by Bec Botefuhr
“Sierra?”
I spin around to see Marcus standing in the doorway. He waves to the guards to step outside when he notices my face, and the tears stumbling down my cheeks. He rushes forward once the door closers and grips my face.
“Baby, what’s wrong?”
“Do you love her, Marcus. Tell me the truth, do you?”
His eyes scan my face. “Chayne?”
“Yes, is that really why you haven’t left her?”
He closes his eyes a moment. “I loved her for a long time, Sierra, and while now I can’t say I do love her, I can say she is still important to me. I don’t want to hurt her.”
“Even though she’s screwing around like a trollop?” I cry.
“I am not one to judge her for that.”
“She knows about us, Marcus.”
His face pales. “What?”
“She came in here before, telling me to stay away. She told me I wouldn’t like what she would do if I didn’t.”
“Jesus!” Marcus snarls.
“Marcus, I think…”
“Don’t,” he snaps. “Don’t tell me it’s over, don’t try and run. Do you want this, Sierra, or are you playing with me?”
I gape at him. “Of course I’m not, do you think I’m the sort of person that just plays around with another person’s fiancé?”
“No, I don’t, but you’re continually trying to run from me.”
“Can you blame me? You’re not just any man, Marcus…”
“Maybe not, but I have my own god dammed life and can make my own god dammed choices.”
“What are you going to do?”
He sighs. “I sat up last night, reading the pre-nup but I can’t find anything obvious that will save my ass. I guess I’ll have to risk it.”
“Can I see it?” I ask, an idea springing to mind.
“What for?”
“Quinn is studying law, he’s currently doing documents such as pre-nups and agreements. He might be able to find something…”
Marcus nods and then leans down to pick up his briefcase. He flips it open and hands me a thick bundle of papers. “Good luck to you.”
“Marcus, it’s not just Chayne we have to worry about, is it?”
He shrugs. “My personal business is just that, mine.”
“What about my contract of employment with you?”
“It doesn’t say anything about a relationship in there.”
“If I lose my place at school…”
“You won’t, I won’t let that happen. I’ll deal with this, Sierra, ok?”
“Marcus…maybe…maybe we should just…end this when my employment ends.”
His face pales. “Why would you want to do that?”
“You’re risking your career, it’s not worth it.”
He steps forward, cupping my cheek. “I get to decide what’s worth it, and what’s not.”
“You’ve hardly known me a month.”
“And in that month you’ve made me feel things I’ve never felt before. Work has been my life since I was a boy, and now…you give me something else. It’s not the only reason I get out of bed each day anymore. Don’t run from me, Sierra, I couldn’t take it.”
“And if we do keep…seeing each other. Will we…I mean…will we be serious?”
“We’re not serious now?”
“You’re engaged.”
“Aside from that.”
I shrug. “I guess so, I think it’s more about the sex…”
“Then come home with me this weekend, please? Let me have you in my bed for two nights, let me show you what it’s like away from this.”
I sigh. “All right, Marcus, ok.”
“Yeah?” he grins and my heart melts.
“Yeah.”
He leans down and kisses my lips, softly. Then he pulls back and checks the time.
“I have another meeting. I won’t be back this afternoon. I’ll see you tonight?”
“Do you mind if I take this stuff to Quinn?”
He looks disappointed, but he doesn’t try and stop me. “Sure.”
“I’ll text you when I get back, if you’re still awake…”
“I will be,” he murmurs, pressing a kiss to my head before turning and leaving the room. When he’s gone, I let the tears stream down my cheeks that I’ve been holding in so tightly. What am I doing?
CHAPTER 19
“Hmmmm, yeah, this stuff is complicated,” Quinn says later that night as we sit in his room eating Chinese food in our PJ’s.
“If you can find anything at all, anything he might be able to work with.”
Quinn nods, scouring the papers. “Sheesh, they really did cover everything in this. He must have loved her a fuck load. He’s trusted and given her, basically, his entire life’s work. He must have thought he’d never need to use this.”
That hurts me more than I let on, but I say nothing.
“Well, he was going to marry her, of course he didn’t think she’d break his heart. None of us every really think the person we love will break us.”
Quinn looks up at me. “Do you think he’ll break you?”
“I don’t love him.”
Quinn scoffs. “Who are you trying to convince? I’m your best god dammed friend, Sierra, don’t lie to me.”
I sigh and put my head in my hands. “I’m playing with fire, aren’t I?”
He shakes his head and then shrugs his shoulders. “Who am I to judge how love goes? I’m not saying it’s wrong, because he’s engaged, but it seems to me that his lady doesn’t care a great deal, since she’s banging everything that…wait a second…wait…”
“What?”
He flicks through the pages, his eyes scanning them so frantically I can’t keep up. Then he finds a paragraph and screams. “Yes!”
“What is it?”
He thrusts the papers at me and I very briefly go over them, I don’t understand much of it.
“What is that?”
“It means if one or the other commits adultery and there is substantial proof, the pre-nup becomes void. In other words…”
“If he proves she was cheating…he can get out of it.”
