A Dom Is Forever (36 page)

Avery was still shaking as Liam got out of the cab. She almost never took cabs in the city, but Liam had insisted he didn’t want to be on the Tube this time. He’d probably thought she would run, but she’d meant what she said. She wasn’t going anywhere. She wasn’t going to allow all of her hard work to be for nothing because someone was trying to profit off the pain and misery of others.

Still, it would have been easier on the Tube. He’d spent the entire time sitting next to her not saying a damn word. For a man who had so much to say before, he was stubbornly silent now, and they were about to head up to her apartment where they couldn’t talk about anything because the whole place was bugged.

Her apartment was bugged, and everyone around her was lying to her. She wouldn’t believe it, but it was pretty hard to think the prime minister of England was really on hand to help out a bunch of con artists. Of course, it could have been an actor. One who looked and sounded just like the PM.

She sighed. She kept looking for a way out, and there wasn’t one. When she really stopped to think about it, she’d known deep down something was wrong at
UOF
. Something was wrong with her boss.

“Do you think Brian was in on it?” Brian Molina had been her friend in physical therapy. He’d introduced her to his brother and gotten her the job in the first place.

“Not here.” Liam handed the driver the fare and reached in to take her hand and help her out.

She ignored the offered hand. She would have to get used to being on her own again since she had no real intention of seeing him after this mission of his was over. In some ways, it would have been kinder for him to have just left. She would have had a few more days, and then he could have faded away. She would have been left with the memory of being loved once.

“Avery.” He was getting very good at making her name sound like a curse word, but she was about to get good at ignoring him.

She managed to stay on her feet. She breezed past him and into the building. He was right behind her. By the time they walked past the front desk, he had an arm around her and she was stuck because she’d promised to keep up the ruse. She smiled at the deskman and managed not to punch Liam when his hand slipped down and cupped the curve of her hip.

How long would it be before she forgot his face? Sometimes she couldn’t quite remember Brandon’s face.

When the lift doors closed, she started to shove him away, but he seemed to anticipate her move and crowded her to the back of the tiny car, his body covering hers. He leaned over and whispered straight in her ear.

“There’s a camera in the left hand corner. Don’t give me hell until we get to Adam and Jake’s. It’s not safe. There are cameras everywhere, and one wrong move could clue your boss in.” He tipped her head back and spoke normally. “Are you sure we have to meet your friends for a drink? I just want to get you in bed, baby.”

Heat flashed through her. She could hate him all she liked, but her body didn’t care. The minute he started to talk in that deep tone of his, her body responded. The good news was her body wasn’t in charge. “I think I’m going to be very tired tonight.”

He didn’t seem to pick up on her tone. He just winked down as the doors opened. “It’s okay. I’ll do all the work. All you have to do is lay there.”

“Wow. That sounds so charming.” She held her temper. Only a few more steps and she could let it fly. She allowed him to lead her out of the lift and down the hall. She glanced up and, sure enough, there were security cameras covering the hallway. She’d never really noticed them before. Someone was watching. Maybe it was the building security or maybe it was someone else. Everything she did and said was being watched and used against her.

Liam pulled her into his arms, his voice low again. “Don’t be scared. I’m going to take care of you.”

She wanted so much to sink into his strength. She wanted for him to just be Lee and for everything that had happened in the last couple of hours to be a stupid dream.

But it wasn’t, and she had to face reality again.

The door to Adam’s apartment opened, and he walked out looking like the nice man she’d assumed him to be when he was really some sort of intelligence operative. He was still dressed for the day in a pair of slacks and a button down. “Hey, you two. I was getting worried about you. Come on in. I have a late-night snack ready. Martinis, anyone?”

“Yeah, I want a martini,” Liam said, his voice incredulous. “Beer me, man. But my girl here could use a nice stiff drink.”

She walked through the door, and the minute it closed, Adam turned. He stood taller than normal, his shoulders perfectly straight and all affectation of softness gone. “Avery, I am very sorry you found out like this.”

