Page 3 of Dirty Promises
When small talk turned to the wedding of our best friends, I relaxed. My ease only lasted one more hour when we hit traffic on the highway.
“Fuck. This is going to take forever.” He banged the steering wheel with frustration.
I hadn’t expected traffic leaving mid-morning on a Thursday, either, but we weren’t in a hurry, and it was probably just an accident. “It’s all right. GPS says it clears in a mile.”
But Shawn wasn’t appeased. My eyes went wide when he pulled off to the right shoulder and began to drive there. “Good, we’ll go around. If we get pulled over, pretend you’re having an emergency.”
“Wh-at?” I couldn’t believe it. He was illegally driving on the shoulder of the road. Although I was all for bending some laws, like edging over the speed limit and the occasional jaywalk on an empty street, this was extreme. “Shawn, we’re not in a hurry. I don’t want you to get pulled over.”
He glared at me. “I need to get to the room so I can log in to the Wi-Fi and finish up something for the office.”
So much for not having to do more work. I hissed through my teeth when he slammed on his brakes. My foot was on an imaginary one, my entire body tense.
He started cursing, and I realized we’d stopped because of an accident on the shoulder which was now blocking his way. He swerved back into the lane of traffic, causing the car he’d almost clipped to honk.
“Motherfuckers,” he shouted, now cutting off a large SUV to move another lane to the left. “Finally,” he yelled in triumph when we reached the left travel lane, only to hit gridlock again.
I sensed what was about to happen next. “Please don’t drive on the shoulder again. This will clear up.”
He snapped, “I don’t need a backseat driver.”
I retorted, “And I don’t need some road-raging maniac asking me to make up emergencies for driving illegally.”
He swiftly swung onto the left shoulder, but instead of speeding ahead, he slammed on the brakes. “Get out, then.”
“What?” My eyes went wide. He couldn’t be serious.
His face was red, his expression angry. “You don’t like my driving. Get the fuck out of my car.”
Who was this guy? Yet my gut told me this was what I hadn’t been able to put my finger on. This was what his veneer had been covering. A road-raging jerk with anger issues.
I yanked my coat from the backseat and grabbed my purse from the floor by my feet. No way was I putting up with this asshole a moment longer. I’d call an Uber. “Fine.”
After climbing out the passenger door, I walked toward the trunk to retrieve my things, but he had other ideas. Peeling out, he threw up gravel and other road debris in his wake. I yelped with pain when sharp rock fragments peppered my face, coughed at the dust, and stared at the rear of his BMW in complete shock.
Chapter Two
Max
“When are you leaving?”
I looked up from my desk toward my best friend and business partner, Shane. “Half hour ago.”
He shook his head. “You promised your sister you’d be there.”
My hand scrubbed over my face. “Believe me. I know. But maybe it would be better if I just went for the wedding ceremony instead of the full weekend. I have some work I could get done.”
“No, you don’t. The club will be fine without you. Something you told me how many times while I was on my honeymoon?”
As if on cue, Daniella, his wife of six months, stepped off the elevator. She had eyes only for her husband, who returned her intent gaze in full. When she walked up, and he took her face between his hands, I felt like a third wheel.
They made a stunning couple. She, with long, flame-colored hair twisted up in a bun and a brilliant smile. He, dark-haired, brooding, yet softening at the sight of his love.
A pang of jealousy hit me. It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy seeing my best friend and his beautiful wife happy, but I wished I had someone look at me the way Dani looked at Shane.
She was unconcerned he was half-owner of a sex club. Undeterred by his gruff exterior and hard edges. And the best thing to ever happen to him.
Her gaze fell on me, her expression confused. “I thought you’d be on the road by now, Max.”