Fool for Love (Believe #2) (13 page)

Thunder followed by manic barking wakes me up with a fright. I jump when lightening and another loud boom catches my eyes and ears, and I shiver as I look to the floor-to-ceiling windows to my right. Rain pelts down, and I rub my chilled arms.

Rufus’ barking grabs my attention, and I try to find him and Garrett in the dark.

“Garrett?” I call out, but he doesn’t answer me. Instead, a large shadow rushes towards me, whining madly. My breath leaves me when Rufus bolts up in my bed, one of his paws pushing my chest. I fall backwards and the frantic dog follows me and lies down next to me, as close as he can get.

“Oh, poor baby,” I croon when I can feel him shivering. His cold nose butts my neck, and I wrap my arm around him. He presses his face closer, and I sigh.

“Alright, but it’s just for tonight, do you hear me?”

He whines, and his smelly dog breath reaches my nose, so I turn my face away.

“Phew! That’s just nasty, Rufus,” I scold him and yawn. “We need to find you some breath mints or something,” I mumble, already halfway off to sleep.

My last conscious thought before I drift off to sleep is,
I wonder where Garrett is?

I
DIDN’T TELL
S
UZY
that I had to leave because it’s not her business what I do at night, but I didn’t want to answer the questions she would undoubtedly ask, either.

I’m bone tired, but I need to see Rowan – the son of a bitch.

I love my cousin, I do, just not the stuff he continues to poison his body with.

It makes me sick to see him like this, but I
have
to try to make him see reason. I
have
to get him some help.

The path he’s on is slowly suffocating him, and he’s too young to waste his life away.

I should know. I’ve been on that same path until three months ago; and while every day is still a struggle, I know that I made the right choice.

So here I am, back at
The Vault
, waiting for him to come out of his office, and praying that he’ll relent this time.

I’m nursing a neat whiskey as I sit at the bar, noticing the clientele is the same as always. It’s the same men and women who frequent the establishment several times a week, like I do.

Or the way I used to, it would seem.

A petite brunette, wearing a tightly fitted black dress and a collar at her neck at the other end of the bar, keeps darting her eyes my way, retreating when they meet mine. While I can tell that she knows the game – her demeanour screams
submissive
to me – I’m not interested.

The Dom inside me may crave a willing plaything after all these months, but there are none here who are able to tempt me. The thought that my means to escape the memories from my past is no longer working enters my mind, but immediately, I brush it off. I tend to focus on one thing at a time, and tonight, I’m not here to get my dick wet. My sole purpose is to talk with Rowan, and then I’m gone.

Sadly, I just want this meeting to be over with so that I can return home and rest.

Fuck being boring.

I started remembering the night before when Suzy arrived home. I didn’t like the onslaught of fleeting images running through my mind the harder I thought about what happened between us. I need to stay away from her. She’s too good for the likes of me.

She isn’t fit for my world, and I must be crazy to think of her as a possible sub. My desires are not for her. She wouldn’t be able to handle a man like me – a man with tastes such as mine.

Yes, it’s madness.

But when I saw her creamy skin through her red, flimsy, bra when she returned home, her clothes rumpled – fuck me, I had to work so hard to remain in my seat instead of prowling towards her, taking what I craved – demanding with my words and my body to know where she’d been, and with whom. But it’s not my place to demand answers from her.

I tense when I feel a presence behind me and I turn around to find Rowan standing there, flanked by two women, his arms around their waists.

“Well, well, well,” he muses on a sneer. “If it isn’t the big, bad wolf who’s come calling.”

My hand squeezes the tumbler I'm holding, and I almost fear it’ll break. But I keep my face blank.

This little pup doesn’t want to mess with me.

“Rowan,” I greet him calmly, trying to assess how high he is already.

The lopsided grin on his face, and the way he blinks rapidly, unable to focus on me, tells me that he’s long gone. If I didn’t know him as well as I do, I wouldn’t think that he was lost in a haze of drugs; but I know him better than I know myself.

I grit my teeth. “Can we talk?”

He sighs and scratches the reddish stubble on his chin, before he shakes his head. His hair is cut close on each side, but is longer on the top, and it’s lost the healthy shine that used to be there. His hair used to be ginger. Now it’s darker, dull – lifeless.

“Sorry, man. I’m about to show these two ladies…” He pauses as the blonde on his right leans into his side and then smirks at me.

“I’m sure you understand,” he says.

He’s so pale, it makes me sick, but what can I do?

Not a damn thing.

I swallow the last of my whiskey and stand up, putting my hands in my pockets.

“I’ll come see you in the morning.” I fist my hands to prevent them from grabbing onto the lapels of his suit, trying to shake some sense into him. With my back straight, I turn to move past him.

“Hey, man, wait!” he calls as he reaches his hand to me. I glance down at the leash he’s offering me, and my stomach coils with repulsion.

“You know I don’t like my subs like that, Rowan.”

He shrugs. “I’m sure Isabella is happy to serve you in any way that she can. Aren’t you, hmm?” He pulls slightly on the leash attached to the woman’s collar, and while her head turns to him, her eyes remain downcast. She’s undoubtedly beautiful, but my dick doesn’t want her, and neither do I.

“Answer,” Rowan commands. She wets her lips.

“Of course, Sir. I only wish to please your friend.” Her voice is low, pleasant, and it grates on my nerves even when it shouldn’t.

“There.” Rowan looks at me again, his dilated pupils devoid of emotion.

I shake my head and walk away from the trio.

“Suit yourself!” he calls out after me, his maniacal laugh following me all the way home.

Something has to be done. Soon. Or his death will be inevitable.

I refuse to let another person I care for die.

It’s been a quiet morning. I’ve been lounging around, being lazy. Garrett was home when I woke up, but went out with Rufus. They haven’t returned from their walk yet even though it’s been a couple of hours now. I feel more refreshed than yesterday, and while I really only want to keep being lazy and lose myself in a romance novel all day, I should probably head out soon.

I curse the shopaholic in me for going completely crazy when I first came to the city. Instead of buying designer clothes, shoes, and bags, I should have been more careful with my money. Those things may look beautiful, but that’s all they are – things. Inanimate objects that aren’t really good for anything in the long run.

Except for when I go out with Morgan or Safiro, that is.

Nevertheless, I vow to become more sensible with my finances in the future.

I decide to stop dragging my feet and take my last sip of coffee. As I stand up, the front door opens, and Rufus bounds inside, leash in his teeth. I offer Garrett a friendly smile when he enters the room.

I open my mouth to greet him, but no sound follows, because he abruptly stops and stares at me, nostrils flaring.

I frown at him.

“What?” I ask him. “Why are you staring at me like that?”

He closes his eyes briefly and then shakes his head before opening them again. He doesn’t answer my question, though. I’m just about to repeat it when a text pings from the iPhone in my hand.

I look down and swipe the screen to read it.

Morgan: I may have found a job for you.

I quickly type a response.

Me: You have? What’s the job? And where?

I turn to walk to the bathroom, Garrett’s strange behaviour completely forgotten.

Her answer follows swiftly.