“Yeah, I know she’s paying you.”
She swallows.
“I need her to keep paying me, Aiden. I’m in trouble. And if I don’t give her anything…”
“Not my problem,” I say.
She sighs. And then her look changes to absolutely panicked.
I head to the table to sit with Jude who’s slipped in quietly and had his eye on Bella and me. Now that she’s gone, I head there.
He already told me he spotted Audra and Bella together. Jude figures she told her to bed me and get all my secrets and report back to her on a regular basis while I’m in San Diego. But, Bella’s game was sloppy, caught her rifling around in my briefcase the while she thought I was crashed on the couch.
Bitch was acting sketchy all night, which was why I kept my “insurance” policy. Sad, but true --- not the first time I’ve videotaped girls during sex. On a plus note, never had to use the footage. Never even looked back at it.
He begins to fill me in, saying today, he found that Audra put another $2500 in her bank account. Small change for my mother. There must be another installment coming that Bella is seeking a payday for. And Bella must be desperate to go all out for that amount of money coming at her in dribs and drabs.
Yeah, I took the pussy on offer, and it was nowhere near as addictive as Bella believes it is. Audra knows I tapped Bella before I left for New York last time, thinking she’s a good weapon to use. But she wasn’t. And now I’ve got more ammo against my mother in case I need it.
“I want you to look into Carly Adler, man,” I say to Jude. “She just started work at my office. My father planted her in my apartment in the spare room for what feels like no good reason, so my gut is tellin’ me there’s a reason. I want to
know everything.”
“Tell me the basics,” he requests, starting to take notes.
“Cute as fuck. Lookin’ forward to bangin’ her. She worked for Chancellor & Associates in Buffalo, New York and my father recruited her after we acquired it.”
The bartender is wiping the table beside us. She swaps out our glasses, leaving a tray behind, and I notice she’s got eyes on Jude, who’s not paying her any mind.
“Don’t know how you can bang chicks you have no idea if they’re evil or not, man. This might be why you have to pay me so much money. Nevermind, actually. Keep on bangin’ away…”
I snicker. “It doesn’t matter. I ain’t looking for a relationship. If I catch a whiff of a ripe peach like that, better believe I’ll take a bite.”
“She gaggin’ for it?”
“Pretending she isn’t. Maybe because it’d blow her cover, or could be she’s playing a long game. Either way, guaranteed, I will bag her before the month is out. No, a week, two weeks max. Watch me. You want to wager?”
“Naw man, I’ve seen you in action. I don’t like to lose money.”
The bartender Bella was talkin’ to is wiping the table down on the other side of us now, giving Jude fuck me eyes.
Jude gives her a once over. She’s tatted and has a pierced nose, pierced lip. She’s got great small but perky tits. Definitely his type.
I leave the bar, leavin’ him there so he can chat her up, see if she’s worth his time.
13
CARLY
Ally answers the door in the same clothes she wore to work, but her hair is now up in a bun like mine.
“Oh wow. You look hot!” She eyes me head to toe.
I’m in my sweatshirt dress and flip flops.
“That sweatshirt dress is smokin’! And anyone who comes to my door with pizza is automatically a hottie, but even if you didn’t have pizza, you’d still be smokin’. Come in!”
I notice immediately that the apartment is a lot less impressive than the one upstairs. It’s more like a corporate apartment than mine and Aiden’s, which is like a home.