Obedience Lessons

Chapter Thirty-three

Andy's POV

He's nothing, he's just another fuck.

I tried to tell myself that what Dylan screams out in his sleep doesn't apply to me, and that he was addressing something else. But the doubt lodges in my mind anyway. It eats at me to hold him in my arms and not know. How many nights have it been now, and I still didn't know... He hid so much about himself that I knew little enough about his past, not for a lack of prying on my part. But for the night I was done prying. Fine, he didn't want to tell me about his worst nightmares. But he had to know at least how I felt.

"I'm in love with you." My breath ghosted over his black hair and vanished. I felt him stiffen in my arms and I held my breath. Too soon, what do I do? How the heck do I fix this? Jesus, Andy you had to fuck this up didn't you? I breathed in again, deeply, once, exhale, twice..... Exhale. I left my muscles go slack and focused on breathing deeply.

He never responded.

"Well at least you know I love you," Bree half-teased me over Dylan's counter after she gave me the rundown on her night with Ryman.

"God, don't even say like that, Bree... But on a real note... that was fucked up how that ended up going down. I'm so sorry Bree." I could never have expected Natalie to get pay back like that. It wasn't right that I'd sent my best friend into something like that. I didn't even want to replay in my mind all the things Bree had to do last night. And she had pictures. I had smiled at the manila envelope containing them, but had almost lost my breakfast when I peeked at the contents.

"Don't even talk about it, I just want this guy to go down fast. What's the plan?" She leaned in and her coffee up as if to make a toast.

I held up the envelope, "This is leverage but I don't really think it's quite enough..."

"The fuck? Andy, it's a billionaire scandal. The tabloids would pay you thousands for that, and that's added to the satisfaction of making him fucking squirm." Bree got up, clearly eager. Hotheaded. The type that made the mistake and screwed things up.

I fixed her with a stare and said, "This is the man that murdered his son. You want to throw some dirt on him and call it square, I'll tell you how that plays out. They'll be shoveling actual dirt on your coffin by the end of the week." She sat. "I've got Louisa working on getting me some access to places he goes, and an idea of the company he keeps and a friend of Romeo's pulling the post mortem reports from Liam's case. I doubt the official reports have anything, but maybe something fishy will show up. I'll let you know when I'm ready to deal Ryman a hand, and I'll want you there when I do it."

"I hope you know what you're doing, Andy. This man plays hard and is out of our league," Bree admitted with a toss of her black locks. She rose an questioning brow, "What do I do in the meanwhile? Fuck him?"

"Draw your own boundaries," I shrugged and she rolled her eyes before I continued, "Work with Natalie. Keep a low profile. Stop coming to Spotty, I'll handle him until this is over. I don't want Ryman to eventually pick up on who you are." I toss out another envelope, fifteen grand in cash. "I owe you big time anyway."

Bree whistled, "You're rolling in dough. Get yourself a car."

"It's not my money," I clenched my jaw when Bree looked at me like I had lost my mind. "I don't want any of it. Dylan will have it when all this is done."

His voice came from the stairway, "Have what? When what's done?" Dylan's sleep face was adorable when he came yawning into view.

Bree snatched up the envelope and shoved it into her jacket and I grabbed the photos, putting it quietly into the knife drawer. "You're gonna get a lot of things from me," I waggled my brows at him.