Badge Bunny (Legacy in Blue Book 1) Read online

  “That’s right. I have an early shift, so I can’t attend.” I roll my eyes, even though he can’t see.

  “We were meeting up with the Miltons. Cynthia just came home from Europe and she’s been asking about you.”

  Of course she has.

  “Oh?”

  “I think she wants to see you.”

  More like she wanted to sink her harpy claws into my flesh and hang on like a scaly barnacle.

  “Well then isn’t it too bad that I have to work.”

  “I don’t know why you still work there, it’s beneath you, son.” His gruff voice grated on my nerves. He acted this way every time we talked. “I think it’s time you came to work at the business so that you’re ready to take your rightful place when I retire.”

  He was nowhere near ready to retire considering my grandfather hadn’t even handed over the reins to him yet.

  “I’m not coming to work there. We’ve already had this discussion. I like my job, Dad. I feel like I’m making a difference.”

  “One person does not make a difference, son. You could be making so much more money working at the firm.” I could almost see his disgust emanating through the phone.

  “Look, I’m sorry I can’t attend the brunch this Sunday. I’ll try to make the one next week, but no promises because I might get called in.”

  “I’ll make sure the Miltons meet us there. Your mother will be pleased,” he clears his voice. “Robert, I expect you to reconsider your current career aspirations. You could be a more useful member of society, if only you would take your rightful place at the company.”

  “Which society, Dad?”

  “The only society that matters, son,” he answered as if members of his income bracket and community was the only society that mattered. “And as soon as you get that through your thick skull, your life will be much better.”

  “What about Victor?” I asked, hoping once again to push his focus in another direction.

  My attempt to sway him had nothing to do with the animosity between my brother Victor and me. In fact, I wanted nothing more than to bury the hatchet between us. Unfortunately, due to my father’s unending obsession with my future succession at the family’s investment business, the relationship between my brother and I was strained. Victor had always been resentful of me. It was one thing I had never been happy about. From the conversations over the years, I could tell how close Reed was with his siblings and I only wished I had even a small percentage of the relationship that they possessed.

  “What about Victor?” He repeated my words as if they we’re supposed to mean something more.

  “Victor is still in university, and he needs to focus on his studies.”

  “Dad, I think you need to entertain the possibility that I might not take over the family business. I have never wanted to run your company.”

  “I don’t need to entertain anything, Junior.”

  “Dad I hate being called Junior. It’s Michael, or Mike, and if I’m having a good day I might answer to Robert, but never Junior. Do you realize how demeaning that is?” I argued.

  “That’s just like you to focus on the wrong thing in a conversation. Let me remind you of a couple of items.” He proceeded to lecture me on the importance of being Robert Michael Sinclair, the third. “Firstly, anything I say should be taken as final. As in, you will be joining the firm eventually, and you will most definitely be entertaining the notion of taking Cynthia as your bride within the next year. Secondly, how I run my household is not up for discussion. If you try to interfere with the position, I appoint Victor to once he graduates, you will keep your mouth shut. If you don’t agree with who I’ve chosen for Claudia to marry, you will keep it to yourself.”

  I cut him off. “Dad, I’ve got to go.”

  Before I lost my fucking mind.

  “Junior,” he stressed the name, “you will join your mother and I for brunch this Sunday. You will be jovial and present for all discussions of the future, including, but not limited to your succession in the company and your upcoming nuptials with Cynthia Milton. It’s time you start the groundwork for producing an heir.”

  “I never agreed to marrying her, and I’m definitely not going to procreate with her. Can you imagine the wretched offspring she’d produce?”

  The thought of how much it would rile my parents up if I didn’t produce suitable heirs was worth putting up with this ridiculously pointless conversation.

  “It’s not up to you to agree with your prescribed future. Your only option is to fall in line and obey.” He cleared his voice. “I didn’t have the choice to marry your mother. I might not have loved her at first, but I have grown to love her, and you can see for yourself how everything turned out.”

  “Yeah, you’re the picture of a perfect marriage.” I scoffed.

  “Marriage aren’t all perfect, they take work,” he argued.

  “What did Clarissa Carlton have to do with helping your marriage succeed, Dad?”

  When I was twelve, just before he shipped me off to boarding school, I was at home sick and mom forgot to tell him. When I still respected my father, I liked spending time in his office when he was at work. That day I heard noises coming from his office, so I went to check what was happening and I got quite an eye full. He had Clarissa, his nineteen-year-old intern, bent over his desk and he was going to town, while she was squealing like a stuck pig.

  I shuddered to think about all the therapy I should have gone through over the years. What surprised me was that I wasn’t more traumatized by their antics. It was bad enough knowing your parents have sex, but to watch your forty-four year old father getting his wrinkled rocks off with a woman less than half his age on the desk you coloured on, was more than a bit disconcerting.

  Nine months later, and a week before I was shipped off, Claudia appeared out of nowhere. In hindsight, they likely sent me to boarding school to keep quiet because I was old enough to know that babies didn’t just appear on a doorstep. Mom has always been a svelte woman, and I would have been able to tell if she was pregnant. Victor would have been only six or seven at the time, so he had no idea where babies came from. He thought a stork dropped Claudia on the doorstep because he wanted another sibling. I overheard mom and her book club discussing the demise of that low bred trollop.

