Broken Ground: (Broken Series Book 1) (25 page)

"Mmm... perfect. Thank you." She practically purred.

We lay there quietly, our slow, even breaths the only sound.

Sometime later I was startled awake by a sharp rapping on the front door. I turned to look at the clock on the dresser. It was nearly ten. We were both incredibly late for work, but no one would be hunting us down, especially without calling first. Shit. I'd left my phone in the truck when I went out earlier. Maybe someone
had
been trying to reach me. I threw back the covers as Ali jumped out of bed and began scooping up her wrinkled clothes from the floor, muttering 'shit' over and over like a teenager caught by her parents. I wanted to laugh at how frantic she looked, but I was too irritated that someone had the nerve to interrupt our morning.

She scanned the room frantically, clutching her clothes to her bare chest. "Where the hell is my locket?"

I walked over and put a hand on her arm, stifling a grin. "Ali, relax. It was on the nightstand, remember?" I handed it to her and planted a slow kiss to her pursed lips. "I'll get rid of our uninvited guest, whoever it is. Okay?"

She nodded and began sorting through her clothes, dropping everything on the floor when the banging started up again. She gave up carrying everything and started digging for each garment in the pile. Watching her hastily pull on her lace panties really ruined my morning. I didn't want her dressed yet, dammit.

Whoever was here better have a damn good reason for showing up unannounced.

I pulled on some jeans and an old tee shirt, walked out into the living room and waited for Ali to get herself together. She stood in my bedroom doorway, running my brush through her tangled hair and frowning. "Do I look like I've been having sex all morning?"

The banging resumed, causing her to jump like a guilty teenager.

How could I not laugh at that? She was annoyed by my reaction and threw the brush at me as she rushed over to the stairs, heading for her room, I assumed. "It's not funny. I fell asleep with wet hair that you'd been pulling and fisting in your hands for an hour. I probably look like one of those damn troll dolls. Whoever it is, stall them."

I couldn't contain the bark of laughter that followed that statement. If she thought for one minute that looking like she'd just been made love to for hours on end wasn't the sexiest thing in the world, she was crazy. I loved every damn one of those tangles and had worked hard to put them there. She was fucking beautiful. Period.

When I heard her bedroom door shut, I hurried down the stairs and threw open the door, expecting an overzealous salesman or religious group passing out fliers. No matter what I thought I'd find, it damn sure wasn't what I got.

Standing there on the porch were Spencer, Gran, Vanessa, and Vanessa's eight-year-old son Daniel.

What the fuck?

Spencer seemed to take charge of the herd stepping up and pointedly waiting for me to move so they could enter, my dumbstruck expression apparently not giving him much pause. "Why the hell aren't you at the job site? It's freaking ten o'clock."

Irritated at his tone, I bit out, "I overslept. Did you go to the property and realize I wasn't there then decide to come here and harass me?"

Gran shuffled by, patting my arm as she passed. "Don't be silly. He called one of the crew leaders and asked if you were there. You should have just answered your phone."

Vanessa scoffed at her. "Mama, don't snap at him. He was obviously tired. Maybe he was sleeping so hard that he didn't hear it." She kissed my cheek in a motherly way and turned to Daniel. "Come on, baby, get inside so Clay can close the door and stop letting out all the cool air."

Daniel scuttled by, holding up his hand for a quick high-five. He had gotten so much taller since I'd seen him last. He definitely didn't look like a baby anymore, despite his mother's pet name for him. I closed the door and caught up with them as they reached the doorway to the first-floor. I brushed past them and pointed at the stairs. "This way. The first floor is being used by some guests, so I keep to the top floor."

I frowned at Spencer as I took the lead. The fucker knew I'd given the bottom floor to Ali and Talia. Why would he have been taking everyone there? Probably so I'd have to explain my odd living situation. Asshole. The firm set of his jaw was a clear indication that he was pissed about something, and I was pretty sure he'd be telling me what it was, sooner rather than later.

Everyone walked around oohing and aahing at the view, the pool, and the expensive interior of the cabin. Well, everyone but Spencer. He stopped by my bedroom door, cocking his head and watching me. Fuck, had I left a condom wrapper on the floor?

The look on his face made it clear that he knew.

And he was not fucking happy.

FOR A SPLIT SECOND,
I felt a twinge of remorse. I had, after all, broken a promise to him — and that damn contract — when I slept with Ali, but then the look on his face started pissing me off. He was looking at me like this was just my latest man-whoring mistake, and that couldn't be farther from the truth. There had been no mistake. Ali wasn't a mistake. How I felt about her wasn't a mistake and just the idea of him lumping my night with her in with all the meaningless sex I'd had over the years nearly sent me into a fucking rage.

Vanessa glanced between Spence and I then turned to the others. "Let's go down and check out the yard. Maybe we can bring our suits on our next visit so we can go for a swim."

Daniel ran over to me, excited. "Can we, Uncle Clay? Can we swim in your pool if my mom remembers my trunks next time?"

Despite the anger radiating off me, I had to smile at Daniel's nickname for me. I wasn't his uncle, but I liked that he said it with pride, as if he'd staked his claim to something valuable. I ruffled his light blond hair. "You sure can, buddy. There are tons of cool floats and a diving board and everything." I tried to sound excited, but I could feel Spencer's eyes boring into me. "Why don't you take your mom and Gran outside to have a look around. Uncle Spencer and I will be down in a minute." It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him about the indoor pool and game room in the basement but I decided getting them all out of the house was more important just then.

