The Dom’s Submission: Complete Series by Ellis O. Day
CHAPTER 24: Terry
Terry turned and shoved past Nick and the others. Everyone stared at him like he had two heads. “Fuck off. All of you.” He stormed out of the house and toward his car.
Ethan ran up to him and grabbed his arm. “Come on. I’ll drive.”
“I don’t need you to fucking drive.” He jerked free from his friend.
“Think, Terry.” Ethan stepped in front of him. “Leaving your car here is an excellent reason to come back later.” He glanced at the house. “After she’s settled down.”
Terry ran his hand through his hair. He should’ve thought of that. “Let’s go.” He headed toward Ethan’s car.
“Club?” asked Nick.
“Yeah. See you there.” Ethan got into his car and drove down the street. He glanced at Terry. “What the fuck?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Yeah, but—”
“Don’t. Okay.” He turned toward Ethan. “I don’t need to hear shit from you and then from the rest of the assholes. Once will be more than enough.” He knew his friends. Hell, if one of them had done what he did, he’d be the first to give them a hard time.
“Fair enough,” said Ethan.
By the time Nick, Patrick and Mattie arrived at the Club, Terry was on his second drink.
“Damn,” said Nick as he and the others walked into Ethan’s office. “A little early to be drinking.”
“Like you can talk. I remember you being drunk all day and night not too long ago.” Here it came. All the shit he didn’t want to hear.
Nick grabbed a beer instead of his usual scotch. “Yeah, but that was when I was…” He pursed his lips as if in thought. “What did you call me after Sarah left me hanging?” He smiled and it was like a kick in the balls. “Right, pussy-whipped. That was when I was pussy-whipped.” He raised his brow, a smirk on his face. “Is that what’s wrong with you?”
Patrick laughed. “Oh, how far you’ve fallen. The man who’ll never marry again.”
“I won’t.” He’d never repeat that nightmare.
“Now, that everyone is here.” Ethan tipped his chair, balancing on the two back legs. “What the fuck were you thinking?”
“I…Shit.” Obviously, he hadn’t been thinking. He tossed back his drink.
“You know better than that,” said Ethan.
“Everyone knows better than to call the woman he wants a whore,” said Mattie, who was sitting at the bar sipping a soda.
“Unless she likes that,” said Nick. “But I don’t think Maggie’s that kind of lady.”
“She’s not.” Terry refilled his glass from the bottle that was next to it on the table.
“Seriously, what got into you?” asked Ethan. “You can be a big-mouthed ass, but I’ve never seen you like this.”
“She’s driving me crazy.” He rested the glass against his forehead.
“You two have fucked, right?” asked Nick .
“Yes. Numerous times.” He gave Nick the death glare. “I’m not you. I have no intentions of being celibate for anyone.”
“We’ll see.” Nick’s smug look was making Terry want to punch him in the face. “Ethan get the book. I want to place a bet on Terry and Maggie.”
“I’m in.” Patrick leaned against the bar drinking a beer. “I got fifty on Terry and Maggie living together within three months.”
Ethan pulled out the book and started writing.
“Not going to happen,” said Terry.
“I got your back, buddy.” Mattie smiled at him. “Put me down for six months.”
“Fuck off.” Terry was sick of his friends but he didn’t have a car. Plus, he didn’t feel like going home and drinking alone.
“Put me down for under two months,” said Nick. “And I want to bet that Terry does something even stupider than what he did today.” He smirked. “Terry is going to fuck this thing up big time. I can feel it.” He took a swallow of his beer. “My intuition is always right.”
“Yeah. You’re a fucking fortune teller.” Terry snorted.
“I was right about Sarah and about Patrick and Annie.”
“He has you there,” said Patrick. “You should listen to Nick. He helped me stop being so thickheaded about Annie.”
Two times today he’d been called stupid. It was two times too many. “No, Nick should listen to me before he ends up broke and alone.”
“Don’t fucking start,” said Nick. “This is about you being a dick. This has nothing to do with me and Sarah.”
“You brought up your intuition and I’m telling you that it sucks. No. Actually, your intuition is probably good, but you’re not listening to it. You’re listening to your dick.”
“Fuck off.” Nick’s eyes were like coal.
