Sins Of The Flesh. J. Margot Critch

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       CHAPTER THREE

      BY SUNDAY EVENING, Rafael was beat. He’d flown back to Vegas from San Francisco early that morning, and he’d gotten right down to work. In addition to his work on the city council, he also quietly oversaw the finances of The Brotherhood’s operations; while he was left out of the group’s decision-making, he was still very much involved behind-the-scenes. While most conglomerates employed teams of people to oversee all facets of operations, The Brotherhood preferred to manage as much as they could by themselves. Some people could look at his business involvement and see a conflict of interest, if they knew how closely tied he still was to The Brotherhood. Rafael had never explicitly used his political power for the betterment of his friends, or his own business, but he’d always considered it using all of the tools at his disposal. It was just how things were done.

      From his office in the BH, the commercial tower they’d erected that housed the headquarters of their respective companies, he was putting the finishing touches on his analysis of the previous quarter’s profits. He closed his spreadsheets and turned his attention to a Word document he was working on. He heard his door open, and Alex walked in. The partners all had an open-door policy between them and rarely knocked before entering each other’s offices. It was Sunday, but that didn’t mean they weren’t at work. There was a lot to do. A lot of balls to keep up in the air. Rafael raised his hand in greeting, and Alex took the seat on the other side of his desk. Rafael hadn’t seen his friend since he’d returned.

      “How was San Francisco?”

      “Good,” he said simply, not willing to provide any detail. Not looking up, he put the finishing touches on the report, trying to forget the way his body stiffened, remembering how he’d touched and kissed Jessica the night before.

      Alex leaned forward in his chair. “So, what happened? Did you see her?”

      “If you’re so interested, maybe you should have come along.”

      “Dude, I told you. I had a date. That fortuitously turned into two dates,” he said with a satisfied grin.

      Rafael smiled, glad that Alex hadn’t actually tagged along. “Well, good thing I gave you the weekend off from the campaign.”

      “But you need to tell me. Did you see Jessica? Was she at the strip club?”

      Rafael didn’t respond at first. He closed his laptop and looked at his friend. “I need you to keep what you know about her between us,” he warned him.

      “What? That doesn’t make any sense.”

      “You can’t tell anyone about what we found out about her, okay?”

      Alex nodded. “Yeah, man. Of course. But why? This could hand you an easy victory. Why the change of heart?”

      He ignored his friend’s last question. He didn’t even know the answer to that one. He had gone to California to bust her, to see firsthand the information that would win him the election. “I did see her,” he confirmed, with a quick nod of his head. “And she was dancing. But I don’t know what I want to do about it yet.”

      “What’s to know? Just give us the okay to leak it to the press. Dude, this is what you want.” He cocked his head to the side, eyes narrowing in understanding. “Did something happen between you and her?” he asked, suspicious.

      “Nothing happened,” Rafael responded. Except a kiss that completely scorched him to his core and left him with a burn no number of cold showers would heal. “But I decided that I don’t want to win like that. I can win this election on my own. I don’t need to ruin her in the process.”

      He could tell that Alex knew Rafael was hiding something. “What’s going on?” his friend asked. “Just two days ago, you wanted to end her.”

      “Nothing’s going on. Just give me a little time to wrap my head around this. Everything is fine. I assure you. Don’t worry.”

      “Fine.” Alex held up his hands in mock surrender. “It’s getting late. I was going to take off, but I stopped by to see if you wanted to head downstairs to the club and get a drink. See if there’s anything fun going on.”

      The club, Di Terrestres, was their favorite business, their pet project, the crowned jewel of all The Brotherhood’s operations. When they’d built the office building, they’d left the bottom floors empty for their own fun—a members-only adult playground for the elite. The sex club catered to almost any desire a consenting adult could have.

      “Weren’t you with two women last night?” Rafael asked, eyebrow raised at his friend’s insatiable sexual appetite.

      Alex shrugged and checked his watch. “That was like twenty-four hours ago.”

      Rafael thought of the beautiful women and everything else he could ever want waiting for him downstairs, and he sighed. None of it interested him at the moment. He needed sleep, and a certain petite, green-eyed brunette with a heart-shaped face, who occupied an office at city hall and the forefront of his fantasies. “No, I can’t. I’m going home.”

      “Now I know something’s going on.”

      “Dude, I haven’t slept since Friday night. I’m allowed to take a night off from debauchery.”

      “Yeah, you’re allowed, it’s just never happened before.” He stood. “All right, I’m done. I’m heading down. Join me if you want.”

      Rafael shook his head. Tired and horny, but with no way to ease either at Di Terrestres, he sat back. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”