“Oh, it’s not a rumor. I saw him with my own eyes at the city building last week. Approval goes through my office,” Arnold said.
We were fucked. We had no choice but to bend to his whims. It wasn’t a good position to be in. The only leverage we had was our footprint in Castle Grove. We were bigger than the Sinners, had more contacts, and a better reputation. The chances of the Sinners allying with Arnold Arlington were slim to fucking none.
But we still needed him on our side to do anything in this town.
“What do I need to do?” I asked with a sigh.
“Romance my daughter. Be convincing. Do what she wants you to do. Flaunt your relationship so herfriendfrom that motorcycle club knows she’s taken by someone more powerful and richer than he is. I’m sure it won’t be a hardship for you to fuck my daughter.”
“I don’t do girlfriends. I barely do repeats.”
“Looks like you’re going out of your comfort zone. You can break her heart before she goes to college. This is non-negotiable. If you want my help in this city, I need your help with Lauren. And if you refuse, you’ll have me as an enemy, which is something you can’t afford.”
I was sick of this prick threatening me to make me fuck his daughter. His daughter who was eighteen and could make her own decisions. If she wanted to fuck a dirty biker, that was her business.
I didn’t have a choice. Dad would never back me. He was probably thinking this was the easiest deal ever brokered. All I had to do was date a girl I couldn’t stand and convince everyone we knew that we were a real couple.
My friends would kill me over it–they couldn’t stomach being around Lauren either.
My sister would hate me. Lauren was awful to her all through middle school.
And Dani…I didn’t even want to think about how she would react. Probably kick my ass and stab me a few times as payback for what Lauren did to Gemma and Bobby.
I was fucked. Royally and thoroughly fucked.
“When does this little deal start?” I asked.
“It already has.”
Chapter 11
Kane
Laterthatnight,Itried to shift my focus to the poker game, but it wasn’t easy to forget my new responsibility.
She had blonde hair and a bitchy mouth.
I already thought up some rules to make the arrangement go as smoothly as possible. We could be convincing at school–that was the easy part. Most people already thought we were hooking up based on how she hung on me all the time.
Weekends were mine. I would not be taking her out or inviting her over to my place on the weekends. She wasn’t going to insert herself at Ethereal either. The last thing I wanted was for Lauren to get an idea about what Dani and I got up to at the club most weekends.
If Ihadto take her out, it was going to be with a group. I couldn’t be alone with her. She’d already made it clear she wanted to jump my jock.
I guess I could suck it up and fuck her, but I didn’t want to cross that line. I wasn’t a good guy but…the thought of making a girl catch feelings, thinking our relationship was real, only to break her heart in a few months didn’t sit right with me. If we fucked, Lauren would take our relationship to a whole new extreme.
“Are you calling or folding?” Theo asked, pulling me from my head.
I was at a table with Theo, Noah, Dominic, and Xavier. Every other month, Dad would host poker tournaments on the lowest level of Ethereal. He brought in poker tables, dealers, bartenders–and only his richest acquaintances were invited.
Me and the guys always played together, avoiding the older schmucks as much as possible. Only guys could play, but there were always girls wearing tiny little dresses hanging around us, wishing us luck by promising blowjobs after the games were done.
“I’m out,” I said as I puffed on a cigar and a redhead rubbed her tits on my arm. I’d fucked her once last year–she liked to screw guys at the club. We had our fair share of club whores who stuck around primarily to get in bed with anyone who had money and power, itching for the chance at a ring. Sad but true.
“Aw, I thought you had that,” she said, and I realized I couldn’t even remember her name. She rubbed my neck with one hand and my thigh with the other.
“Fuck yeah,” Xavier said as he presented his hand. A fucking flush.
I had a full house, which meant I would’ve beat him but I was distracted with my current situation.