She released a breath, that I thought was from sex, but as she moved off of me, I realized was regret. Ah fuck.
“What’s wrong?” I wanted to hold her, but first I removed the condom filled with my cum. I tied it off and tossed it in the trashcan.
“Nothing,” she said giving me a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. It barely reached her lips. “I just have things I need to do.”
“Tonight?”
“I have to be up early tomorrow. I had a lovely time, but… can you take me back to the club?”
I was baffled. Two seconds ago, she was riding my cock like her life depended on it and now she couldn’t be any more cool and distant. “I can take you home.”
“The club is fine.”
I wasn’t a man to beg or push myself on a woman so I pressed the button to intercom the driver. “Take us back to Jet.”
“Yes, sir.”
I buttoned my pants and shirt still trying to decide what happened. Did I say something wrong? Was it bad to want to spend the night with her? She’d had an orgasm, a powerful one if the pressure on my dick and how she cried out was any indication.
She sat next to me, not looking like a woman who just got thoroughly fucked. What the hell?
Deciding she didn’t want to talk about what just happened, I switched tactics. Maybe she didn’t want to have more sex, but she did want to sell Ben’s half of the club.
“When would you like to get together to discuss the sale of Ben’s share in Jet?”
“Why don’t you email me what you think is fair?”
I felt like I was stabbed in the gut. Was she really going to fuck me and then act like nothing happened and never see me again? Was this payback for what I did six years ago? I supposed I couldn’t blame her, and yet this type of retaliation didn’t seem like Beth. Then again, I hadn’t seen her for six years. People changed a lot between eighteen to twenty-four. I’d changed in the last six years, although I didn’t think I’d become more callous.
“Usually the one initiating the deal makes the offer,” I said.
She pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes at me like she was offended. “I know how business works, Ash. But this is different, isn’t it? You and Ben used to be friends.”
“Used to be?” Clearly, I was missing something. Yes, I hadn’t seen Ben in a while and I was remiss in reaching out to him, but as far as I knew, we hadn’t had a falling out.
She shook her head and looked away. “I just meant that this is more personal. I hope you’ll keep that in mind and come up with something you think is fair.”
Annoyed now, I said, “You mean you want me to pay more than what it’s worth because we’re old friends. Is that why you fucked me? To up the price of Ben’s share?”
The minute the words left my lips, I regretted them. I might have wondered if she was getting back at me for leaving her, but I didn’t really think she’d pimp herself out over a business deal.
Her eyes widened in shock and pain.
“I’m sorry, Beth, that was wrong. I didn’t mean it… but I don’t know what’s going on here.”
The limo pulled up to the curb.
“I’m here to sell Ben’s share of the club.” She opened the door and stepped out onto the sidewalk.
I slipped out after her, but she was already heading up the street. I watched her as she moved away wondering what the fuck happened. How had a lovely evening, and the best fuck of my life ended so disastrously?
Cupid was a fucking sadist, I decided as I got back in the limo and had the driver take me home. Or maybe because he was male, he didn’t know the first thing about women. That was why poisoned arrows were needed to bring women and men together. Because neither understood the other.
Back home, I was too wired to go to bed even though it was after midnight. So, I opened my laptop and began to work on what I’d offer for Ben’s share of the club. It was annoying that Beth wanted to keep everything business-oriented, and at the same time wanted me to keep in mind that Ben and I were friends. Were we? Her comment about how we used to be friends sat uncomfortably in my gut. I’d figured he was MIA because of his father’s illness and subsequent death but was something else going on? All of a sudden it felt like I was going behind his back by dealing with Beth. Not that I thought she’d pull something over on him, but he was my partner, he was the one I should be talking to.