Traitorous Heart 2 Read online

  She shook her head and sniffled. “I don’t need anything.” She wiped at her tears like they were evil. “But I swear to God if I get crabs or chlamydia or some other STD, I’ll personally hunt you down and cut it off.” She pulled away and glared.

  I was shocked by her ferocity. “Deal.” I worked to keep a straight face, but I couldn’t help it. Katie was sweet, even when she tried to be angry. Obviously tough. She wasn’t fucking me for my money. Just for my body. I could live with that. I liked it actually.

  “Can you make me the same promises?” I raised an eyebrow.

  CHAPTER 7

  GRIFFIN

  The comment seemed to throw her off guard. Five different emotions changed her features. Her lips twitched. “You don’t need to worry. You’re the first guy I’ve slept with in… a really long time. I’m STD free.” She grabbed her purse. “Or, at least I was.”

  She made her way to the front door and turned the handle. Before she could get it open, I placed my hand over hers. “Can’t you stay?” It blew my fucking mind that I was asking her. Normally I couldn’t get them out of my apartment fast enough. The way I felt about Katie wasn’t normal, though.

  Her gaze found mine.

  “It’s late. We could watch a movie.” She made a face and I laughed. “Play a game?”

  That peaked her interest. “What kind of game?” She pushed her glasses up.

  I shrugged. I hadn’t thought that far ahead. I took her small hand in mine. “Let’s see.”

  She followed me into my office. I watched her check out the bookcase, the mahogany desk, and the papers scattered atop it. But when her eye caught hold of a poster of Madonna hanging on the far wall, she dropped my hand and walked over. Madonna had signed it: Keep your shirt off and sing every song like it’s your last. ~ M

  I’d met her when I was in my late teens. At the time she’d been the sexiest woman I’d ever known.

  “Did you meet her?” Katie asked, turning.

  “Once.” It’d been a long weekend filled with many new beginnings, but there was no way I was telling Katie that the woman known to all of the world as Madonna was my first time. That was just…

  “You slept with her,” Katie said, her eyes alight with surprise.

  I let out a nervous laugh. “Maybe.”

  She shook her head. “Cool.”

  I was surprised. She wasn’t jealous. Katie thought it was cool, but I didn’t want to push it. If there was one thing I knew for a fact it was that women didn’t want to hear about past women. They wanted to believe that they were the best, that they were the one…that they were special.

  I walked over to the closet and opened the door. Katie was still watching me. Electricity shot through my heart and I realized Katie was special.

  “There’s Monopoly and Twister.” I cleared my throat.

  “What else?” She stood behind me, her hand resting on my back. It felt natural there.

  “There’s a deck of cards, or Clue…”

  “Let’s play Clue.” She reached in and picked up the game, then turned and gave my body a once over. It was then that I realized I was still naked. “Maybe you should get dressed first.” She walked out of the office.

  I followed. “Good idea.” I jogged into my bedroom and pulled on a pair of jeans. When I came out Katie was setting up the game at the kitchen table. She’d pulled a water bottle from the fridge for herself and there was one sitting across from her. I guessed it was for me.

  I did a mental checklist.

  Katie Jayne:

  Hot as hell – even in glasses.

  Thoughtful.

  Thinks my sleeping with Madonna is cool.

  When I sat down, she glanced over. “Do you know how to play Clue? The game wasn’t open.”

  I twisted the lid off the water. “Do you?” I took a big drink and then set the almost empty bottle back on the table.

  “I’m a lawyer. Or at least I went to school to become one.” She pulled her hair back and wrapped a tie in it. “Learning how to play Clue is like a prerequisite for graduation.” She smiled, pushing at her glasses. I wondered if she did that out of necessity or if it was a nervous tick.

  “Does that mean there’s no way in hell I can win?” I took one of the pieces. It looked like a candlestick.

  “Pretty much, but I’ll give you some pointers.” She winked. Fucking winked. The girl had gone to law school and she was witty. I added those to my mental list and put an imaginary check mark by them. Damn. I was in trouble.

