by V. L. Silva
My heart raced as my manager started towards me. He didn’t look pleased. He’d probably heard what happened with the customer. I’d been a wreck all evening.
Strangely, I was kind of glad it was Chris who was approaching me and not Axel like I’d assumed when I heard him call my name. How sad was that? I was more afraid of a confrontation with a twenty-one-year-old guy than a thirty-five-year-old who had the power to fire me.
And what would Axel do when he caught me? I didn’t know and maybe that was what I really feared. The not knowing. I knew everything Chris could do with me. Shout. Fire me. Tell me to never come back.
But Axel? He was an anomaly. Beautiful and complex. He kept me on edge and not always in a bad way. Even Dr. Chandler seemed weary of him, though he’d stood up for me.
“Hey, are you all right?” Chris asked. “Your mind seems to be everywhere but here. Is it your mom?”
I shook my head. “No. I’m sorry. I’m just worried about…school. I had to go back to Barnet.”
“Hm.” His expression was pensive. Chris was usually pensive, like he was going for a James Dean model look. His partner Charlie picked on him and asked, “Where’s the camera?” whenever Chris narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips.
He’d aged well under the heat of the California sun. The weather-beaten look worked for him. His dark hair had streaks of gray. He was only an inch taller than me so for the most part we were eye to eye.
The kitchen called my order and I grabbed the red burger baskets from the window.
Chris took the baskets from my hands. “Go home, Hope.”
“What?” Maybe I’d been wrong about being fired. I worried about losing this job just a little bit more than dealing with Axel. “Chris, please.”
He shook his head. “Take the night off. It’s late anyway.”
He wasn’t firing me. Good. I’d never been fired before. I’d also never cut from work early. I was hesitant to leave but then Chris was brushing past me and I decided I needed to get out of the way.
Grabbing my hoodie, I walked out of the restaurant and started home.
When I opened my front door the voices that had been getting louder as they coalesced died.
In the living room were some of my mom’s closest friends. She sat next to her boyfriend Paul and across from another woman I really didn’t care for. Marlene Kent.
Don’t ask me why I didn’t like her. The woman had never said anything nasty to me. She never smiled either but that didn’t offend me either. Her dark hair was cut just as blunt as her attitude.
I glanced around the stylish living space that was at odds with the popcorn ceiling and green carpet.
“Hey.”
Mom rubbed her hands on the knees of her jeans and smiled. “Hey, sweetie. We were just wrapping up.”
Wrapping up what? I didn’t voice my question. Instead, I waved them off and went to my room.
I closed the door and dropped my bag.
I reached for the light switch but a hand stopped me just as another hand landed over my mouth and lips pressed against my ear, “Garvey & Grant.”
My heart tried to beat my chest into a pulp. I wanted to scream but managed to tame it to a whimper. Axel had said the one thing that would make me think twice around alerting the people on the other side of the wall to his presence.
Garvey & Grant. Where my mom worked. I didn’t know how he knew that but the fact that he was in my house said I was dealing with a man who was almost unstoppable.
My mother couldn’t lose her job. We couldn’t afford it.
I let him guide my hand back to my side. We were effectively in the dark except for the sliver of light that was coming in from the cracks in the blinds.
His hot lips fondled my ear. “Didn’t I warn you about what would happen if you defied me?”
Anger boiled up until it burned my esophagus. He let my mouth go and I spun around. “You don’t own me.”
“I’m sorry you believe that.”
The guys I knew didn’t usually apologize but this one did it all the time. He used the grievances like a weapon and in the end I still suffered.
“How did you get in my house?”
“I picked the locks.” He didn’t even bother to hide the fact that he’d committed a crime. He didn’t care. Who would believe me if I called the cops? He had billions on his side while I had nothing.
But it was worth a shot. “Get out or I’m calling the police.”
“Turn on the light.”
My heart still beat like a drum in my chest. He was so much easier to face in the dark. I could almost forget how menacing his features could be even when he smiled. “No.”
His hand landed like a hot brand on my inner thigh.
I grabbed his wrist and tried to push him away but he backed me against the door. His fingers inched higher until he cupped me. My heart stopped and my mouth fell open but words eluded me. I was frozen in fear and something else. Something wild.
“If you want me to remove my hand turn on the light.”
I gave it a minute. The moment I slapped the light on his hand fell away. My core felt the cold air even through my panties and tights.
He looked my outfit over. “You worked in that?”
“Yes.”
His eyes moved up my hips and over my chest before connecting with my gaze again. “I don’t like not knowing things about you.”
It was the last thing I expected to leave his mouth but I was glad we weren’t talking about punishments anymore so I took the bait and once again tried to tame a monster I knew I couldn’t. “It seems your investigators didn’t do a thorough job.”
“Apparently,” he muttered.
I’d been kidding but I knew he wasn’t. “You hired people to spy on me?”
“Of course.”
I shook my head. “Normally, when people want to know something about someone, they don’t hire investigators. Do you know what they do?”
