by Riley Ashby
She looked like she wanted to argue with me, but I kept my gaze hard. She shook her head silently instead. I smiled at her, and she offered me a smile back.
“Would you like to go for a walk? I don’t need to be on the phone again for a few more hours.”
She cocked her head, looking bemused.
“What?” I frowned.
“I never pegged you as a person who would something as humdrum as … strolling.”
I cuffed her chin in my hand and placed a light kiss against the corner of her mouth. “There’s nothing humdrum about being with you.”
I was surprised she didn’t pass out with how often I made all the blood rush to her face.
I slung my jacket over my shoulder with one hand, holding hers with the other. She didn't pull away as we walked outside along a paved path down toward the direction of the cottage.
“How did I not notice this before?” She marveled at the tree line. Some of the forest was old growth. I could have sold it for a small fortune to loggers or developers, but I enjoyed the solitude. Full-time gardeners kept the grounds colorful year-round with season appropriate flowers. Sophie slowed to smell a bush of blush-pink peonies.
I frowned. “You haven't been outside in all this time you've been here? What about when I was gone?”
Her fingers twisted in mine. “I wasn’t sure I was allowed.”
I stopped on the path so suddenly that she continued a few steps before I pulled her back to me.
“Did you think I wanted you to be a prisoner in my home?”
She huffed. The thumb of her free hand rose to her mouth then dropped when I shot her a look. “I … I didn’t know what to think. You’ve taken control of everything I’ve done since I arrived. I didn’t want to do anything that might be against the rules.”
I swept my arm around her waist. “You wanted my permission.”
“I guess so.” Her fingers slid underneath my collar. She ran her thumbnails against my collarbone.
I felt that burning need again, a near compulsion to claim her right here in the open. It would be so easy with that skirt. I didn’t even realize my hand was pulling it up until her thigh twitched beneath my fingers. I stopped inches from the curve of her ass. It was still warm with the blood I had raised to the surface with my palm.
“You promised.” Her voice protested, but she wasn’t trying to move away.
“Promises get broken.” I kissed the ridge of her collarbone, swooping down from her shoulder to the center of her chest. Her fingers tightened around my tie. She directed my face back to hers, holding me an inch from her mouth.
My fingers dug into her thigh. She leaned into me.
There was absolute silence between us for a long moment. I could hear bees buzzing around the blooms, the soft beating of butterfly wings. And her breath. I could hear her breath.
“Not yet,” she whispered.
If she thought I’d be disappointed, it was the opposite. I was elated. This was an indication she was thinking about me. About kissing me. About … more.
Fuck. I was acting like a teenage geek about to ask the hot girl to prom. Why did I give her this power over me? I was completely out of my element.
Releasing her waist, I let her skirt fall back to her knees as I took her hand in mine once again. She leaned against me for a moment longer then spun to my side once more as we continued walking.
“Do you have any pets?”
I was surprised. “Do you think I'm hiding a llama around here?”
She laughed. “No, but maybe a dog? A house seems lonely without an animal. I’ve never lived without a pet.”
I pulled us farther down the path toward a vacant carriage house. “Come on.”
As we approached the house, I whistled, and two large German Shepherds ambled out from the back. Sophie snatched her hand from mine to cover her mouth.
“Oh my goodness! Look at them!” She dropped into a crouch as the dogs approached her, sniffing curiously and eventually allowing her to scratch their heads.
“Leo and Max,” I said, pointing to each one in turn.
“They look so much like Luke,” she said as Leo licked her face.
“Was that your childhood dog?”
“Well, he's still alive.” She frowned. “I hope. I was always the one to take care of him.” Her face suddenly fell. “I don't think dad even knows where his food is.” The mood changed so abruptly it was as if a cloud had passed over the sun. She stood up so fast she nearly lost her balance, turning back to the house. I grabbed her arm and pulled her against me.
“Don't do that. Don't run away.”
“I'm not running,” she said, but her eyes blinked furiously.
“Feel it,” I commanded, but she tried to make it to the house again. I wrapped my fingers tighter. “What are you thinking?”
She took a shaky breath. “I'm thinking of my best friend starved to death on my bedroom floor, waiting for me to come home.” She pulled away again, and I let her go. “I'm thinking my father is such a callous piece of shit that he let me go for a song and will kill the only one who's loved me unconditionally out of his sheer negligence.”
I started to speak, but she held up one hand and pinched the bridge of her nose with the other. “I can't talk about this.” She took off back toward the house at a clip. “Don’t follow me.”
Not a chance. I ran to catch up with her, my jacket falling to the ground as I caught her shoulders and spun her to face me.
She struggled in my grasp and started hitting me with her fists when I didn't let her go.
She might have loved that dog, but this breakdown was about more than that.
“What did Josie say to you?” I asked. She stopped dead. Her shoulders were shaking. I leaned toward her like she was a wild animal, afraid to startle her. “Your face changed while she was speaking. That was real.” I wanted to crack her like that. I could feel how close I was to holding her heart in my hand.
I needed to push her a little more. “What made that happen?”
