Burning Your Lies (King and Queen Duet #2)

17

Xavier

Brynn lingers at the bottom of the stairs.

“She’s down for the night. See you tomorrow.”

She’s trying to escape quickly, as she did last night.

I knew the reason. And the reason, plus her husband, called in sick to work today. So, she was protected from my wrath for one day.

I hold her elbow and put on the softest look I can muster up.

“Is something wrong? I can’t help but feel you’re avoiding me.”

She shakes my hold off and avoids looking at me.

“No. I’m just tired. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I step in front of her, blocking her exit. “Brynn?”

Panic is alive in her eyes.

“Please let me go.”

One conversation and Savannah has ruined everything I’ve built. The fear in her eyes enrages me because I have given her no reason to be scared of me. I have not forced myself on her. I have not yelled at her. I have spent my evenings making small talk with her and learning everything there is to know about her. I have withdrawn her job applications to places that aren’t good enough for her. I have done everything in my power to keep her here. And Savannah has ruined that.

I step away from her and play dumbfounded.

“I don’t understand.”

She tries to feign confidence, but I can see the waver in her.

“I think it would be best if I stuck to the hours you aren’t in the home.”

“Not until you tell me what’s changed. What’s happened?”

Come on. Tell me. Trust me enough to tell me the lies she spewed.

Brynn shakes her head.

“It’s not you. I just realised I’m still in love with Jaxon.”

“Bullshit.”

I don’t mean for the curse to fill the foyer, but I know it’s a lie. I’ve seen all her messages and calls. Her pathetic ex hasn’t been in contact with her since the day they broke up.

“I know what we both feel. You don’t love him.”

“Xavier, please. Don’t do this.”

Needing to give her an opening, I let out an exasperated sigh.

“Is this about Savannah? I told you—”

“That you had an affair with her? That she was your surrogate and mistress? That you were the one that asked her to stay after giving birth? That you bought her a ring?”

She shakes her head in disbelief.

“When did you tell me all that, Xavier?”

Denying it won’t do any good. My only option is to plead my case and make her see the truth.

“I should have told you, but I didn’t because I want to forget she ever happened.”

Brynn drops her bag to the floor and laughs.

“You work with her. You co-parent with her! How did you think hiding this would work for you?”

Taking my chances, I step closer to her and force her to look at me.

“None of that was real because she was sick. I just didn’t know it. I didn’t want to tell you because I was scared it was going to make you run for the hills. But if you give me the chance, I’ll tell you everything.”

“Like what?”

I hold her hand and lead her into the living area. I sit on the coffee table and face her.

“She used to work at the coffee shop near the office. She used to always flirt with me, even though I made it clear I was married. I even told her about our struggles to conceive. Emery and I had the worst luck with finding a surrogate. And when Savannah heard that, she let it be known that her ex-boyfriend left her in a lot of debt.”

“What does that—”

I hold my hands up to silence her.

“I’m getting there. She was nice, and I thought there was no harm in trying. The money would have helped her, and Emery liked her. Things were going well. One day, she told me she needed a job to pay for her mum’s nursing fees.”

I make sure she’s looking at me when I say, “Her mum had schizophrenia. I took sympathy on her and gave her a job to be Ray’s PA. But then she told me she needed somewhere to live. She was pregnant with my baby. How could I leave her on the street?”

Brynn recoils her hands in her lap and stares at me in disgust.

“She wanted to live with you, even though you were married?”

I nod.

“But I wasn’t comfortable with that, so I put her in the garden guest house. Yet, she found a reason to be in the house. She was arranging dinners with Emery. And Emery, wanting to feel close to her unborn baby, couldn’t see she was just trying to get close to me. When I wouldn’t pay any attention to her, she started sleeping with my best friend. And when that didn’t arouse jealousy, she started getting into Emery’s head to leave me.”

She falls silent as she takes in the tale I’m weaving. She bites on her bottom lip, and just when I think she’s going to come back to my side, she shakes her head.

“You had an affair with her, though. Regardless of what she did, you had a duty to your wife and marriage to remain faithful. I’ve already had my heart broken by a cheat. I won’t jump into the same mistake. If you couldn’t be loyal to your wife and mother of your child, how can I expect you to do that for me?”

Fucking Savannah.