“What do they do?”
“Ask questions.”
He backed away and dropped into the chair at my desk without looking back. He placed his hands on his knees and took a breath. He looked like a fighter, braced for any attack that could come.
It occurred to me that the chair had been positioned before he sat down. I imagined him pacing the room, knowing just how far everything in the room was from him. He put my chair away from the desk to face the door.
My plain white room wasn’t big. In fact, it was pretty small as rooms went. My full-size mattress took up most of the space but with Axel in the room it might as well have been a four-foot cage.
His ominous energy filled the pale space like a dark shadow.
I could run. Surely, it was only a few feet away but I could probably get the door open before he could catch me.
I looked back and immediately regretted it.
“Leave and that will be your fourth strike. I already told you I’m done chasing you, Hope. So, be a good girl and give me what I want.”
“Fine!” I hissed. “What do you want?”
I felt and then saw the pleasure my cooperation brought him.
“Take off your shoes.”
“That’s not a question.”
He blinked. Slowly.
My heart fluttered. I looked away and slipped one sneaker off and then the other. Just to see what he’d do I left them on the ground.
“Put them where they belong.”
I smiled and picked them up.
“What?” he asked.
“Nothing.” I opened my closet and put my shoes on the rack.
“Tell me.”
I looked back and straightened. “Ask nicely.” I wasn’t taking demands from him. I’d picked my shoes up because I wanted to. I’d also taken them off because I’d wanted to. If he wanted something else from me, like my mind, he was going to have to ask.
His expression was tight. “If you would be so kind… Tell me what you were thinking.”
That wasn’t rea
lly the please I was looking for but I went with it. “I knew what you’d say. I knew you’d tell me to put the shoes away.”
“Hm. Take off your stockings and put them away.”
“No. I’m not stripping in front of you.”
“Just the stockings. You can keep the rest on.”
“No. I’m keeping it all on.”
He stood. I shuffled back against the wall and looked up as he loomed over me and stole the air from the room.
He grabbed my thighs. I covered his hands with my own. “What is wrong with you? I said no.”
“I want to see your legs,” he growled and sparked a quiver in the southern region of my body.
“Okay.” I didn’t want him turning hostile again. He was calm for the moment. “But that’s it.”
He dropped to his knees unexpectedly and slipped his hands under my skirt.
His fingers rimmed the edge of the tights before he pulled them down.
I lifted my foot to help him get them off. He pulled in a breath when he was done and then buried his nose in my skirts, right where the heat of my womanhood was located. His body shuddered on a strong inhale. He grabbed my thighs again.
I fisted my hands at my sides and waited for him to do more or to stop. I wasn’t sure what I wanted him to do.
His dark hair called to me. Struggling to get the image of wrapping my fingers round the locks, I reached out.
“Touch me and I’ll take it as permission to take this further.”
I dropped my hand and he turned his head and rested it against my thigh. His face was warm against my already heated skin.
He groaned. “I can smell how wet your pussy is.”
My stomach muscles tightened. “You’re so vulgar.” I tried to think of something else, anything other than what he’d said, but it was hard.
He stroked the back of my thighs, which ignited a painful sensation in my core.
“Tell me about your father,” he said.
My father was the last thing I wanted to talk about. I was hot and bothered. I was also sure I was missing part of my brain. “What about him?”
“He went to Barnet.”
“Yes.”
“Yet you are poor. Why?”
“I can’t think when you’re touching me like that.”
He stopped stroking me but his hands stayed. “Why are you poor?”
I swallowed.
I was glad he was staring at my legs and not my face. Eye contact would have made this conversation harder. I wondered what he was thinking. His hands continued to stroke me but he wouldn’t let me touch him. It was…strange.
And then there was Diana. Where did she fit into this visit? Was he this way about her? I couldn’t see Axel dropping to his knees for anyone. It was hard for me to believe he’d done it for me.
“Where did you get your name?” I asked.
“It’s Scandinavian. It means my father is peace.”
The world thought his father was a murderer. I wanted to ask him if he agreed but I was staying on the track that wouldn’t make him blow up. “My father was a marketing guru. He worked for a big financial company back in the day. They went belly up a little after he died.”
“Do you think the company tanked because of your dad’s death?”
“Yes. My father was the best at what he did.” He looked up at me and I said, “Marketing is everything. There are a million really good products in the world that will never make it past a five-block radius of their creators. The internet has made it a little easier but the most successful people know it takes branding to win.”
“Hm.” He tightened his arms around me and picked me up.
I grabbed his shoulders as he dropped me on my bed. I bounced on the cushion and immediately yanked down my skirt.
He sat on the edge of the bad and I backed away to the headboard.
“Could he sing?” he asked.
I smiled. He was referring to the cookie song. “Not really. My father had been joking when he’d made the song up. It had been during the company’s pitch to the investors. The tune was never supposed to have made it out of the meeting.”
“But now everyone knows it.”