Tears poured down her face. “I found out my father fucking sold me. That's what happened. She told me that my only family member used me as a betting chip in a card game with you.”
She glared at me with such hatred that I began to doubt myself for coming down on her so hard.
“And you … you took me. Took me and let me believe I came here of my own free will. You made this big deal about me making my own choices when, in fact, I was fighting with one hand tied behind my back.” She took a deep breath, barreling on without waiting for a reply. “Then today, you drag me out here and remind me that I left an innocent animal alone without anyone to properly care for him.” She ran her hands through her hair. She looked wild. “I can’t believe how stupid I’ve been.”
I stood up to catch her as she keeled forward, her face in her hands. She screamed against my chest. I squeezed my eyes shut, holding her tight as she finally went limp and collapsed in my arms.
“Stand up, Sophie. You can support yourself.”
She shook her head against me, limp as a doll.
“Sophia. Look at me.”
Slowly, she steadied. She hiccupped as she looked up at me. I wiped the tears from her cheeks with my thumb.
“I'll get you through this.”
Fresh tears spilled from her eyes. “It doesn't feel like I'll ever be happy again.”
“I made you a promise, didn't I?”
I waited to see if she would throw it back in my face again, how I let her get hurt so soon. Remnants of bruises and cuts still laced her face and side. But with an exhausted sigh, she nodded. Tears dripped from her eyelashes like a downpour from storm clouds. Every one carved a deeper gash in my heart as they ran down her cheeks. It wasn't possible to heal myself without healing her too.
“I’m sorry I lied to you about … about your father. You deserved the truth from the beginning.”
She wasn’t fully convinced, but she didn’t pull away from me. Her fingers
gripped my shirt that was damp from her tears.
“And it’s not stupid to try and make the best of what is happening to you. You’ve never been anything but let down. You were protecting yourself.”
She sniffled. “I can’t believe I left him there. It’s unforgivable.”
I wiped away every tear that continued to fall. “He’ll be okay. I’ll make sure of it.”
We were quiet for a while. She stared at my chest until the tears finally stopped and the salt from her tears dried on my fingers. She looked up at me again. Her eyes were red but clear.
I kissed both her cheeks. She was resplendent in her emotion, in the way she looked to me for her comfort and took it rather than cutting me off. “You will come out of this stronger. We'll come out of it together, one way or another.”
She spoke against my shirt. “You can’t deceive me again. I know there are things you won’t tell me, but this … it was too much.” The dogs knocked against our legs, made uneasy by the commotion. “How can I trust you, obey you, if you’re going to omit these kinds of details?”
My back stiffened in response. She wanted me to be honest with her? It seemed like a simple enough request, but my mind went right away to the secrets that had shadowed my actions for the past several weeks.
It wasn’t an option. I couldn’t bring her into it, not until it was over. But I had to give her something in exchange for all these tears on my shirt. The fact that she was standing here with me instead of scalding herself— or worse—told me as much.
“I promise.”
I lowered my lips to the crown of her head. She leaned deeper into my chest as I held her. I held her for a long time.
Ellery woke me up himself the next day. I rushed to wipe the sleep from my eyes, but he was already in my closet.
“You're coming with me today,” he said, pulling out a few skirts and examining them before settling on one. “Wear this.”
He hurried away before I could even respond. I stumbled through my ablutions and dressed in the outfit he chose: a pencil skirt with a slit and white blouse with a smart jacket over it. Unsure of when Ellery intended to leave, but guessing it was soon, I rushed downstairs to find him waiting for me. I hadn't even had the chance to protest.
He didn't speak to me on the ride into town. He barely looked at me. When he did look at me, though, his expression betrayed only genuine concern. For once it seemed the reason he wasn't speaking wasn't because he was angry with me or punishing me, but because he simply didn't know what to say.
Embarrassment lingered after my little meltdown in the garden. It was such a silly thing, to cry over a dog, but every time I thought about Luke, I got choked up all over again. I had successfully blocked him from my mind in order to remain aloof in Ellery’s presence. The fact I had felt comfortable enough to bring him up showed how much I was losing this battle.
Every time he looked at me, I unraveled a little more. I was tethered to him, reliant on his approval, craving his gaze to be turned toward me even when I was angry with him. I didn’t have any control over myself, the way I sought him out every time I entered a room.
The building we pulled into was more massive than I'd ever seen in person. Spots danced at the edge of my vision the longer I looked up at it.
“You'll fall over if you lean back any more,” he said, catching me with a hand on the small of my back. I gave him a small smile that he returned reluctantly, like he was afraid he’d scare it away.
I wasn’t surprised when the elevator took us to the top floor. We were greeted by a smiling secretary a little older than me, who beamed at me as if we were already acquainted.
“Good morning, Ellery. Sophie.” I clocked immediately that she called him by his first name, not the attitude I would have expected from an employee. She looked a lot like me, with pale skin, but her curly brown hair looked more styled than anything I had ever attempted with my own locks. Her green eyes were sharp and appraising as she took me in, noting how I stepped closer to Ellery as he stopped to talk to her, smiling when he placed his hand on my back. She nodded at us both and then handed Ellery a thick folder. Her flowing black skirt looked much more comfortable and casual than my own restrictive clothing.
