Free Mr. Right Now: Vol. 1: Party Boys Who Get What They Want by HJ Bellus Page B

in the booth, and drops his head in defeat. He has no excuses this time. He simply fucked up.
    “Not going to eat, lover boy?” Chloe taunts, stuffing her sandwich into her mouth and snagging a fry off of his plate. “Well, I have good news to get you boys back on track to fucking your way across the West Coast. I’ve talked to our firm’s lawyer, and Dax’s charges can’t stop our schedule.”
    “But they’ll drag his name through the mud and badmouth the club,” Kam interrupts.
    “All PR is good PR. That’ll be my job, and I have plenty of reinforcement behind me that I can bring in.” Chloe takes another large bite of sandwich. “This isn’t my first rodeo, boys.”
    Eli swirls his fork around his plate, not taking one bite. She’s pissed, and he knows it. Probably too fucking pissed to listen to reason, and, well, it wouldn’t do him any good because he didn’t have any reason.
    “So, in your professional opinion, you say move on?” Dax asks.
    “Move on and keep your ass out of trouble.”
    An elbow nudges Eli in the side, drawing him from his thoughts. “Let me out, please.”
    Dropping his head to the side, he begs her to stay. “Chloe, please, can we talk?”
    “If you have anything to say to me, please do so here. Consider our relationship a business one.”
    Eli brings his elbows up on the table, burying his face in his hands. A deep growl emanates from him.
    “Dax, Cole, Kam, please let me out.”
    The three brothers look to Eli for a sign. He doesn’t give them one, and instead forces Chloe to face him.
    “Get your fucking hands off of me,” she growls in his face.
    “Give me fifteen minutes, Chloe, please.”
    “Go.” Chloe brings her white gold wristwatch up to her face.
    “In private.”
    “Um, no. Fourteen minutes left.”
    “You don’t want me to do this here,” he warns her.
    Her hands ball into fists and punch down into the cushioned seat.
    “Fine, Chloe, here you go. I let the waitress suck my dick the other night. Seeing you brought back a ton of memories, and I…”
    “So you decided the best approach would be faking you didn’t recognize me and having a skank suck you off?”
    “Jesus Christ, woman, you’re fucking impossible. It lasted like five minutes when I couldn’t stay hard for her.”
    A chunk of bread launches from Dax’s mouth and lands across the table near Cole’s plate. The other two men hold back their laughter. Dax covers his face with the burgundy cloth napkin to hide his amusement.
    Eli slides from the booth, holding both hands out. “Go. Fucking run.”
    Chloe follows Eli’s movements, even throwing her arms up in the air.
    “Learned from the best, fuckface.”
    Eli can’t believe his eyes as he watches Chloe bolt from the restaurant.
    “Are you fucking kidding me?” Eli slumps down into the booth and covers his eyes.
    “Eli.”
    He doesn’t acknowledge Cole. Eli doesn’t need advice and the fucking speech from his brothers. They rode him for years about being too obsessed with Chloe, and then even after he left Chloe they still reminded him how much better off he was. They wanted him single and free to fit the rest of their lifestyle. He needed to have a clear head to be an effective business partner. He’s heard the speech a hundred times and is not in the fucking mood for the lecture now.
    “Listen, Eli,” Cole says again.
    “What?” he roars, pulling his head from his palms. “What the fuck do you want? Lecture me more. It’s better this way than falling completely back in love with Chloe. Well, guess what, I never stopped loving her a day in my life. I sacrificed every single fucking day for the last five years for you assholes.”
    Eli rises to his feet and slams his fist onto the table.
    “I’m fucking done with you three. I’m fucking done. I’ve tried to live up to the Sterling name my whole life, and you all know better than anyone how fucking hard it is to fit the mold when you’re adopted. I tried and tried for