  “The rules are simple,” she began, then took a quick drink, and went on. “Mr. Boddy has been found dead in one of these rooms.” She pointed them out on the board. “He’s the victim of foul play.”

  “Awwww, a murder mystery.”

  Katie gave me a strange look.

  “What? I had no idea what the game was about.” The truth was my housekeeper had purchased the games for a party I’d thrown a couple of years ago. The game had never left the bag.

  “Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to figure out who did it, with what weapon, and where.” She held up a rope and placed it in the kitchen.

  I clapped my hands and rubbed them together. “Awesome. But this sounds like a drinking game. What’s your poison?”

  She giggled. I could tell she was relaxing. “Whatever.”

  “Beer?”

  “If that’s all you have.” The way she wrinkled her nose I knew she wasn’t a big fan.

  “Wine?”

  “Yes.” Her eyes twinkled.

  I set about getting the glasses and opening the bottle. It was a good year, one I’d been saving for a special night. Tonight felt like that night.

  I brought the bottle and the filled glasses over to the table. “I’m ready.”

  She took a sip, set the glass down, and then tapped her fingers together. “Excellent,” she said in a faux Russian accent.

  Holy fuck, I was caught. I’d fallen for her. Hook, line, and sinker.

  CHAPTER 8

  KATIE

  I believed him when he said I wouldn’t get an STD, even though common sense told me I shouldn’t be so trusting, especially after the way Reid had deceived me. But I couldn’t help it.

  Not only that, but he was fun. Playing Clue with him was a highlight of the last two weeks. Fucking him was the star, but just hanging out and drinking came in a close second. He was easy to talk to.

  “What made you decide to join a band and name it Crushed Velvet?” I was feeling the tiniest bit tipsy and I’d thought about asking him where the name of his band came from.

  Griffin chuckled. “Eddie, Brian, and I have been friends since high school. We listened to the same kinds of music and playing together just kind of happened. I met Steve and Hammond in college. We played together a couple of times and it was clear we meshed well together.”

  The game was forgotten momentarily. I picked up my glass and drank while I waited for him to continue.

  “I’d never shared any of my songs before, but one night we’d gone to Vegas to check out a possible seventh member. She wasn’t a good fit.” He paused, took a drink, and then continued. “So we spent the final night in our suite talking, drinking, and playing. On a drunken whim I brought out my lyrics. The guys played and we came up with three songs that night.” He picked up a card and flipped it between his fingers. “The room was called the Velvet Suite and we’d crushed it, which is what Eddie said. From then on we called ourselves Crushed Velvet.”

  While he spoke I tried to keep my eyes off his hot body and on his face, but it was difficult. The man was damn fine. I had to agree with Madonna. Griffin should definitely keep his shirt off.

  “Katie?”

  Griffin had a smirk on his face. He’d caught me staring at him. I cleared my throat. “That’s a great story, even if the name is a little odd.”

  “Odd is good.” He ran his hands through his hair. The tattoos on his arms moved and I thought again about licking them, which made my pussy wet
. It was time for another fix. Already.

  After spending only two nights in Griffin’s arms, my ex fiancé was all but forgotten.

  “What are you thinking, Katie Jayne?”

  I licked my lips.

  “Come here.” He pushed his chair back.

  My heart raced with longing. When I was in front of him, he grabbed my ass and moved me so that I straddled his lap.

  “Tell me what you’re thinking.”

  I didn’t want to. It was embarrassing. How could I explain that I might need a twelve-step program to get over him?

  “I’m sure you know,” I said, looking away.

  “That we need to get naked again?” He took my chin in his hand and turned my face so that I had to look at him.

  “Something like that.” I wanted to close my eyes, but I decided to be brave. So I held his gaze. He was my addiction. It was totally his fault. was all his fault anyway.

  “I think we should get right on that.” He stood with me in his arms. I latched my legs around his hips.

  “What about our game?”

