I picked up a pack of beer and brought it along with me to the meeting. The guys were very anxious to hear the news that I had for them. I didn’t know how they’d react or what they’d say, but I just knew I had fucked up badly. Had I not taken the time to calm down, I would’ve never noticed that my hand was red and burning from how tightly I was gripping the steering wheel.
I just can’t believe that something like that even happened. How could I be so stupid to have practically left all of my most important information out in the open? I just thought I’d be able to trust Lola enough to not do anything stupid like that, but boy was my judgment wrong. I started to think about how my entire empire could come crashing down if the world found out about this, and I became so angry that I just had to hurry inside before I lost my temper.
In the clubhouse, the guys and I gathered around the table. They all took seats while I stood before them. I put my hands behind my back and cleared my throat. I was afraid to tell them the news, but I knew that I had to be strong in front of them. My team would never do anything to me. I just had never told them news like this before so it was a new experience for me. This could also spark a new emotion that I had never seen in them.
How easy could it really be to break news like this to them? How could I tell them our future lives were in danger?
"All right, guys, here's the bad news." They all sighed and threw up their arms in anger. "I know. Bad news is a rare thing around here, but we are in serious trouble now."
"What kind of trouble, boss?" Pete, one of the members, asked.
"So, there's this girl who I met after doing a seminar at her school a couple of days ago and she's gorgeous. I mean, the most beautiful girl I have ever laid eyes on." I took a deep breath and continued. "To make a long story short, we went on a date and she came home with me. I let her stay in my home while I was at work today."
"Well why would you do that, boss?" David, another member, said.
"Don't ask. Anyway, I caught her going through my email and she found out about this drug cartel." I shook my head and took a deep breath waiting for their response.
All of the men gasped and looked around at each other. I could see the anger in their faces, but also the worry. A couple of men started discussing with each other what could go wrong if anyone else found out, and it felt like the weight of the world came crashing down on my shoulders. I knew that I had really messed up.
"What are we going to do about this? What are we going to do to the girl? No one can find out about this." Pete sounded confused, looking around at all of us.
"I say we kill the girl. If she isn't that popular around the school or if she's a nobody in general, there should be no problem if she dies. Right?" one of the other members spoke. The group waited in silence for my response
"Kill her?! I think we've killed enough people already," I said, covering the fact that I wanted to save her life because of the feelings I had towards her. "Plus, there's something really special about this girl."
"You like her or something?" Pete asked.
"That's beside the point here, Pete."
"I say you kidnap the girl. There's like a week left in school, right? Kidnap the girl and no one at the school will come looking for her because it's the summertime," David spoke up. "There's no point in killing the girl when you can use her to work for you"
I ran my index finger and thumb over my chin. "Hmm, sounds like a pretty cool idea."
All of the guys simultaneously agreed that that would be the best option and we began to plan it out. The guys and I came up with the best way possible to get Lola to fall for this trap. Tomorrow at our interview I would see if Lola would come over to my place for dinner after her last day of classes. Then I would explain to her that she was going to stay and work for me until everything was settled between us. Hopefully, some other things would happen between us, but I'd save that for later.
Lola
I finally finished my math final and it was time for me to go to my interview with Arsen. I changed my outfit from a simple t-shirt and jeans to a form-fitting skirt with a button down, leaving the few top buttons loose to show off my cleavage. I put on a simple pair of heels and pulled my hair up into a tight bun. I went for my everyday makeup, which was natural but with a bold lip. I knew that Arsen would love what I was wearing, so that made me feel more confident than usual. I got in my car and headed over to his office.
Upon entering, I saw the same gorgeous girl at the front desk. For some reason, that made me really jealous and I began to wonder if Arsen had ever tried anything with her. I mean, she was flawless. She had great hair, a great body, and a nice smile …but she wasn’t me. I walked up to the front desk and flashed a fake smile.
"Lola Anderson for a scheduled meeting with Mr. Lockhart at three p.m." I stared at her as she clicked through the computer. She told me to just walk into his office and that he would be waiting for me. Perfect.
I walked towards his office, once again loving the sound of my heels clicking against the ground. I made it to his door and knocked three times. I heard him mumble for me to come in, so I proceeded to enter. I watched and he looked up from his desk. He was wearing his reading glasses and had on a navy blue suit. I felt this tingly feeling in my stomach.
“Hello, Arsen.” I smiled and took a seat in front of his desk. I pulled my notebook from my bag and opened it to where I had left off after our last meeting. “How are you today?”
“I’m fine, Lola. How are you?” I saw his eyes go from my eyes to my chest and back up to my face. He smirked and leaned back in his chair, holding the back of his pen between his teeth.
“I’m amazing.” I let out a small laugh, “So, Mr. Lockhart, I did a little studying on your pieces of work and I wanted to talk a bit about your book, ‘The Midnight Hour.’’ It’s more erotic than I expected, but it really caught my eye.”
“Yes. That’s one of my favorite books that I’ve written.” He folded his hands together and placed them on his lap. “What about it sparked your interest?”