“Precisely,” Quinn grins.
“But because they’ve been together so long, won’t she still be able to take everything?”
He shakes his head. “No, this pre-nup has specified where absolutely everything goes in the case of a separation or divorce. If she’s proven to be cheating, she will only be able to take what’s hers and possibly some money from joint accounts, things like that. She has no hold on him if he gets proof, Sierra…”
“How do we get proof?”
He grins. “Oh, let me help. I have some seriously cool ways to bust that bitch.”
I giggle. “I bet you do.”
“You tell Marcus and find a way to bust her and I’ll help him.”
“I will.”
“It’s still going to be messy, you know that don’t you?”
I nod. “I know that.”
“And you’ll be considered the other woman, no matter what.”
“I know that too.”
“Is he worth that, babe?”
I smile weakly and meet his gaze. “Yeah, he is.”
“I hope so. I’m with you all the way, you know that don’t you?”
I lean close and he wraps his arms around me. “I know, I love you, Quinn.”
“Yeah, me too.”
We continue chatting and reading the pre-nup to make sure we haven’t missed anything. I have decided to stay here tonight, making sure I will be back first thing in the morning. I haven’t told Marcus yet, and I know he’ll be waiting for me later, but I just need this time. I miss him, and a huge part of me wants to just go back, but I know after he talks to Chayne tonight, things will heat up and he probably needs that time.
I pull out my phone and I text him with basic details when Quinn ducks off to the bathroom.
S – We found a way out. I’m staying wit
h Quinn tonight. I’ll see u tomorrow x
A moment later I get a reply.
M – That’s good because Chayne isn’t taking my idea of a separation well. Why aren’t you coming back? I don’t like you staying with Quinn…
S – Quinn is gay.
M – That matters because? I wanted u tonight.
S – Sorry, I need…a breather.
M – Ouch.
S – It’s not you, it’s just me needing a break.
He doesn’t respond. Great, I’ve offended him. Magic. I tuck my phone away and Quinn comes back out, smiling at me.
“How’d it go?”
“I think I offended him, I said I wasn’t coming back.”
“He’s hurt because he probably thinks you’re running and he’s risking his entire life for someone who might not want him.”
I never thought of it like that. My hands tremble as I stare down at my phone. Do I need to tell Marcus how I feel? I pick it up and type out a quick text.
S – We’re in this together, because I’ve never wanted something as much as I want you. Remember that.
M – Don’t run from me baby, you’re all I have when things go south.
S – And I’ll be there, I swear it to you.
I tuck my phone back away and peer up at Quinn, who is staring at the document again.
“The rest looks pretty clear, I think we’ve got a way out through him proving she has cheated.”
“Now we just have to catch her.”
Quinn smirks. “That’s easy enough, if done right. All Marcus has to do is put some cameras in her condo you told me about, it won’t be hard.”
“What if she’s already got cameras in his?” I say, worried. What if Chayne has already got a video of him in case things go wrong?
“I doubt it, she hasn’t thought he was going to leave…”
“Actually she has, he caught her cheating…”
“Well he needs to try and find out. In the meantime, don’t have sex anywhere that’s his or involved with him, ok?”
I flush. “Ok.”
“Great, now, tell me all about that hawt man…”
With a giggle, we snuggle together and I tell him everything.
~*~*~*~
I leave early the next morning, before Quinn even wakes. I arrive at the White House and go through security and then make my way straight to my office. I took my clothes to Quinn’s last night so I could start right away today. When I get into Marcus’ office, he’s not there. Figuring he’s either in a meeting or not here yet, I let myself into my office and turn on the computer. I organize calendars and scour through my emails. When I see another one from Ben, I groan.
To: Sierra Walters
From : Benjamin Ford
Subject: Urgent
Sierra,
I will find a way to contact you. Please call me. You need to know what I know. If I don’t hear from you in a week, I’m going to find another way to get hold of you. This is important.
Ben.
I sigh. I know what Ben’s doing. He’s trying to get in between Marcus and I because he wants something I’m not ever going to give him again. Me. I delete the email. If he contacts me again, I’ll find a way to deal with him. I don’t need his drama right now. I continue flicking through emails and replying, then I begin on the invoicing for the morning. I’m mid-way through correcting errors on a document when I hear Marcus’ husky purr fill the room.
“Good morning, beautiful.”
I look up and pull the pen from my mouth, my smile is wide, I can feel it.
“Good morning yourself.”
He’s leaning against the door, his arms crossed across that gorgeous, firm chest. He’s wearing a black suit with a light red tie. He looks mouthwatering.
“What time did you get back?”
“Early, I wanted to get some things done.”
He walks in with a smile, then slowly makes his way around my desk and stops in front of me. I shift my chair back so he can position himself so he’s leaning against my desk looking down at me. I rest my hands on his thighs as he sits partially on the desk. I peer up at him and feel my cheeks burn as desire washes over me.
“So, tell me what you found?” he murmurs, tangling his hands into my hair.