She tapped the lone sheet of paper on top of the pile she had unloaded onto him. “Your itinerary is on the top. I'll have your coffee in a few minutes. Shall I bring it to your office?”
He nodded and grunted, already engrossed in the text before him. “Bring her one as well. Soy creamer.” He brushed past us both, turning slightly to indicate I should follow him with a wave of his fingers.
The inside of Ellery’s office was as opulent as the one at home. It seemed rich colors surrounded him wherever he went. I tapped my fingernails against the granite hardtop of the minibar resting along one wall.
“Something to say?”
I looked up to see Ellery staring at me from behind his desk. I stepped back a bit as I took in the view of him, fully in his element, levying decisions worth millions of dollars from the top of this skyscraper taller than anything I’d been in before. The entire wall behind him was floor-to-ceiling glass, a large window that provided a panorama of the city. In this moment, I didn’t see the man I had come to know over the past several days but the one that had intimidated me the first time I was dragged into his house. He truly was a king up here, ruling over the masses below who had no idea of the true extent of power or wealth that looked down upon them.
The knowledge didn’t raise any fear in me anymore. Instead, I reveled in the exquisite sense of security I felt by being under the care of this powerful man.
He was absolutely magnificent.
A grin crept across my face as I forced myself to exhale. “It’s all very Don Draper in here.”
He snorted, but I could tell he was pleased, and he sat as I continued my tour around the room, admiring the art on the walls. There were so many originals, some by local artists I recognized despite my lack of interest in the art world.
The secretary re-entered a few minutes later with a tray of coffee, which didn’t help with the whole 1960s vibe.
“I'm sorry, I didn't get your name,” I said as she pushed a tall latte into my hand.
“Victoria Ryder,” she said, baring those same mega-watt teeth again. “Call me Tori. Ellery mentioned you'd be in this week. I'm so pleased to meet you.”
I returned the pleasantries, and she disappeared again. The click of the door echoed through the room. Silence hung heavy in the air, punctuated only by the turning of pages. A little shiver ran down my spine every time I sensed Ellery’s eyes on my back. He tracked my every movement but didn’t give me any commands.
Eventually, I made a full turn of the room and settled in an armchair positioned near the desk. Ellery glanced at me then settled back in his own chair. His eyes lingered on my face. I sank under the full weight of his authority over me, the way he knew I wanted to do anything to please him despite my protests to the contrary.
Slowly, I slid off the chair to my knees beside him. He stroked my hair, smiled, and went back to work.
*
Thankfully, Tori knocked before bringing in lunch. I scrambled into the chair before Ellery beckoned her in with our food. I reached for mine, but he pulled it out of my range. I bit my lip to suppress a smile as I slid into his lap.
“How are you feeling today?” he asked as he reached around me to cut my food.
It wasn't a simple pleasantry. I had broken down in front of him yesterday. There was no pretending anymore that I didn't feel anything.
He had gotten a taste of my soul, and he wanted more.
“Refreshed.” I chewed thoughtfully. “Maybe a little cleansed.”
He looked pleased with himself. “I thought you might. You’ve been suppressing things for so long it was natural that you’d be a little overwhelmed at first. But you proved to yourself that you could do it.” He ran his thumb across my bottom lip. “I have meetings this afternoon, but Tori is going
to take you around to see everything, get an idea for what we do.”
“I'm allowed to know?”
“This part you are.”
I couldn’t help but feel a little scared. It was one thing for him to let me be in the room while he talked on the phone or let me peek over his shoulder at spreadsheets that I didn’t understand. But he was actively sending me out into his world without him. It was a level of trust I didn’t expect from him, one I wasn’t sure I was ready for.
Tori managed to make everything sound interesting. She dropped the formal attitude and spoke to me like a peer. I enjoyed seeing the way the different departments were organized. The entire office was beautifully laid out and decorated, and the employees seemed generally happy with their work.
“Everyone gets paid vacation, even hourly employees. And we provide twelve weeks of paid parental leave to all employees.”
My eyes widened. “That's very generous. Most companies don't provide anything.”
She leaned toward me and lowered her voice conspiratorially. “You wouldn't think it, by his manner, but I think Ellery has a soft spot for children. He always comes down to the lower levels if one of the workers has to bring their kid to work for some reason. It's adorable.”
I was speechless. I would never have pegged Ellery as having the patience for children of any age. He barely tolerated me.
That's not true. If I was being honest, he seemed to seek me out. He certainly didn't dress me or touch me like a child.
I spent the rest of the day listening in on various discussions and learning about the business and was properly exhausted by the time Ellery collected me to go home.
“What did you think?” he asked, looking at me out of the corner of his eye as we descended to the garage.
“It was fascinating.”
He nodded.
“Thank you for bringing me,” I continued, and he smiled faintly. I looked down to hide my grin. It was charming that he was seeking my approval. It had taken something from him to bring me here, and he wanted me to like it. It felt like a reward, almost, for what had happened yesterday. A piece of me, a piece of him. Complementary.
