In Bed With The Devil

Ten

Meri lay on her bed facedown, fighting tears. Betina sat next to her, lightly rubbing her back.

“I can’t believe it,” Meri said into her pillow. “I can’t believe he did that.”

Betina patted her shoulder. “I can’t believe I have to ask, but who are we talking about? Andrew or Jack?”

“Both of them,” Meri muttered, then rolled onto her back and wiped away her tears. “That’s my current life. I have two men betraying me.”

She could say the words, but she didn’t believe them. She couldn’t believe any of this. How had everything gone so wrong?

Betina sighed. “I’m shocked by what Jack found out about Andrew. Do you believe him?”

Meri nodded. “He wouldn’t lie about that. He said Andrew and his wife had a whole scam going. I’m not sure what his plan was with me. He couldn’t have married me, and I wouldn’t have given him money for anything.”

Although, now that she thought about it, he had mentioned a few investment opportunities right before she’d left.

Her stomach hurt from all the emotional churning.

“I thought about marrying him,” she admitted. “When I found the ring, I knew he was going to propose and I thought about saying yes.”

“You didn’t.”

“He didn’t ask. I don’t know what would have happened. Maybe he was planning to propose, then tell me I had to pay off his wife so he could get a divorce.” She shuddered. “It’s awful. I slept with him. I slept with a married man. I would never do that.”

“You didn’t know. He tricked you. You’re the innocent party in all this.”

Meri didn’t feel very innocent. She felt dirty and gross and confused.

“I liked him,” she said. “I don’t know if I ever really loved Andrew, but I liked him. Shouldn’t I have known? Shouldn’t I have sensed something wasn’t right?”

Betina shook her head. “Why? He set out to deceive you. You’re a decent person who accepts people for who and what they are. You did a regular background check on him and it came back clean.”

“I’m never using that investigation agency again,” Meri said. “I wonder if Andrew found out the name of the guy and bought him off.”

“Very possibly.”

“I hate Andrew.”

“No, you don’t.”

Meri wiped away more tears. “I don’t. I can’t care enough about him to hate him. I feel disgusted and I’m sick that I let myself get played. That’s what hurts about him. That he used me and I was too stupid to recognize what was going on. I hate being stupid.”

“No one is smart all the time. Meri, it’s awful. It sucks big-time. But here’s the thing-you escaped Andrew relatively unscathed. Nothing bad happened. The only thing hurt is your pride, and not even very much at that.”

Meri knew her friend was right. Still, memories of all the time she spent with Andrew flashed through her head.

“I introduced him to my friends. You guys never liked him. I should have paid attention to that.”

“We have amazing insight. What can I say?”

Meri started to laugh, but the sound turned into a sob. She rolled onto her side.

“Jack was spying on me. He watched me from a distance. He never cared enough to even take me to lunch, damn him. How could he do that? It’s gross and creepy.”

It was more than that. It was painful to think that Jack would keep his word to Hunter enough to pay others to keep tabs on her but that he didn’t care enough to do it himself.

“He was wrong to act like that,” Betina said soothingly.

Meri raised his head. “You’re going to defend him, aren’t you? You’re going to say he did the best he could with what he had. You’re going to say he was hurting, too, that he blamed himself for Hunter’s death. He does, you know. Blame himself. Hunter had melanoma. He saw this weird black thing on his shoulder and wanted to go to the doctor. Jack teased him about being a girl and worrying about nothing.”

“That can’t be easy to live with.”

Meri sniffed. “Statistically, getting the diagnosis a few weeks earlier wouldn’t have made any difference in the end. Hunter was going to die. Not that Jack would care about that. He would still blame himself, because that’s who he is.”

“I don’t have to defend him,” Betina told her. “You’re doing it for me.”

“I’m not. He’s a low-life who cared only about himself. I was totally alone. My mother was dead, my father is possibly the most emotionally useless man on the planet. I was seventeen. I had no one. No friends, no family to speak of. I was alone in the world and he abandoned me.”

“He should have stayed,” Betina said. “He should have stayed and taken care of you. I wonder why he didn’t.”