“The age difference.” I smiled and he raised an eyebrow. “Also, the way you write. I love how the story alternates between both of the character’s point of view. You have a way with words that really capture the reader's eye, Mr. Lockhart.”
“Thank you, Lola.” He smiled. Just then, there was a knock, and a pretty woman stuck her head through the door.
“Sorry to interrupt, Mr. Lockhart. I have your coffee.” She walked in wearing an outfit similar to mine. She placed his coffee on the desk and flashed a sly smile. “Have a nice day, Mr. Lockhart.”
Arsen smirked and watched her as she left. I raised an eyebrow in slight jealousy and cleared my throat. “Um. I should make myself a bit more comfortable.”
I pulled my hair from its bun and let it fall over my shoulders. Arsen’s eyes widened at the sight, and I knew I had him back in the position I wanted him.
“Now.” I smiled. “What inspired you to write ‘The Midnight Hour?’”
“My attraction to women like you inspired me, Lola.” He chuckled. “My dominant traits inspired that book as well.”
“My attraction to men like you makes me want to read your story a million times.” I laughed and began writing in my notes. “Tell me about your favorite book, Arsen.”
“Well, for starters, I’ll tell you the name of the book. It’s ‘Can’t Buy Love,’ by Nicholas Hunter.” he spoke and I jotted this down as fast as I could before he could continue to explain what it was about. “It was the very first book I bought from the school store of the college I went to. I’d heard a slight buzz about it around town and decided to check it out.”
I smiled softly and sat back in my seat, waiting for him to go further in detail.
“It was about a boy who had always dreamed of having as much money as he needed to buy whatever he wanted and he achieved that goal. But here’s the twist—by having so much money, he attracted all of the wrong types of people to have friendships or r
elationships with. He learned that money can’t buy love, and though it can buy you materialistic things, it can’t bring you deep-rooted and eternal happiness.” He smiled and watched as I copied that down into my notes.
“That’s really beautiful. I’ll definitely have to check that out.”
“I have a copy that I could lend you one day,” he offered.
“Wow, that’d be amazing. Thanks, Arsen.” I blushed slightly.
He checked his watch and looked at me. “Well, Lola, I’m sorry to cut this short, but I have a meeting to attend.” He sat up and took a sip of his coffee.
“Oh …all right,” I said, making the disappointment in my voice clear. I began putting my notebook in my bag and rolled my eyes at how awkwardly short that was.
Arsen stood from his seat and grabbed my hand as he walked from around his desk to walk me to the door. “Now listen.” He backed me into the door.
I began breathing heavily from how close he was. I stared into his eyes and he smiled.
“I have a very busy schedule this week. So I don’t need you popping up with any interviews anytime soon. All right?” He grabbed my arms and slid his hands down to my waist. “Next Friday, after classes, get real pretty for me, all right? And meet me at the coffee shop at seven p.m. sharp. We’re having dinner at my place.”
I nodded slowly, not breaking contact. I felt his lips press against mine roughly and my knees buckled. I never expected for him to kiss me. One of his hands left my waist and held the back of my head, pulling me closer to him. There was absolutely no space between us and I felt my heart drop when he bit and tugged on my bottom lip.
“Now go.” He pulled away, laughing, and used his thumb to wipe away any lipstick that he had smeared.
I licked my lips and just stared at him, not knowing what to say. That was the most breathtaking kiss I’d ever had, and the way he had taken it by force was the icing on the cake. He held the door open for me and I quickly fixed my hair before leaving. For the second time with Arsen, I felt nineteen again.
I walked away feeling like someone powerful. I felt like a new person ...like I had a life again. With being the uptight, all-work-no-play type of girl, life could get pretty hard. I was always stressing about what I had to do or what deadline I had to meet, but I didn't feel that way around Arsen. I thought that I might be letting my guard down a little too fast, but honestly, it was the best decision I'd made in a long time. This new rush of excitement completely took over me and I didn’t think I could turn back. It was far too late now.
Being around Arsen made me feel like it was okay to take a break every once in a while and have fun, but to also go back and finish my craft later. But it had only been a few days, so I needed to slow down and really pay attention to who I was falling for. This man was a murderer—a new leader of the drug cartel! What had I gotten myself into?
Arsen
I knew she wanted that kiss as badly as I did, and I knew that the kiss would definitely leave her wanting more. I didn't really have a meeting. I just wanted to leave her on edge. I knew that even the strongest, most independent girl couldn't hold herself back. I knew my magic, and it only took a couple of days. I chuckled to myself and walked back to my desk, taking a sip of my coffee while looking out the view of the window. I had everything I wanted in the palm of my hand.
Lola made me feel young again. Being around her took me back to when I was around her age and just starting to discover what love was all about. That was a time when I was wild and adventurous. I had a lot of down time and could really be myself without any consequences. That’s why being with her was such a valuable time for me.
