Heartless Read online

  Today was the last day that anyone was ever going to view me as less than a threat.

  Today was the day that everything changed.

  1

  David

  Thirteen years later

  “A birthday party? How old are you, man? Ten?” I shook my head and threw the dart. It hit the center of the dartboard easily. Felix laughed and took a sip of his beer as he watched me.

  “It’s not just a birthday party,” he said. “It’s my 30th. It’s a big deal.”

  “Not really,” I shrugged. I’d never really understood why birthday parties were so important to some people. “I had my 30th last month and you didn’t see me having a party.”

  “Not a public one,” he said slyly. Felix smirked as he looked at me, raising an eyebrow.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I turned away from the dartboard and crossed my arms over my chest. If my best friend wanted to say something, he could just say it. He didn’t have to go through the motions of being sly or careful.

  “Are you really trying to tell me all of the submissives at that club you go to weren’t pleased as punch to get on their knees for you?” Felix chuckled. “You really want to tell me they weren’t begging you to take them?”

  “Well,” I started to say, but he just laughed harder. He wasn’t making fun of me. He just thought the situation was hilarious. Felix and I had been best friends forever. He’d known me my entire life. While he was never into the kink scene, and he’d never particularly been interested in BDSM or clubs’, he always supported me in my endeavors. He also teased me relentlessly.

  “It’s happening, David, and I want you there. Saturday night at eight.” Felix stopped laughing and looked serious. “I mean it.”

  “You’ve got to be messing with me,” I sighed. A birthday party? I didn’t want to go to a birthday party. We weren’t kids anymore. Birthday parties were lame. I would much rather go to my favorite sex club and hang out with my kinky friends. I didn’t want to go to a place that was wildly vanilla, where everyone would be eating oysters and drinking expensive wine, yet not getting drunk. That sounded like hell to me. Not to Felix, though, apparently.

  “Can I count on you? It’s important.”

  “For the party?” I asked. Felix looked so hopeful that I couldn’t turn him down. “Yeah, whatever.”

  He knew I’d be there. Felix and I had been best friends since we were kids. Our moms had been best friends before us, and we’d somehow carried on this weird family legacy of being buddies. We looked out for each other. That was probably the most important thing about us. No matter what happened, we always had each other’s backs. That was how we’d both managed to secure insane positions at the same law firm right after we graduated from law school. The best part was that we’d done it together as true brothers. Felix was the most important person in my life, and he knew it.

  “Good,” he said. He picked up his jacket and slipped it on. Then he grabbed his beer and finished the last sip.

  “Leaving so soon?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” he nodded, dropping some cash on the table for the tab. The bar we went to was a tiny hole-in-the-wall where everyone knew everyone, and most of the time, their credit card machine “wasn’t working.” Cash was king in a place like this.

  “Lauren’s waiting up, huh?” I asked.

  “She should be back from her girl’s night out,” he smiled. “And I’d like to see her before we spend the entire day at her mother’s place tomorrow.”

  “I don’t know what you see in her,” I laughed, shaking my head. “She’s not kinky, you’re not kinky, and you spend your weekends at family picnics and bonfires.”

  “She completes me,” he joked, making a little heart in the air with his fingers. He smirked, knowing I hated stuff like that.

  “Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

  Felix gave me a hug and turned to go, but then he stopped.

  “Oh, and David?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Zoey’s flying in.”

  Then he grinned, and he left the bar, and I stood there staring at the place where he’d been. Zoey Lane was coming to Kansas City? Seriously? I sat down. My solo game of darts was forgotten as I let his words sink in. I hadn’t seen Zoey Lane since the day I punched out her would-be prom date. She’d managed to make it through the last few weeks of my senior year without crossing my path, and anytime I’d come to see Felix during the summer, she’d been mysteriously absent from the house.

  Felix and I had gone to college out-of-state and then we’d been busy with law school. Zoey graduated two years after us, and according to Felix, she’d gone to school back in Monterey where they’d lived before their mom died. She’d gotten a job out there, and even though Zoey and Felix remained close, she’d never so much as thanked me for what I’d done.