  Griffin set me down, moved over to the table, and put the Professor Plum card in the library with the rope. “There you go. Isn’t it always that fucker Professor Plum?”

  I laughed.

  Griffin undid my pants and pushed them along with my undies off my ass and down my legs. He helped me take off my shoes too, then dropped them. I unbuttoned his pants and pushed them off his hips. He wasn’t wearing any underwear and his already hardened cock sprang out.

  He sat on the chair and pulled me on top of him. His cock slid into my pussy with ease. I was so ready. We’d already fucked once without protection. Round two wouldn’t matter, I thought. His hands grasped my waist. I pushed from my tiptoes so that I could move up and down on him. He helped.

  It felt amazing to fuck this way. His cock was so deep inside me. I threw my head back and moaned. His hands went under my sweater and moved my bra so that it was under my breasts, then he took the nipples between his thumb and first finger and pinched.

  I moaned. My orgasm was building quickly. I rocked up and down faster and faster.

  “Fuck, Katie. You feel so good.” He stood, lifting me while still in me and laid me on the table. His hands cupped my ass and he pulled me further and further onto him.

  I watched his body move, admiring his amazing tattoos. When his finger found my clit and began to rub I couldn’t do anything but feel. I closed my eyes and gave in to the sensations overpowering my body.

  God, I’d missed this, connecting with a person in such an intimate way.

  My orgasm came quickly. I shuddered at the intensity. His came soon after. His body pressed into mine, kissing my neck, my cheek, and my lips.

  After several seconds I opened my eyes. Griffin studied me, an emotion I couldn’t read on his face. He pulled out and helped me up.

  “Want to clean up?”

  I nodded. He pulled me off the table. I picked up my panties and pants. He dragged his pants over his fine ass and redid them. I was about to follow him into his bedroom when I heard my cell phone ring. The clock on the microwave said it was nearly two in the morning. I’d texted Birdy when I knew I wasn’t going to be coming back to our apartment, so it shouldn’t be her.

  “Did you need to get that?” He watched me walk over to my purse and open it.

  “I don’t recognize the number.” I grabbed my pack of cigarettes and lighter. “I could use a smoke though.”

  “I’ll join you.”

  “’Kay, I’ll hurry.” I ran into the bathroom, quickly washed up, and put my clothes back on. When I came back out I noticed Griffin talking on my phone. There was a look on his face. Fear? Dread? Anxiety? I didn’t know.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, taking the phone from him.

  “It’s Birdy. She’s in jail.”

  “What?” Someone had to be fucking with Griffin. Probably Reid. He’d be pissed that a guy answered my phone. I placed my cell to my ear. “Hello? Who is this?”

  “Katie?”

  “It’s me.” Holy shit. It was Birdy. My body went into panic mode. My voice shook with a fear I didn’t understand.

  “Thank God.” I heard Birdy sniffle. “Reid’s dead. They think I did it,” she blurted between sobs. “But I didn’t kill him. I swear. You’ve got to believe me.”

  I was frozen. Reid was dead?

  “Katie? Are you there? I need your help.”

  CHAPTER 9

  GRIFFIN

  Birdy told me her father knew. But because it was a murder charge, they wouldn’t release her on bail until the D.A. held a hearing.

  My first thought after the initial shock was that I wasn’t surprised Reid was dead. The fucker associated with a lot of people on the wrong side of the law. He frequented underground gambling establishments, the kind that took their business very seriously. He also spent a lot of time with hookers—male and female—and from what I’d heard tended to be rough on them. On top of that there were the drugs. He liked to party and didn’t care about the consequences. Most nights that meant doing shit that pissed a lot of people off.

  What did surprise me was that Birdy had been accused of killing him. Obviously the police didn’t know the kind of person she was.

