Used.

I didn’t know why I gave a shit, though. Michael and Kai had shared a woman before. I just didn’t want to think about it with Erika.

But it did mean one thing good. My old friends still liked to play and they’d be prime game pieces.

“You see, Rika,” I told her. “There are people in the world who are destined to be played. Victims who wouldn’t be able to change their fate even if they went back and lived life over a thousand different ways.” I made a show of letting my eyes fall down her form. “And then there are players. Like you and me.” I gestured to the threesome. “Which piece would you move next?”

She didn’t look away from the challenge this time, only hesitated before finally surveying the group. Her gaze finally rested on the boyfriend. “His instinct is to be the better man.”

Very good.

“He feels competitive, yes,” I replied, impressed. “It pisses him off and gets him hard. He wants to fuck her and show her who the real man is. To keep him in the game, we need to use him. Make him feel important.”

She was quick. She had the same thought I did.

“Boyfriend?” I called to the guy on the couch but still stared at Rika. “Tell your friend what you want him to do your girlfriend.”

Rika held my eyes, both of us locked in a challenge to see if we were right. To see if he’d stay on the board or fold and run.

The dude was quiet, nothing but the sounds of kissing from the couple on the chair and the music thrumming downstairs, and then…a clear voice, quiet but sure spoke up.

“Pull down the strap of her dress, Jason,” the boyfriend told his friend.

Rika and I were locked, watching each other, but I heard the shuffle of clothes, heated breaths, and a moan.

“Yeah,” the girl in the chair panted, now having the full blessing of her boyfriend to enjoy this.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see skin, the top of her dress having been pulled down, and their movements quickened, more excited and ready.

I couldn’t read Rika’s expression but I definitely knew part of her enjoyed this. She might hate herself, but that rush of power felt good, didn’t it? There was nothing like playing people.

And she was good at it. No one had ever indulged me before. Except Winter. Not one of my friends had the patience or the interest.

I liked Rika. Michael had barely tapped into everything she was capable of.

But this wasn’t why she was here. She wanted to talk.

“Alright, you three,” I spoke up, inhaling a full breath. “Take your money and get out. I’ve got business.”

“Huh?” The guy sounded out of breath.

“Are you serious?” The girl suddenly pulled her arms up to cover her half-naked body.

“Out,” I growled. “Now.”

They stood up, heaving sighs of aggravation, because they were all finally into it, wet and hard and ready to go.

“Go finish it in your car,” I mumbled, heading over to the cabinet and taking out a pack of cigarettes.

They left, taking their money, and I waved off the driver to leave us alone, too. Once the door was closed, I turned my head to Rika as I unwrapped a new pack.

“I want to play chess with you someday,” I teased.

“Haven’t you been?”

I turned back to the cabinet, smiling to myself. Having her as an opponent would be a real challenge, but I think I preferred her on my side.

I packed the cigarettes, hitting them against the back of my hand, and feeling it again.

The pressure. The need to release.

Winter.

I had her close now. Finally.

But I was being pulled with the need to end it quickly and the desire to drag it out long and slow.

She was home. Right now. Probably trying to devise some way to escape, and let her try, for all I care. I’d enjoy hunting her ass down. That stupid, dumb shit I married might make some good-looking kids, but she wouldn’t be half as enjoyable as owning that little girl will be.

Yeah, Ari’s little sister was nothing like her. Winter would put up a fight. She’ll give me hell, and not only was I getting my revenge on her for what she did to me years ago, but I was going to have it all now. The head of the table, domain over my own house, and my favorite fucking toy.

The city lights glittered out the windows as I walked to one of the tables. Meridian City, the metropolis less than an hour from my hometown and where Winter slept, shimmered and shined below, but I had no ambition to be a part of it tonight. Sometimes I liked the clubs—the music, the noise, the sex—but that was the thing about me. I only loved one thing at a time.

A smile curled my lips, and I unwrapped the pack and stuck a cigarette in my mouth, lighting the end.

“You better have something good for me,” I said to Rika, inhaling a puff and getting down to business. “Our little rendezvous come with strings attached, girl.”

“Healthy relationships require a little reciprocation,” she replied. “What I brought you last time was the motherload, Damon. Now it’s your turn.”

