Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 71034 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71034 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
The bed linens rustled, and I turned to see Laurie wrapping the sheet around himself.
“Don’t go. You and I should talk. Beck, I’ll call you back later.”
“No,” Laurie said. “This was…I was so stupid.” He ran out of the room, and I heard the door to the villa’s other bedroom slam.
“I thought you actually wanted to change,” Beck yelled. “I thought you wanted to get yourself together and do something with your life.”
“I’ve been trying to run the fucking company, does that not count as doing something?”
“Worth, he’s hurting. He just left his boyfriend, a man who’s been abusing him for years. Tommy had him trapped. Laurence hasn’t got any money or any place to go. I sent him to Aruba so he could have a chance to relax and experience some luxury before we figure out his next step. He already didn’t want to take money from me, and now you fucked it all up.”
“How did I do that? I didn’t hurt him; I didn’t do anything he didn’t want.”
“You thought he was a fucking escort.”
“He didn’t act like one, I just made a stupid assumption. I was early and he was naked—well he had on a robe, but it was open. Why else would there be a mostly naked man in our villa?”
“You could have let me know you were arriving early. That would have been nice, even if I was the one there.”
“You could have told me you weren’t coming yesterday.”
“I….”
“Beck?”
“I put it off because I thought you’d be mad, and then I’d have to lay down the law about Laurie.”
“Too late for that.”
“It’s not too late for you to keep your hands off him from now on. He’s in no place for more disappointment. He needs to figure things out on his own, and you…you should be done now anyway since you’re Mr. One Night Only.”
I’d said that about myself plenty of times, but hearing the words spat at me like that hurt. “I thought you wanted me to change.”
“Not like this. You’re going to have to fix this.”
I agreed, but I didn’t think the solution I wanted was the same one Beck did. “What do you want me to do? Apologize to him, then ignore him the rest of the time I’m here?”
“No, but you should probably get your own place to stay. This is not the time for him to be dealing with shit like you eye-fucking him all the time.”
I barely held in my thought that Laurie seemed to be doing pretty well a little while ago.
“He needs a friend, not a quick fling.”
“I can be a friend.”
“Can you?” Beck asked.
“Like you said, I rarely fuck a man twice, so clearly I can.”
“You never make friends with any of them either.”
“Beck, he’s your friend, and you care about him. He’s obviously been through hell. I’m not going to do anything to make it worse.”
“You better fucking listen to my messages from now on and answer the fucking phone when I call.”
“I thought I was supposed to relax while I was here, not hover over my phone waiting for your every command.”
“I expect to hear from you tomorrow, and you better tell me he’s doing better than he is right now.”
I ran a hand through my hair. “Fine. Good night.”
Beck ended the call without saying anything else.
I wanted to throw my phone across the room, but I tossed it on the bed instead. The bed that was now missing a sheet. The bed that was still damp from me fucking the hell out of Laurie. I might have put things together if my stupid brother had told me yesterday that he was coming.
I sat down on the edge of the bed and dropped my head into my hands. Despite all of this, I still wanted him. What the fuck was I going to do?
7
LAURIE
What the fuck had I done? Beck was the best friend I’d ever had. He’d offered me this trip. He wanted to help me, and now I’d lied about who I was and fucked his brother.
You didn’t really lie.
I let Worth believe I’d been hired for him. If he’d had any idea I was his little brother’s friend he would never have fucked me.
And you would never have had that experience.
It was by far the best sex I’d ever had in my life, and now I absolutely wasn’t getting any more, not that I’d thought I would anyway. Worth had a reputation for only being with a partner once, and I’d known he was eventually going to find out who I was. I just hadn’t thought it would happen like this.
Beck probably hated me now, and that would leave me with no friends, no home, and no money. What the fuck had I been thinking?
You wanted something for yourself.
But my only friend’s brother?