Pride

“I’ll take it.”

“No way, man, that’s my emergency supply.”

“Double the usual price,” Kane suggested. This was an emergency.

“No deal. It’s not about the money, bro. It’s not for sale.”

“Everything’s for sale,” Kane countered, a philosophy that had yet to fail him. “There must be something you want, something only I can get for you.”

“Actually…” C chewed the corner of his lip. “There may be something-but you’re not going to like it.”

C spit it out-and under other circumstances, Kane might have laughed in his face and walked away. But today was C’s lucky day.

“It just so happens that you’ve named the one thing I’m able to deliver,” Kane said triumphantly. He could already see all the details falling into place. It was amoral, it was underhanded, and it was going to make someone very unhappy, but it would get Kane what he needed.

And in the end, what else mattered?

Chapter 10

“Do you know what time it is?” Harper asked groggily, slumping back against her pillow.

“Did I wake you, princess?” Even through the phone, Harper could hear the false note in Kane’s syrupy sympathetic voice. And after the week she’d been having, she wasn’t in the mood.

“Yes.”

“Good-because you’ve got to get going or you’ll be late.”

“Late for what?” Harper was on the verge of hanging up. It was way too early in the morning for one of Kane’s mind games.

“You’ve got a date.”

“Trust me, I don’t.” Not that she wanted to think about that. She hadn’t heard from Adam since he’d run off from her ill-conceived winter extravaganza.

“You do now. His name is C. And you’re going to love him.” Kane laughed. “Actually, you’re going to hate him- but you’re going, anyway.”

“I’m hanging up now,” Harper warned him impatiently.

“Look, he graduated a couple years ago from Haven and apparently he had a huge crush on you. God knows why.”

“I’ll ignore that,” Harper snapped.

“You blew him off.”

“Imagine that.”

“But for some reason, he’s been longing for you ever since… kind of sweet, when you think about it. You know, in a crazed-stalker kind of way.”

“Charming,” Harper drawled-a bit intrigued, in spite of herself.

“Since the poor guy’s been pining away for you so pitifully, I told him you’d drive up there and have lunch with him today.”

Harper almost dropped the phone. “You did what? Why would I possibly do that?”

“Out of the goodness of your heart?” Kane suggested.

“Funny, I seem to have misplaced that.”

“Then need I remind you of the favor you owe me?” Harper gripped the phone tightly-she should have known that nothing from Kane came without strings attached. “I’m calling it in.”

“Kane, lending me money doesn’t give you the right to pimp me out to your deadbeat friends,” she pointed out.

“Oh, get off it, Grace, it’s lunch, not an afternoon rendezvous at the Whore Hotel. All you need to do is drive up there, let the guy buy you lunch and pay you a few compliments, then drive home again. And, oh yeah,” he added, affecting a casual tone, “he has something for me, a package, so if you can bring it back with you, that’d be great.”

“And if I say no?” Harper asked.

“Have you cashed the check yet?”

Damn.

No.

“I can always stop payment.”

Harper wanted to throw the phone across the room. He could be such an asshole sometimes. All the time.

“But hey, I wouldn’t do that to a friend,” he smarmed. “I’m more than happy to do you a favor, because that’s what friends do for each other. Right?”

“His name is ‘C’?” Harper asked. “What’s it stand for?”

“Nothing-just C.”

Of course.

“And he’s in college with your brother?”

“He was…,” Kane clarified.

“He graduated already?” she asked-a prodigy wouldn’t be too bad.

“He… moved on.”

No name and no future-this just kept getting better and better. Still… he was an older guy, and he found her desirable, which was more than she could say for the other man in her life. And it’s not like it would be a real date or anything, so Adam would have nothing to complain about. (Not that he would ever find out.)

“And you won’t have to pay interest on the loan,” Kane added hopefully.

Free lunch and an interest-free loan, all for spending a few hours letting some guy tell her how beautiful she was?

“Gotta go, Kane-looks like I’ve got myself a date.”

“I have a proposition for you, mon cherie,” Powell said, dipping his Oreo in a glass of milk and taking a bite. Their first night together, they had dined on fine wine and imported cheeses, Kaia remembered with a sweet pang of nostalgia. Now they’d been reduced to early morning milk and cookies. When did things go from scandalous to seedy to suburban?

“I’m listening.”

“What are you up to on New Year’s Eve?” he asked.

Kaia maintained a neutral expression, but inside, she was beaming. He wanted to spend New Year’s with her? It looked like her little power play was already taking off.

“I’ve got this party to go to,” he began, and she looked at him in surprise. A couple weeks ago he’d chastised her for smiling at him in the high school hallway. Now he wanted to take her out in public?

“I can’t get out of it,” he complained, “but I should be home by one or two, and I thought-”

“What?” she snapped, comprehension dawning. “That I’d have nothing better to do on New Year’s Eve than sit around and wait for your booty call? Just how pathetic do you think I am?”

“You didn’t seem to have a problem with it tonight,” he pointed out, “or any other night, that I can recall.”

“Well, it just so happens that on that night, I’ve got something else to do.”

Powell sat up in bed and looked at her suspiciously. “Something else-or someone else?”

His jealous tone was confirmation enough that her little show with Reed had done the trick. But it looked like he hadn’t quite learned his lesson-not if he still expected her to be sitting by the phone at all hours, waiting for his call. She’d stay faithful to their pact-but that didn’t mean he owned her.

“I’m having a party of my own,” she explained, deciding in that instant to make it true. “But if I get bored, later, maybe I’ll call you. But don’t count on it-my parties aren’t often