Love's Gamble (18 page)

Chapter 25

I
’m over Pru
, Max thought as he walked into his eponymous nightclub.
All the way over her.

He decided this after nearly an entire Friday and Saturday spent moping around his grandmother’s mansion, wondering why he was still in Las Vegas. Why he hadn’t been able to bring himself to return to New Orleans after all that had happened in Utah.

Despite all the sleep he’d gotten over the past couple of days, he was still tired. Tired of replaying his last scene with Pru in his head. Tired of remembering the hurt that had flashed across her face, before the disgust had set in.

She’d looked at him as if he was garbage when she slapped him. Probably because he was garbage. Always had been and always would be.

And then she’d walked away without a backward glance.

But whatever
, he thought now. It didn’t mean anything. Only that he must have gone temporarily insane to think even for a few measly hours that he and Pru had something more substantial than a one-week fling going on.

That bout of temporary insanity was done now, and he was back. Dressed in an on-trend lightweight suit that was nothing like the business ones Cole had forced him to wear in Utah. Headed toward the VIP section of the nightclub like a king on his throne. Two, maybe three drinks, and he’d be all the way over Pru and her all-seeing eyes and her stupid understanding. Who needed to be understood anyway?

He dropped onto one of the white couches in VIP, and bottle service magically appeared without him even having to ask. A few friends he had known from various party circuits had also made their way to the VIP area. That crowd, he’d noticed as of late, was starting to thin out. Coming out only occasionally for paid gigs, because they’d spawned or gotten into relationships that took up more and more of their time.

Because they’d grown up.

He remembered then the conversation he and Pru had had that last night together. The one that made it seem as if they were on the exact same page in life. Over their old ways, and looking forward to moving into a new phase. Sometimes he thought about settling down and starting a family like Cole and Sunny. More and more lately.

Whatever. Max threw back an entire flute of champagne and held out his glass, knowing someone else would fill it up for him.

Here’s what he needed, he decided as he drained another flute of champagne—a girl, someone smoking hot, to help him forget all about Pru.

“Hi, Max!” a set of high-pitched voices said in unison.

Max looked up from his seated position to see two girls, one brunette and one blonde. They weren’t in costume, but they had that familiar long-legged look of a showgirl. He vaguely recognized them from the Benton Revue—not the ones who did special performances all around town, representing the Benton, as Sunny and Pru used to, but the ones who went topless on stage.

“We just got done with a show,” one of them said, “and we heard you were over here in VIP.”

“Want to party?” the blonde asked, a bit more direct than her friend. “We know you Bentons really like showgirls.”

She glanced at the wedding ring Max still hadn’t gotten around to taking off. If she was concerned about it, it didn’t show in her inviting smile.

Max grinned at them. Yeah, he was definitely back.

* * *

Less than three hours later, Max found himself leaned up against the jamb of a nondescript beige door, impatiently punching his finger into the doorbell embedded in its left frame.

When that didn’t garner an immediate answer, he started pounding on the door with the side of his fist. Memories of what had gone down that night still burned in his head.

Two girls, naked on top of a hotel room bed, pretty and more than willing to let him have his way with them. He’d been able to get the same suite that he’d shared with Pru the night they’d been married, and it had been the perfect setup to scrub his mind clean of what had happened there.

He wouldn’t call the the Benton Revue Girls snobs, but they were a proud folk. And most of them were pretty adamant about not being bunched in the same class as strippers. Every Benton Girl, including the nudes, had dance degrees and/or some kind of formal training. And they weren’t expected or encouraged to fraternize with the show’s patrons beyond the stage.

However, these two girls were A-OK with stripping for him. They put on quite a show, dancing to their own sexy inner music as they peeled off their minidresses. Then they kissed each other with a cunning ardor designed to both titillate and compel whoever was watching to join in on the action.

It should have worked.

Would have worked on him just a few weeks ago. But watching the two Benton Girls go at it had only served to make him think of what he didn’t have.
Whom
he didn’t have.

The longer he watched the two showgirls kiss, the more Pru filled his mind. The helpless way she’d succumbed to his touch. How it felt to be inside her, his length hugged tightly by her sweet core.

Not enough...