  Sometimes I wondered if the reason that our mom was so distant was because we’re all products of affairs. Victor’s lack of height and dark complexion matched closely with my old nanny. Claudia and I both had dark hair, but our skin tone was much lighter than his.

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  “Goodbye, father.”

  I hang up on him before my response makes things more difficult. Let him stew on that statement for a bit. If only my mother would stand up for us, but she’s even worse than he is.

  Now I really could use that drink.

  Chapter Three

  Viola

  Chandra was known around our circle of friends was known for trading sexual favours with bouncers to get what she wanted, but I had never seen her in action until tonight. She walked straight past the huge line and up to the bouncer, swaying her hips seductively the whole way. Now I knew the reason she insisted wearing stilettos all the time. She walked with barefooted grace, whereas I would have faceplanted in the first few steps. We couldn’t hear what she was saying to him, but it was obvious what was happening between them. We watched as she unzipped her jacket and thrusted out her boobs, pressing them against his chest, when he leaned forward to whispered in her ear his gaze lingered on her cleavage for a moment and I knew we we’re set.

  It was no surprise when Chandra turned around and waved us forward and we skipped the huge line. Once inside the bar, I was a bundle of nerves as we made our way through the crowd. The atmosphere and the number of people present supported my belief that I picked the best night club to search for a cherry popper. Over the years, I had overheard my brothers mention how this place was prime for the picking to
search for someone to do the horizontal mambo with.

  We paid the cover charge to get into the club and then dropped off our jackets at the coat check. At least there was a place to store my god-awful heavy wool coat. Chandra and Shelby stood to either side of me, threading their arms through my elbows and dragged me to the bar.

  “This is gonna be awesome!” Shelby squealed over the music. “I’ve been waiting for you to take me up on my offer to go here for ages.”

  “I just turned eighteen, it wasn’t possible before today,” I argued.

  “I know, but you could have used that fake ID I offered to get you at the beginning of the school year.”

  “You know I couldn’t do that,” I responded. Unlike my other friends, I neglected to get fake identification in order to partake in the club scene earlier than allowed.

  “Yeah, Shelbs, Princess Viola can’t break the law or Daddy will lock her in the Ivory tower,” she joked.

  “He already locked me away at a Sacred Heart, and we’re not even Catholic. So really, what more can he do to me?”

  Chandra cackled maniacally before explaining her train of thought. “He could always spank you.”

  “Eww!” I shuddered. “Seriously Chandra! Now I have to find some brain bleach to erase the visual you just gave me.”

  “Yeah, you sicko. Now let’s get some hotties to buy us shots so we can forget all about it.” Shelby suggested.

  “Ooh, what about him?” Chandra pointed out a wannabe cowboy down at the end of the bar, wearing leather chaps over black jeans and white cowboy boots.

  “Not in a million years.” I answered, unintentionally spurring her into pointing out every possible drink purchaser in the joint.

  Shelby and I cracked up when the aspiring cowboy strutted his way through the crowd towards us. He removed his hat and waved it in an extraordinarily awkward arc in our direction. Chandra fell for it hook line and sinker, letting him pull her into the crowd. Undoubtedly, the bouncer from earlier will spending tonight with his hand.

  “Okay, now that Chan has thinned the herd a bit, do you see any more potentials?”

  “Not exactly,” I continued my survey of the room. “There’s a lot of options here tonight, but I don’t feel that certain spark with any of them.”

  “Spark? Why not take a page from Chan’s book and pick any dick with legs?”

  “You’re bad.”

  “You know I love her, but you also know it’s true,” Shelby said.

  “She likes to have a good time, nothing wrong with that. She reminds me a little of Ivy when she was seventeen.”

  “Ivy probably had a fake ID too,” she said.

  “Yep.”

  Chandra moved here to attend Sacred Heart when we were all sixteen and she attended school with us for exactly six months. At which point, after getting caught spending most nights out way past curfew, the school expelled her. Unlike most of the other girls from our age group, Shelby and I never once passed judgment on her. There were rumours going around school that she got pregnant, so they kicked her out, some said she was shacked up with the baby daddy, while we knew the truth. Chandra’s personality didn’t thrive under strict regulations, and it needed to flourish.

  “I’m only pointing out that you’re not going to wait for that someone special to pop your cherry. The night’s not getting any younger, so pick one.”

  “This isn’t a search for a Candi bar.” I laughed.

  “Depends on the size of the bar,” she responded.

  “Well, let’s hope it’s just the right size. I wanna go dance, maybe I’ll be able to see more of the room from the centre.”

  “You might even draw him to you when you shake your tush.”

  Shelby and I held hands as made our way through the crowd to the middle of the dance floor. My dad taught me and my siblings this trick when we were younger for when there was a large crowd we needed to walk through, to eliminate the risk of separation. It was hard not to think about the little girl who used to idolize the man who taught her tricks to ensure her safety. Deep down I knew my father loved me, but somehow down the line he forgot how.

