“I SCREWED UP last night,” she said, striding past Strat to go into his apartment before he had time to register who’d knocked.
In the living room, she tossed her purse at her usual chair, but didn’t sit. Too much frantic energy buzzed inside her, so she paced instead.
“What’d you do, Scamp?” Strat asked, yawning as he approached.
She stopped. “I had sex with Connel McDade.” Shock flattened his affect. For about ten seconds, he said nothing. The silence was too excruciating to tolerate. “Actually, I had sex with two random women and Connel McDade.”
He backed up into the kitchen to put coffee and water in the machine before turning and laying his hands on the breakfast bar.
“Four of you? He was the only dude?” She shrugged. “Damn, why’d I get out of the game? He hiring?”
“Strat…” she said and went over to lean on the counter opposite him. “Evander approached me yesterday. At lunch. He knew I spent Wednesday night over there.”
He frowned. “Over where?”
“Stag.”
“Shit,” he said. “You’re seeing Ire McDade? How long?”
It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him the truth. But it was against the rules… Connel’s rules.
“Just this week,” she said, because it was true. “We met at Stag.”
Also true.
“What were you doing at Stag?” he said. “Hiding from Manzani? Shit, Scamp. Avoiding one asshole, you get yourself mixed up with another?”
“This isn’t about that,” she said, going around the counter into the tiny kitchen with him. “Evander’s people have to still be watching because he knew I stayed over… he thought I was screwing one of Connel’s guys.”
“You weren’t. You were screwing him.”
Not that night, but that was irrelevant. “Evander thinks it’s a game. That I’m teasing him or something.”
“Vex Manzani thinks everything you do is to tease him.”
“Right, except Evander’s made a reservation… at a hotel. He wants me to meet him there tonight.”
“Scamp—”
“I know,” she said, hearing his warning tone. “I can’t. I mean, I wouldn’t.”
“They’ll kill each other. Don’t put two guys like them up against each other.”
“I didn’t mean to do that. It wasn’t my intention. I told Conn I didn’t need protection from Evander, but it snowballed and now…” Her hand rose to her throat. “Something happened this morning. Someone hit Connel’s guys… I didn’t get specifics, but—”
“You think it was Vex? That this is because of you?”
“Maybe.”
He took cups from a cabinet and filled them with coffee. “What did McDade say when you told him?” Sucking her lower lip into her mouth, she salved it with her tongue. When there was no reply, he looked back at her. “You told him… You did tell him?”
Exasperated frustration burst out of her. “How can I do that?” she asked. “Maybe I’m wrong.”
“Maybe you’re right. Vex could pick McDade’s guys off one by one. When do you say stop? And what do you plan to do tonight? Go to the hotel with Vex?”
“No!”
“Stag with Ire? What happens when Vex finds out you’re not coming? Is he going to show up at the club?”
That would be horrific. People would get hurt.
“If I tell Conn, it’ll start a war.”
On an exhale, he put his cup down. “You want to cut them both out? I don’t know who could protect you against two guys like them, with their resources, their armies. Your brother would try—”
“I don’t want my family involved.” Hence how she got into the mess in the first place. “What do I do?”
“You’re not going to like it,” he said, resting a shoulder on the fridge.
“What? Help me out, Strat.”
“Loyalty’s the only weapon. You’ve gotta pick a guy and go all in.”
“I can’t do that.” Because one relationship wasn’t real and the other repulsed her. “I can’t.”
“Alternative is walking away from both. You pulled the pin. What you meant to happen doesn’t matter. No one gives a shit about intentions. You’re in it. Abandoning them both is risky. You could end up the focus of their anger. Embarrassing and disrespecting both of them would be crazy. Hell, that might unite them against you. Trust one of them, take the risk on one of them. It’s the only way out.”
“And if Conn blames me?” She worried about the injured men. Daly had been good to her. She didn’t want him hurt. “Then what?”
“If he’s going to blame you, he’ll blame you now or later. The truth will get out eventually; it always does.” Man, she hoped not. There were too many truths she wanted to keep secret. “If he finds out you were lying to him the whole time…”
“Okay,” she said, balling her determined fists at her sides. “So we have another problem.”
“What?”
She winced. “I don’t know where to find him at this time of day.”
He almost rolled his eyes. “I’ll make some calls,” he said, picking up one coffee to hand it over as he disappeared into his bedroom.
She should’ve told Connel that morning. Should’ve found out the condition of his people. Except by the time she tiptoed down to his office, it was empty. She hadn’t seen anyone and had left without security opening the door or a car waiting at the curb.
Strat was right. Coming to him, sounding off was a good plan. Now she just needed to figure out what to tell Connel… If he was in the mood to hear her.