by Sloan Storm
“All right, well, first of all I didn’t say I was protecting you. I said I was protecting my investment.”
“Don’t give me that crap. You know what I mean.”
I shook my head and looked up at her and she came close to the bed.
“I only want to give you a chance to be successful, Maddie. I can help with that, so it’s only natural for me to try and do everything in my power to make it happen. Look at it from my perspective. Wouldn’t you feel the same way?”
When I finished speaking, she sat down on the mattress next to me. Tossing her hair back away from her face, she looked down at me. “All I’ve ever done is fail, Grey. Hell, I’m used to it.”
What an unbelievable statement. Fucking incredible really.
Stupefied, I turned my head in her direction and asked, “Okay, don’t you want to turn that around?”
She nodded and placed her hand on my thigh. Rubbing it, she said, “Yes, Grey. Of course I do but, uh, I want to be the one to do it for myself. Don’t you understand the difference?”
“Sure. I wouldn’t expect anything less from you.”
“Then I don’t understand why you insist on interfering with every single thing I do. First it was Farrah, then Julio and now, Katy! I mean… where does it end?”
I propped myself on my left arm and looked at her. Her eyes had a glassy look to them. I’d seen the same look too many times to count. Most times, that stuff doesn’t bother me, since women use it to get what they want. Looking into Maddie’s eyes though, I didn’t see it that way, but even so, she wasn’t getting what I was trying to do here.
“Maddie, what you call interfering, I call help. You have to understand. No one ever wants to give anything to me, Maddie. All anyone does is take, which I’ll be the first to admit, makes me a selfish prick sometimes. All I can do is tell you I’m sorry that my behavior and my intentions have come across so poorly.”
As I finished speaking, a tear slipped from her eye. Maddie made a quick swipe with her hand and shook her head.
“Thank you for saying that, Grey. I know it wasn’t easy for you.”
MADDIE
“Maddie,” he began. “I would never hurt you. You realize that, don’t you?”
My lips parted as he spoke. If I was to say anything in defense of what I wanted and determine the direction of things to come, this would be the time. Without any conscious effort on my part, an utterance percolated to the tip of my tongue as I looked at him.
“What if you can’t help it, Grey?”
Grey blinked but didn’t reply. Instead, he nodded for a moment or two, stood from the bed and cleared his throat.
“I should be going, Maddie.”
“What? Going? Why? Don’t you want to stay here?”
He hitched up his pants. “I do. But frankly, given your mistrust of me, I’m not sure it’s such a good idea.”
I groaned. “Grey, I never said I didn’t trust you, it’s just…”
“Oh no, Maddie?” he asked. “How would you interpret it? If you were me? Your comment implies as much.”
“Uh, put yourself in my situation, Grey. Don’t you think it’s normal to be uncertain? Even afraid? It’s not like this is an even playing field here. You know?”
“Yes,” he said, as he continued to get ready to leave. “But I don’t see what any of that has to do with me. I’ve been completely consistent in my behavior, Maddie. I’ve done everything I promised to do and more. So instead of projecting your insecurities on me, have a look at the facts.”
I dropped my hands in my lap.
“Now, I’ve apologized to you for my behavior. Admitted my mistake. I’ve provided money and guidance to you for the business and beyond that, I’ve never given you any reason not to believe the words coming from my mouth. I’ve done all I committed to do and more. Wouldn’t you agree?”
I didn’t bother to look at him. When it came to the facts, I couldn’t argue. But when it came to my feelings, I couldn’t pretend. I was trapped between gratitude and despair, a hapless wanderer drifting in a purgatory of my own creation.
As I searched for a response, Grey reached down and touched my cheek. I leaned my head in towards his caress, desperate to have the connection once more. His hand fell away and as it did, my face trailed behind, eager to keep my flesh pressed against his.
I wanted to resist, make some sort of stand against him. Yet, as he tempted me with his touch, I felt my resolve give way to submission. As much as I wanted to pretend my need for him was within my control, it was in these tender moments I realized how wrong I was.
