Next to Always: Shattered Innocence Trilogy Book Two (29 page)

When Dylan finally made it to the lobby, Keeve and Mason were already waiting for her. They decided to eat at the hotel. The restaurant was reservations only. Keeve gave the host his name and they were seated immediately. Each of them placed their breakfast order with the waiter. Dylan was thankful that a carafe of coffee was placed on the table per Keeve’s request. Getting up late caused Dylan to bypass her usual morning cup of coffee. She wanted to make sure she wouldn’t be late.

The waiter brought their dishes. Dylan had no idea how to begin her meal. The display before her was so beautiful, she was almost afraid to touch it. Keeve and Mason looked at her, confused, trying to understand what was going through her head.

“You can dig in, Dylan. It isn’t going to jump off your plate and bite you,” Keeve said jokingly.

“I know that. It’s just that it looks too pretty to touch,” Dylan replied.

After the meal was done. Keeve requested a car from the hotel car service. Within minutes a sleek BMW was brought around the front. The drive to the Spectrum facility was spectacular as Dylan took in the sights. She had always heard about the shops on Rodeo Drive, but couldn’t believe her eyes as they passed all the designer shops: Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Gucci, to name a few. She wished they were spending more time in LA. She would have loved to go shopping.

They finally pulled up to an attractive-looking building. Spectrum’s name was shining in large silver plating on the front of the building. The front was all glass and the sides were painted white brick. The architecture was state-of-the-art. As they stepped inside, a security guard was stationed at the front desk with several monitors stretched across the granite top. Keeve introduced himself and was given three visitor badges. The security guard requested they wait in the lobby while he called for someone to escort them during their tour.

Moments later a heavy gentleman in his forties greeted them.

“Hi, you must be from BlackStone Industries?” the gentleman asked. “My name is Wayne Morris.”

Keeve held out his hand. “Hi, my name is Keeve Black. This is my partner Mason Stone, and our financial advisor Dylan Adams.”

When the introductions were done, Wayne led them to the panel of elevators. The elevator stopped on every floor as Wayne explained each department and their assigned task. By the time they were halfway through the tour it was one o’clock. Dylan was relieved when Wayne announced that he had catered food in for lunch. The cafeteria was on the lower floor, so they piled back into the elevator and headed down.

All in all it was a very productive day. There was still a lot to see at Spectrum. Everyone decided to call it a day and return tomorrow. Dylan was glad. She should have chosen a more conservative shoe. By the time they got to the hotel, all she wanted to do was soak in the deep tub. Keeve and Mason invited her to dinner, but she chose to order room service. She wanted to spend time going over the notes she had taken and get them over to Rade. She wanted to talk to him about her day and what they got accomplished. She also wanted to hear his voice. Even though it had only been twenty-four hours, she missed him horribly.

*****

Rade was just out the door on his way to
The Cove
for lunch with Chloe when he received a call from the devil herself.

“Hey, beautiful. I was just thinking about you,” Rade said almost gagging on his words.

“Hey, yourself. I hate to do this to you, but I’m going to have to break our lunch date. Can I make it up to you by cooking you dinner tonight?” Chloe propositioned.

“I would love nothing better than to have dinner with you. What time?” Even though Rade didn’t want to put off getting information from her, he was relieved that it would give him more time to master his plan.

“Does eight work for you?” Chloe asked.

“Eight would be perfect. Do you need me to bring anything?” Rade inquired.

“Just your handsome self,” Chloe said in the most sultriest voice she could muster.

“See you then,” Rade said.

Everything about this woman made his skin crawl. He was headed out to grab something to eat, but instead he ended up at the corner tavern. A liquid lunch was in order.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

It was almost six when Rade left the bar. Drink after drink, he hoped he would soon feel the effects of the liquor he poured down his throat, but nothing. He didn’t want to feel anything. He contemplated canceling dinner with Chloe several times, but he knew he needed to go through with his plan in order to get rid of her forever.

