SAVAGE LOVE

Chapter 16

“That sounds very noble. A very noble cause indeed.” Uncle Bryce was giving Micheal his full attention now. “I hope you don’t mind me mentioning this, but you’re Daniel Douglas’s son, aren’t you? I never knew your father, but I heard a lot about him. He’d be very proud of you for doing something like that. Very… fitting.”

I glanced between Uncle Bryce and the devil beside me. Uncle Bryce looked embarrassed or guilty, and Micheal? He looked distracted, like mentioning his father had unlocked some hidden weakness in his tough man façade.

“It’s something close to my heart,” Micheal spoke, but his eyes stayed slightly downcast.

“Indeed. I’m sure it is.”

I was lost for words. I didn’t know what to say to diffuse some of the tension that’d surfaced.

“Bianca. It’s been a long time since we had a good catch up with you. Diana and I will be having one of our infamous family barbecues soon. We’d love it if you came, and bring Micheal with you. Maybe we can talk about your charity and what I can do to help get that off the ground.”

“We’d love to.” I looked to my left at Micheal, and a massive grin had spread over his handsome face. I’d hit the jackpot.

“Do we need to bring anything with us?” I’d take a bottle with me, I’d never dream of turning up empty-handed.

“No, just yourselves. Ben and Sally will be there. They’ll be pleased to have someone else their age there to talk to.”

I was pleased to hear that too. Ben and Sally were Bryce and Diana’s children. I’d known them since I was eight years old, and always got on well with Sally. Ben was the same age as Travis, and although I didn’t really know him that well, he was just like Uncle Bryce; a good guy.

“I’ll get Diana to text you with the details. Bianca, Micheal, it’s been a pleasure. Enjoy the rest of your evening.”

With that, Uncle Bryce turned and walked away to chat to another suit from across the room.

“She really is the golden goose, isn’t she?” A familiar voice at the bar spoke to us.

“How long have you been lurking in the shadows?” I asked kenny, as he shifted off the bar stool he’d been perched on and made his way over to us.

“Oh, I heard the lot, Tink, and I gotta say, I’m impressed.”

“Impressed? How?”

He waggled his flirty eyebrows at me and pointed over at Micheal. “Impressed because, in two minutes, you managed to achieve what this hulk hasn’t been able to do for two months.”

“Come again?”

“The mayor? The contracts? This i***t has been trying to get his applications signed off for months. One chat with you and the mayor’s all, ‘let me look into that, I’ll sort that out for you’ and let’s not forget the invitation to his house.” kenny leaned down to whisper in my ear, and I noticed Micheal flinch slightly. “Tell me, how did you do that?”

“Do what? Get an invite to my Uncle Bryce’s house?”

kenny almost choked on his whiskey at my confession. I don’t know why, it’s not like I was consciously keeping it a secret.

“He’s your uncle?” kenny laughed at the irony of it all.

“Yes, kind of. I’ve known him since I was eight. He’s my little brother Derrick’s godfather. He plays golf with my dad every Friday, and Diana is my mum’s best friend.”

“Holy s**t, you could’ve had this wrapped up hours ago.” kenny looked amused, but Micheal just looked pissed.

“Why didn’t you tell me before?” he hissed over his whiskey tumbler.

“Tell you what? The mayor is my dad’s best friend? It’s not the kind of thing you go around telling people, is it? If I’d known he was your mark for the night I might have. Then again, seeing you grovel was much more fun.”

His nostrils flared as I spoke, and he threw back the last mouthful of his whiskey.

“And you think you don’t fit in with these people? You’re as fake as them, you just don’t like to admit it.”

I went to argue, but he stalked away, leaving me and a smug-looking kenny alone. Why did I suddenly feel ashamed? I had nothing to feel guilty about.

“I had no idea he was working for a charity.” I tried to break the ice by talking about something positive.

“Yeah… about that.” kenny twisted his feet to stand opposite me. “Best not to mention it too much. It’s a sensitive subject.” He grinned, but his eyes were hardened and impassive.

“Why? Because he’s scamming the charity?” I had a very low opinion of Micheal Caine, that was for sure.

“No. It’s personal.” kenny looked at me like I was filthy for thinking such a thing.

“Well, sorry for thinking the worst. It’s not like I’ve been given any reason to think otherwise.”

kenny huffed out his annoyance, then smiled and shook his head. “You know, he’s not all bad.”

“You could’ve fooled me.”

“Well, that’s just it, isn’t it? He wants to fool you. Do you think he wants to show any hint of his softer side? He probably thinks you’ll use it to destroy him.”

“What soft side? The one that extorts money from innocent people, or the one that breaks into apartments in the middle of the night? Anyway, I’m not like that. I don’t destroy people, he does.” I had to admit that I felt offended that anyone would think I was capable of destroying another person. I might be able to argue and banter with the best of them, but I wasn’t a total b***h.

“There’s a lot more to him than he likes to show. He doesn’t trust anyone. Loyalty hasn’t been very forthcoming in his life so far. If that comes across as destructive, then so be it, but it’s not all black and white, Bianca.”

“Honesty, loyalty, and all that means is everything to me. If you don’t have trust in your life, then what sort of life is that?”

“Exactly.” kenny put his drink down and took my wine glass from my hand, placing it on the bar behind us. “Shall we?”

He hooked his arm out for me to take hold of, which I did. A bristle of excitement spiked down my back at the thought of pissing Micheal Caine off. kenny led me to the dance floor, where quite a crowd had gathered to show some rather dubious moves to the band’s rendition of New York, New York. He pulled me to his chest with one arm, and held his other out for me to hold as we started to sway on the dance floor in amongst the sea of people.

“You know, I’m still trying to figure out your very strange friendship. You’re complete polar opposites. It’s all just… weird.” I pulled back to look into kenny’s playful green eyes.

“Why is our friendship such a surprise to you?”

I shrugged and bit my lip. “Because I doubt anyone would want to be friends with him out of choice.”

kenny laughed loudly and swung me around before he answered.

“He might come across as an ogre to you, but he’s not. Not all the time, anyway.”

“Are you kidding? He gives ogres a bad name.”

kenny stepped back and twirled me around before spinning me back to his chest. “He plays a good game,” he whispered into my ear. “But when push comes to shove, he’s always there for anyone who needs him. He’s helped me out in more ways than I care to remember. I owe him a lot.”

I narrowed my gaze at kenny to try and see if what he was saying was bullshit, but he was being sincere. Probably one of the few times he’d ever been sincere in his life, but he was. The veil soon dropped back down though, and the saucy kenny was back in play before I could even blink.

“Yeah, well, I’m jealous of people that don’t know him. It’s gonna be a long three months for me at Casa Hades.”

My candid approach seemed to fire kenny up.

“Don’t worry, Tink. I’ll be around to make it more bearable for you.”

I peered into his flirty eyes, fearing he’d taken my openness for something else completely.

“No offence, but you aren’t my type and I’m no cheat.”

He beamed back at me. “Bianca, you are beautiful, but you’re not my type either. You have way too much to say for yourself and I like my women more… compliant.”

“Doormat more like?”

“No. Submissive never equates to doormat.”

He c****d his eyebrow at me, but I had no comeback. Nothing. kenny was a Dom? Well, that was one way to shut me up. I suppose having five sisters made him crave control, and be hyper sensitive to a woman’s needs at the same time. I started to blush thinking about it.

“Relax,” he whispered into my ear. “I’m not about to tie you up on the dance floor and start spanking you. Although, saying that out loud isn’t helping my resolve tonight.”