  The dance floor sunk a few feet lower than the main floor and we had to walk down couple steps to join the wall to wall people dancing. The music was infinitely louder on the lower level, likely because the speakers were placed in the corners. The moment we stepped onto the floor, Shelby twirled me, eliciting a laugh. After the drinks I had consumed the music easily moved me like I’m a marionette, and my strings are attached to the cords.

  When I spotted Chandra through the crowd, I cringed at the sight of the cowboy groping her like an octopus. The look on her face was priceless, as she tried to look anywhere but at him. I made a point to try and get eye contact with her just in case she needed a rescue, but she shook her head when she noticed me a couple seconds later. The next song she unsurprisingly ditched the douche and joined us. Four songs later, I was beyond parched and needed a drink.

  Shelby must have felt the same because she leaned closer and yelled in my ear, “I’m thirsty, let’s go get something to wet my whistle. Then maybe he’ll pop out at you.”

  “As long as his name isn’t Jack.”

  After a few minutes of waiting for our drinks, I grew impatient, and was seriously reconsidering the whole evening. Then I saw him. My eyes were subconsciously drawn to across the room, to a man with dark hair and piercing eyes, towered over the other people lined up at the bar. He had to be at least six foot four, maybe more. Something in me yearned to see what shade they were while he shredded every last speck of my innocence tonight. My thighs clenched with the elicit thoughts rolling through my mind.

  He moved with purpose through the throng of people drunkenly swaying along with the music. His dark red V-neck shirt clung to his body like a second skin. Everything fell around me the moment our eyes met, almost as if we were the only people in an empty room. The confidence he exuded threw me; he was a predator stalking his prey and I felt like a lamb going to the slaughter.

  Chapter Four

  Mike

  When I pulled up at the club, and the parking lot was packed I knew I picked the right place. There were a couple clubs I frequented in the area, but I tended to lean towards this one because of the location. It was close to the hotel I utilized for my after-hours activities. After all, what was the sense of having a one-night stand if you had to entertain them in the morning.

  The concept of using a hotel being considered calloused and uncaring didn’t escape me, but in practicality, it served a couple purposes. The first purpose was to remove the portion of intimacy that went with familiarity. If a woman never came to your house, they wouldn’t become intimately familiar with how you lived, and hotels offer anonymity. Secondly, utilizing a hotel removed the question of whether someone should or shouldn’t stay for or make breakfast. Lastly, there was the option to escape without the implication of hurt feelings.

  There were a couple spots left in the back lot, so I parked there, knowing I wouldn’t be getting my truck until morning. As I rounded the corner of the building, the monstrosity of the line became more apparent. Thankfully being a Sinclair had its benefits, like bypassing the line. My career in law enforcement also created opportunities because by default our paths crossed. There were times when just being a bouncer wasn’t enough, things got out of hand and they needed to call the police. More often than not, Reed and I were the ones to respond because these clubs were in our district.

  I couldn’t believe my luck when I arrived at the club and took my usual residence by the end of the bar. Most nights it took unimaginable patience and a couple shots of whiskey to find a woman that caught my eye. The number of gorgeous women in this city was staggering, but to find the right one took just the right amount of finesse. Good things definitely came to those who wait. She entered my field of vision, and I envisioned her looking fantastic on my sheets. The revelation surprised me because my conquests never graced my doorstep. The risk of a stage
five clinger encouraged me to set up my account at a hotel near the club to utilize.

  She was dressed to impress in her cut-off jean shorts and a red corset that left nothing to the imagination. Just the right amount of cleavage escaped the wonderful creation made with man in mind, her miraculously generous breasts begging for my attention. Her platinum blonde hair was most definitely not real, but she wore the colour well. The disguise sent a thrill through me and eliminated the usual guilt I felt when I gave women a name I didn’t normally use. In my family, the first born was always named Robert Michael, and I was the third in line for the cursed throne. So tonight, like most nights, my name was going to be Rob.

  Her eyes didn’t stray from mine as I meandered my way through inebriated clientele. Her brunette friend leaned over and whispered something in her ear, leaving them in a fit of giggles. I yearned to know what her laugh sounded like. I wanted to be the person to make her laugh. For the first time in a while, I felt anxious that she wouldn’t choose me. Just as I reached the pair, she inhaled deeply causing her breasts to heave, and my eyes involuntarily left her face.

  “Hi, gorgeous,” I greeted her with my best panty melting smile.

  Her eyes widen, but she neglected respond. This might just be my unicorn; shy and sweet, but hopefully nasty between the sheets. The combination of black cowboy boots, denim cut-off shorts and form-fitting corset was pure torture. The unbelievable desire to have her laid out on my bed begging for a release threw me.

  Her friend shoved her in my direction, and suggested, “Why don’t you two go dance?”

  Before I could stop her forward motion, her face smashed into my chest, and she let out an indecipherable noise. She turned to glare at her friend, but her friend had already deserted us. By the look of her hasty retreat, she had set her sights on a conquest of her own for the night.