Page 7 of Ruined

“Your entire company?”

I nodded. “I would step away. As I would expect you to do the same.”

“And if you back out,” he crossed his arms, “with that weak heart of yours. What happens then?”

Weak heart? He didn’t know how much I had changed since we last spoke in earnest. “A ten percent share of the company to the other,” I said. “That’s a fair amount.”

“And if Haley rejects both of us?”

Always with the particulars. He was good that way. “She won’t.”

“But if she does, what happens?”

“Nothing.” I sat up straight. “What’s fair, is fair. If neither of us succeeds, then the bet is off.”

“You actually want to use a woman in a bet?”

The fact that he questioned me, made my nostrils flare. It was as if he had forgotten whathehad done all of those years ago.

“If what you’re saying is true,” I said calmly, “then in all likelihood, nothing will change, and we’ll continue to be competitors.”

“And Aldrich Inspired Investments will continue to scramble for its life.”

I smirked. “Then you better win.”

“Iris,” Aldrich shouted, and a woman with black hair and soft brown eyes, dressed in a feathery babydoll came towards us. “Can you get Haley for me?”

“Of course,” she said. She trotted through the lounge and found Haley. Iris pointed to us. Aldrich waved.

Haley joined us, standing beside the couch and the chair. She glanced up at the aerial hoop, still waiting on the stage. Empty. Calling for her stretched out, athletic body.

I wanted to see her sprawled between that curving bar again. To see what happened when I looked down into her soul when she was feeling bold. To rip that confidence away from her.

But that sort of exchange took time. Moving each game piece bit by bit. I could be patient. When the reward was lucrative enough.

“Haley, do you know this man?” Aldrich said.

“We just met,” she said, her eyes locked on mine.

“You’ve never met him before? Not online dating, not as an old member one of those nights I couldn’t make it?”

Haley shook her head, her dark hair shimmering on the sides of her face. “When are you not here?” she said to Aldrich. But she never took her eyes off of me. “I’m Haley,” she said, stretching out a hand again. I took it in my grasp, closing my other hand on top of hers. Her hands were warm now.

“I know,” I said.

She blushed. “Right,” she murmured. “We already met.”

“Go along now,” Aldrich said, gesturing towards the lounge area. “Leave us.”

Aldrich was a dick. Sometimes I wondered how he had treated his wives in their marriages.

Haley walked away, and I watched her go. There was something to the way Haley moved. Her cheeks burned a beautiful red, and her lips moved like she was always one breath away from saying something. Like she was hiding a secret. Her robe sashayed behind her, a bruise on the back of her thighs either from the metal hoop or from a club member with sadistic tendencies.

I clenched my fists at the thought. From now on, I would be the only one marking her skin, until I won the bet.

I held out a hand to Aldrich. “Do we have a deal?”

Aldrich shook my hand. “I look forward to acquiring such an outstanding company. Conway Capital. It would be fitting, no?”