  I’d known her a long time. We became friends at my seventh birthday party. My dad didn’t know or hadn’t cared that I couldn’t swim. He’d thrown me a swimming party. All the kids were playing a game, kind of like a twisted Duck Duck Goose. One person would be It. Everyone else stood around the pool. Whoever was it would walk around tapping on each person’s shoulder and saying, “Dry. Dry. Dry.” Until they came to the person they wanted to push into the pool when they would say, “Wet.” and push them in. Then they had to run around the entire pool and take the person who’d gone into the pool’s place before the person in the water made it out of the pool and back to their spot.

  I hadn’t wanted to be uncool by telling everyone I couldn’t swim, so I took the first open place. It was at the deep end. The girl who was it came to me and shouted Wet and then shoved me in.

  To this day I don’t blame her. It wasn’t her fault I didn’t know how to swim. I tried my best, flapping my arms, trying to stay above water, but I kept going under and water kept getting in my mouth.

  At first the kids laughed. They thought I was joking around because, really, who had a pool and didn’t know how to swim? After a few seconds, though, they realized the truth.

  But no one did anything. Except Birdy. She was tall for her age, taller than me at the time. She jumped into the pool, tucked an arm under my armpits, and paddled for the edge. Then she helped me out. I was gasping and sputtering.

  She patted my back and kept saying the same words over and over: “It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s okay.”

  I’d been crying too, but luckily no one except Birdy knew. When I could breathe normally again she stood and told everyone that Dry Dry Wet was a stupid fucking game and she wouldn’t play anymore.

  That was the kind of person she was. She didn’t have a murderous bone in her body. She’d do anything for those she cared about.

  But did that include murder?

  Had her hatred for Reid and her love for Katie pushed her over the edge? I thought about the feelings within me I already possessed to protect Katie.

  But I couldn’t believe it was possible she would do something so awful. I wouldn’t.

  “She didn’t do it,” I said, sitting on the couch.

  Katie hung up the phone. I realized I hadn’t heard what she’d said to Birdy. “I know.” I watched Katie walk over to the table, pick up her glass, drain it, and then grab her cigarettes. “How do I get outside? I need a fucking smoke.”

  I pushed aside the white curtains and opened the sliding glass door. She stepped through without looking at me and lit up a cigarette before I even had the door shut. I watched as she took a drag, trying to read her mood, but I had no clue. I still didn’t know her well enough.
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  She walked over to the edge. “This is a nice view.”

  “Thanks. I’ve always thought so.” It was a twenty million dollar view. There weren’t too many better. I could’ve bored her with interesting factoids about which famous person had lived where, but I was smart enough to know now wasn’t the time. I got the feeling she was making small talk while she wrapped her head around what Birdy had just told her.

  “Mind if I bum a smoke?”

  She shook one out and handed it to me, then gave me the lighter. We stood like that until my cigarette was gone, each of us lost in our own thoughts.

  Finally she put hers out. “What should I do with the butt?”

  “Hang on.” I walked over and grabbed an ashtray. “Use this.”

  “Thanks.” She took another cigarette and lit it. “When we saw you at The Attic, I had no idea Birdy actually knew you.”

  I shrugged, wishing I’d worn a jacket. It was a little cold and I was shirtless. “Our families hung in the same circles. We went to school together. After graduation, though, she went off to her college of choice and I went to mine. We lost touch.”

  While I spoke, Katie turned. “You grew up together?”

  “Yeah.”

  She took a long drag of her cigarette and then blew. The smoke seemed to freeze in the cool air. “Why didn’t she ever mention you?” She turned away and I moved up behind her.

  “Birdy was one of my first true friends. Over time we grew apart.” Katie glanced at me. “She probably never mentioned me because there was nothing good to say. As you know, Birdy is a good person.”

  Katie nodded. Tears filled her eyes. “But she acted like…” She shook her head.

  “Like what?” I said, brushed at a tear that’d fallen onto her cheek.

  “Like she thought you were…” She looked away, embarrassed.

  “I was what?”

  “Fuckable,” she blurted.

  It was my turn to be embarrassed. “It’s possible she didn’t realize who I was. We hadn’t seen each other in probably eight years.”