She hated them all in that moment. Just as she’d thought she was finding some friends and coming out of her social disaster phase, she learned that everyone she’d befriended had ulterior motives, including her boss who she had pretty much bet her whole future on. She no longer had a home in the States. She had no friends there. No friends here. She was alone in a way she hadn’t been even after Brandon and
Maddie
had been killed.

Alone.

“Why am I over here?” she asked. “Can’t I just go to bed and get the files in the morning and then I never have to see any of you people again?”

“You people?” Adam asked with a grimace. He turned to Liam. “Wow. You fucked this up.”

Jake walked in and tossed Liam a beer with the ease of long friendship. “Catch, man.”

“Thanks. Fuck, I need this.” Liam had the top off and was downing it in a heartbeat. “I didn’t fuck up. I wanted her to know. I had to tell her because I have zero intention of letting her walk into this blind. I won’t let her get hurt.”

He said all the right things, but then he’d said them before, too. “Since we’re here and it seems like the only place I can speak my mind without getting caught on tape, I have a few questions for you, and I want honesty for once.”

Liam sobered, his eyes wrinkling into a serious expression. “I won’t lie to you again, love. I promise.”

“Did you come up with all that ‘sex is serious’ crap before or after you met me?” She wanted to know if he ran that line on everyone or if she’d gotten special treatment from the jerk who had apparently made a sex tape. Ian’s recitation of Liam’s sexual history had done nothing to help his case.

“After I met you,” he said, his eyes on her.

“Trust me, I’ve known him for years, and he’s never once taken sex seriously,” Adam said. Liam growled his way. “Until now, of course.”

Liam didn’t even flush, but then a man who’d slept with that many women probably had very little that embarrassed him. “My relationships before you have been brief and mostly about getting off, if you know what I mean.”

“Whereas this one was about getting off while you worked. The perks of your job are lovely,” Avery shot back.

His eyes narrowed. “I deserve that, love, but I want you to remember that I’m the one who came clean, and I did it for your sake.”

When he put it like that she almost wanted to give in, but she fully intended to get to the bottom of everything. “Am I your type?”

He stilled, the beer that had been just about to meet his lips stopping in midair before he brought it down and placed it on the table.

“Do any of us really have a type?” Adam asked.

“Go away. Both of you,” Liam said, his eyes steady on her.

The last thing Avery wanted was to be alone with Liam. “I’d rather have them here. After all, they’ve been listening in, too, haven’t they?”

Adam’s silence was answer enough.

They had listened in while she’d made a fool of herself. “So it doesn’t matter if they go. They’ll still hear everything. Am I your type, Liam O’Donnell?”

A stubborn look came over his features. “You’re female, so yes, you’re me type.”

He wasn’t going to make this easy on her. She rephrased the question. “Did you take one look at me and decide you wanted to sleep with me?”

“No,” he replied shortly.

“What did you think of me?”

The beer bottle slammed against the bar as he set it down. “Avery, this doesn’t matter. All that should matter is what I think now. Why does it matter that I looked at a complete stranger and didn’t necessarily want to fuck her? I want to fuck you now. I want to fuck you all day, twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week. I’ll bloody well prove it to you if you’ll just let me take you to bed. I can prove how much I want you.”

And she would fall right into his trap. “That would solve so many of your problems, wouldn’t it? If I was still the sweet submissive, you could just tell me what to do.”

“You didn’t exactly follow all of me orders before,
darlin
’. I don’t know if you’ve been noticing, but you’re not exactly submissive outside the bedroom anymore. You’ve been standing up for yourself more and more this week.”

That wasn’t the part of the week she wanted to focus on. “Is the
BDSM
stuff all crap? Because it occurs to me that it’s a really good way to get a woman to do what you want.”

“It wasn’t serious for me until I met you.” Liam stood and towered over her, his hands on her shoulders. “I played around with it, but now it feels really bloody serious. I promised I wouldn’t lie, and I won’t. I wasn’t attracted to you at first.”

She let a nasty little smile curl her lips up. “You thought I was plain and a little fat, didn’t you?”

His eyes closed briefly and those hands on her shoulders tightened as though he was afraid of letting her go. “Why does it matter? I think you’re gorgeous now.”

