Color Me Pretty: A Father's Best Friend Romance

“I don’t know who you are anymore,” I told her quietly.

She grinned. “I’m Katrina Murphy. But better. And if you listen to me like you used to, you could be the best Adele Saint James that New York City has ever seen.”

“If she gets that stick out of her ass,” Sam commented from behind Kat.

Gina just laughed and finished doing her line, her body swaying backward when she sat up. I saw the rolled money she was using and knew without a doubt it was a counterfeit bill. Like father like daughter.

I looked back at Kat. She said, “I’m just trying to help you out. Judge me all you want, but you won’t get rid of that and you’ll keep asking yourself why as each day passes until you cave. Want to know why? Because I know you, and you want an escape, but you’ve been too chicken to take one.”

Silence was what greeted her.

And when I walked out with them throwing comments at me the entire way, I gripped the bag in my hands and heard her words on repeat. I told myself I’d flush it, dump it, throw it away when I got home.

Bu

t when I got there…

It remained hidden in my purse.

Chapter Seven

Theo

“Does it sound like I give a fuck?” I demanded over the phone, grabbing a few folders to bring home with me.

“Now, Theo—”

“Don’t.” My warning shut Richard, or The Dick as I liked calling him, up quickly. “I’ve had enough of your bullshit. You’ve been hounding me for too long and my answer has not, and will never, change. Do you need me to draw you a picture? Hire a fucking sky writer?”

His huffed murmur wasn’t understandable, irritating me more as I locked up my office. “I’m sorry, what was that?”

Silence.

I grinned knowing he wasn’t the kind of man to speak up when asked. He liked to talk shit behind everybody’s backs like his wife, like half the women in the goddamn city, acting like he had more courage than he did. “I don’t know if you remember, Richard, but I’ve been doing just fine without you and your checkbook and I’ll continue to do so. Whatever shit you got yourself into can stay far away from me. Understood?”

His breath caught, leading to a husky laugh. “I seem to recall an investigation following the arrest of one Anthony Saint James. He was your partner at one point, correct?”

My jaw ticked as I stopped at the elevator, waiting for the doors to open. “If you followed the news so closely, you’ll know that my business had nothing to do with what he was involved in. He gave up his partnership long before that point, so the feds had no damn reason to crucify me.”

“Which is why I’m offering my services.”

His “services” were shit to me. If there was one person I knew not to trust, it was Richard Pratt. He only did things for his own benefit, and I didn’t want to know why he wanted to partner and invest with me. The whole thing was shady.

“Pass.” When the door finally opened, I walked in and debated hanging up. But he’d call. Again. For the third time this week. I wasn’t sure why the sudden need to get involved with Interactive Marketing, but there had to be one. He’d hounded me in the past about it, but never like he did now. “If you know me at all, you’d know that I would have given you an answer by now if I was interested.”

My reputation didn’t say a lot of great things about me on a lot of fronts, especially being associated with Anthony. Despite not participating in his extra curriculars, people thought what they thought. To them, I was the cruel businessman who refused to help his lifelong friend when he needed it most. Did I have moments when that guilt plagued me? Yes. I spent too many sleepless nights considering what I could have done differently. I could have lied for him. Had his back. But I’d had his back, his entire family’s back, for too long. I wasn’t going to lose everything because of his choices. I wouldn’t go down with him over things I didn’t know. And I’d like to think he wouldn’t want me to. Not after he talked to me about Adele.

“Somebody needs to be there for her, Theo. I’m glad it’s you.” But I doubted he knew the kind of ways I wanted to be there for her when she turned eighteen. It wasn’t like a switch flipped when I realized she was officially legal. There were consequences no matter how old she got, even without the obstacles that would normally be in people’s ways when it came to the fragile situation. It was the way she carried herself when she realized what power she held. Her movements became confident, her eyes lingering bravely, and her words—

Fuck.

The sass in her replies were why I became infatuated with the woman she became. And did I hate myself for it? Yes. Did that make me stop thinking about her in every way I shouldn’t have? No. It made it worse. Like the forbidden fruit I wanted to pick and keep for myself.

“Perhaps,” he agreed casually. “But I have a feeling you’ll change your mind. You can only handle so much. You’re only one person with limited power.”

“Are you trying to tell me something?” It was a nicer way of asking if he was threatening me. Even I had my limits on how to go about conversations with assholes like The Dick. He got his way by waving his money around and talking smack. He was the kind of guy who could charm anybody if he wanted to, so people listened. That left me at a disadvantage if he decided to go that route, which I had a feeling he would.

“I’m just making a point, Theo. Nothing to get upset about. We’ll talk another day. Maybe over lunch. My treat.”