“Isa…” Bryant warns from behind me, and I snap.
Spinning around, I shove him in his chest. He doesn’t move, but my intention was made clear. I wanted to hurt him. “Fuck you. This isn’t even about Stacey anymore. You want this life, Bryant? You want to be president? Then you can’t have me.”
When he doesn’t answer, his lashes flicking over his flawless skin, I’m annoyed when I feel the tears spill down my cheeks again. “Right. Of course not.”
“Isa, wait!” Bryant reaches for me, but I yank my hand out of his grip.
Once I reach Stacey, I stare down at her, which is easy considering she’s a few inches shorter than me—even with heels.
“You come anywhere near my daughter, bitch, and I will gut you alive. You hear me?”
Her eyes settle on me. “Whatever is going on between you, Bryant, and Max, I have no part in, Isa.” She holds my stare and I have to hold my patience not to hit her. “Do you really think Bryant would keep me around if I was? I mean you and your daughter no harm. I don’t know what Max got into.” She pauses, and I watch as a tear slides down the side of her face. “All I know is that I was lucky I got out when I did.” She swipes it away smoothly, collects her composure, and then turns back to Bryant. “Can we have a word? It won’t take up much of your time.”
In that moment, I hate her. I hate that she can compose and control her anger. I hate that she is pretty and seems to have some sort of bond with Bryant. But more importantly, I hate that I believe her.
“Yeah, my office.” Bryant gestures down the hallway and I watch through blurred vision as she disappears down the foyer, her designer shoes clicking across the marble floor. “Isa, this conversation isn’t over. But you have to stop this with Stacey. I’ll explain later.”
I bite down on my tongue to stop myself from screaming. I want to say so many things. I want to throw a tantrum and demand to know why he is so protective over her. Why her! But I don’t.
I storm up the stairs and find my lifeline.
Harper.
You don’t have to know someone to understand pain.
- Bryant
Past
“You can’t do that…” I say, gesturing down to the chessboard. “This isn’t Drafts. It’s Chess.” I leaned back in the pool chair, the sun hitting my skin. My parents were away this weekend, so we had the house to ourselves. Hated that they were coming back tonight though. I loved my mom, but fuck I loved throwing parties and doing whatever the fuck I wanted.
“This game is boring. I’d rather get naked…” I turn my head toward her at the mention of her getting naked.
“Stace, I’m all for it, but if your dad finds out that we’re fucking around, I don’t know how my dad will feel about it. Considering they run a business together.”
Stacey had been a part of my life for as long as I could remember. She was a couple years younger than me, which I know sounds creepy as fuck considering I fuck her every night of the week—but there has just always been her. We’d date other people, sure, but we’d still fuck each other whenever she and her family would travel here or us there.
“B, they already know. You’re tripping.” She climbed off her chair and straddled my lap, her knees on either side. “And anyway, they’ve been fighting so much lately that I’m almost certain they’re going to get a divorce.”
“Nah.” I grabbed onto her hips and ground her pussy over my cock. “They’re just too rich.”
Stacey looked up at our mansion, sitting perfectly behind the pool. My parents bought this place in Connecticut. It was perfect for Dad to go back and forth to New York as well as mine and my sister’s schooling. My brother wasn’t worth shit when it came to school. “This house is more than a mansion.”
“It’s haunted.” I grinned against the curve of her soft neck, lifting her from beneath her thighs and throwing her into the ice blue pool. She surfaces with a laugh, rubbing the water off her face.
“You never fight fair, Royal.”
I tilted my head, leaning down. “When have I ever?”
She reached forward and grabbed my hand. Before I could stop what she was about to do, she yanked me into the depths of the pool. I swam up to the surface, rubbing the water from my eyes.
Her legs wrapped around my waist, her mouth to my ear. “Neither do I.”
It was true. Stacey was my match in every way. We would never need each other, but being in each other’s life sure made shit interesting.
“Sounds like they’re home…” she whispered against my lips.