“She got into Emery’s head and all of a sudden we were arguing about every little thing. Emery could be cruel when she wanted. When I would drink my sorrows away, Savannah would always be there to lend a shoulder to cry on. It was a mistake that I let go on for too long. I am ashamed of the person I became, but I truly believed I loved her. But she was a liar. She ruined my marriage, yet continued her affair with Ray. Even when Emery died, Savannah was there for me.”

I take hold of her hands again.

“You have to understand, she was carrying Elise; the only part of Emery I had left. It felt like I owed everything to Savannah. I couldn’t exactly kick her out.”

Brynn grips my hand.

“I suppose not.”

“And then Elise was born and life completely changed. I was a single-father who was still running a multi-billion-pound company. Except I had Savannah, and she made life feel easier. I was still grieving. I needed things to feel easy. So when she offered to stay, it felt foolish to say no. We fell into a routine and life continued.”

I turn my head and stare out the window so she can see the tear I forced out.

Her fingers hesitantly brush it away.

“Why didn’t you just tell me that from the beginning? I would have understood. But you didn’t even tell me you had a surrogate. Then I meet his beautiful, sexy woman who you are around all day, and who Elise calls mummy. Only to find out from her she was more than you ever mentioned. Because you didn’t mention her, Xavier. And it’s made me wonder why. Why deny she exists?”

When my words come out, it’s the first truthful statement.

“Because I wish she didn’t. She tried to ruin my life. As the months passed, I found a rhythm that worked for me and realised I didn’t need her anymore. I realised I didn’t love her. And Savannah couldn’t have that. She was sick like her mum. She started saying all these crazy things and became obsessed that someone was following her. I think she only did it so I wouldn’t chuck her out. She knew I would try to protect her and had the means to. I looked into it, Brynn. Nobody was stalking her. Her dad died from a bad batch of heroin and she thought somebody murdered him to frame her. I soon realised that she was too dangerous to be around Elise. She needed help. So, I got her sectioned.”

The crocodile tears blur the look of sorrow on her face.

“Despite everything she did, I still took care of her. I put her in the best home and paid all the bills. I went to visit her. Once she was medicated, I took Elise to see her.”

Brynn lets out a deep exhale. The tension in the room makes it hard for her to breathe.

“Poor Savannah,”

she mutters.

She feels sorry for her? What the fuck.

“I know.”

My words come out colder than I intend, but Brynn pays no mind to it.

“She was lucky she had someone as great as you to look out for her.”

My shoulders sag. The queen is back in play.

“I did what any other decent person would do. I want her to be well. So I let her resume her job at XR Securities. I let her see Elise. But if you are worried that—”

Her hand covers mine.

“I trust you, Xavier. Even when she spoke to me, she had this faraway look in her eyes that gave me the chills.”

She shakes her head.

“But we don’t need to hurt her more than she already is. Only someone who is tortured can cause that much pain for someone else. Let us not aggravate her. She can live in married bliss with her husband, and we will build our own happiness.”

My thumb strokes the tops of her cheek.

“You have a heart of pure affection. It’s admirable.”

Holding her face in my hands, I finally receive the kiss of life I have needed since Savannah’s destruction. I want to kiss her harder, but everything about Brynn is gentle. Her lips are like feathers against mine and I almost beg her to be more forceful. When I pull her onto my lap and let my hands roam, she doesn’t moan filthy words into my ears like Savannah. She doesn’t grind her hips into me like Savannah. While her soft hair tickles my hand, it doesn’t make me want to pull it like Savannah’s. Even with a beautiful woman on my lap, those siren eyes haunt me.

I pull the straps of her dress down her arms and wait for her to tell me to stop. She doesn’t. She only waits for me to continue. Her porcelain skin is starkly different from Savannah’s caramel tones. Brynn isn’t wearing the lace, silky bras Savannah always paraded. Her breasts are firm, but not as full as Savannah.

“Take me to bed,”

she meekly begs.

Savannah would have demanded that I fuck her like a whore right there on the coffee table. Savannah would have taken what she wanted by pulling my hard cock out and riding it until she came all over it. She then would have got on her knees and cleaned her juices off me.

I hold Brynn’s hand on the way up to my bedroom. She undresses and lays down on the bed. Her arms cover the parts I am desperate to see. Savannah would have smirked at me as she spread her legs and played with herself. Brynn doesn’t ask to suck my cock. She timidly smiles and parts her legs for me.