I hated myself and couldn’t have cared less at the same time.
As my head moved towards him, he cradled my chin in his hands and angled my mouth upwards. I froze as I stared up into his eyes through the blurry remnants of tears in my own, still present from moments earlier.
With the slightest pressure from the tips of his fingers, he coaxed me into a standing position, lifting me as if I were weightless. As I rose to meet him, he curled his fingers under, drawing my lips towards his with a subtle, yet unstoppable force.
Unable to halt my momentum, I moistened my mouth in lustful defeat. My eyes flickered closed as the haze of passion filled the insides of my lids. I eased into the hardness of his embrace, shifting every ounce of my weight and giving him complete control of my body.
As my lips met his, we rocked our heads from side-to-side, devouring one another. Grey’s tongue explored the inside of my mouth, running along the ridges of my teeth and sweeping the inside of my gums. With each flick of it he tasted me, tempted me and drew me deeper towards him, daring to swallow me with his presence.
Just then, Grey exhaled a deep breath, sending a wave of heat across my face. I broke my lips free of his, my head drifting away as I did. I surrendered to the momentum, which threatened to send me back into the mattress. As I gave in to the fall, Grey thrust his hands around my waist and steadied me.
I lifted my head up once again until our eyes met. Licking my lips, I raised my arms up and crossed them in a lazy embrace behind his neck. A smattering of breath escaped from my mouth as I looked into his eyes, now dark with a foregone conclusion.
Over the next minute or so, we took turns as we removed each other’s clothing with unhurried desire. Relishing each instant, I marveled as his spectacular form emerged before me. The familiar striations of his midsection rippled in the shadows cast by the soft lighting of the bedroom. Grey twisted free of his clothing and as he did, sinewy musculature tempted my fingers with a gravitational lust.
My mouth drifted open as I gawked at him. My lower jaw shifted from left to right and back once more as I absorbed the marvel of manhood before me. Grey’s clothing sailed and drifted out of sight. Somehow in the process he’d removed all of my clothes as well and before I realized it, he pressed his naked body against my exposed curves. With a near effortless motion, he helped me onto the mattress, positioning me on all fours with my head facing away from him.
Grabbing me at the waist, Grey stood at the edge of the bed and pulled my hips back in his direction. He stretched my haunches tight in the process and as he did, my breath caught in my chest. Grey fell silent, disappearing from my peripheral vision as he moved between my legs and guided the turgid head of his dick between my thighs.
In the span of a few seconds, Grey began to slide his cock back and forth between the lips of my pussy. As he did, the ridges and grooves of his shaft rippled across my exposed flesh, coating it with my wet anticipation. My eagerness manifested itself in uncontrollable shudders and twitches as he tortured me with one pass after another.
Just then, Grey released his grip from my hips and they drifted back toward him like wayward boat cut free from its moorings. I hummed like a wild cat as I leaned into his hard pelvis, balling the sheets tight in both of my fists. In stark contrast to the hardness still present between my thighs, Grey reached up towards my hair and grabbed a soft handful of it in his hands, tugging my head
upward with a ginger motion.
On instinct, I attempted to glance back toward him, but he grunted in displeasure and I returned my gaze straight ahead. Releasing my head, Grey made a ten-fingered pass down the length of my torso, caressing the arch in my back. At last, he arrived at my ass where his palms pivoted outward and squeezed the flesh of my rear end with authority.
My head dropped between my shoulders as Grey guided the tip of his cock to my folds. He pressed against them but lingered there, and moved no further in a last second show of resolve. Forming an ‘O’ with my lips, I exhaled with force as his restraint fell away and he claimed me with all he had. His size satisfied me more than ever, delivering me a primal pleasure that money could never buy.
Right away, he took control and wrapped his fingers at the fold where my hips bent, rocking me back and forth. My sharp desire gave way to a dull ache and then to a numbed grunt as he inserted and withdrew, inserted and withdrew, inserted and withdrew…
Our bodies bumped against one another as the seconds ticked by. The friction of him within me, filling me and claiming me tightened the muscles across my back like a feral animal on the verge. I mewled and sputtered breath in uneven gulps as I wrapped myself around him, wanting never to lose the feeling I had in this moment.
