by Jacqwin Hess
“Which one?”
“Stan, mainly. Men are more in tune to women and what another man would be interested in knowing, though I think Stan…screwed with me when it came to the exhibition and what painting he choose for you to show me. No, I did not ask for that painting specifically, only you specifically. He knew how you felt about those painting, the men interested in those paintings and lifestyle and sent the worst fucking painting he could. Naturally, I fell for it, just as he knew I would and you were completely turned off by it and bought the damn thing, but only because of what you did with it. Holy shit.
“Anyway, ah…after getting all my information, I learned that you’re no doubt more afraid of commitment than I am and letting others into your life.”
“I do it for a different reason than you do—”
“No, you don’t. You’re ex crushed you, just in a different, more covert way at first, psychologically, and then in the end…physically, but ruined and hurt you nonetheless. He has torn you down so bad and has you believing that you are too stupid to breathe, an idiot, and almost handicapped you by the things he said and how he treated you, that you can’t even believe something good about yourself. He’s beaten you down so badly…that you can’t even function. He fucked you up and then, to put the icing on the cake, after he was through crushing you, he didn’t like you anymore. He got tired of dealing with your stupid ass and went and found another woman, your best friend. However, karma went to work at its best and now she has done the same to him as he did with you. Rumor is; they’re having problem because she’s sick of his stupid ass.”
A thought suddenly came to Sebastian. Adri’s ex, Detective Cal Kempton, if anything of Grantham’s assessment of the man is true, about his killing girls and covering it all up, then it could stem from how his wife treats him. He can’t knock his wife down a peg or two, but he goes out and takes his anger out on innocent women. That’s an interesting angle and one I’ll keep in CPU incase Kempton turns out to ever be a problem to me in the future.
It was all she could do not to cry when hearing him spell out her life in such perfect detail. It was exactly how it had been and…even said words that Cal had said, hearing him speak about her ‘retarded ass.’ Her heart was pounding and she wanted to run away, but…he had her on the yacht and left her nowhere to run.
“There’s not a fucking thing wrong with you and we both know it–we all know it, Cal included. He’s a lowlife piece of shit that had to feel important by keeping you below him, because he knew there was some brilliance in you, and you were smarter than him in a lot of areas. He was just some dumb grunt in the military, kicked out for being too dumb to make a career out of it and only got on the fire department because of his old man pulling strings, then the academy from friends he made while working in the fire department. Cal’s a real friendly guy, but he’s not worth two shits at anything technical or advanced or with women.
“You’ve not let yourself get close to anyone at all, not even let yourself get laid for fear that someone will see what Cal did and keep running the shit he said to you over and over and over in your head, beating yourself up, keeping yourself suppressed.” He leaned closer to her and looked her right in the eyes. “Adri, I’ve tried to get close to you before and approached you and you know it, and you’ve ran every time,” he mentioned. She looked away, knowing it was true, but had never believed it, that someone like him, (with that face of his) would want her. “The first time…I saw you, here in town, was actually at the grocery store, I saw you from the car as we were driving by and I jumped out and went after you, followed you around and then approached you at the produce. Um…over tomatoes I think.”
“Oh god, that’s right. I remember now, having actually forgotten about that. Oh my god, you smelled.”
“What?”
“You stunk so bad; smelled like a brewery and…vomit. You looked as if you hadn’t shaved in a year, dressed in sweats pants and an old Giants shirt. I was nice and…just stood there letting you tell me—oh my gosh, I don’t even know what. It was all this big huge scientific words on healthy food and yet, your little basket was filled with canned spaghetti, canned meats, candy bars, cookies, chips and so much junk shit and some pig-pork shit in a jar-which was so gross. I thought that was what I possibly smelled on you! But you also smelled like a drunk and saying what you were, I just assumed you were.”
