Alphahole

by DD Prince

  “Stop it.” was how she greeted me.

  My eyebrows shot up.

  “You are hurting our family, you know that?”

  “Don’t know what you’re talkin’ about. I’m busy here, Audra. You wanna see me during office hours, make an appointment.”

  She proceeded to pull down cords of all the blinds that were pulled to the top of the windows until the office was completely private.

  “Quentin doesn’t like that. Likes his staff to have access to their managers. Prefers transparency at work. Unlike at home…”

  “Why do you hate me so much?”

  I cocked an eyebrow at her as if to ask, really?

  “You walked in on an unfortunate indiscretion more than two years ago, Aiden. Surely, you’re over it. Be an adult. It’s not like stories about your sexual escapades haven’t reached my ears. Or my eyes. I walked in on you and Sienna that one time, remember?”

  “How can I forget? Of course I’m over it,” I stared dead into her eyes. Her frosty blue eyes. “Not like seein’ your mother getting spit-roasted by two men in the filthy garden shed would leave scars or anything.”

  She flinched. “I don’t know what you’re up to, but I know it’s something. You’re having me followed. It needs to stop.”

  I snickered. “If you got nothin’ to hide, what’s it matter?”

  She was right to be uncomfortable. I’ve been having things shaken up and made sure she knows it.

  “I know you’re up to something,” she blurted.

  I stared at her blankly.

  “Mind your own business, Aiden.”

  “Not my business? Wow.”

  She took a deep breath.

  “I shouldn’t have to explain myself to you. But, I will. Your father and I have an understanding. We’ve had one for many years. He doesn’t want to know about my extra-curriculars. Trust me on that. You’re just sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong and if you keep doing it, he’s going to be the one that’s hurt. Your brother and sister, too. Braeden. Think of him, as well if you tear our family apart.”

  I continued to stare at her until she gave up and stormed out.

  I finished up, heading out of my office and seeing one of the IT schleps trying to chat up Carly. She was laughing at something he said.

  I glared at him. “You owe me a report.”

  He straightened up. “You’ll have it tomorrow.”

  “I want it before you leave tonight,” I demanded.

  And then my eyes moved to her. She was sitting there, staring at me.

  The snotty look on her face? Made me wanna drag her into my office and fuck her over my desk. Pinch her nipples until she was begging for mercy. Tease her clit and keep her on the edge until she was pleading me to let her come. Ram my cock down her throat until her eyes were watering.

  I gave her a burning stare and didn’t look away until I saw a swallow move nervously down her throat.

  Satisfied, I headed out.

  I stormed to the bank four blocks away on foot, went to my safety deposit box, where I dropped in a small thumb drive labeled Bella Wilson, and drop in a small thumb drive and fetch one of two sealed envelopes.

  I grabbed the one labelled Austin Carmichael.

  The other in here had my name on it. It was left in there. Tonight, I’d give my brother all the truth I have and let him decide about opening the results of his paternity test. As for mine, I wasn’t ready. I glared at the envelope with my name on it before slamming the door shut and locking it.

  ***

  I get home, finding my bedroom door wide open. The rest of the place is quiet, Carly’s obviously not here, so what the fuck?

  Did Sienna have another key?

  I don’t let bitches in my fucking bedroom. I fuck them in elevators, in stairwells, hotel rooms, on couches, over my desk. I do not fuck them in my room. Not here, nor at my condo in New York. The fact that this bitch, of all bitches, is in my space? It enrages me. This bedroom is my only fuckin’ private space in all of California and she needs to not be here.

  It was bad enough she strutted into here last night to grab one of my shirts.

  I see no evidence of her in my room at first, but then I hear the shower going. Fuck sakes. What the fuck is she doing? I grab the doorknob. Locked.

  I back up and slam the door with my shoulder and when the doorjamb cracks I go flying into the steam-filled space, immediately seeing a woman behind the glass doors, through the mist.

  She screams as I yank the door open, rage in my eyes and the foulest words a woman can imagine flying out of my mouth.

  “You fucking cun—” I stop short of the letter t when I realize I’m face-to-face with not Sienna Greer, but my fucking roommate.