“Guilt,” Meri said with a sigh. “Guilt about Hunter and maybe guilt about me. About how he handled things.” Betina knew all about Meri’s pathetic attempt to seduce Jack years ago and how badly he’d reacted.

“He was twenty-one and nowhere near grown-up enough to be responsible for a seventeen-year-old with a crush on him. So he left and I had to deal on my own.”

“You did a hell of a job,” her friend told her. “Hunter would be proud.”

Meri considered that. “He wouldn’t like my plan to get revenge on Jack.”

“Brothers rarely enjoy thinking about their sisters having sex with anyone.”

That made Meri almost smile. “You don’t approve of it either.”

“I don’t approve one way or the other. I’m worried about you. I think you wanted to sleep with Jack for a lot of reasons, and none of them have anything to do with punishing him.”

“You think I’m still in love with him.”

“It would explain a lot.”

Meri rolled onto her back and stared up at the ceiling. In love with Jack. Was it possible? The way her personal life was going, it made sense. He’d spent the last ten years doing the least he could justify when it came to her, and she might have spent the same amount of time desperate to give her heart to him.

Jack was staring at his computer screen when Colin walked into his office.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“You hurt Meri,” Colin said. “That’s not right. You can’t be so insensitive that you wouldn’t know how much the information about Andrew would bother her. Not to mention the fact that someone she respected and thought of as a friend had been spying on her.”

“You’re not telling me anything I don’t already know,” Jack told him.

Colin moved closer to the desk. “That’s not good enough.”

Was Colin trying to intimidate him? Jack didn’t think it was possible, but Colin was a changed man since his night with Betina.

“She had to learn the truth about Andrew. She said things were getting serious. Andrew could have taken her for a lot of money.”

“It’s not about the money,” Colin told him. “It’s about trust and caring and being there for someone. She expected more of you, and you let her down.”

Small words. Unimportant words, yet they made their point, Jack thought grimly.

“I was trying to protect her,” he said, knowing it wasn’t enough of an answer.

“There were a lot of different ways to do that. Did you have to pick one that hurt?”

“How the hell was I supposed to tell her the truth about Andrew without hurting her?”

“I’m not talking about Andrew.”

Jack nodded slowly. “You’re right. I should have thought through telling her that I’d been keeping an eye on her. I did it for her own good.”

“No one believes that. You did what was easy, and that’s not allowed. You can’t go around hurting people like that. It’s wrong. Meri matters to me, and I’m going to protect her-even from you.”

Jack stood. He was a good half head taller than Colin and about thirty pounds of muscle heavier. He wanted to tell himself that Colin’s threats were pitiful. The man couldn’t hurt him if he were armed and Jack was unconscious. But he was oddly touched by Colin’s bravery in the face of certain defeat. The man took care of the people who mattered, no matter what it might cost him personally.

“It wasn’t my intention to hurt Meri,” Jack said slowly. “But I’m going to have to do it again.”

Colin narrowed his gaze. “What do you mean?”

“I’m going to make Andrew go away.”

Colin nodded slowly. “I’d like to be there when that happens.”

Andrew’s hotel room overlooked the lake. All the right trappings were there-the computer, the lobbying magazines. He looked the part and he played it well. He’d fooled a lot of people.

“This is a surprise,” Andrew said as he held open the door, a tacit invitation to Jack and Colin. “To what do I owe this honor?”

“I’m here to run you out of town,” Jack said, his voice calm and pleasant. “Colin’s going to watch.”

Nothing about Andrew’s expression changed. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Sure you do. I don’t know how you passed the preliminary background check. Maybe you’re that good at covering your tracks. You might have paid off Meri’s investigator, although you couldn’t have paid off mine. So I’ll give you credit for creating a good front.”

Andrew sat on the sofa across from the small fireplace. He waved at the two chairs opposite.

“I’ll stand,” Jack said.

“Me, too,” Colin told him.

“As you prefer,” Andrew said. “I have to tell you, this is all fascinating. So what do you think you’ve found out about me?”

