Playing the Bosses

But For Now

"That was a dick move lying to us about your return flight, Caleb," Justin scolded.

"Just to get alone time with Eva," Adrian added, shaking his head.

Caleb took a shallow pull from the cigar and blew the smoke out his mouth. He looked at Adrian and Justin across from him who also had cigars of their own. They were at their favorite cigar bar — a routine they had for the first Sunday of each month to talk business or personal life. Maintaining their friendship throughout their various ventures was important to all three of the men, and this was one of the activities they'd partake in to maintain their camaraderie.

However, they now had another activity — or person — that brought them together even more itimately.

Caleb scoffed. "If you guys didn't crash our fucking trip, that wouldn't have happened. It was supposed to be my time with her. Then you two showed up. And don't act like it was for anything other than her."

"I think we're well passed pretending when it comes to Eva," Justin replied. "... And that includes you."

Adrian leaned forward toward Caleb, resting his elbows on his knees. "You can't keep denying you're attracted to her now. Not that your act was working in the first place."

Taking another puff his his cigar and relaxing back against his seat as he spread his legs, Caleb smiled at both men. "You know what? Yeah, I'm into her. And I'm gonna take her from the two of you."

To that, both Justin and Adrian burst out laughing.

"Yeah, yeah... Laugh all you fucking want now. You won't be doing that when I'm her favorite of the month."

Adrian and Justin continued, only further entertained by Caleb's assertion.

"You think this is so fucking funny like I'm not next up? And she likes that I'm versatile... Even more than you two... Adrian knows... He used to say the same thing."

Adrian ceased laughing and cut his eyes at Caleb. While his expression was sharp, it wasn't one of anger or disgust. Instead, it was a knowing look. He and Eva had similar preferences when it came to Caleb, and he realized that she saw in him the same things that Adrian did.

"That reminds me..." Adrian relaxed back in his seat again, adding distance between himself and Caleb, but keeping his eyes on him. "Eva and I have been talking about you."

Caleb looked at Adrian expectantly, awaiting more words, more details on what exactly they'd talked about, but Adrian stopped there, taking another pull from his cigar as his gaze darkened.

Justin glanced between his two best friends and noticed there seemed to be some type of nonverbal communication going on. Normally, when they got into it like this, Justin stayed out of it. At times, he felt like a third wheel, especially over the few months when Adrian and Caleb seemed to have been spending almost every day together. He knew they had hooked up before, and suspected something romantic may have been happening, but things soured between the two men too quickly for Justin to really consider it.

Eyes locked with Adrian, Caleb's jaw tensed as he was flooded with memories from just a few days ago — the three of them with Eva, Adrian and Eva teasing him, his morning with Adrian, and that moment in the car with Eva.

"You're such a versatile toy that my options are almost endless."

Eva's words stuck with Caleb, and he held onto them. It wasn't just what she said, but how she said it. Her voice was like velvet, she spoke with pure confidence, and there was an undertone that told Caleb she thinking about some of those 'options' when she was speaking to him. He wondered if she'd fantasized about him as much as he did her. And when Caleb realized how well Eva and Adrian work together when playing with him, he realized they could give him exactly what he wanted: to be their toy.

Finally, Caleb was the first to break their staring match, looking away and asking, "Talking about me for what?"

The right side of Adrian's lips pulled into a smirk. "I'm sure you have an idea... pet."

Caleb swallowed and put out his cigar — catching himself before his thoughts could run wild.

"Whatever," he said with a huff. "Let's get back to talking about business. We're going to need to ask our benefactors for more money so we can acquire another one of Thompson Luxe Group's brands. They're going to be the hardest competitor to remove from the picture, but once we crush them, we'll practically own the industry."

Justin nodded.

"I can make the call this time."

***

Eva huffed as she fell into the couch in her living room. She was exhausted... mentally. While reading Adrian, Justin, and Caleb was easy enough for her, what had her gears turning was herself.

Caleb — as much as Eva hated to admit it — piqued her interest. She enjoyed playing games with him the most. His brattiness was ample entertainment, and him being a heavy bottom gave Eva a mountain of ideas on scenes they could do together. There also seemed to be an underlying issue Caleb had, something other than the constant teasing that he was deeply frustrated about, and Eva wondered if it had to do with whatever past he and Adrian had.

Justin had become almost a friend to Eva. If she weren't trying to take down his company, she would've actually called him one. They had certain similarities when it came to parents with high-expectations and growing up as an overachiever. However, that upbringing resulted in Eva seeking freedom and living life on her terms, while Justin continued to try to keep his parents proud.

Adrian caused Eva to feel things she hadn't experienced in years — sensations she never thought she'd have again, nor did she care to. But it was too late. She liked the way she felt around him. She liked him... a lot. And Eva wasn't sure what that could mean for when she finished her time at PMC Group.

She shook her head and let out a deep sigh.

I'll just keep doing whatever I like... At least until I put this final puzzle piece together and bring down their company.

Eva had learned a lot about the inner workings of PMC Group while she was there. The company managed to complete acquisition after acquisition, taking down its competition by chipping away at other luxury conglomerates. However, that seemed to be the only purpose of buying the smaller companies. They did not serve a strategic purpose for PMC Group's business strategy. While cutting the competition was a huge benefit, buying other companies came at significant costs, and considering their profitability often faltered as they were neglected after being acquired by PMC Group, the benefit didn't seem worth what they were paying.

Yet PMC Group continued to have enough funding to purchase more companies. Eva was sure that capital was received under suspicious circumstances, but she needed to know the exact details. And with those details, she'd be able to end PMC Group.

And her mission would be complete.

No more Adrian. No more Justin. No more Caleb.

Her loyalty was to her family. She entered PMC Group under the guise of Eva Nelson to take down the company from within. She had admittedly gotten distracted playing her games with the men who owned the company, but she made progress, albeit slowly.

Eva knew she was dragging things out, and Alexis was growing increasingly impatient. The only reason Eva was able to keep Alexis at bay was by reminding her that she was doing all the work and taking all the risk.

Her contract should have been up a few months ago, but Adrian and Justin immediately extended it for another year. Eva knew she couldn't drag it out much longer, and once she got that final piece of the puzzle, she would need to end it all.

But for now, Eva would continue to have her fun.

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A/N: Thanks for reading! I am actually on vacay this week and forgot to tell y'all, so I decided to just go ahead and upload this — it's actually a great transition into the next arc because I was worried about being too choppy.

Tidbit: All of my characters exist in the same universe. It's why this story has crossovers from All of Me and Don't Touch. This also includes The Last Petal, but it doesn't make much sense for Eva to have crossed paths with characters from that book. However, in my head Amara and them out there doing their thing in this book's universe too.