Sebastian’s brain was completely stunned and remembered that day now himself and what he’d been doing. Now he was so embarrassed. “Oh my god. I was on my way to the gym after work, stopped by one of my night clubs for some accounting books and on my way out, some girl puked all over me, but I swore I got it off of my pants! Fucking nice.” He picked up the glass of wine he had and drank the rest of it down. “That would explain why you ran as if I were a leper. You didn’t even finish buying what was on your list, going to the speedy check out and getting out, quick.”
“I wouldn’t have run if you had leprosy or any other kind of illness or deformity.”
No, you wouldn’t have, would you, sweet girl? “No, just if I smelled like jarred pork, booze and vomit.” He replied and she dropped her head, looking away from him as he smiled and laughed. She didn’t want to be charmed by him right now. She was really pissed. He looked her over, took a deep breath, looking out across the Sound for a second, and then back to her. “Anyway, the next time was at a department store, but…you made quick get-a-way then, too. But, back to what I was getting at, knowing all this like I do, you being the way you are after Cal’s abuse, here we sit…and I can’t pay you any compliments or enjoy you at all. I can’t say anything positive about you because you don’t believe it, think I’m just being nice and just after your pussy—which I know I just said what I did and it was…horrible and I didn’t mean it. I was just pissed myself. I do that, have a temper myself, and just react without thinking. I don’t want you to really think I’m just after your pussy and—”
“Aren’t you?”
“Seriously?!” Wow. Major fucking turn off. Maybe I should just take her back and forget it. I hate her being so obtuse! The only thing keeping Sebastian there was the fact that he knew she was being an obtuse little shit on purpose, just like all the other times she had been; busting his balls and being difficult. She was trying to keep a wall between them, to keep him questioning her, making herself look like a bitch to attempt to turn him off. It was her defense mechanism and he was seeing right through it. He was determined to break down those defenses. “You ask that, believe that, with me sitting here on my yacht, spending the time from work to be with you, talk to you, when I could have just kept fucking you at the house? Shit, I could have just fucked you in your apartment with everyone below to know it and then got up, dressed and…promise you I’d call you, tossing your number in the first garbage can I came by. I could get cunt at any time and place I want, not having to go to any of this time and effort, but you’re the one sitting across from me right now. Does it look like I need to go through all that shit and hassle for pussy, Adriaunn? Even with you sitting here, you think that I couldn’t possibly be genuinely interested in you and it’s getting old and a major fucking turn off, to be quite honest. There’s nothing more unappealing to me. Even now, you still won’t let yourself believe it; forget about paying you any kind of compliment, God forbid!”
“Oh? So what compliment did you want to give me?”
“It’s going to sound raw now, since we’re not going at it like we were and we’re fighting over it now, having to mention your ‘esteem’ issues and believing what told to you,” he explained. After a few seconds of being quiet, her eyes lifted back up at him, waiting, wanting to hear it and he told her. “Don’t take this wrong, because outside of sex, Adriaunn, I have grown…to like you. However, what I’d compliment you on and have during sex,” he looked up as if searching his memory. “I think, ah…you are an incredible fuck. Your cunt is absolutely sublime. Stunning. You turned out to be the best fuck of my entire life, e
specially after you stretched…and loosened, knowing how to work that pussy like you do.” He flexed his fingers out, showing how he struggled at that very second, weighted down with sexual tension just from the thought. He sighed and gave a quick roll of his eyes, sweeping a hand down over his lips before continuing. “I’ve never had it feel that good and I knew…I was hurting you last night and…I’m sorry, but…I just could not stop. I still can’t. Won’t.” He couldn’t. She was just too good, her pussy was made for him, so naturally narrow, tight, and sweet; having been too glorious to just let her walk away.
“And we’re here on the yacht on purpose, unable to leave if I wanted.”