“That you’re married. That you and your wife con people for money. You know Meri is worth nearly a billion dollars. She must have been a hell of a prize for the two of you.”

Andrew’s expression never changed. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’ve never been married.”

“I have copies of the certificate in the car. Do I have to send Colin to get it? I also have the police statements from the people you two duped. Lucky for you, you didn’t break any actual laws. It’s not a crime to be stupid.”

“You have me confused with someone else,” Andrew said calmly. “I care about Meredith. We’ve been dating for a long time. The relationship is serious. As for your ridiculous claims, ask her yourself. I’ve never once talked to her about money.”

“It was all just a matter of time until you did. Or it would have been.”

Andrew was a pro-Jack would give him credit for that. But he was still a rat rooting in garbage.

“It’s all just your word against mine,” Andrew said. “I’m assuming you told Meredith all this?”

Jack nodded.

“She won’t believe you.”

“You sound confident,” Jack said. “Funny she hasn’t phoned you.”

“She will.”

Would she? Was she mad enough at Jack to want to get back with Andrew? How far would she take things?

He didn’t have an answer, so he did the only thing he could think of to protect her.

“How much?” he asked. “Give me a number.”

Andrew smiled. “You want to pay me off.”

“If that’s what it takes. How much?”

The other man hesitated, and in that moment Jack knew he’d been right. If Andrew had been who he claimed, he would have refused any payment.

“Ten million,” Andrew said. “Ten million and I’ll sign anything you want.”

“Five million and you’ll still sign.”

Andrew smiled. “Done.”

Twenty minutes later Jack and Colin were back in Jack’s car.

“You paid him off,” Colin said. “I thought you’d just beat the crap out of him and be done with it.”

“That would have been my preference. But he’s good at what he does. He could have gone back to Meri and convinced her I was the jerk in all this. This way, she’ll never want him back. He can’t ever hurt her.”

He had a copy of the check he’d written to Andrew, along with a signed letter saying Andrew was freely taking the money in exchange for never seeing Meri again. Just to be safe, Jack had insisted on a thumbprint under the signature.

“So it’s done,” Colin said. “She’s safe.”

“It’s not done,” Jack told him. “Now I have to tell her what happened.”

The house was quiet when they returned. Colin disappeared downstairs, probably to fill Betina in on what had happened. The nerd brigade hadn’t shown up for work, which had probably been previously arranged to give Meri some time alone. Better for him, he thought.

He walked up the stairs to the bedroom level and walked to her closed door. After knocking, he pushed it open.

She’d pulled a chair over to the window. She sat curled up in the chair, staring out at the lake.

“Go away,” she said without looking at him.

“How do you know I’m not Betina or Colin?”

“I recognized your footsteps.”

“Not my ‘foul stench?’”

She turned to look at him. Her face was pale, her eyes red and swollen. “Don’t you dare quote Star Wars to me, Jack. You haven’t the right.”

She was hurt. He could see it, but worse, he could feel it. Her pain was a tangible creature in the room. It didn’t attack him. Instead it lived and breathed, reminding him that he’d let her down…again.

“We have to talk,” he told her.

“No, thanks. I have nothing to say to you.”

“That’s okay. I’ll do the talking. You just listen.”

She shrugged, then turned her head back so she was facing the window. He didn’t know if she was looking out or not. He had a feeling she was crying, which made him feel like crap.

“Andrew’s gone,” he said.

“Let me guess. You bought him off.”

“I didn’t trust him to leave any other way.”

“And you didn’t trust me to be able to resist him? Do you think he’s that charming or that I’m that weak?”

“You’re pissed at me. I didn’t know how far you’d go to punish me.”

She drew her knees to her chest. “I wouldn’t give myself to a man who lied to me or tried to play me. You’re not worth that.”

“I wasn’t sure.”

“How much?”

He could have lied. He could have said there wasn’t money involved. But he wanted to be honest with her.

“Five million.”

She didn’t react. “I’ll have my accountant send you a check.”

“You don’t need to pay me back. I wanted to keep you safe. That’s what I’ve always wanted.”

“Because of your promise to Hunter?”

