The Scotch Queen (Scotch 2)

But I didn’t feel like being nice right now.

I stopped in front of my office door. “I have a phone call to make. When I’m done, I’m going to go upstairs and see you naked on the bed, flat on your stomach. Do you understand?” If she wanted me to quit drinking like an alcoholic, she’d definitely have to distract me.

These situations were the only ones where she obeyed. Any other time, I had a face full of attitude. “Yes, sir.”

“Good.” I grabbed her wrist then pressed a kiss to the corner of her mouth. I had a lot of dirty things in mind for her. It would be a shame not to put that beautiful ass to good use. “See you in a few.” I turned my back on her and walked into my office. I didn’t have any such phone call to make. I just wanted to give her time to prepare for me. I intended to do something new with her, something she’d probably never experienced.

Hopefully, she would like it.

I sat at my desk and eyed the bottle of scotch sitting next to my laptop. I didn’t know how many glasses I’d had that day, but I was certain I was already over the limit. Cutting down would be a lot more difficult than I’d anticipated. It’d only been five minutes, and I was already struggling.

I really did have a drinking problem.

My cell phone rang, and I pulled it out of my pocket and glanced at the screen, expecting to see Ariel getting back to me with news about the shipment. I was supposed to call her back and never did. But she knew I was forgetful and busy.

But it was Josephine.

Why the fuck wouldn’t this bitch just disappear?

I didn’t need any more rumors about my love life. She humiliated me once, and I wouldn’t be dragged into scandal again. If people assumed I was contemplating taking her back, that would be even worse than when she left me to begin with.

That made me look like the biggest pussy in the world.

I didn’t believe in forgiveness.

Just ruthlessness.

I swiped my thumb across the screen and answered. I pressed the phone to my ear but didn’t say anything, too annoyed to actually form words with my mouth. I’d made it abundantly clear she didn’t have any chance with me, but apparently, that didn’t mean shit to her. “If you’re interested in ordering Highland Scotch for a party, you can always call Ariel. If you’re inviting me to a social event, invitations by mail are welcome. Any other inquiries are inappropriate, and frankly, annoying.” I was never this cold to her when we were together, not even when she pissed me off, but when she decided to be with someone else, I shut the door on her forever. It wasn’t about getting my heart broken. It was about the disloyalty.

I hated disloyalty.

She made a promise to me—and she fucking broke it.

Josephine breathed into the phone, obviously offended by my introduction. She didn’t have a backbone the way Ariel did. She was fragile. A few insults were enough to cripple her into sobs.

“Crewe, I just want to talk to you.”

“About what?” I asked coldly. “We aren’t friends, so I don’t see what there is to talk about.”

“I’m sorry to bother you…I really am.”

“No, you aren’t,” I snapped. “If so, you wouldn’t have dropped by yesterday. And you wouldn’t be calling me now.”

“It’s just…my father is in the hospital.”

I hadn’t heard the news. Maybe they were keeping it quiet. For just an instant, I felt sympathy. “I’m sorry to hear that, Josephine. Will he be alright?”

“He had a heart attack…” She cried into the phone. “The doctors say they think he’ll be okay, but he’s being observed overnight for a few more days. There’s a blockage in one of his carotid arteries. They need to operate.”

I didn’t remember my father very much. All I had were pictures of him. The only memories I had were ones I made up. When I saw a picture of us playing catch outside on the lawn, I pretended we were both baseball fans even though we never followed the international sport. “I’m sure he’ll be okay.” I had no idea if her father would be okay, but I wanted to say what she wanted to hear.

“I don’t know…I just came home to get some sleep. I’d been there for a few days.”

Except when she came to my home.

“I was hoping you could stop by…or I could go over there.”

The question made me angry, but I swallowed my rage out of respect for her situation. “Where’s Andrew?”

“He’s in Africa with UNICEF. He’ll be gone for another week. He said he couldn’t leave right now…”

Nothing would have stopped me from being by her side if we were still together. But that ship had sailed. “I can’t join you, Josephine. You know that.”