“Well, we found that if you prove she’s cheating, the pre-nup is void.”
His face crunches with emotion. “I know that. We were told that.”
My mouth drops open. “Why haven’t you done it then?”
“I don’t want to destroy her, Sierra. Doing something like that will leave her with nothing.”
“She betrayed you.”
“And I’m betraying her.”
I gape. “Not until she started betraying you, why are you protecting someone who went out of her way to hurt you, with not a care about what it would do to you?”
“It doesn’t matter what she did, I’m not going to publicly embarrass her. She’s been here through a lot, regardless of what she’s done. I’m not going to take everything away from her, I’m not that kind of man, Sierra.”
I stare at him, my eyes glaze over as reality hits me hard and fast. He does care about her. He just won’t admit it. I swallow the lump in my throat and try to get my next words out as calmly as possible.
“You don’t want to leave her, do you?”
His eyes widen. “What? Yeah I…”
“No,” I whisper. “You don’t. I can see it in your eyes.”
“I don’t want to hurt her, Sierra. She hurt me but I’m not the sort of person who wants to hurt her and take everything from her. I don’t love her, that’s the truth, but she is important to me. Once, she was everything. I can’t just walk away and crush her into the ground to get my own way. I will find another way to do this, but I can’t just crush her.”
I stand, my hands tremble with rage and hurt. “I need to go.”
“Sierra, don’t,” he whispers.
I spin around and gather my purse and my things. “I don’t think I should be working here, this…it’s all too dangerous to me. It could go so wrong. You need to figure out what you want and I can’t just stay here and continue to be a play thing.”
“Is that what you think you are?” he whispers, hurt. “A play thing?”
“Aren’t I?” I cry, feeling a heated tear stream down my cheek. “Because it seems to me you’re finding anything you can to stop yourself from leaving Chayne and if that’s what you want, I’m ok with that. I just want you to be honest because you’re breaking me, Marcus. I’m…I’m…falling in love with you.”
His eyes widen and his mouth opens and closes a few times. “Sierra, I want to leave her. I just…”
I look over at him and cut him off. “I don’t doubt that you care about me, Marcus, but it’s obviously not enough. You’re not going to leave her right now because part of you doesn’t want to and until that part of you is ready to see what she’s doing to you, then nothing I say will change it.”
His eyes fill with pain. “It’s not that easy. The situation I’m in, she could destroy me. I need to be as careful about this as I can…if I leave right now, on a whim…”
“You lose everything, or at least your dignity and you hurt her. I get it, ok? But you can’t ask me to wait around.”
“Sierra, please, you promised…”
I glare at him. “Don’t you dare! I’m not staying here for you to fuck for a few more months until you’re bored with me. How dare you, Marcus!”
“I didn’t mean it like that, Sierra baby, come on, just listen...”
His brown eyes are pained and they’re scanning my face frantically. So much he wants to say, but he won’t, so much he wants to do, but he can’t. I don’t blame him for it, I know his situation and I understand it but I have to do what’s right for me and my heart.
“I just, please, just let me go....” I whisper.
“I just need more time, please, don’t go.”
“I have to,” I say in a small voi
ce, feeling tears tumble down my cheeks.
“Sierra,” he whispers, “please.”
“I can’t. I’m sorry Marcus.”
He rubs his hands over his face and his eyes seem to glass over. “Sierra, please, don’t do this to me.”
“I don’t see that I have any other choice, until you’re ready to stop protecting her, Marcus, then you can’t move on. You can’t have us both, you’ve known that from the start. I was naive enough to think that I could compete with a woman who has been in your life for nearly ten years. I’ve been with you a few…pitiful weeks. I can’t compare and I don’t expect to.”
“Sierra, what I feel for you in this short time, it scares me. I didn’t come into this thinking that it would change everything.”
“Yeah, well, life is like that sometimes.”
“Sierra, just give me time.”
My phone rings then, stopping me from answering him. I pick it up angrily and snarl a “Hello?”
“Sierra, it’s Ben.”
Jesus. What perfect bloody timing.
“What the hell do you want, Ben? I don’t want to talk to you.”
“It’s important, please, just listen to me.”
“How did you even get my number?”
Marcus is staring at me with an expression so full of rage I have to turn away. Yet it causes my curiosity to burn, why would he look so angry about me talking to Ben?
“It doesn’t matter,” Ben says, bringing me back to the phone call. “I need you to hear this.”
“Hurry it up, Ben, I’m listening.”
“Did you ever ask Marcus why you got picked for the position?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You know he did a background check on you, right?”
“Yes, it’s part of the process. I already know that.”
“Do you know what he would have found when he did that check?”
“Get on with it, Ben,” I whisper, feeling my chest seize.
“On your report, it had that you were found tied up and whipped. You didn’t report me, but you gave a statement saying the person who did it was a dominant. He saw that. He knew before he employed you, that you were a submissive and that you had a hard time with it. He employed you, because he wanted to change you. He wanted you as his submissive.”
