Both, Freddy and I stayed quiet, probably waiting for the other to respond.
Maybe this wasn’t a good tactic after all.
“Nothing to say?” She turned from me to him.
We both remained quiet.
“Oh well. No need to answer that. I think I can guess that you’ve hurt a whole lot of women and couldn’t care less.” She rubbed her hands together. “So I’m your game for tonight?”
“No, Dawn.” Hunger laced Freddy’s voice. It was the subtle change in his tone that happened right before he decided to take a woman to his bed. “You’re the game for this summer.”
Her expression didn’t break, never faltered or changed. She leaned in closer to him and licked her lips. I could’ve sworn I heard Freddy growl or maybe I’d done it myself. Her confidence did something to me, it lassoed my senses in, made me want to touch my dick and do nasty things.
“If you think you can last the whole summer with me involved in your little game, then you’re not as smart as I thought. Are you Freddy?” She moved in closer. Her breasts hovered beautifully over the table. Her face was half a foot from his.
Freddy gripped the table so hard; I could see the whites forming around his fingertips. “You like saying my nickname don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Get used to it, you’ll be moaning it soon.”
“Hmm. You’ll have to earn a moan from me, sweet Freddy. You’re not the first rich guy I’ve met and you won’t be the last.” She sat back in her seat. “I’ve been one of the women that you’ve hurt. I’ve been right in their shoes years ago. I can tell you right now that if you can get me in your bed, then you’ve truly won.”
“You think that’s a big if?” Freddy asked.
“Yes. The biggest problem with the two of you is that you both represent everything that disgusts me.”
The waiter arrived. No one looked up at him, so he silently backed up and walked away.
“Explain,” Freddy said.
“I hate guys with money. Let’s face it, males tend to be born assholes all on their own, but to give them a fat bank account is to add to their idiocy.”
“You hate men?” I asked her.
“That’s just one of my many redeeming qualities.”
We ended up courting a man-hater. Awesome.
“What are the other things that you hate about us?” Freddy asked.
She held her index finger up. “You both are over confidant, emotionally abusive—”
“Not fair,” Freddy interjected. “I’ve never emotionally abused anyone.”
“You admitted yourself that you broke women’s hearts.” She pointed at him.
“I still disagree.”
“Fine. I have plenty other reasons why you suck.” She grinned. “Your egos could fill the Atlantic Ocean.”
“You’ve already said that when you stated we were over confidant,” Freddy argued.
“Nope.” She shook her head. “One can argue that over-confidence and big egos can be different in many ways.”
“Then that person would be wrong.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “How about this then? You think you’re so clever and enticing, but really you’re just a pathetic good-looking guy with mommy and daddy’s money to keep your head above water, and if you ever were to lose that bank account, you would lose in everything else—friends, women, life, love, anything your black heart cares about. You would—”
“Tell me something, Dawn.” Freddy licked his lips.
This bastard is still on the hunt. Has he lost his mind? There’s no way she’ll fall for either one of us now.
“What?” She glared.
“How long have you been waiting to tear into a guy’s behind like you’re doing right now? A year or two?”
“Three years.”
“So some rich guy broke you three years ago.”
She reached for her glass with shaking fingers. “He didn’t break me.”
“I bet he did and how could he not?” Freddy’s gaze decorated every inch of her body. She looked my way. All I could do was shrug and watch the scene unfold. I had no idea where my brother was going with this, but I damn sure was interested in the ending.
“You say I’m over confidant,” he said. “That’s your fault too. You think you’re smarter than my brother and me.”
I raised my hands in surrender. “Hey, leave me out of this.”
“No way, Max. You’re in it. You decided to tell her the truth, let’s see where this takes us.” Freddy concentrated all of his attention onto her. “You want to get back at the guy that broke your heart?”
“I already did by moving on.” She sipped her wine, but this time she drank more than before and her hands didn’t stop shaking.
“Has the guy that broke you moved on?” Freddy asked.
“I don’t know. Probably. Why wouldn’t he?”
“Does he still call?”
She set her glass down. “Of course.”
“Of course?” I chuckled. “Freddy’s right. You are over confidant.”
“No. I’m just smart. I actually loved the man, the real person inside of him and when I gave him all of me, I did it because of who he was, not what he owned. He’ll probably never find that again, not the way I was willing to sacrifice.” She tossed her hair over her shoulder. “So yes, he still calls, but I don’t answer. Although he’ll never find anyone like me, there’s a bunch of guys like him walking the earth. I’m staring at two of them right now.”
Freddy nodded. “Then will you play with us?”
I tapped my thumb against my watch. “Dawn, you must admit that your knowing about our game and disliking us, sort of raises the interest in our stakes. If one of us wins, it would make the impossible possible.”
“Which will temporarily help one of your insecurities?” She crossed her legs under the table. I knew because, since she’d been sitting next to me, I’d had my body slanted to the side enough to ogle those thighs.
“Yes or no, Dawn?” Freddy asked. “There’s really no reason not to play. Unlike the other women, you know the score. The hard work will be for us to woo you.”
“Which means one of you having sex with me?”
“Oh definitely. Sex with you is the only way I’ll play,” Freddy said.
“I second that,” I added.
“I don’t know,” she said. “This seems like a loser’s wager. Especially since I think you both suck.”
“Hey, it puts the odds against us.” Anticipation surged through my blood stream. Suddenly, I was right there at a card table pushing a large pile of money to the center, ready to bet it all. “This is certainly my kind of game. Come on. Worst case scenario is you have two men spoiling you with lavish dates for several days. That can’t be a bad thing. What else did you have planned this summer besides studying?”
Silence passed for all of us.
Off in the corner I caught our waiter standing by and monitoring our faces. That type of service was what separated a high-end restaurant from a regular one. The servers remained aware of the diners’ needs, recognizing when to interrupt and when conversation seemed too heightened to focus on a dinner order.