Just then, Grey strengthened his grip and began to increase the pace of his thrusts. With each pass, the crack of flesh on flesh echoed along the walls. My head snapped to and fro as he consumed me, swallowing me in primal dominance from behind. Ambient streaks of light from the bedroom flickered between strands of my hair as it swung back and forth in front of my face. I’d given up trying to pull it away from eyes, instead surrendering to its motion and the hypnotic impact it had on me.
My tongue flicked from my mouth. Dragging it across my lips, I savored the remnants of my last kiss with Grey as he collided hard with my backside, jarring me back into sudden awareness. I sensed him harden further inside as the seconds ticked by and knowing what that meant, I leaned back into him with all I had, delighting in absolute surrender.
Grey let loose with a satisfied growl as I relinquished what little resolve I still pretended to have. Our bodies were slick with perspiration. I sensed my knees, now moist, slipping from the effort of trying to steady myself against him. I returned Grey’s throaty utterance with one of my own, hoping to draw his ecstasy into me.
It was as if in those final few moments, everything I’d been fighting with him over blurred into nothingness. All that mattered to me was that we were together. His flesh melted into mine, leaving me to feel as if I couldn’t be separated from him without a dark outcome. I was like a drug addict, drifting along the peak of the ultimate high, as Grey controlled my body and overwhelmed my mind.
Never had I felt so taken and yet given so much at the same time.
Perhaps sensing my desire, Grey thrust hard into me, his pelvis slamming into my backside with terrific force. His body shuddered with contractions as bliss washed over him. My eyes rolled back in my head as I felt the result of his climax inside. Lacing me with his heat, Grey claimed me in a way that only he could and as he did, I whispered a breath of pleasure from between my lips.
MADDIE
I sat straight up in bed, clutching my chest. A high-pitched sound chirped at me like a one hundred foot long prehistoric cricket. Slamming my hands over my ears, I blinked myself into harsh awareness. Everywhere I looked, a white haze clouded my vision. At the same instant, my nose clued me into the source of the alarm.
Fire!
I snapped my head down to the left. Grey was nowhere to be found. I leapt out of the bed and grabbed my work clothes from last night. Hopping down the hall on one leg, I screamed, “Grey! Where are you?!”
Just then, I turned the corner leading to the kitchen and saw him. He stood on a chair waving two towels in front of the fire alarm. As I entered the room, my eyes scanned the surroundings for any sign of flames.
None.
“Go open the sliding doors!” Grey yelled.
I nodded and ran towards them. Unlocking them, I pulled with all my might until at last, I’d managed to open an eight foot wide portal for the smoke to escape. Over the next several minutes I helped to accelerate its departure by waving a large throw pillow from the couch back and forth as hard as I could, until Grey nudged me from behind.
Startled, I let go of the pillow.
“Shit!” I screamed as I covered my mouth with both hands. Craning my neck out the sliding glass door, I watched in horror as the pillow tumbled to the street below until it disappeared from view.
“Oh my God, Grey did you…” I began as I spun back around.
After I turned, I stopped. And then burst out laughing.
Standing before me was world renowned tycoon Greyson Sinclair, naked except for a chef’s apron. In his hands he held two plates, one filled with round, disc shaped objects and the other, short well-done strips of what I presumed were once much longer pieces of bacon.
I covered my mouth as I laughed, while Grey looked at me with confusion.
“What?” he said. “Aren’t you hungry?”
I pointed at the plates. “For that? Um, no. What is that anyway? One looks like bacon. What’s the other?”
“What do you mean, what is it? It’s pancakes.” He grinned.
The air in the apartment had at last begun to thin out. I could at least see into the kitchen now. Shaking my head, I gave Grey a peck on the cheek, took the plates from him and headed back into the kitchen to assess the damage.
