The Stranger Behind My Orgasm novel Chapter 58

Chapter 58: TROUBLE IN PARADISE?

Finnegan

"You’re cheating,"

Slow music filled the bar around us as well as the Sunday of people chatting. Through the slight gaps in our VIP booth, I could see people troop in and out of the bar, the smell of whiskey and bourbon heavy in the air.

I held my cards up, grunted and threw it in the centre of the table along with the order pile of cards. "I fold,"

"Ah! I guess I win again," Henry gloated, swiping the chips towards him.

"Henry’s definitely cheating!"Eric said, pointing at Henry across the table. "There is no other explanation for winning four times in a row."

"The explanation," My best friend fanned his cards in Eric’s face. "...is that I’m better than you. I’ve always been better than you, I’m the king of cards. This isn’t new information, Eric."

Eric turned to his father. "Your friend is a menace."

Arthur took a long sip of his bourbon, before tossing his cards in the center of the table too. "Henry has been beating you at cards since you were nineteen. At some point that becomes your problem, not his." 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Henry pointed at Arthur. "Truer words have never been spoken, Gandalf,"

"Gandalf?" Arthur scoffed, clutching his chest. "I’m that old, you toad. You’re not that much younger than me,"

"You just proved his point calling him a toad, instead of an asshole," I chuckled, earning a "Bah, humbug" from Arthur and a glare from Henry.

My shoulders raised and fell in a shrug. "I am on your side, believe it or not,"

"Calling me an asshole is being on my side?" He reached for his glass, tilting it in my direction. "VTD launch is this weekend. How’s it looking?"

"Fine."

"Fine as in actually fine or fine as in I’ll find out it was a disaster when I read about it Monday morning?"

My lips quirked up at his words. "You’ll see on Saturday,"

Every detail had been checked, rechecked, and handed back for checking again. From the venue, the press list, the product reveal sequence, the security rotation, they were all under control.

Hell, my assistant had caught a catering problem yesterday before it became a problem and fixed it as she did with other things. I had to admit she was competent. A bit irritatingly too competent.

Her voice replayed over and over in my head. It was very rare to see her so flustered yet in the dressing room this afternoon, her cheeks had been heated up, the blush spreading down her neck to the slight swells of her breasts peeking through the top.

She stammered when my pants dropped. Fuck, I shouldn’t enjoy that look on her face but she had looked quite... adorable-

"So, Abigail, huh,"

Shit! Was it obvious that I was thinking about her? My head whipped up from my glass of whiskey to Eric’s face. He leaned over the table, a smile playing on his lips.

"What?"

"I was just wondering how she’s doing," He murmured, running a finger slowly over the rim of his glass. "Last I saw her was at a restaurant where she was with her friends and I’ve been trying to work up the courage to you know, ask if she wants to hang out,"

"Wait, who’s Abigail?" Henry frowned.

Would she want someone like him pushing her over his desk- Christ, what sort of thinking was that? I had to be out of my goddamned mind.

Henry said nothing, which for Henry was the equivalent of fuck off.

"They’re good, I think. She’s in Santa Monica with the kids so she’ll call whenever she needs me. You know how these women are." Carlton turned back to me, that fake smile back on his face.

Our companies had been rivals for ten years. Ten years ago, Carlton swindled an automobile company, Winchester, out of their shares, bought it for peanuts and renamed it Carlton Gayle.

He had been struggling to compete with Wolfe ever since but what irked me more about him was his dirty business tactics. Shaking hands with someone like that could only lead to hell.

"You’ve had quite the run. I heard Senator Allan agreed to sign for the preorder,"

How the fuck did he hear that? Was there another mole in my company? "Are you done?"

Eric snickered then cleared his throat awkwardly when Gayle glared at him, his smile tightened at the corners. "Enjoy the moment, Wolfe," he said quietly. "I have something planned for that launch of yours. A little surprise. Consider it a gift from Carlton Automobiles."

He left before anyone responded and my eyes narrowed. A gift? He better not be messing with me or he was going to have his ass handed to hum big fucking time.

"He’s bluffing," Henry said.

"Probably," I muttered, rising from my seat. "Good night, gentlemen,"

The drive home took some forty minutes but nothing prepared me for the shock waiting for me. I was barely out of my car, flying to the sidewalk in rage.

"What the hell happened here?"