Neighbors (Twin Estates #1) (30 page)

“She was with you ...” Liam's voice trailed off. Normally, Katya would've felt bad about him finding out that way. But right then, Katya still wasn't thinking normally.

No, Katya was pretty sure she was having an out of body experience.

“Yes. We talked about a lot of things, agreed on some things. She can explain it to you herself. But trust me when I say you two are over, and if you so much as look at her sideways, I will fucking
end you.
”

“If I so much as look at her? Sorry, pal, I hate to remind you, but I've fucked her. Lots of times. So I'll look at her any way I want.”

Katya was going to be sick. She was actually going to be sick. She could feel saliva pooling at the back of her jaw, could tell her stomach was rolling back and forth. Hearing people talk that way about her, it was surreal.

“Watch what you fucking say about her.”

“Screw you. You know what, you're right,
Ricky
. How's about I just give her a little call? Call her and tell her what a nice new boyfriend she has – a guy who told me to go out with her to see how good she was in bed, then sat around comparing stories with me. Let's see how she feels then.”

“You'd be outing yourself, too.”

“Ooohhh, little Ricky scared? Good, cause I'm not.”

Katya took several deep breaths and concentrated. Ricky? Why was Liam calling Wulf by that name? Wasn't that … wasn't his business partner named Ricky?
Richard
. She could picture the business card in her mind's eye. Richard Mason owned half of Liam's business. Richard Mason hated to be called “Ricky”, so that's what Liam always called him.

Katya's brain must've been a good lock pick in a former life, because some more of those tumblers squared up inside her head. A mason was a stone worker, or someone who worked with stone. Stone. Wulfric Stone. Wulf
RIC
Stone.

They've known each other. This whole time, they've known each other. Known
about
each other. What did he say? '
A guy who asked me to go out with her …
' – Wulf asked Liam to go out with me. Asked him how I was in bed. Wulf didn't ask me out till after my night with Liam. Wow, must have been a hell of a conversation. Shit, I would've asked me out, too. Naive idiot who puts out on the first date. Hell of a catch, boys.
A hell of a catch
.

She came out of her private reverie and realized everything had gone quiet in the office. The only noise was an odd jingling sound. It took her a moment to realize it was her phone. She looked down at her clutch, then pulled out her cell. Liam's office number was scrolling across the screen. He must have made good on his threat to call her. She put her free hand against the door and pushed, slowly opening it wide.

Liam was behind his desk, the phone to his ear, his jaw dropped. Wulf was to the left of the desk. He didn't looked shocked. He looked … hurt. Like he was in pain. She took a couple deep breaths and held up her phone, showing the screen.

“I would've answered, but … seemed kinda pointless ...” she let her voice trail off. Liam visibly struggled to swallow and set down his phone in its cradle.

“Katya, I don't -”

“I came here to talk to you. I didn't realize you were busy,” she interrupted. He moved around the desk, taking tentative steps towards her.

Wulf stayed completely still, his eyes never leaving her face.

“I'm so sorry, Katya. I didn't want you to find out like this.”

“No, sounded to me like you never wanted me to find out,” she even managed a laugh. “But just to clear something up, Wulf is right – he saw me first. We became neighbors when I was five. He wins.”

“Jesus, don't say it like that,” Liam growled. She looked up at him. At his warm eyes and his lips that were made to smile. Smile and lie, oh so well. Everything, a complete lie. A photo book of memories closed in her brain, the pages flipping. Them on the roof, or laughing together in his kitchen, or exploring each other in his bed. All a competition.

He brought you a kiddie pool for your roof – because Wulf had a real pool on
his
roof. He laughed when you almost walked in on his business meeting – because he'd known you were too stupid to realize the meeting was with Wulf. He'd talked about having a shitty investment with his partner –
you
were that investment. A shitty investment. Lovely.

“Don't say it like what? Like it's the truth? It is. I hope you told him everything. Did he tell you about that first time?” she asked, turning to look at Wulf. “It was pretty goddamn amazing. Sex right there in the booth.”

“I knew,” Wulf said, his voice barely above a whisper.

He knew. So many private moments, building something special, and he was coming here and sharing them all with Liam. Talking about you. Comparing notes about you.
Laughing at you
.

“Did he tell you all the dirty details? What all we did?” she demanded, glancing between them. “Must be hard to know that he got to fuck me in ways you never did. Pity, if only you could've kept it a secret for a little longer.”

“Stop it, Katya,” Liam urged.

“And did I hear you say you '
traded stories
'? How fun! Was it here, in this office? Just some good ol' boys, talking about a bitch they'd both fucked. Man, I wish I was a dude, sometimes.
How fun
. Were you, like, telling Wulf about all the exciting new stuff you were getting me to do? Was Wulf telling you about how I would try out all those new tricks on him? I hope you two had popcorn.
How fucking fun
.”

No one said anything. Liam glanced at Wulf. Wulf stared at her. She shot fire at both of them with her glare. She knew she was right – their faces were giving away everything.

I was a game. A competition. My best friend, and quite possibly the only man I've ever loved, and I was nothing but a game to them.

Katya was halfway up the stairs before she even knew she was running. She braced her hands against the walls as she went, struggling to stay upright. When she got to the door, she burst through it so hard, she knocked over a waitress that was on the other side.

“Hey, watch it! What the hell is going on!?” Timmy yelled.

She ignored him. Ignored everything but the pounding of her feet. Of her heart. She pushed through the exit, startling Jan off his stool as she practically leapt down the stairs. He hollered after her, but he didn't stop her.