The two words whispered through his head as he watched the showgirls kiss. His manhood hanging limp between his legs, because no matter how hard they tried, the two of them weren’t even half as sexy as Pru.

And now here he was, banging on Pru’s door, not because he was drunk but because he was desperate to see her. It had been only two days, but he felt as if he was going out of his mind from missing her.

Unfortunately it wasn’t Pru who answered the door, but her brother, in a pair of sweatpants, face screwed up with tired indignation.

“It’s four in the morning. What the hell, man?” Jake demanded.

“Is Pru here?” Max asked. “I need to see her.”

Jake shook his head and rubbed at his eyes, yawning as he answered, “You think I’d tell you? After what you did? Get out of here, man.”

He started to close the door, but Max slammed one hand against it, halting its progress.

“How about if I said I loved her? Then would you go get her?”

Jake paused, not looking nearly as tired now. “I don’t know. Is this some kind of messed-up hypothetical?”

Max shook his head. “No, I’m asking because it’s true. This started off as a game. But no more games, Jake. Please go get her, and tell her she’s ruined me for any other woman. Tell her I love her, and it’s not about the money. It’s about her. Me wanting to be with her, I’ve changed. She’s changed me. Please, just go tell her that.”

Jake studied him with a frown that made him look way older than his age. “You serious?” he asked.

“Dead serious,” Max answered, his voice steady. Even though admitting that he loved a woman, one who might never love him back, terrified him.

But it was true. Every single word he’d said was true, and it must have shown on his face. After a few moments of shrewd observation, Jake actually reached down to what must have been a table just to the left of the door and produced a smartphone.

“Okay, I believe you,” he said while typing something into the phone. “And I don’t blame you. Pru’s pretty great. Better than you deserve anyway.”

“If you go get her, I will do everything in my power to convince both her and you to give me another chance,” Max answered, once again knowing that what he said was 100 percent true.

But if Jake was impressed by his conviction, it didn’t show. He just kept typing, his mouth set in a skeptical twist. “And how about all that stuff you were saying about me at BIT?” he asked without looking up. “Were you serious about my chances of making it out there?”

Max shrugged. “Yeah, I was serious. Still am. That’s why I invested in your college education.”

Jake finally looked up from his phone. “What do you mean?” he asked. “I thought the deal between you and Pru was off.”

“It is,” Max said. “But that doesn’t mean I didn’t think you could hack it at BIT.”

Max reached into his pants pocket and pulled out the set of Thunderbird keys he’d received from James Market’s assistant earlier in the evening. “Here, consider this a late graduation gift.”

Jake caught them but shook his head in confusion. “But the guy said you weren’t the buyer.”

“I wasn’t. Sorley Greer was, and...”

Max took a deep breath. Here came the real secret. The one Max had never told anyone ever. “I’m Sorley Greer.”

Jake just shook his head in confusion. “Is that supposed to mean something to me?”

“No, I guess not,” Max answered with a wry lift of his eyebrows. “Sorley Greer runs what’s called a private investment pool out of Ireland. My grandmother’s Irish, so I was able to get dual citizenship. His investment pool does pretty well for itself. Started off with a few million twelve years ago, now it’s closing in on a billion, which means it’s time for it to make the jump and become a hedge fund. But to do that, I need a big infusion of capital, which is what I was going to use my trust for.”

Jake shook his head. “I thought you were partying all over the place. When did you find time to start a hedge fund or an investment pool or whatever you’re talking about?”

Max threw Jake a sardonic half smile. “The two kind of go hand in hand. I kept Sorley’s identity a secret, convinced a few of my Max Benton friends to invest with him sight unseen. Boom, there’s my start-up money. But nobody knows I’m Sorley. They just think I’m Max, the guy at all the hottest clubs. And do you know what nearly every single CEO of nearly every single corporation has in common? Kids. Rich kids. A lot of them like me. Burning through their allowances with a whole lot of fun. You’d be surprised what information comes down through the party vine. Stuff you can use to make the best possible investments if you know what you’re looking for.”

Jake stared at him, openmouthed.