I felt as if she was really the one for me and that was why it hurt me so much that she would betray me. I thought that if her feelings were almost the same as mine, she would at least respect my privacy. Whether my email was left open or not, it wasn’t her place to take a look inside.
That whole situation angered me so much, but I just couldn’t force myself to be over-the-top upset with her. I knew that showing extreme anger toward her would make me uncomfortable and I couldn’t bring myself to hurt her …that much.
My phone began to ring,
disrupting my thoughts and making me slightly irritated. It was a call from David. I answered quickly because it was rare for David to call me in the middle of the day.
"Boss, you're not going to like this." His voice sounded frantic and I almost didn't want to hear what he was going to say.
"What is it?" I kept my calm. Panicking just as much as him was going to help nothing at that moment.
"That lady who has been chasing you down for years says she's coming after the girl and it’s not going to be pretty."
"The girl ...what girl?" I asked in confusion.
"The one you went out with the other night, you know? The one who found out about us," he said. There was a silence on the phone after that as I took a minute to think.
“How’d you figure that out?” I asked.
“She sent me an email from her husband’s account that he had with us and said these words exactly.”
Dear David and crew,
Since Arsen stole the love of my life from me, I guess I'll have to take something from his as well. That girl—his new arm candy. My daughter has been telling me she’s seen them around town together and it’s more than just taking her out to make himself look good. He has feelings for this girl and this is the perfect time for me to come in and make my move. I just hope you guys get a hold of her before I do.
“It’s crazy, boss,” David spoke. “This woman is absolutely out of her mind.”
“Oh, this isn’t good …this is not good, David.” I found myself panicking just as much as David. It was bad enough that all of the guys hated her. Now this random lady was after her because she saw us at dinner one night together. Who was her daughter and why was she watching our every move?
“What, do you love this chick or something?” David asked in an almost disgusted tone.
“Just find out where that lady is and handle her,” I spat and hung up the phone.
Love? Pssh, whatever. Sure, I was fond of her, but I was most certain I didn’t love someone I barely knew. My jaw clenched and I stormed out of my office. Maybe I did love her ...but how? I’ve barely known her for that long. How could these feelings for her be so strong?
I decided I was going to go home early. After taking my keys from the assistant, I made my way out to my car. Hopefully the ride back to my place would calm me down. I turned on some soothing music and took in the beauty of the city.
I inhaled the fresh air that blew through the window as I drove up the driveway of my home. When I made it inside, I completely ignored the workers there for the weekly cleaning and went straight to my bedroom. I took off my shirt and tossed myself back onto the bed, feeling more comfort than I expected.
I began to think about Lola and how much her personality reminded me of my ex-wife. Yes, the shy and innocent girls were fun to toy around with every now and then, but the open and hardworking ones were the type of girls I’d considered actually being with.
My ex-wife was a lawyer, and very loud and opinionated. We met at a convention for young innovators when we were in our early twenties and fell in love. We had an unbreakable bond up until a couple of years after our first daughter was born. She became a different person, and I knew that being a mother and raising a child could change you in some ways, but she didn’t even try to do anything the same anymore. She completely shut me out when we were supposed to be a family. Where she crossed the line is when she cheated on me.
It would have made sense for me to be the one who cheated, since women had been throwing themselves at me since my ex-wife and I met, but, no. She fell in love with someone new, and in the back of my mind I always beat myself up about that. I wondered what he did for her that I hadn’t, or what I had done wrong in general. Everyone told me that it was all her, but I just felt that I had some responsibility with that.
Being around Lola brought back those feelings that I had with my ex-wife, and that’s another reason why I couldn’t bear to be around her for so long. I didn’t want to fall for the wrong person, thinking that I could get back what I used to have. I guessed that kidnapping her next Friday would actually help me find out if she was the one or not.
“Hey, boss. I just got a call and you’re not going to like this,” one of the members in the back spoke up.
“What’s up?” I asked, not really ready to hear what other bad news had to be stacked on top of the situation at hand.
“Ronnie, down at the harbor, says the new guy got away with a couple of boxes of the drugs. He says he didn’t notice a few of the boxes missing until the car was speeding off and he saw them in the back seat.”
“What fucking new guy?! I didn’t hire anyone new! It should only be the five men that I sent down there originally.” I slammed my hands on the desk. “We let some random get away with a few boxes of our product?”
I couldn’t believe this was happening. First, my life's in danger because an outside knows my illegal source of income and now a large amount of my product has been stolen. I picked up a bottle of beer and launched it across the room. It shattered as it hit the wall and beer went everywhere.
“Clean this fucking mess up,” I spat. “And come up with how we’ll find this son of a bitch by morning or things aren’t going to be pretty.”
Lola
Great! An entire week without Arsen after he kissed me like that. I laid in my bed, staring up at the ceiling. I had no classes or finals to take that day, so I had nothing better to do. I sat up, grabbed my laptop from my bedside table, and opened it quickly. I thought, what better to do right than continue to read where I left off from Arsen’s book, ‘The Midnight Hour.’
Masked Indulgence Page 27