He nodded deeply and latched onto Vanessa's hand, practically dragging her out of the room and shouting for Gran to follow. Gran took her time, watching Spencer and me closely as she crossed to the stairs behind her daughter and grandson. She turned back at the last moment and frowned. "I don't know what's going on here, but I didn't come all the way out here to break up a frigging fight. Say your piece, then bring your butts down here so we can go check on the house." She narrowed her eyes at us. "Understand?"

Spencer and I muttered a 'yes, ma'am' and watched her disappear down the stairway.

Shaking my head at the fact that she could still punk us down, I turned to Spencer. "Alright, let's hear it. What'd I do to piss you off this time?" I barely managed to avoid looking into my bedroom, still considering the possibility that he'd seen an errant wrapper. I hadn't heard a sound from the first floor, so I figured Ali was holed up in her room waiting for the visitors to leave.

Spencer held up a hand and started counting off my offenses. "One — where the fuck is your phone? I was starting to think something bad happened to you, never mind that Gran was sitting there muttering about calling hospitals to see if you'd been in a goddamn accident. Considering we were passing right by the stretch of road where Rebecca died, it was a tense situation to say the least."

I flinched at the reference, but he kept right on, either not noticing or not caring. "Two — the day is half over, and you're still in fucking bed?" He glanced at my room and scowled at me. "And don't even try to tell me you were alone." He put a hand up to silence my reply. "But we'll get to that later."

When that third finger sprang up and he looked at me, there was a shift in his expression that told me I wasn't going to like what he was about to say. "And then there's number three. I've been busting my balls trying to come up with a tactful way to get us out of this mess with Marissa but I'm coming up short. I've done everything I possibly could to avoid having to do this, but it's all we've got. I came to tell you in person before I did anything."

Goddamn, I didn't want to ask this next question. Something about the way he'd spoken made my balls shrivel, and a cold sweat break out on the back of my neck. "What's all we've got, Spence? What the fuck are you talking about?"

He shook his head and jammed his hands in his pockets, looking anywhere but at me. "There's video footage of you and her at the office."

"What?" I couldn't have heard him right. "What the hell are you talking about? That shit happened months ago. How could there have been a video all this time without me knowing?"

The look of guilt on his face felt like a kick to the gut. He still didn't meet my eye when he said, "I could tell something had happened between the two of you when I saw you together that following Monday. You looked kind of sick to your stomach, and she was acting way too friendly, touching your arm, leaning too close. I saw how you reacted to it. You didn't just push her away like you usually did, you looked ashamed every time she was in the same room with you." He finally looked me in the eye. "You had been with Brant and I all weekend, so I went over the security tapes from the previous Friday and found exactly what I was looking for."

I felt fucking sick at the thought that he'd watched me with Marissa and enraged that he'd checked up on me like that. My anger dimmed when I realized the enormity of what he was saying. "So, aside from the fact that you spied on me and lied about it for months, you also kept a copy of the video. For what purpose? There's free porn all over the goddamn internet. Why did you need footage of me screwing someone?"

His face reddened, either from shame or anger, I couldn't be sure which. "I never watched all the way through. Despite what you think, you fucking jackass, I wasn't trying to invade your privacy. I was trying to protect you from exactly what ended up happening. She got pissed because you didn't want her, and all hell broke loose."

"If you kept the video to protect me, then why am I just hearing about it now?"

He threw his hands up. "Because I thought I had it under control. When Marissa tried to turn you into a street pizza, it scared the shit out of her. I swore there would be no charges filed if she sought counseling and stayed the hell away from you."

"I know that, Spence. What the hell does that have to do with the video?"

"Before she gave in and agreed to therapy, she insinuated that she could say she was sexually harassed. She was still drunk and talking out of her ass, but it pissed me off, so I told her about the footage. I told her that the first ten minutes or so were particularly interesting since it was clear who was pursuing whom." He looked at me steadily. "You could be clearly seen shaking your head no and trying to turn her down, even pushing her clothes at her before she resorted to every dirty — and I do mean dirty — trick in the book to get you to fuck her. She knew I was right about the video, that she'd never be able to make charges stick when I had her on tape, so she backed off."

Something wasn't clicking. "So, if she knows about the video, why is she suing now?"

His fists balled at his sides, and he gritted his teeth. "Because she did more than take her file out of the office when she broke in. She got into my hard drive and sent herself a copy of the video."

My vision was swimming and tinged in red. "She what!"

"Now she says that if we fight the lawsuit, she'll post it online, after a few creative edits to make it look like she was fighting you off."

I froze. "Fighting me off? That would never work. Even the best photoshop jobs get called out online. People aren't stupid. I'd never force myself on anyone. Ever. We could discredit it in a second."

He shook his head miserably. "The damage would already be done by then. People remember the headlines not the retractions. No one will care that it was false they'll only remember that you were accused. I can counter with the real footage, but then we lose twice. Our best bet is to release the video first, beat her to the punch. Of course, that means no matter what you'll either be a fucking predator or a letch. If we don't fight back... if the lawsuit goes to court..."

I straightened, speaking with conviction. "I'll deal with it. Let her take me to court. I'll settle it and insist on a nondisclosure agreement. If it gets leaked anyway, which I wouldn't doubt because she's just that vindictive, I'll sign my shares of the company over to you. I won't drag you and Brant down with me." I nodded decisively, my mind made up.

Then Spencer said the words that changed everything.

"You're not the one she's after. She's accusing me."