  Not that I’d done it for a thank-you.

  Still, I’d been confused by her reaction. I’d figured she would have cried and told me to leave her date alone. She hadn’t, though. She’d just watched me punch him, and then she’d never spoken to either of us again. It was strange, really.

  Felix wasn’t an idiot, though. He knew I liked his sister as more than a friend. I’d always been infatuated with Zoey. She was sweet and innocent when we were teenagers. She was playful and funny and a huge goofball in all of the right ways. She was perfect, in my opinion. She was wonderful.

  And then...

  Then we’d been nothing. Felix had given me life updates on his sister, but he hadn’t called me out for liking her. The fact that he told me she’d be at the party was the first sign I’d had that he acknowledged my infatuation with her. Even after all of these years, I still viewed her as the one who got away. I still considered her to be someone who was wildly out of my league.

  Well, maybe that was all about to change.

  I finally managed to pull myself together long enough to pay the tab and leave the bar. I used a rideshare app to get a lift to my house, and then I went inside, locked the door, and headed to the kitchen for a glass of water and a snack. I was 30 now, after all. I wasn’t some young spring chicken who could drink all night and wake up feeling refreshed.

  Now I was old enough that after a couple of beers, I needed water, a snack, and a heartburn pill just to keep myself slightly functional the next day. Yep. Things were looking down for ol’ David. Then again, maybe not. I couldn’t shake the thought of Zoey being at Felix’s party from my head.

  What was she going to say when we saw each other? She’d always managed to hide away from me. She wouldn’t be able to this time. This was going to be a party where her brother was the star of the show, and right after his girlfriend, Zoey and I were his two favorite people in the world. We both needed to be there.

  Once I’d eaten and hydrated, I found myself in my home office. I sat down at the computer and pulled up every social media website known to man, and I looked up Zoey. I’d purposely never reached out to her or tried to follow or friend her. To me, that just screamed stalker. Anytime I’d seen her comment on something or tagged in something, I’d tried to ignore it. Now I found myself wondering what my chances were with a girl like her.

  Zoey had to be 28 now, and from what Felix had mentioned about her over the years, she’d been doing well for herself. She was easy enough to find online since she was friends with both Felix and Lauren. Besides, most of her profile was public. I didn’t use social media nearly as much as I should have, but I was surprised to see that we actually had a couple of mutual friends of the BDSM persuasion. Was Zoey into domination? Was she into kink?

  How very interesting.

  I never would have suspected something like that from her, but who knew. At the risk of being a weirdo, I sent a message to one of our mutual friends who was online.

  DAVID WALKER: Hey, you know Zoey Lane?

  THERESA MARCH: Haha, yeah.

  DAVID WALKER: Do you two work together?

  Even as I typed the question, I knew the answer. Th
eresa was an attorney, like me. She didn’t work with Zoey. Felix’s little sister had gone into a completely different field than any of us. She was in digital marketing and media, so unless she’d designed a website for Theresa, their paths had never crossed in a non-BDSM sort of way.

  THERESA MARCH: Not at all.

  DAVID WALKER: Don’t make me beg.

  THERESA MARCH: Master W? Begging? Don’t get me excited.

  There we were. I’d known Theresa was into BDSM and the club scene for a long time. She was a dominatrix when she wasn’t winning cases. She was cutthroat at her law firm and just as deadly with a flogger. I’d seen some of her work, and I’d been impressed. Luckily for me, I wasn’t the submissive type. Maybe Zoey was.

  DAVID WALKER: She’s an old friend.

  THERESA MARCH: As far as I know, she’s available.

  DAVID WALKER: Do you know if she’s into the scene?

  THERESA MARCH: Do I have any friends who aren’t? You know me better than that, David.

  DAVID WALKER: Just had to be sure. I was curious.