“I should. I should leave you alone and let you learn this lesson the hard way, but fuck me, I can’t. Jesus, Nick, think for once. We talked about this years ago and we all agreed that prenups were a necessity. Come to my office and let’s get one written up.” He liked Nick. They fought and argued but he truly liked the younger man.
“Sarah and I don’t need a prenup.”
“God.” He tipped his head back and laughed. “You are so fucking naïve.”
“Just because your wife left, took your house and your kids and supported her lesbian lover with the money from your practice, doesn’t mean that’s going to happen to me and Sarah.” Nick’s eyes narrowed. “I know how to satisfy her so she won’t be leaving me for anyone, especially a woman.”
“Fuck, Nick.” Ethan jumped up at the same time Patrick and Mattie moved forward.
Terry shook his head. “You think I’m going to fight this dumbass for that? Not worth it. Plus, except for the part about me not satisfying women, it’s true.” And it still fucking hurt. “No reason to get mad about the truth.” He tossed back his drink. “If Nick were mature, he’d realize that what I said is also true.” He refilled his glass.
Nick stared at him for a long moment. “I’m not signing a prenup.”
He took a deep breath. “Please, come by my office and we can talk.”
“No.” Nick walked to the bar and tossed his bottle in the trash before grabbing another beer. “We don’t need one.”
“It won’t hurt to talk to him,” said Ethan.
“How did this become about me?” Nick looked at Ethan. “I’m not the one whose girlfriend is crying in her bathroom because she was just called a whore.”
“Worse than that, she was told she’d been a whore her entire life,” corrected Patrick.
“That’s not what I meant.”
“That’s exactly what you said.” Patrick walked away from the bar and took a seat. “What the hell got into you?”
“Did you hear where she thinks she’s moving?”
“Southshore,” said Mattie. “I’m pretty sure the neighbors five houses down heard you guys shouting about that.”
“You know what kind of area that is?” Terry looked around.
“Yeah,” said Patrick. “Not a good one.”
“Right. You wouldn’t let Annie live there, would you?”
“Hell, no,” said Patrick.
“Exactly, but Maggie won’t listen. She can’t afford any place else but she refuses to let me help her.”
“So, she’s a whore because she won’t take your money?” Ethan laughed. “I think you should look up the definition of the word.”
“I said taking my money was no different than letting her husband support her.”
“Oh yeah, we all heard that.” Mattie snickered. “You called every older woman in the world whores, including all grandmas.”
“Well, they are.”
“Jesus, Terry.” Patrick rolled his eyes. “You’re one sick bastard.”
“He has a point,” said Ethan. “Women have been trading their bodies for hundreds of years.”
“Stop with your sales pitch. We’ve all”—Nick looked at his brother—“except perhaps Mattie, heard you use that line to convince some girl to work for you.”
Ethan shrugged. “It works because it’s true.”
“Didn’t work so well for Terry,” mumbled Mattie and he and Nick laughed.
Terry shifted on the couch. The alcohol, no breakfast and not much sleep was wearing on him. “Tease me all you want. I don’t give a shit. I need to figure out how to fix this.”
“Start with an apology,” said Patrick. “A big one and then”—he grinned—“eat her pussy until she forgives you.”
“I don’t need pointers on how to fix the fight. I can handle that.”
“You sure?” Nick glanced at Ethan. “She seemed pretty pissed.”
“I can get past that, but I’m having issues getting her to let me help her.”
“Don’t ask,” said Mattie. “Just do it.”
“I can’t force her to move somewhere I choose.”
“Why bother with that?” Mattie stood and tossed his soda can in the trash. “Her house is for sale, right?”
“Yeah. So?”
“Buy it.” Mattie shrugged. “Then she doesn’t have to move at all.”
He stared at the kid. “That’s a fucking brilliant idea.”
“Not gonna work,” said Nick. “If she won’t take your money, there’s no way she’ll let you buy her a house.”
“I’m not going to tell her.”
“Your name is going to be all over those documents,” said Nick.
“Please. I’m a lawyer. There are ways to get around that.”
“She’s going to find out,” warned Patrick.
“Only if one of you fuckers opens your big mouth. So, don’t.”
“I won’t say anything, but I still don’t think this is a good idea,” said Patrick.