“Yeah, I guess I’m a little smarter than I look,” Max finished. “And I liked this move of yours with selling the car. Shows you’ve got what it takes to leverage your resources and make bold moves. So trust me when I tell you, you’re a smart kid.”

Jake snorted and lowered the phone. “Well, I still think you’re a douche and not worthy of my sister—I don’t care how rich or not dumb you really are. But I guess since Pru and I are trying to treat each other like adults now, I figured I should at least let her know you’re here, looking to talk to her.”

Max’s heart soared. But then Jake just stood there.

Forcing Max to ask, “So are you going to go get her or what?”

Jake shook his head. “Nah, man. Can’t. She’s not here. But I sent her a text, telling her you’re here and you want to talk.”

“Not here?” Max repeated. It was four in the morning. Where the hell else could she be?

As if reading his mind, Jake shrugged. “I dunno. She called some guy named Gus on the phone after we finished with the paperwork. Asked if she could meet him, then left. Told me she wouldn’t be home until tomorrow.”

Max’s heart froze. He’d finally come to the conclusion that he was in love with Pru. But apparently she hadn’t come to the same conclusion about him, because the first thing she’d done after getting her brother’s future settled was run to Gus.

Chapter 26

“G
irl, you need to go back to bed. It’s only breakfast, and you look like death warmed over,” Sunny informed Pru as she took the seat across from her at one of the Sinclair Lodge common room’s long tables. Her plate was filled high with food from the retreat’s last breakfast buffet.

Pru took Sunny’s admonishment in stride. Mostly because, though she’d yet to look at herself in a mirror, she knew Sunny was probably right. She was still in the old tracksuit she’d thrown on for yesterday’s Thunderbird fix-up, which had turned out to be a sale. She’d gotten maybe an hour tops of sleep in Gus’s room last night. And after the week she’d had with Max, she was discovering that her days of running at full steam on limited sleep were on their way out.

But Pru shook her head. “No, I just need another cup of coffee, and I’ll be good to go.”

Sunny pursed her lips and asked, “Are you done eating?”

Pru glanced down at the half-full plate of uneaten food and didn’t feel the desire to finish it. “Yeah, I guess so. Is there something you need me to do?”

“Yes, go to sleep,” Sunny answered.

She came around the table and took Pru by the elbow, yanking her out of her seat.

“No, seriously, Sunny,” Pru whispered, trying to get her elbow back without causing a scene. “We’re so close to proving who the saboteur is. Just a couple more hours with Gus, and I’ll have everything I need on the guy.”

Sunny ignored Pru’s protest and pulled her toward the stairs. “Cole’s in with Gus now anyway. Whatever it is you think you have to do can wait until you’ve had a nap. Gus will still be here then.”

“But—”

Sunny’s expression became uncharacteristically dark. “Don’t fight me on this, Pru,” she said with a glare. “I’ve taken care of you when you refuse to take care of yourself for years, and don’t think I’m going to stop now, just because I’m pregnant. I’m not nearly as delicate as Cole wants people to think, and I can and will drag you kicking and screaming up to a bed if you fight me on this.”

Sunny had been with her domineering husband too long, Pru decided. She sounded exactly like him now. But she gave in nonetheless. Not just because she believed Sunny really would follow through on her threat, but also because she was too tired to fight with her.

Maybe Sunny was right, Pru thought, as she trudged up the stairs alongside her best friend. She’d take a nap, clear her mind, then go back downstairs to Gus’s room.

He’d probably need a few hours to process the report an old Benton Girl who’d gone on to become a forensic lab assistant for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department had sent her via email this morning anyway. She was just glad that Cole had volunteered to do the dirty work of telling Gus what was in it as opposed to leaving the job to Pru.

The more she thought about it, sleeping through what was sure to be a whole lot of drama sounded better and better by the second. But when Sunny stopped outside the door to the room she’d shared with Max, Pru went stiff.

“No, I don’t think so,” she said, shaking her head. “I’ll sleep on one of the couches in the common room downstairs.”

She wheeled around, but Sunny caught her arm before she could leave, her eyes narrowing. “Cole got it wrong, didn’t he? You and Max—you weren’t just pretending...you really liked him, didn’t you?”

Pru shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about this.”