I nodded.
“Do you sing?”
“In the shower. That wasn’t an invitation.” I added the latter when his eyes darkened.
He smiled and then stared at my legs. “You haven’t answered my question. Why are you poor?”
“Would you stop calling me that?”
He placed his large hand around my ankle and my goosebumps rose. Would he stop touching me? “Your father was successful, just as most of the students who leave the university are. Didn’t he have savings? Stocks?”
“There were stocks in his company and a few others, but… it’s complicated and none of your business.”
“I want to know.”
“Does Diana know you’re here? Maybe I should tell her.”
He got smoothly to his feet. “Goodnight.” He walked out the door.
I followed him and found the living room empty. The door closed behind him.
My mom stuck her head out of her door. She was clenching a towel. Her hair was wet. I hadn’t even heard the shower running and with the only bathroom in the house being between our rooms, it was nearly impossible to miss.
It showed just how attuned I was with Axel whenever I was around him.
“Was that the front door?” Mom asked.
It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her yes but then I remembered the threat Axel had made towards my mom’s job. “Yeah, I went to drop something off at Amanda’s house.”
“Okay.” She started to close her door but I stopped her. “Hey, are you alright?”
“Yeah, I’m fine, sweetie.” Mom gave me a toothy smile.
“I didn’t know Paul and Marlene were coming over tonight.”
“Well, I don’t tell you everything, Hope.”
“I know, but you said you were coming by the restaurant tonight.”
She stiffened. “Oh, I forgot.” She didn’t look like she forgot through.
It was almost like she’d purposefully planned this little rendezvous while I was away so I wouldn’t be around to hear whatever they’d discussed. Usually, Marlene would ask my opinion on something when I came through the door. Usually, Marlene and I fought about it until her condescending, passive aggressive attitude made me retreat to my room.
But there’d been no questions from Marlene tonight. Instead, I’d gotten silence, the kind that said I wasn’t welcomed into my own home. “I didn’t make good tips tonight,” I told her.
“It’s fine. I’ll have the money for everything. You just keep saving for school.”
“Okay.”
The bedroom door started to close. “I’m off to bed.”
“Mom, when was the last time you talked to Aunt Kris?”
“Maybe a month ago.” Mom straightened and I watched her guards slip into place. “Maybe more. Why?”
“Isn’t that strange to you? You used to talk to her every night.”
She shrugged. “Sometimes, family needs space. I’ll call her later.”
“I don’t know. I just think you should call her. She’s your sister.”
Mom scoffed. “I’m not calling her. Why would I call her? She feeds her kids poison.”
She was using my aunt’s food preference as a means to hide what was really bothering her. Aunt Kris had explained defensiveness to me. “You have friends who aren’t vegan, Mom. Aunt Kris is your friend. Why haven’t you talked to her?”
“Why is my relationship with my sister so important to you?”
I didn’t know. Mom just seemed less sad when she talked to her sister and something about her current state was rubbing me the wrong way. “I think it would be good for you.”
I knew my mistake too late. “I don’t need Dr. Kristina’s help, Hope. Goodnight.”
I put my hand on the door when she tried to close it on me. “Mom—”
> “That’s right. I’m your mom. Now, I’m going to bed. Goodnight, daughter.”
I let her close the door that time. Clearly, she was working through something. I only hoped she made it out on the other side.
I hoped the same for my own situation.
9
Axel
Diana looked up and stopped. The popcorn was midway to her mouth. I walked across the geometric, stained carpet of the local theatre and took the bucket from her before she could drop it. She shut her mouth and smiled.
“What are you doing here?”
I shrugged. “I was in the neighborhood.”
It was a complete lie but she knew that. We were across town in an area where a pair of shades and a baseball cap weren’t a necessary disguise because no one cared about the guy who owned a pharmaceutical company.
Diana knew I was here for her. I’d arrived right after the movie ended. Originally, my plan was to watch the movie but a certain red-haired goddess with great legs had distracted me even though I’d warned her against it.
She would not enjoy the way I punished her but it was necessary. Her cooperation was necessary.
But in the end, this was better. Actually showing up and sitting inside the theatre would have been too much like a date. Instead, this little maneuver would lead Diana to believe that I was obsessed with her, stalking her.
And in a way, I was. She would gift me the thing I wanted most. Revenge.
“You brought your friends.” Diana looked around me and waved at Silas and Rome. I’d dragged them along so Diana didn’t assume I wanted to drag her off somewhere for a hook up.
I gave her friends a chin nod. Carla and Samantha. They hung back to give us privacy.
“I’ll walk you to your car.”
Diana whispered, “We came out here because Carla’s feeling bad. Will found out she was cheating. I told her being a hoe would come back to bite her on the ass but I guess she had to learn her for herself.”
“Hm.” I didn’t know who Will was or why Diana thought I cared a bit about Carla.
“I think Carla has hooked up with half the football team. Maybe more. I think she wants Alan, too.”