Since his day was pretty much shot, he headed back to the penthouse. The only thing Rade could think about was Dylan. God, he missed her. Peeling off his clothing and changing into shorts, he decided to head to his gym. He had at least an hour to kill, and if nothing else, a few punches to his punching bag would relieve the tension building since this whole thing started.

An hour of hitting a lifeless punching bag proved to be useless. The only things he managed to gain were sore arms and bruised fists. He hated himself even more for what he had to do. He just hoped that his plan would work and he wouldn’t have to stoop even lower by having to sleep with Chloe. Just the thought made him sick. He barely made it to his bathroom before he lost it. Spilling all the contents of his stomach, which wasn’t much since he drank his lunch, Rade walked to the vanity and splashed cold water on his face. Looking in the mirror, he decided he looked like shit. Nothing could take away the pain he saw in his reflection. He tried to think of a different way to get the information he needed from Chloe, but nothing came to mind other than torturing it out of her, which sounded like a good idea, but in the end would only make things much worse for him. The last thing he needed was charges brought against him for assault.

Rade walked out of his apartment at seven-thirty with a bottle of his favorite wine. There was a vendor selling flowers just down the street from his building. He knew nothing would woe a woman more that a bouquet of flowers. He wanted to lay on the charm thickly, so he pulled in front of the display, went all out, and bought four dozen red roses. He had the flower lady wrap them together with a pretty pink ribbon. He even gave her an extra tip for the trouble.

Rade’s taxi pulled up to Chloe’s building with five minutes to spare. He debated on having Richard drive him, but he needed him on Evan since most of Peter’s men were in LA either protecting Dylan or watching Mr. Stewart, and he was in no condition to drive himself. When he walked into Chloe’s building, the security guard just nodded at him. Either Chloe told him she was expecting him or she added him to her approved guest list. Either way, Rade was happy that he didn’t have to wait for the security guard to call up to her apartment.

Chloe opened the door to the apartment wearing a skimpy nightgown. The garment was so thin that Rade could see the peak of her nipples pressing against the silky fabric. Rade was speechless.

“Wow,” he began. “You did say eight o’clock?”

“You’re right on time. I just wanted to be comfortable,” Chloe said as she leaned up against the door.

“Well, you certainly look comfortable,” Rade said with a fake smile.

“Are those for me?” Chloe asked as she looked at the red roses Rade was holding.

“Yes, I hope you like them,” Rade replied.

“They’re beautiful,” Chloe smiled. “Come in. I’ll put them in water.”

Rade could see that Chloe had everything ready. The table was set for two with candles flickering in the dimly lit dining room. He could also smell something good cooking.

“Dinner smells great. How about I pour us a glass of wine?” Rade suggested as he held up the wine bottle he was holding.

Chloe pulled two wine glasses from the cupboard and handed them to Rade. Rade peeled back the label while Chloe pulled out a drawer and placed a corkscrew on the counter. The scent of the wine filled the air as Rade popped the cork from the bottle. He carried the filled wine glasses to the table as Chloe brought the platter of food to the table. He couldn’t believe she cooked one of his favorite dishes,
Shrimp Fra Diavolo
. How did she even know what he liked? He left it in the back of his mind as sheer coincidence.

“This looks wonderful, baby. Did you know this is one of my favorite dishes?” Rade probed.

“I did… I mean I asked Richard. I wanted this evening to be perfect,” Chloe confessed.

Rade was speechless. He would need to talk to Richard about giving her even an ounce of information about him. The less she knew about him the better. Their meal was relatively quiet except for the moans that were coming from Chloe’s mouth every time she took a bite. Rade poured her another glass of wine as they continued to enjoy their dinner. That is, as she enjoyed it.

By the time dinner was done, Rade managed to get three glasses of wine down Chloe. Needless to say, she was feeling no pain. Rade was hoping that her tongue would get looser the more she drank. Chloe cleaned up the dishes while Rade went to the bathroom.