  THERESA MARCH: When are you seeing her?

  DAVID WALKER: Next weekend.

  THERESA MARCH: Ah, yes. She’ll be in town for something. Brother’s birthday, right?

  DAVID WALKER: That’s it.

  THERESA MARCH: David, do me a favor.

  DAVID WALKER: Anything.

  THERESA MARCH: Be careful with her. She’s not as brave as she looks.

  We chatted for a few more minutes about random things before Theresa signed off for the night, but long after our conversation ended, I was left thinking about her comment. So, Zoey Lane was into kink, and she’d been involved with Theresa at some point. In any case, they knew each other. Was Zoey bisexual? Was she submissive? How had I not known that she was kinky?

  A lot of girls liked to explore with their darker desires while they were in college. It wasn’t uncommon for people to try out new things and explore sexually when they first flew the nest, so to speak, but Zoey? Somehow, Felix had always painted her as a sweet, innocent sort of girl, who was into sweet, innocent things.

  Apparently, we’d both been wrong.

  I went to bed, finally, and dreamt of Zoey. In my dreams, she was on her knees, begging me to fuck her and spank her at the same time. I woke up hard as a rock and had no choice but to rub my cock, stroking it as I imagined the pretty Zoey begging for my dick. It was wrong, I knew. She was my best friend’s little sister, but that didn’t stop me from wanting her or craving her.

  As far as I was concerned, that settled it. On Saturday night, I’d shoot my shot. I was smart enough to know I only had one chance, and I wasn’t about to blow it. Zoey was probably only in town for the weekend, or at most, a week. I’d ask her out and see where it went. Maybe we’d get to spend a few nights rolling around together and I’d get to see what I’d been missing. Maybe there would be more. Either way, I was certain of one thing.

  I wasn’t about to let Zoey Lane slip by again.

  2

  Zoey

  “Red or green?” I held up two dresses side-by-side. They were both beautiful in different ways. The red dress made my ass look huge and spankable, while the green dress was all about the tits. No matter what kind of guy I was going to flirt with tonight, I had an option to please.

  Lauren, my brother’s girlfriend, just shook her head. She wrinkled her tiny little button nose, and she crossed her arms over her chest. It was easy to see why Felix had chosen a girl like Lauren. She was wildly adorable in all the right ways.

  “You don’t like them?” I asked, a little disappointed about the dresses. Okay, so Lauren wasn’t nearly as much as a player as I was, but she had great taste, and I respected her decisions. Besides, it was my brother’s party. If Lauren didn’t think I should dress too skanky, I’d listen to reason.

  “I love them,” she clarified. “I just think this will look best.”

  She surprised me by holding up a thin piece of black fabric.

  “Is that a belt?”

  “No.”

  “Is it a thong?”

  “No,” she laughed, shaking her head. She tossed it at me. “It’s a dress.”

  “Barely,” I said. Even for me, the dress was shockingly tiny. “I won’t be able to wear panties with this.”

  “Cut the crap, Zoey,” Lauren laughed. “All of your brother’s hot single friends are going to be at the party. You don’t need panties.”

  “Are you calling me a slut?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “I hate that word,” Lauren said. “I’m saying that you’re going to have a lot of opportunities to...play...tonight. If you want to take them, you should be ready.”

  “Thank you,” I said, accepting the dress. “I like the way you think.”

  I did, too. Lauren was absolutely perfect for Felix. She was sweet and funny and sassy. She was a schoolteacher, which meant she was basically the complete opposite from him. Felix worked at a high-powered law firm with none other than his best friend, David Walker. Together, the two of them were a lethal set of criminal defense attorneys who could do just about anything they set their minds to. They worked at a law firm that offered just about any service necessary, but those two were the rising stars at their firm.

  “I’m not saying you have to sleep with anyone,” she clarified. “I mean, if you don’t want to.”

  “I’m only in town for the week,” I said. “Trust me. I want to. I’m going to be bored out of my mind if I don’t find someone to entertain me.”