“I’ll drop you off any time you want Adri,” he stated, seeing her lift a brow, not believing it for a second. It sounded raw himself, but he knew he was lying. “I only brought you here because when—being the rich piece of shit that I am—I mentioned taking my yacht to China for some virgin child, your eyes lit up like a Christmas tree,” He watched her tense and shift uncomfortably, realizing that she’s said a lot of shitty things to him. She often showed how she thought very little of him and insulted him. He kept quiet for a minute to let her stew uncomfortably before him and think about it. “Anyway, so I thought you’d like it and…it did serve my purpose should you get pissed at me once I’ve come clean and told you about having you checked out and investigating you. I was always going to let you know I had done that. It was no secret.”
“Yeah. So, now what about that phone conversation I just overheard you having? That was about me. Someone has been calling after me at The Gallery, someone came searching for me at your place and heard us screwing, this morning? But we didn’t fuck, not that I’m aware of. So what was that all about?”
“My investigator has friends in the Washington PD, CIA, and FBI, since he had once been an agent, then left, but still has friends there. He is still able to get into records on people and requested some on you. I, myself, did not ask or expect him to go that far and get as much information as he did and…delve into your past, your life and records like he did. He just did the type of search my father always had him do and it’s extremely extensive, after everything that happened with Christy.”
“So your parents are still alive?” she asked and immediately saw the heavy sadness in his eyes, but he blinked confused.
“No-Well, my mother is, but my father died. Remember that I said what happened with Christy killed him? Well, I meant literally. After what happened with Christy, how bad it was and…everything that came out in the news, it killed him. He ended up having a massive heart attack, facing the company’s ruin and…the stress was too much and he died on the table in the O.R. It killed him, and me right along with him.” He told her the worst part of his life and she stared wide-eyed at him, mouth agape, putting her hands over her mouth in shock. “And she didn’t give two fucks about it. She had my money and that was all that mattered–now sucking off my predecessor, my company’s competition, who began thriving wildly because she took all my files and information and client list with her.”
“Oh god, Sebastian…”
“Yeah. Hard lesson learned. Well, don’t worry; I got them back. It’s how I got into corporate raiding. Her boyfriend’s company had been my first and I destroyed him, completely and utterly and her. Anyway, back to us. Now you understand why I investigate people. My investigator called up a buddy of his that’s FBI and…a buddy of your ex-husband’s. FBI in Saint Paul happened to see the name on the computer, it was flagged and he learned someone was looking info up on you.”
“Cal knows?”
“Only by office talk.”
“Oh. Um, he’s called twice, but I’ve never called him back, something about wanting me to sign some papers for his union pension.”
“My investigator said it looks to be true. However, I still find it hard to believe his wife, the attorney, would forget that when your divorce papers were drawn up. She was the one to do it, right?”
Adriaunn just nodded, but then thought. “And so they sent someone to The Gallery and they showed at your place, learning at the party I went with you. How did they hear us having sex this morning?”
He stared at her for a long time and then sighed. “Because I videotaped us last night. I’ve never done that before, ever. I’ve always been extremely careful after everything that happened with Christy, what she did to me. You just have no idea. Ever since her, I have to double check every person in my life, watch out for who I was with, where I went and never let myself be videotaped, photographed or anything after what happened. I basically just had to disappear from all society except for benefits and functions and work. I’m not a sick freak, but…with you…I can’t help myself on some of the things I do. Your this infestation in me, that’s taken hold and I can’t think or act rationally for the first time since...well, since Christy. It was so good with you. Mind-blowing. I…had to record it, not believing it and having this urge to…watch it and see it again-you. You were so fucking beautiful. Anyway, this morning, three guys came up–one of them, the FBI agent from Saint Paul, knew you and…I turned it on, they heard what they needed to, the guy got pissed, and they left.”
Adriaunn’s brain was in an absolute frenzy, emotions burning and in shock, fury and disappointment—terrified. She ran from him, going outside and was still curled up on the luxurious leather seating on the deck of the yacht, trying to get her wits about her. She cursed herself out for being so damned stupid! All…the things she had always been afraid of happening when opening herself up to a guy sexually was happening. God, I can just hear Cal now! He would love it if he knew. He warned me, told me time and again, and showed me the evidence of his case of women getting themselves in bad situations when trusting the wrong person.
