“You just want his money because you’re a leech, Hunter.”
“That’s bullshit!”
“Is it?” I asked thoughtfully. “Then why are you still suing him?”
Hunter smirked and looked away. He looked guilty as hell.
I smiled, “I’ll make you a deal, Hunter. In exchange for me not pressing charges and sending you to prison for three years, you drop your suit against Christos. Deal?”
“Fuck you,” he spat.
“You already did, Hunter. I have the evidence to prove it. All I need to do now is run my face into the side of a door and give myself a black eye.”
“You wouldn’t do that,” he scoffed.
“I wouldn’t? Like I wouldn’t let you fuck me while I was still dry so I could frame you?”
He opened his mouth to say something, then the light went out of his eyes and his shoulders sagged. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“One hundred percent. Take your pick, you can try to rip off Christos and his family, and end up in prison, or you can forget about it and I will too.”
“How do I know you won’t press charges?”
“You don’t. You’re going to have to trust me.”
“Trust you?” He laughed. “After tonight, I’ll never trust you.”
“Hey, I took you at your word that you haven’t slept with any skanks since the last time we had sex.”
“I haven’t,” he frowned. “Honest.”
“See?” I smiled. “Look how good trust works.”
“Fuck, Tiffany, you’re terrible.”
“That’s how I felt about you when I found out you’re basically blackmailing Christos.”
“Now you’re blackmailing me?”
“Yup.”
“Fine. What are you going to do?” He sounded scared. Good.
“Well,” I said, “I’m going to the ER, like I said. They’ll use a rape kit to collect evidence. Then I tell them I don’t know who it was. It was dark, I didn’t get a good look at your face, it all happened so fast and you ran off afterward. If you don’t drop your suit against Christos, I suddenly remember who you are. It’s that simple.”
“You’ve thought this all through, haven’t you?”
“And you didn’t? Did Christos tell you his family was rich, or did your lawyer figure it out for you? I know how lawyers think, Hunter. Lawyers like yours have been trying to rip off my family for decades. Like I said, Hunter. You’re a leech, and you want what isn’t yours. This is your last chance. Deal or no deal?”
Hunter clenched his jaw and glared at me like he wanted to kill me.
So what.
Chapter 29
CHRISTOS
I lounged on the double chaise under the San Diego sun the next morning. Samantha lounged beside me. We were catching rays on the deck by our pool.
We’d been out so late, we crashed when we got home. Neither of us had any energy for sex before bed. I think we’d both used up all our adrenalin during the excitement of my solo show and afterward at the Belly Up. We’d just fallen asleep in each other’s arms. As long as Samantha was by my side, I never cared what we did.
After breakfast this morning, all we wanted to do was rest. It had been a long year.
“Do you want anything to drink?” Samantha asked. “Your lemonade is empty.” She was laying on her back, her bikini top unknotted. She had no idea how incredibly hot she looked, all tan and brown.
“I’m good,” I muttered. Luckily, we were both tan enough to lay out for a long time without getting fried.
“Good, because I’m too tired to stand up,” she giggled, resting her cheek on my shoulder and her arm on my back.
“I’m going to have a Samantha tan line,” I joked. “It’ll be a silhouette in white of where you curl up on top of me.”
“It’ll look stylish. We’ll invent couples tanning. It’ll be all the rage by the end of the summer. Make your own fancy pattern on your lover. Unlike a tattoo, it’s easily removed.”
“That’s genius. Why hadn’t we thought of that before,” I chuckled.
My cell phone rang on the glass table next to me.
“You don’t have to answer that now, do you?” Samantha asked.
I picked up the phone. “It’s Russell.”
“More bad news?” Samantha sighed.
“I hope not. I should answer.” I put it on speaker phone. Samantha may as well know. “What’s up, man?”
“Christos! You’re never going to believe this,” Russell said enthusiastically.
“If it’s bad news, I probably will.” I smirked at Samantha.
She rolled her eyes.
“I got a call from Hunter Blakeley’s attorney this morning.”
“Fabulous,” I sighed.
“He wants to settle.”
“Yeah? For how much? A half million?” I said sarcastically.
“Twenty-four thousand.”
I sat up in my chaise. “What?”
“You heard me. Twenty-four thousand. Eleven thousand for Hunter’s medical bills and lost wages, and thirteen thousand for his attorney’s fees.”
After last night, I could easily cover that. Not that I wanted to throw away that much cash on an asshole like Hunter, but considering I’d hit him instead of walking away, twenty-four grand seemed a small price to pay to get him off my back for good. “What the fuck happened, anyway? I thought Hunter and his lawyer were holding firm.”
“I have no idea,” Russell said dramatically. “I’m as surprised as you are, Christos. There must be an angel out there watching over your ass.”
An angel. I shook my head. Why not? Stranger things.
“Now,” Russell admonished, “Before you go getting the idea that it always works out like this, that you always win your cases or get off easy, may I remind you that it would be far simpler in the future to avoid fighting altogether?”
I chuckled, “Hey, would you believe I actually walked away from a fight last night?”
“You did?” Russell said, all excited. “Good for you.”
“And you’ll never guess with who,” I chuckled.
“Hunter Blakeley?”
“How’d you know?” I chuckled.
“Lucky guess. But that sure is strange.”
“I can’t explain it either. But I’m telling you, he got up in my face and I didn’t lift a finger.”
“Good for you, son. I’m proud of you. With any luck, this will be the last time you ever require my legal services for behaving like a tough guy. Promise me we can keep our relationship entirely social from here on out?” He sounded amused and hopeful at the same time.
“It’s a promise. But I need to ask you one more thing first.”
I could practically hear him rolling his eyes over the phone. “Christos, do I even want to know?”
I glanced at Samantha. To Russell, I said, “You know what? I’ll tell you about it later.”
“All right, son. I’ve got work to do. Let’s talk again soon, all right?”
“Will do,” I smiled and ended the call. I turned to Samantha and grinned.
“Wow,” she said, “that’s good news, right?”
“Totally,” I smiled.
“I mean, it’s a lot of money, but I guess you have enough?”
“Yup.” I laid my head back on the chaise and gazed up at the pure blue sky. “For the first time in years, I finally feel like I can put all the shit in my life behind me.”
“That’s awesome,” Samantha said.
After awhile, I stood up. “Want some lemonade? I’m going to go make a fresh pitcher. We finished off the one my grandad left in the fridge.”
“Now you’re making it too?” she grinned.
“Hey,” I smiled, “it’s a Manos tradition.”
SAMANTHA
Christos and I spent the afternoon under a sun umbrella. All I wanted to do was be outside and relax with him in the perfect San Diego weather.