“Grey, this is sweet but why did you do it? You really shouldn’t have,” I said as I walked. Rounding the corner to the kitchen I got my first look at the chaos and to put a finer point on my comment, I continued. “Like really. You shouldn’t have. Have you ever cooked anything in your life?”
“My liver,” he deadpanned. “But I didn’t think you'd want screwdrivers at eight o’clock in the morning so…”
I scanned the surroundings as I stood there in disbelief. “I’ll make us both something, so long as you promise to never try this again.”
As I spoke, I heard him wipe his hands off with a series of claps.
“Not a problem,” he replied. “Bad idea. They can’t all be winners, I suppose. I guess, you know, it’s my way of making up. I, um, thought about some things you said. I figured I’d make us a nice breakfast. We could talk about it.”
I set the plates down on the counter and grabbed a sponge. After soaping it up with some warm water, I got to work trying to clean up after Grey.
“Things…” I began, as I wiped. “I don’t remember. What things?”
“Oh about feeling stressed out. How you’re having a hard time getting things done. It doesn’t have to be that way, you know.”
“Really? Didn’t we just have this conversation?” I asked.
“We never finished this conversation. Not once, Maddie. You need to bring on some more people. It’s as simple as that.”
As he talked, I looked around at the disastrous signs of what can happen when an idea of his goes awry.
“Well if you’re so smart, Grey, how is it you can’t manage to make breakfast without putting our lives at risk?”
“Pancakes and profits aren’t the same thing, Maddie. Stop acting like a child.”
I bit my lip and threw the sponge down in the sink. Wiping my hands dry on a kitchen towel, I marched out of the kitchen to find him seated on the couch. I was this close to really letting him have it.
Keep your cool, Maddie. Keep it together.
I had to find a way to keep the conversation professional. The only hope I had was to appeal to his practical side.
Holding my forked tongue for the moment, I said, “I can’t afford to hire anyone else right now, Grey. You know that.”
He shook his head.
“No, what I know is that you can’t afford not to do it. You can’t do this all yourself. And as part owner, I’m not going to stand by and watch you put the well-being of
your employees at risk because you’re being indecisive.”
“You are not part owner, Grey,” I snapped. “Remember? I only borrowed money from you.”
“Yes, but I’m the one backing the whole thing. Without me, you wouldn’t have any money or any clients. What if I just pulled all of that? Then what would happen?”
“Yeah, I know, I know. I wouldn’t be in business at all. Look, I’ve already paid back some of it and once I’m done, that’s it. I don’t give two shits about this business. You can do whatever you want with it, but I’m finished. You can take the whole thing right now if you want.”
“I’m not going to allow that to happen, Maddie. There are people depending on you now. They have families and need the work. You aren’t going to just turn your back on them because you’re going through a rough patch. That’s not happening.”
Glaring down at him, I crossed my arms and fought with everything I had not to completely blow up.
“Now,” he began, as I hesitated. “Let’s go get dressed. We'll go out to eat some breakfast instead.”
“Fine,” I muttered.
MADDIE
A few days later I sat in my office just before lunchtime. I hadn’t spoken to Katy since our fight the other night, but I understood how persuasive Grey could be, especially when it came to matters of money. In any case, I had no interest in losing my friendship with Katy over whatever it was Grey and I were doing with each other. So, I invited her to my office to work things out over a meal.
While I waited for her to arrive, I pulled my tablet out of its tote and turned it on. When I had the time which, uh, was pretty much never anymore, I liked to keep up with insider stuff going on in Hollywood. Don’t ask me why. It’s probably not the most mentally healthy thing I could do for myself and Grey would surely scold me for it as I wasn’t ‘staying on task’ with the business.
Oh well. I couldn’t care less anymore.
Visiting one of my favorite sites, I noticed a link to an article about my ex, Trevor. It was really just a PR piece about the executive position he’d gotten, which annoyed me a lot more than I cared to admit. It seemed like there should be some fairness in life, you know? Why was it he could do what he did to me and cheat on me with that hoochie, Tonya or Terri or whatever the hell her name was and somehow the universe sees fit to give him the great job with the huge salary?
