Chapter 34

34

Cass

W hile Cole is still knocked out from the night before, his scruffy golden jaw making him even hotter than usual, I search for his phone. It's still in his pants pocket so I retrieve it and go through it to try and find any messages from the woman blackmailing him. It's not too hard to pick her out since her contact name is actually "cunt."

Once I'm caught up on their conversation, I send her a quick text telling her to come to Vegas to get the rest of the money, that the flight and hotel will be covered, and someone will even pick her up from the airport and contact her with all the travel details. Then I copy down her phone number and delete the sent message before blocking her.

This bitch has bothered Cole for the last time.

Then, well, the next trick to pull off will be a little bit trickier. I decide to make the calls from my father's landline in his office after I compile the list of names and numbers. The first phone call of twenty will be Norman Lopez.

Clearing my throat, I try out my best apologetic assistant voice when his receptionist patches me through.

"Hi, Mr. Lopez. This is Mr. James Singletary's secretary. I am such a ditz. You were supposed to be invited to Mr…." I check my notes to remind me of the name, "Singletary's Sigma Chi reunion this weekend in Las Vegas. I just realized when I didn't see your RSVP that I accidentally left you off the email list. Mr. Singletary will be furious and probably fire me if you aren't able to come. He was looking forward to seeing all of his college buddies. Please tell me you don't have plans this Friday and Saturday!"

After a little social media research that I learned from Cole, I determined that James Singletary is the wealthiest of the crew. He's the president and CEO of some software company and loves to show off all his foreign sports cars on social media.

"Oh, um, I have a tee time with my father-in-law," Norman Lopez replies, which sucks. But then he says, "For the Sigma Chi boys and Vegas I could probably get out of it."

Eli strolls into the office in his stuffy suit and glares at me sitting behind Daddy's desk in his chair.

"Great. That would be so amazing! As I mentioned, all expenses will be paid, your airfare and your hotel room are on me, that's how desperate I am to fix this mistake."

"Well, how could I turn down that kind of offer? Tell James I'll see him Friday."

"Thank you so much. Have a good week and I'll email you the itinerary with flight information soon."

As soon as I end the call Eli barks out a laugh. "Now you just have to do that whole spiel how many more times?"

Leaning back in relief that my plan worked for at least one man, I tell him, "Nineteen. That was just the first one." I really should've called James Singletary first since I'm claiming it's his event. It would be suspicious as hell if he's not in attendance .

"And how exactly are you planning to get their DNA from these men once they're here? Ask them to please open wide?"

Wincing, I admit, "I don't know yet. That's going to be the tricky part. But first we need to get them here. We can figure that out later."

"And even once you have all their DNA, they may not be a match for Cole's father," he points out.

"One of them hopefully will be."

"Why can't you just ask Vanessa to narrow down the list?"

"Because she can't remember," I tell him. "She slept with several guys in the frat in a short amount of time." Holding up the legal pad with the list of names and numbers, I tell him, "These are the ones that were members of the fraternity that fall, nine months before Cole was born."

"Well, good luck and let me know if you need me to hold them down for you to swab their mouths," he says when he shoves his hands in the pockets of his slacks and turns to leave.

"You would really do that for me?" I ask him.

"Restraining unsuspecting people is one of my favorite pleasures," he replies.

"Of course, it is," I mutter with a smirk.

Cole

The week running Dante's businesses with Cass flies by. I finally bought me a few suits on Dante's credit card. They're not tailor made, but I look pretty damn good in them.

And whenever Cass and I aren't dealing with emergencies, we're fucking.

Any and all surfaces of the penthouse have been used since Cass apparently doesn't care about the patrolling guards seeing us and telling Dante.

There's been at least two occasions when we've been caught in the act by them.

Not that either of us cared enough to stop.

And of course, we had to go back to the pool and finish what we started there.

"Now…I'm glad I didn't…drown you…that day," Cass says as she rests her soaking wet head on my shoulder after our second round in the warm water.

I'm still buried inside of her bareback as we hold each other and recover, since condoms have been long forgotten. We haven't used any of the annoying rubbers since the first time we fucked which makes things easier. I don't have to keep a stash on me or stop in the middle of things heating up to roll the tight, desensitizing bastards on.

Being in Cass is heaven and I never want to wear a condom again. But I will, with anyone other than Cass.

Not that I want anyone else.

As if thinking the same thing, Cass mumbles without lifting her head, "Don't make another video."

With a scoff, I stroke my palms up and down her back when I tell her, "You think I want to? I don't have a choice. The contract is signed and the only way I can get out of it is to pay them the advance back. I would have to use my tuition money…"

"Then pay them back. Use Daddy's credit card."

"I can't. Dante will want to know what ten grand was for and then my mom would find out."

Lifting her head, Cass's eyes glisten in the moonlight as she looks into mine. "You say you would tell our parents about us, but you won't tell them about the pornos?"

"That's different. My mother never needs to know about the pornos. We can't hide this, us, from them much longer."

Cass starts shaking her head before I can finish my sentence. "We can't tell them. There's nothing to tell them. We're just fucking."

"This isn't ‘just fucking.' Trust me, Cassie, I know the difference. You don't wake up with someone you're ‘just fucking' every single morning, have all your meals with them, and spend the entire day and night together."

"We won't be doing any of those things once you go back to New York," she points out.

"Not unless you come with me. We wouldn't have to tell Dante why right away."

"No. I want an arranged marriage with someone Daddy approves of, and I want it to be soon. Within weeks."

When she says shit like that, I want to dunk her head under the water until she comes to her senses.

"That big fat lie of yours stopped being funny weeks ago," I tell her. "So, stop saying that shit. I'm not jealous of some hypothetical man, Cassie. God, you are the most stubborn, confusing woman I have ever met."

"This was the last time," she says as she lowers her legs from my waist and lets my neck go.

"What?"

"I just thought we should end it where it started."

"You seriously don't want me to sleep with you tonight?" I ask her in confusion.

"No."

"And we're never, ever, going to fuck each other again?"

"That's right. Because it was just sex." After that proclamation, she swims toward the pool ladder.

And just like the first time, I want to grab her leg and pull her back down into the water with me.

But I let her go.

I watch her grab a towel, dry off, and then head back inside without me.

I don't know what the hell is going on with her. It has felt like she's been pulling away from me all week. Then, every night, we would fall asleep together and I would tell myself I was just imagining things.

I was right, though.

Cass just threw in the towel on us, and I have no fucking idea why.