No, Wulf was the one to catch her first. She wasn't surprised. Liam was in great shape, but Wulf was an athlete. He could probably catch anything that tried to get away from him.

“Just talk to me,” he insisted, holding her by her arms.

“I don't have to do shit for you!” she screamed, beating at his chest. Liam came running up next to them.

“Just come back inside. We need to talk!” he shouted. The rain was still coming down in sheets, soaking them all in an instant.

“Sounds like you two have talked enough. God, I'm so stupid. I'm so fucking stupid!”

She was crying. She couldn't help it. She wanted to be strong, but it just wasn't possible. These two men had stolen all her strength, in one awful moment. Violated her for weeks, and she hadn't even known it.

“Stop,” Wulf's voice was low as he yanked her close. “You need to listen to me.”

“I don't need -”

“
You said,
” he whispered, and she stopped struggling for a moment as she stared up at him. “You said you wouldn't leave me. That you trusted me. Your words, Katya.”

“Are you kidding right now? Throwing my words in my face, after … after …
you lied to me!
” she shrieked, finally jerking free of his grasp. He held up his hand, like he was calming a rabid animal.

“I never actually lied,” he corrected her.

“You cannot be serious. A lie by omission doesn't count, I guess. You knew I was sleeping with someone else, you said it was fine. You didn't care. You didn't think that maybe you should mention you knew the guy? Or that you were secretly meeting with him to talk about our sex life? Jesus, Wulf, I never shared those moments with
anybody.
Not with him, not with my roommate, not
anybody!
It was special to me. Special!
You
were special, you made
me
feel special, and it was all a goddamn filthy fucking lie!”

He was working hard to maintain his composure, she could tell, but he couldn't keep the hurt out of his eyes. She was glad to see it, hoped it would stay there for a long time.

“And you,” she turned her wrath on Liam. His eyes were wide and he looked scared.
Good
. “You were something else. You invaded my life. Made yourself my best friend. You acted like you cared about me, like you were someone I could trust.
You lied to my face
. I said his name, and you didn't say a word. You acted like you'd never heard of him. Jesus, how did this all even happen!? How do you two even know each other?”

“I told you – I needed a backer for my business,” Liam explained. “I didn't know shit about buying a place or anything like that. I had inherited the Twin Estates, and Wulf's company was managing it, so I went to talk to him, and -”

“Wait, wait, wait,” she breathed, holding up her hands. “Wulfric's company
manages my apartment building?
”

Both men winced in unison.

“It's a subsidiary company,” Wulf answered in a low voice. “Masonry Management solely handles property management. I spend most of my time at the realty company.”

“You manage my building,” she whispered. She'd been writing rent checks to Masonry Management and mailing them out on her way to dates with the company's CEO, and she hadn't even known it. Liam had confessed to owning the buildings, had even talked about the management company – but had conveniently never mentioned
who
was running said company.

What. The fuck.

“Yes. We have for about eight years now.”

“I wish you would've told me.”

“Me, too.”

So many secrets. You'd think if they were going to lie and hide from me, the least they could do is get their jobs done right.

“Well since we're here now and discussing it, can you fix my
goddamn fucking oven!?
” she started screaming, hitting him in the chest again. “You're a fucking awful management company, you know that?
Goddamn fucking shitty! What the fuck is wrong with you people!?
”

Both men stepped forward and she practically leapt away. Touching them to hit them was fine – she
did not
want them touching her, however. Ever again.

“Calm down,” Wulf growled.

“Please, you're gonna hurt yourself,” Liam insisted.

“Fuck both of you,” she hissed. “Is that how this all started? Liam sees me around the building, tells his little buddy Wulf, who also happens to manage the building? Did you guys go full on stalker mode?”

“No,” Liam cleared his throat and glanced at Wulf once. “No, I told you the truth when we first met – I saw your profile on Eros, recognized you as my neighbor. Wulfric was in my office, he saw the profile, too. We were both surprised by your bio, he said he didn't remember you being like that. Told me I should go out with you and see if any of it was true. It was a joke, I never thought you'd go out with me.”

“Oh, so this is all
my
fault.”

“No! Not at all, no. But the next time I saw him, he'd heard about what we did in the club. One thing lead to another -”

“Oh, one thing lead to another, and suddenly we had a competition going for
who could be the biggest asshole!
” she was screaming again. Liam's hands went into his hair and he stepped towards her, but she took several back, keeping her distance.

“Jesus, this is all so fucking bad. It is, I know it is –
we
know it is,” he gestured between him and Wulf. “We thought it was funny at first, sleeping with the same girl. But then it wasn't funny anymore. That's why we started fighting – it stopped being a joke. We both … we both sort of fell for you.”

“You two are so fucked up,” she was gasping for air as her gaze bounced between them. “That you can stand there and say this shit to me, and in the same breath say you fell for me. Who treats someone they 'fell for' like that!? That you can play with me like I was your toy,
like I was an object to be passed around
, and not even care, and then have the audacity to claim you felt something for me. Do you think you can just say that, and it negates everything else?
It just makes it worse
. That you could do something like that to someone you claim to care about … you need help. I'm not even kidding, you both need serious help.”

“Katya, if you just let us -” Wulf tried to interject.

“
I thought I loved you!
” she screamed, whirling around to face him. Everything in the alley went silent. Wulf stared at her calmly, while the color drained from Liam's face. “I thought you were falling in love with me. But you don't know how to love.”