“Are you sure?”

I ask, already lined up against her entrance.

“Yes,”

she whispers.

And then I’m sinking inside her. She’s warm. She’s aroused. She feels wonderful after a long drought. But she doesn’t buck her hips to meet my thrusts like Savannah. She doesn’t beg me to fuck her harder like Savannah. She doesn’t hold her legs behind her head the way only a stripper can. Brynn lays there, eyes closed, whimpering at pleasure. Her fingers don’t meet her clit the way Savannah’s did. She doesn’t roll her nipples between her fingers like Savannah.

She isn’t Savannah.

And the thought enrages me.

It doesn’t matter that I have a beautiful woman who loves me. My tortured mind can’t forget about the vixen who drove me wild with pleasure.

My eyes close, and just this once I allow myself to imagine it’s Savannah under me. I pretend I can feel her nails dragging across my back. I see her jet black hair splayed across my pillow. I hear her begging me to fuck her. I hear her begging me to make her forget every other man who has had her. I hear her moaning for me to fill her with my cum. I imagine her wet pussy gripping my dick until I can’t feel anything else. I feel her spasm under me as she begs me to fill her whole until she can’t hold anymore. I hear her begging me to breed her. I pretend I’m gripping her hips with the promise to fill her womb again.

And then I’m coming deep inside her. Except I open my eyes and the fantasy is dead. Because it’s Brynn smiling at me. Not Savannah.

The next morning, I enter my office with purpose. I spin her chair around so she’s facing my anger.

“Your little plan didn’t work.”

She looks up at me, uninterested. When her legs cross at the knees, her dress hitches up and I’m drawn to her soft skin. My mind goes back to last night and I feel a stirring in my pants. Her thighs are exposed and if I was standing to the side of her, I’d be able to see parts of her ass. I pull my eyes off her legs, but before I can get to her face, my eyes zero in on the black bra peeking through her sheer white blouse.

“What?”

Remembering what I interrupted her for, I scoff.

“With the bitch grin you shot at the camera, I know you know what I’m talking about.”

She stands up and tucks her hair behind her ear. Only then do I spot the recent addition to her finger.

“I was only telling her the truth. She deserves to know she’s living with a sociopath.”

I smirk at her, knowing it will get under her skin.

“I should thank you. After story time, she was in my bed.”

Her brow arches, stunned into surprise. Then she lets out a laugh and shakes her head.

“I shouldn’t be shocked. You’re an excellent liar. I know how easy it is for you to trick a woman into bed with your lies.”

Needing to feel her, I step closer to her.

“Do you miss my bed, Miss Hayes?”

She scoffs. “No,”

she says slowly.

“But from the way you’ve been looking at me since you walked in, I know you miss me. What is it, Xavier? She can’t get you hard like me?”

Closing the gap between us, I get in her face.

“She is so much better than you. You don’t even compare.”

Her lips come under my ear.

“I can feel how hard you are right now. I bet if I put my hands in your trousers, I would feel that sticky pre-cum dripping out.”

I hate that she’s right. I hate how much control she has over me. I step back.

“I don’t need you.”

She grins.

“But you want me. It doesn’t matter if it’s Brynn or some other unfortunate woman. You will always want me. If I offered to get on my knees and worship you, you would take it. If I hitched this dress up, pushed my panties to this side and gave you access to my pussy, you’d take it. Because I own you. And it is killing you,“ she laughs.

The image she’s created makes it hard to see anything else.

“I think it’s you who wants me. Look at the way you’re panting. Is his cock not big enough? Is his tongue not filthy enough? Can he not satisfy you?”

I step back and smirk at the irk in her eyes.

“We both know what this sham of a marriage is. You can wear a pretty little ring. You can change your name. But you will never forget how I made you feel; how I gave you a taste of euphoria.”

Her eyes fill with challenge.

“Is that right, Mr Rivers?”

I want to fuck her. I want her on her knees serving me as a queen does a king. I want to bend her over this desk and have every damn person in this building know she’s mine. She always was and will always be mine. A fucking ring doesn’t change that.

But I step back.

“I know what you’re trying to do. And I’m not playing this game with you.”

She bites down on her bottom lip and as she scans me from head to toe.

“You should work on your poker face. I can see right through it.”