I let out a little laugh, pinching the cigarette between my thumb and finger as I took another drag. “I gave you info.”

“You gave me no proof,” she retorted.

I sucked on the cigarette again, filling my lungs with the sweet sting and tipping my head back to blow it back out in a stream above my head. Such a fucking little monster, that one.

“Come here,” I told her, not turning around to look at her.

Winter wasn’t the only woman in my head. This one and I still had a score to settle, too.

I didn’t hear anything for a moment, but then I saw her emerge from the shadows out of the corner of my eye.

But she stopped short.

“Closer,” I taunted.

Another couple of steps, and I could see blonde hair falling down her form to my left.

But I still didn’t look at her.

“Closer.” I grinned.

Slowly, she approached, stopping just short of arm’s reach.

Picking another cigarette out of the pack, I finally turned my head, met her eyes, and held the cigarette out to her.

She looked like she was undercover or some shit, dressed like she was, but that was okay. I liked that our meetings were secret. This was a part of her Michael didn’t have.

I raised my eyebrows, waving the cigarette back and forth for her to take it. I knew she liked them.

But a little smile crossed her eyes, and she pulled her hand out of her pocket, holding up her palm with an entire un-opened pack of Davidoffs that she’d already stolen from my stash tucked in her hand.

“Jesus Christ,” I mumbled.

She plucked the cigarette out of my hand, taking it anyway and skimming it under her nose to smell. “Thanks.”

I shook my head. She must’ve snuck into my apartment at Delcour to look for me there first and raided my stash.

Sticking the cigarette in my mouth, I closed the cabinet and walked away.

“Those are my rooms,” I warned her. “Stay out when I’m not there.”

I didn’t want her going through my shit.

“They’re not your rooms,” she argued. “Michael doesn’t know you’re still staying there, and I can change that at any time.” She slid the cigarette into her breast pocket. “Thanks to me, you can still hide out right under our noses.”

“And thanks to me, Michael doesn’t know that you’re letting me hide out right under your noses.” I pinned her with a look. “Your ass would be grass just as much as mine, so stow it.”

She cocked an eyebrow but didn’t press further. She knew she had more reason to be afraid of me than I did of her.

Still, though…as much as I kind of enjoyed our little exchanges, it pissed me off she wasn’t wary of me anymore. After everything I’d tried to do to her and could still do to her.

I looked up, seeing her staring at me.

“What?” I took another drag, walking over to the windows.

“I thought you’d blackmail him with the info I got,” she explained. “Or ruin some of his partnerships.”

She was talking about Winter’s father.

“I must say, you exceeded my imagination.”

“Impressed?” I glanced over my shoulder at her as I flicked off the ashes on my cigarette.

“Scared,” she clarified.

I chuckled. “I can live with that.”

“And guilty.” She sat down on the arm of one of the couches, and I could see her watching me out of the corner of my eye. “I can’t believe you did that today. You went for the jugular, and man, you know how to commit, don’t you? What the hell have I gotten her into?”

“Aw, don’t worry. She was going to answer to me with or without your help sooner or later anyway.” I blew out smoke and turned around, heading for the ashtray on the table.

“Don’t hurt her,” Rika said.

But I just breathed out another laugh as I ground the butt of the cigarette into the dish. “Coming from the woman who offered up all the info I needed to take her father, her home, and her fortune.”

Winter’s father shared the same accountant as Rika’s family. The same disgruntled and anxious accountant who hinted that Winter’s father, Griffin Ashby, might have swindled Rika’s late father on some real estate deals years ago. I’m not quite sure how she got the proof, but she didn’t show up at my door until she had it, knowing it might be exactly what I needed to take down the Ashbys.

And in exchange, I’d help her get something she needed, as well. Something I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to give her just yet. I liked her coming around, and I didn’t want it stop.

“You know what I mean,” she continued. “Don’t hurt her.”

You mean other than taking everything Winter owned and putting her in a perpetual state of dependence on me?

Or hurt her as in…

Yeah, that was what you meant, wasn’t it? Don’t hurt her.

“Do you know how much Will bled in prison?” I asked her. “Do you know how hard Kai had to fight to hold down any food because his gut raged with nerves and fear from constantly having to look over his shoulder?”