“I knew it!” Sunny’s face lit up with a triumphant look. “I kept wondering how I could have been so wrong about you two, but that explains it. I can’t wait to tell Cole I was right.”

“Wait, what?” Pru asked. “What do you mean?”

Sunny shrugged. “After that crazy wedding of yours hit YouTube, Cole called me up to ask if I thought you and Max were really together. And I told him I absolutely believed you two were. I totally vouched for you.”

“What?” Pru said. “Why would you do that? Why would you think Max and I were such a sure thing?”

Sunny shook her head as if the answer was obvious. “Because Max plays the part of the ridiculous playboy who doesn’t care about anything or anybody, but I’ve always suspected he’s deeper than that. And because I knew you before your parents died, Pru. I remember how fun you used to be.”

Pru shook her head. “If by ‘fun’ you mean stupid, reckless and irresponsible.”

Sunny’s eyes crinkled with sardonic amusement. “No, Pru, by ‘fun’ I mean
fun
—like the girl who was always talking me into wild adventures. Remember when we got that unexpected three-day break because they needed to do emergency repairs on the stage, and you found those cheap last-minute tickets to Mexico?”

Pru did remember that. They’d spent the entire three days club crawling. And in the check-in line on the way back to Vegas, Pru had convinced some wealthy businessmen to upgrade all their tickets to first class. That meant the tequila had kept flowing all the way on the return flight to Las Vegas. They barely made it back before the curtain went up for the show.

Pru groaned now, remembering, “We were wrecked that night. I’m still trying to figure out how we even got through the show.”

“But what a memory!” Sunny insisted. “Listen, girl, maybe one day you’ll have a baby of your own, then you’ll really understand. All that stupid stuff we did when we were younger, it’s not anything to regret. You led me into some great stories back in the day. Now that I’m a boring wife and soon-to-be mother, I’m really glad you convinced me to have so much fun when we were younger.”

“You’re not boring,” Pru assured her. Then she asked, “Really, that’s what you think of the way I used to be?” She’d certainly never thought of herself that way.

“Yes, really,” Sunny answered. “And that’s why I thought you were perfect for Max. You’re levelheaded but you really know how to have a good time. Exactly the kind of woman Max needs, and could maybe appreciate. Plus, you’re smart and strong. You’d never let someone like Max walk all over you just because he’s a Benton heir.
That’s
why I vouched for you.”

A cloud fell over Sunny’s face. “I just underestimated Max. I really did think a woman like you could not only net him, but also bring him down to earth. Help him heal from his messed-up childhood. But I guess in the end, Max didn’t want to be fixed or even mend what had gone wrong between him and Cole. He just wanted his money, so that he could continue to live however he pleased.”

As much as Pru wanted to agree with Sunny, she said, “I don’t think it’s so much that he didn’t want to mend things with Cole. A lot of what happened was because he was too scared to think he and Cole could be the real deal, brothers like they used to be. I think he wanted to prove to Cole that he was his own man. In Max’s own way, he truly thought tricking him into signing off on the trust fund was the only way to do that. But I think if they want to, they could get past this, especially now with the new information that’s come to light...”

Pru wasn’t trying to put a silver lining on the situation for Sunny’s sake. She really did believe what she said, that Max was capable of turning over a new leaf where his brother was concerned. Max was someone who could be so much bigger if he just put his mind and heart to it.

In either case, “I’m not sleeping in this room,” she told Sunny.

But Sunny seemed to completely understand. “Okay, why don’t you sleep in my room,” she offered, tugging on her arm again. “I’ll come get you for lunch.”

Pru gave in with a nod, letting Sunny escort her down the hallway to the other master bedroom suite. She was so tired now, she couldn’t even put up a fake protest as Sunny opened the door for her.

“Um, Pru...” Sunny said in front of her. “Let me guess, the guy you were looking into as the mole was Harrison.”

Pru’s eyes widened. “Yeah, that’s exactly who. Did Cole tell you?”

Her question was answered by the sound of a gun cocking.

And Pru stopped short when she saw Harrison standing by Cole’s open laptop. He’d obviously been going through it before Pru and Sunny walked in on him.

“Close the door!” he said to them, his voice menacing and low. “Close the door now!”