  “Are you still planning to look at houses next week?” She asked carefully.

  “Yep.”

  I’d flown in the day before my brother’s party to get settled and to have time to relax, but my visit wasn’t purely to see family. I’d come to Kansas because I had been offered a job with a local digital media agency, and I had accepted. My dad and brother were the only ones I’d told. I hadn’t let anyone else know that I was going to be moving back. I didn’t really want to.

  After high school, I’d left Kansas for a reason, and that reason was David Walker. I’d never admitted to my brother that David had been the one who punched out Eric. I’d never told him that David was the reason I hadn’t dated again until I had graduated and landed safely in California. Hell, I didn’t even tell him that I’d sprouted a huge crush on David at some point. As far as I was concerned, that was none of my brother’s business.

  But it had been 13 years. I was no longer the 15-year-old sophomore who was hoping for an invite to the prom. Now I was 28 years old, and I was enjoying my career. I loved the companies that I worked with, and I loved helping people solve their marketing problems. It was everything I’d ever wanted. Part of me had hidden away in Monterey because it was beautiful, but there was another part of me that was just scared to be who I was.

  Now I was old enough to know better, and I was old enough to chase after what I really wanted.

  And what did I want?

  I wanted a lot of things. I wanted to live in Kansas and to be closer to my dad and brother. It wasn’t a secret that Felix and Lauren were getting closer to each other. At some point, my brother was going to want to get married. They were probably going to have kids and have a cute little house and a cookie-cutter life, and I wanted to be there for that. Even if I was on the outside looking in, I wanted to be able to see my nieces and nephews once they came along.

  “Any ideas which neighborhoods you’re going to look in?” Lauren asked. “I work until three every day, but I’d be happy to come look at places with you after school gets out.”

  “I’d like that,” I told her honestly. “And no, I don’t know which neighborhoods I want to look at. Obviously, I don’t have kids, so I don’t need to worry about a good school district. I’m meeting with a realtor on Monday to talk about my options.”

  “Good,” she said. “You went with Polly, right?”

  “I did.”

  “Solid choice,” Lauren nodded. “She helped Felix and
I find this place, and I thought she was really honest and fair the entire time. She always helped us understand our options and obligations.”

  “Well, your house is fucking awesome,” I told her honestly. “So, I now have high hopes for my own.”

  She laughed and shook her head. I liked Lauren. She didn’t seem to care if I was a little more crass than my brother, and she didn’t seem to mind that I wasn’t the perfect person all of the time. Most of my life, I’d struggled with figuring out who I was. It was only recently that I was starting to figure out what kind of person I wanted to be.

  “Okay,” she said. “So, it’s a yes on the black dress for the party tomorrow.”

  “Definitely,” I agreed.

  “Good. I’ll let Felix know that you decided. He’ll be relieved we don’t need to go shopping tomorrow.”

  I laughed.

  “Shopping? Felix?”

  “Yeah, he said he’d take us to the mall tomorrow if you didn’t have something fun to wear.”

  “The mall? What are we? Teenagers?”

  “Feels like it sometimes, doesn’t it?”

  “I guess,” I said. “It’s sweet, though, that he wanted to do that.”

  “Well, he at least offered,” Lauren smiled. She started hanging up the dresses I’d tried on but hadn’t chosen to wear to the party. I was going to be staying in their guest room, which also conveniently doubled as Lauren’s closet. For having a teacher’s salary, the girl loved to shop, and I was lucky enough to get to reap the benefits of that.

  “He’s a good brother.”

  “He cares about you a lot,” Lauren told me. “And he’s really excited about your move back.”

  “Really?” I had been nervous when I’d told him I was coming back. I didn’t really know why. My brother had never been anything but supportive, and yet the idea of coming home to Kansas had been slightly terrifying for me.

  “Yeah,” she nodded. “He couldn’t sleep all week.”

  “That’s silly,” I said, but it wasn’t silly. It made me feel great.