

“I fucking knew it!” Hayes slams his palms down onto the desk, making both Hadley and me jump and pay immediate attention.

“Knew what?” I’m up and standing over his shoulder to look at what he’s found before he needs to say anything else. I’m all for giving people the benefit of the doubt, but when Hayes says he knows something, he fucking knows it.

“She’s not who she says she is.”

“What the actual fuck?” Hadley is beside me in seconds, peering over Hayes’s other shoulder at the bright screen with Bella’s smiling face in a graduation gown.

Only, the name beneath the picture isn’t Bella Jones.

“That has to be a joke. Nobody has a name like that. Nah. It’s a fake, H. Gotta be.” Hadley shrugs it off and stands to his full height, but he’s still looking at the screen as he finishes off his drink.

“You’d think. But no. I’ve searched the name and it’s real. She’s real. I just haven’t figured out why she lied yet.” Hayes slams back the rest of his bourbon and stares at the screen.

“Well, with a name like Bowie Diamond Glitter Jones…maybe that’s the reason?” Although, saying it out loud doesn’t feel as ridiculous as it is. I actually quite like it. Suits her.

“Lots of people change their name. You ain’t found shit.” Hadley huffs and heads back to the armchair.

“Unless she was in two places at once, she didn’t attend Harvard for her degree because while Bella was at Harvard, Bowie was in Miami.” Hayes is seething, it’s clear with his chipped tone.

He hates being lied to.

“Okay, so she told a porkypie about where she went to college. Did her references check out?” I’ve been friends with these guys for more than half of my life at this point, so I understand their British slang and have even adopted some of my own.

When I first heard a lie being referred to as a porkypie, I was confused as hell, but it’s catchy so it stuck.

“Yeah, but the responses were all too well put together. I’m tellin’ ya, nobody is that perfect.” Hayes will repeat himself until he’s blue in the face, but his free moment is over and we have to get ready for our drinks with the new festival sponsor.

“The car’s coming in fifteen minutes, H, so you’re gonna have to pause the sleuthing and put on your sociable scowl.” I pat his shoulder and hand him the rest of my bourbon. He needs it more than me.

“Why did Abby have to go and get run over?” Hayes sulks as he stands and stalks toward the door to his room.

“‘S okay, the fucker driving the car was picked up by one of the don’s Reapers this afternoon. No more driving for him!” Hadley chuckles and wags his brows.

“Good.” Hayes is as bloodthirsty as his brother, he’s just not as loud about it.

“Seriously, Hads? It was an accident. Poor fucker.” I pour each of us a fresh bourbon for the road.

“Yeah, but was it, though? Abby’s not exactly one to walk into traffic.

So accident or not, the fucker drove off like a guilty coward and is at fault.

He deserves to be punished.” He shrugs like it’s no big deal that he’s sent a possibly innocent-ish man off to the New York mafia to be dealt with, and no doubt killed because they don’t leave loose ends.

To be fair, it isn’t a big deal to Hadley.

“Knew she’d fuck up!” Hayes saunters back into the lounge with a smug grin on his face. “She forgot to pick up my dress shoes. They’re not in the bag I brought in from the office.”

“Like you haven’t got a dozen other pairs.” Hadley rolls his eyes and stands, heading toward his own room next to Hayes’s.

“For her first week, only forgetting one thing isn’t too bad.” I finish off my drink and grab my jacket from the back of the couch before sliding it on.

“Who knows what else she conveniently forgot ? I guess we’ll see when everything starts going to shit over the next few weeks.” Turning, Hayes walks back into his room, quickly reappearing with a pair of dress shoes in his hand. “I’ve just sent her a text to meet us at the bar before we go in.”

“What’s wrong with the ones you have there?” I fix my sleeves, making sure my shirt cuffs are longer than the jacket.

“Nothing. It’s the principle.” Hayes adjusts his black tie once his shoes are on and runs a hand over his carefully styled hair.

“Does that mean we’ll get another rendezvous with our Little Rabbit in the back of the limo again tonight?

” Hadley’s eyes are wide as he saunters back into the living room with a huge grin.

“I get the blow job seat tonight. I wanna see her face covered in my cum too.” He slides on his coat, looking like something from Peaky Blinders when he pairs it with his hat.

“No limo tonight, Hads.”

“You’re not. Fucking. Her.”

Hayes and I speak at the same time and Hadley just laughs.

“A blow job isn’t a fuck… Silly.” With every word, Hadley steps closer to Hayes, then he ruffles his hair before rushing for the front door. “Let’s go, fuckers!”

“Wanker.” Hayes glares at his twin, sighs, and looks to me. “You too. You encourage him.”

“Yeah, yeah. But you love us so it’s okay.”

The security system turns fully on as soon as the three of us step outside the apartment and lock the door, and we’ve timed it perfectly because my phone chimes to tell me our car has arrived.

On the ride over, Hayes fixes his hair as we discuss what the sponsors have promised for our first music festival, but I know neither of them have their heads in anything business related tonight.

It’s funny that they’re obsessed with the same woman, but for very different reasons.

Hayes is determined to get rid of her, and Hadley just wants to get in her.

Me…? I’ve had her. Partially. And it was fucking magical so I can’t blame Hadley for wanting a shot.

But Hayes is right, she’s an employee and we don’t mix business with pleasure.

When we had her in the limo, she was just another girl.

I wanted to fuck her right then and there, share her with the twins and destroy her body for our pleasure.

We had a new driver that night, though, and we don’t bring women back to the apartment. Not ever.

Nobody but us enters our apartment.

When we share a woman, we rent hotel suites for the weekend.

The car pulls up in front of the flashy Mancini Hotel, where I have no doubt the sponsors’ reps are waiting at the bar inside, and there stands Bella. Bowie.

I don’t know how I feel about the change of name thing yet; whether I find it suspicious or not. I’m leaning toward not.

“She looks good enough to eat.” Hadley’s growl comes straight from his throat as he eyes her through the blacked-out windows. We can see out, but nobody can see in.

“Why is she so dressed up? I hope we’ve ruined her Saturday night plans.” The grumble from Hayes is to be expected. He’s holding a grudge and it’ll be difficult to shift it.

The car door is opened by a hotel attendant and Hadley is first out, practically tripping over himself to get to Bowie. Yeah, I like that better. Hayes waits for me to get out before he slides across the large back seat and follows.

“I brought your shoes, Sir.” Bowie’s smile is saccharine-sweet as she carefully tilts her head toward Hayes, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. She got the right twin, though, so bonus points for her. Holding up the bag, Bowie doesn’t break Hayes’s eye contact, a silent challenge hidden beneath them.

There’s a twitch in Hayes’s jaw but he refuses to break first, and if we weren’t already late, I’d grab a bag of popcorn, but we need to get moving.

“I’ve got a fuckin’ brilliant idea.” Hadley’s whisper in my ear is not comforting.

His ideas are, in fact, never brilliant .

“Come on, Little Rabbit. We have a meeting you can sit in on. Take notes.” Without giving her a chance to protest, Hadley grabs Bowie’s wrist and pulls her to his side, leading her into the hotel and leaving Hayes and me open-mouthed.

“Fuck sake,” Hayes mumbles under his breath.

“Tonight just got a little more interesting.”