Safely inside the bathroom, Rade pulled his phone from his jacket and pushed record on the video feature. He only cared about getting a confession from Chloe. He stepped out of the bathroom to find Chloe sitting on the couch. She looked like she was ready to be ravished. The straps of her nightgown had fallen off her shoulders, exposing more of her fake breasts. Rade didn’t know what she thought her display was going to achieve, but he was no more turned on than he would be by a visit at the dentist.

Rade placed his suit jacket over the back of an armchair next to where she was sitting. He was careful to place it perfectly over the chair so that his phone would be able to pick up their conversation. Chloe refilled her glass with more wine. Rade’s glass was already full and sitting at the coffee table. Willing his feet to move, he slid in beside her, grabbing his wine glass from the table.

“Here’s to new beginnings,” he said as he tipped his glass to hers.

“New beginnings,” Chloe mimicked.

Rade took Chloe’s glass from her and placed their glasses on the coffee table. Looking at her, he cupped his hands around her face. Whispering softly, he said, “God, you're beautiful. How could I have ever walked away from you?” Chloe moaned softly as Rade placed his mouth over hers. Chloe deepened their kiss as she pulled him closer to her. Lowering her hand, she took his and guided it to her taut breast. If Rade could have pulled away from her he would have. As soon as he got what he needed from her, he would be out of there.

“Tell me how you did it, baby,” Rade asked, trailing kisses down her neck.

“Did what?” Chloe responded in a breathy voice.

“Got Dylan to follow you to the dungeon rooms at
The Castle.
It was pretty ingenious,”
Rade explained, continuing to kiss her shoulders.

Rade could feel Chloe pull back from him. He needed to be more aggressive with her. Lifting her from the couch, he placed her on his lap. He wasn’t sure what was happening to him, but his body was beginning to get turned on at their foreplay even though his heart was with Dylan. He managed to capture her mouth again before she spoke. He had to let her feel like she was the only woman he wanted. He pressed his mouth harder against hers. She opened up to him, allowing him to slip his tongue between her lips. The taste of her was nothing like Dylan. All he could feel was hate and disgust for this woman. Pulling her hair so that her neck was cocked backwards, he removed his lips from hers and once again trailed kisses down her neck. She was back in motion. Her body began grinding in his lap as he felt the warmth of her pussy. He was getting harder and harder from her movements, along with more and more disgusted.

“Baby, you feel so good. I can’t wait to have you. No woman does to me what you do. If you hadn’t done what you did to Dylan, I would never have seen what I truly wanted,” Rade whispered.

“It was pretty spectacular. She had no clue what was going to happen to her,” Chloe bragged.

Chloe was getting worked up. She wanted Rade so badly; she would do anything to have him back. Lowering her hands, she began unbuckling his belt. She could feel the erection he had. It was her that caused it. She knew it was a matter of time before he would come back to her. Undoing his zipper, she inched her hand under his boxers and grabbed a hold of his cock. All she could think about was how good it would feel to have him inside her again. Her nightgown was already pushed high on her waist. All she needed was to push her thong to the side and lower herself on him. Just when she thought he was hers, Rade’s phone began to buzz. The last thing that Chloe wanted was interruptions. Reaching for his jacket she pulled his phone from his pocket. When she looked down at the screen, it showed Dylan as the caller. She declined the call and looked back at Rade. What really got her pulse thumping was the video app that popped up.

“What the hell,” Chloe said as she looked down at his phone. She stopped the video player, and hit the small box at the top of the screen to play it back. There was no picture, but the sound was perfect. She heard everything. Rade tried to pull the phone from her hands. It was too late.

“You bastard,” Chloe said with fury in her eyes. Grabbing the empty wine bottle from the coffee table, she smacked it across Rade’s head. Blood began pouring out from his temple. Chloe was so angry her temper took over. She pushed her body from his limp form and began pacing the floor. She needed a plan. The first thing she did was pick up Rade’s phone and erase the video. Next she found her own phone and contacted Alex. She needed his help.