“Answer the question, Liam.” She really was a masochist, but she had to hear it come from his mouth.

“Fine, I thought you were a little overweight and uninteresting, but that was my problem. That was coming from a man who barely got a woman’s name before he screwed her and walked out the door and started looking for the next warm body that didn’t matter. Adam, how many girlfriends have I had in the whole time you’ve known me?”

“It depends of your definition of the term ‘girlfriend,’” Adam began.

“He hasn’t had anyone, Avery.” Jacob Dean sighed and drank his beer. “He’s been utterly alone the whole time I’ve known him.”

“It doesn’t sound like he’s ever been alone.” It sounded like he’d screwed half of the women in the US.

“Sex isn’t the same for a man as it is for a woman,” Jacob replied. “His emotions weren’t engaged. He didn’t care. I’ve never known the man to care about anyone really.”

“I don’t know that I should listen to you about the emotional needs of straight guys.” Avery looked between the two men. Jake and Adam had been in a relationship for years. They couldn’t possibly understand how she felt nor could they speak to why Liam had done what he did.

“About that, Avery,” Adam began.

“They aren’t gay, love,” Liam said, letting her go in favor of scrubbing a frustrated hand through his hair. “She’s going to blame me for that, too. They aren’t gay, but they’re damn good at playing it. They’re married.”

Adam shuddered. “That makes it sound so vanilla. We’re married to the same woman. See, we had something freaky to hide.”

But she’d been perfectly comfortable with Adam because he was gay. “You tricked me.”

He flushed. “I was protecting you.”

“Were you protecting me when you helped me buy those clothes?”

“I was helping you and it worked,” Adam replied, his voice softening. “You felt better when you dressed better. Avery, it was obvious you didn’t have a friend to help you out. You’ve lived a very sheltered life. I was just doing what a real friend would do. You’re a beautiful woman, but you didn’t have any idea how to dress. I was helping you find your way.”

And it had worked. She did feel more confident in her new clothes. She felt more confident in herself, and Lee Donnelly had a lot to do with that, but he’d been one big lie. Adam had been, too. “Did you enjoy the show?”

Liam’s face flushed, and he turned on his friend. “Did you go into the bloody dressing room with her?”

Adam backed off, his hands coming up like he was attempting to ward off an encroaching beast. “I was playing a part, Li. Gay Adam wouldn’t hesitate to help a friend with her zipper. By the way, the emerald green undies really do look gorgeous on you, Avery. You have a great ass.”

“Jacob, I’m going to kill him,” Liam growled.

“Hey, neither one of us have forgotten the fact that you kissed Serena. I think I’m backing him up on this one.” Jake turned to Avery as Liam let his fists fly. The two men started to fight, but Jake acted like it was an everyday occurrence. Adam got Liam with a quick upper cut, but Liam had some height on him. “And Adam wouldn’t have bothered with that bit of revenge if he hadn’t known you meant something to Liam. Liam wouldn’t care less if some guy came in and took his place with a woman as long as he’d finished. It won’t be that way with you. He’s possessive. He’s never possessive.”

“Shouldn’t you stop that?” Avery watched the two men. Liam had Adam in a choke hold.

Jake shook his head and waved the whole thing off. “This is what we do, Avery. We’re dumb animals in the end. They’ll get it out of their systems and go back to being friends. You women want to attribute all kinds of meaning behind the things we say and do, but we’re really simple. We run around aimlessly fucking anything that comes our way until we meet the one woman who can take care of us, who can fix all the shit that’s wrong inside, and then we’re done, and a man like Liam is done for the rest of his life. He won’t fall again.”

“He hasn’t fallen now.” Even before she’d found out he’d lied to her about everything, she’d known it wasn’t forever. A man like Liam didn’t end up with a woman like her.

“Then why is he over there trying to kill Adam?” Jake asked. “Besides the fact that Adam can be so brutally obnoxious I want to kill him sometimes.”

She shrugged. “He feels guilty that he took advantage of the fat, crippled girl.”

Jacob’s eyes flared, and he suddenly seemed about a foot taller than he had before. “Liam, your girl just called herself something you’re not going to like.”