“Yes.”

“But not because of me.”

He didn’t know what she was asking so he couldn’t respond. She looked at him again.

“How many others have you paid off?” she asked. “How many other times have you gotten involved in my life?”

“Twice before.”

She sucked in a breath. “The ones who just disappeared? Who broke up with me for no reason?”

“I guess. I wasn’t involved in the details.”

She stood and faced him. “Of course not. Why would you bother when you have a staff? It must have been desperately uncomfortable to be so close now. Distance makes things tidy. You don’t have to deal with emotion.”

She put both her hands flat on his chest and shoved him hard. He didn’t move.

“Damn you,” she cried. “I hate this. Do you know how much I hate this? I wasn’t even a person to you. I was a project. You couldn’t be bothered to get involved yourself.”

“It wasn’t like that. I wanted you to be safe. I didn’t want you with the wrong guy.”

“And you know who that is?”

“Yes.”

She dropped her arms to her sides, then stared up at him with tears in her eyes. “So who’s the right guy? Or does he exist?”

“I don’t know.”

“It’s not you.”

She wasn’t asking a question, but he answered it anyway. “No. I’m not him.”

“Just the devil?”

“I’m not that bad.”

“You are to me,” she said and turned away. “You shouldn’t have done it, Jack. It’s a zero-sum game. All or nothing. You can’t hide in the middle. Hunter would be disappointed, and so am I. It would have been better to just disappear. At least that would have been honest. I could have respected that.”

“I don’t need your respect,” he said, then realized that maybe he did. For some reason, Meri’s opinion mattered. As did Hunter’s.

He started to leave, then paused at the door. “I didn’t know how to be there for you, Meri. I didn’t know how to look at you from across Hunter’s grave and tell you I was sorry. I didn’t know how to be what you needed. So, yeah, I left. But you were never alone. I was always looking out for you.”

“That wasn’t much consolation when I sat by myself in a dorm room on Christmas Eve, with nowhere else to go,” she said. “And it was more than feeling guilty about Hunter’s death. You hated that I had a crush on you.”

He thought about that afternoon when she’d turned seventeen and had cried her heart out.

“I didn’t know how to help. I couldn’t be the guy you wanted me to be.”

Her mouth twisted. “Tell the truth, Jack. You couldn’t stand me because I was fat and ugly.”

Her pain had grown until it threatened to suck all the air out of the room. He felt it and ached for her. He’d always had a rule of never letting anyone get close. Never letting anyone see the truth about him-not the emptiness of his heart or the darkness of his soul.

He walked over and grabbed her arms, forcing her to face him. “Did it occur to you that I liked you a lot? That I saw the woman you would become and knew that I would never measure up? Did you ever once think that by letting Hunter down I knew I’d lost both of you forever?”

Tears filled her eyes. “Don’t be cruel. Don’t pretend I mattered.”

“You did matter. We were friends. Could there have been more as you’d gotten older? I always thought so. Until it was impossible because of what I’d done. I let him down. I let you down. I knew it and I couldn’t face either of you.”

He turned away and walked to the door. “I lied to you before. About Hunter. I think about him every damn day.”

He reached for the door handle but instead felt something warm. Somehow Meri had gotten in front of him. She touched his face, his shoulders, his chest.

“Jack, you have to let it go. You didn’t do anything wrong. Hunter would never want you to suffer like this.”

“I don’t know how else to make it right,” he admitted.

“So you’re going to punish yourself forever?”

He nodded slowly.

“You’re right,” she whispered. “I am the bright one in this relationship.” Then she leaned in and kissed him.

He told himself to resist. That being with her was the last thing he had the right to do. But her mouth was soft and insistent, and her hands urged him forward. She was beautiful and caring and sexy and smart. How was he supposed to resist her?

She touched her tongue to his bottom lip, then nipped at his flesh. Fire shot through him. Fire and need and the knowledge that for a few minutes he could forget the past and live only in the present.

“You’re a hard man to convince,” she murmured as she grabbed his hand and placed it on her breast.

He caressed the curve. “But at least I’m hard.”