Suddenly though, she felt sick at the thought of putting Sebastian in the category of those perps. Dear god, he wasn’t like that at all. He wasn’t some deranged crazy lunatic with a penance for slaughtering his victims. Again she was all too aware of how she kept passing judgement on him, putting him in a certain category and thinking the worse of him. As it turned out—she was the real asshole. Not him.
All the horrid things mankind did, that Cal had to deal with at work he had brought home to her and the guys all sat on their back porch drinking whiskey and talking about it. Sebastian was right about that too; Cal’s treatment of her and what he did to her. He had always berated her and maligned her, ran her down and she gave Cal that power, believed it and let him do it. She knew…what the world was like and the awful things people did, seen the pictures of his cases, women willingly tied up and then…found themselves brutally raped and beaten, strangled and killed, the porn and…videos, the women unaware they’d been taped.
She looked back inside the main room and swung her feet down from the lounge, getting up; she went to where he was still sitting on the couch. “Get it out, the video. I want to see it.”
Sebastian looked up when she returned a little over an hour later, demanding to see the video now. “I deleted it after I watched it….and left.”
“I want to go home. Take me back.”
“Fourth level. Go tell him yourself. I’m not doing it,” he stated, throwing down the phone and walking away. Through the large space of the living room, he caught a glimpse of her going to the stairs to actually leave! He stopped cold…and a roaring began to grow in his head, a craziness he’d never known before or felt, feeling a battle inside of him, not sure over what since he’d never been like this—had a woman in his life that he wanted so badly.
Adri’s legs suddenly felt like lead. She got three steps up, but froze, couldn’t lift another leg up. She stared, gripping the wood railing and she thought about going back, leaving and it brought her to her knees. He isn’t a bad person. He isn’t awful. I am! I’m fucked up and Cal ruined me, my past marriage being the problem and I’m letting it affect me here, now, today with Sebastian. I don’t want to leave. I haven’t been sweet, kind, or anything he said. I’
ve been insulting, judgmental and a ball buster, but yet…he still called me, asked me out, dated me, talked to me and then took me to bed, showed me the most incredible time. Sebastian is the one who’s been been so sweet—and now continues to be awesome, bringing me here for an amazing, once in a life time trip out on the yacht. All this and he should be at work, but he’s not, he’s here with me. She looked around her, the yacht—I’m on a fucking yacht with Sebastian Darvaine; power business tycoon, gorgeous, hard, sexy body fit enough to make Adonis jealous. He actually likes me and wants me; he has been good to me. And Sebastian has been hurt by his ex too and everything he’s done is a direct action because of that; the investigation and the contracts of consent I have to sign, along with the NDA. He has reason to be careful. “Oh…shit!” She spun around and dropped on her bottom when he suddenly appeared.
She froze there, unable to move from the cold, hard expression on his face and she knew immediately that she was now facing that determined, powerful tycoon; the relentless billionaire, ruthless killer of companies. She was trapped on a beautiful yacht that was owned by this man who did what he wanted, when he wanted, how he wanted, and never had to consider anything past his own desires and what he wanted.
She signed all those papers, contract of consent, the NDA, and he didn’t have to ask her permission or coddle her, humor her or amuse her to get her to cooperate. He didn’t play games and that ruthlessness took completely over him now. He grabbed her arms with both hands and jerking her up. He walked them through the dining room, down the hall as he held onto her arm and took her to the bow of the ship where the bedroom was. She didn’t even speak, knowing it would do no good and he unceremoniously shoved her onto the bed. His hands were immediately jerking at the buttons of her jeans, popping them loose, gripping the tops of her jeans and getting them and her panties off in a single jerk. She didn’t even try to stop him, flinching when he yanked her shirt up and off of her. She didn’t move as he jerked out of his clothes, tensing when he came over her and started to kiss her. She turned her head away—which got her hair fisted and face jerked back around, forcing to look at his cold face.