  My very naked roommate.

  I freeze, mouth still open as the wind goes right out of my sails and I get an eyeful.

  Her eyes are filled with horror. I’ve just about given her a heart attack.

  “Fuck!” I shout and my arm flies and shit sails off the bathroom counter, crashing, as I spin and leave her in there.

  Why didn’t it occur to me it could be her in my shower? Because I’m still steaming from Sienna’s stunt last night, I guess.

  Fuck sakes.

  A minute later she’s in the kitchen in a bathrobe, her hair up in a towel and her eyes are still wide.

  I’m drinking bourbon. Bourbon courtesy of Sienna from last night.

  “I’m sorry. I… the other shower was broken. I didn’t really have a choice. I was all sweaty from the gym and…I didn’t think it’d be a problem.”

  I glare at her. “That’s my fuckin’ space. No one’s space but mine. This isn’t a corporate apartment where you’ve got the fuckin’ run of the joint. It’s my fuckin’ apartment and I made a deal with my father that he can use the spare room. That’s what you’re entitled to. Fuck roommate rules. My condo. My fuckin’ rules. If the other shower’s broken, you’re not automatically entitled to use mine.”

  She’s got her front teeth rooted in her juicy bottom lip and I belatedly get the beginnings of a fucking erection, remembering the eyeful I got of her luscious fucking tits with those perfect pink nipples, her round ass, the peek I got of her cunt.

  Fuck me. Fuckin’ fuck me.

  I thrust my hand through my hair, brain still blitzing, too goddamn angry at all the bullshit that’s my fuckin’ life right now and now my brain is filling with images of this little goddess with the hottest body I’ve laid eyes on in… maybe ever.

  I’m glad we’ve got the kitchen bar between us, hiding the motherfucking tent in my suit pants right now.

  “I’m really sorry,” she whispers meekly and spins to head the other way and I feel a stab of guilt. This is an emotion I haven’t felt in a long time.

  “I didn’t know it was you or I wouldn’t have broken the door,” I call out.

  She stops but doesn’t turn around to look at me.

  I refill my glass and take another gulp. She’s still standing there, her back to me.

  “When that bitch was here last night waitin’ for me… she shouldn’t have been. She wasn’t welcome. I thought you were her again.”

  She peeks over her shoulder, still looking meek. “Okay.”

  She starts walking.

  “I’ll have the other shower fixed tomorrow,” I mutter and take another swig of my Booker’s.

  “If you want I can just go stay with Ally. They have a couch.”

  “No,” I shake my head.

  “I should. I’ll just…”

  “No. Stay here,” I demand.

  “Okay. Thanks,” she whispers and closes the pocket doors behind herself as she gets into the mouth of the hall.

  For what purpose, I don’t know at first, but then I realize she’s putting as much distance between us as she possibly can right now. Because I’ve scared the shit out of her with my temper.

  And now I’m pissed at myself.

  Fifteen minutes later, I’m on the terrace, smokin
g a cigarette and I see her move through the living space, all dressed up in a tight little black dress with spaghetti straps, her hair wild and curly. Sky high heels on her feet, making her legs seem a mile long. That ass. I wanna fuckin’ fly in there and take her to the carpet and bite that perfect fucking ass. My dick twitches. My jaw is tight. Yet I’m still seething with anger.

  She leaves the apartment, shutting the lights out as she goes, probably not realizing I’m out here.

  I grab my phone and call my father.

  “Aiden, hello. What a nice surp---”

  “Why’d you put Carly Adler in my apartment?”

  He doesn’t answer right away.

  “There are other corporate apartments that are empty. Why?”

  “Aiden, I…”

  I wait. Silence.

  “Honest to Christ, Dad. I’ve had it up to my eyeballs with the bullshit in our family. Can you just give me a fucking straight answer?”

  “I… like her for you.”

  “What?”

  “She…she’s…I thought you might like her. You’re just like me. So bloody much like me. She’s exactly what I would’ve gone for at your age.”

  “Dad…”

  “Hear me out. You asked, I’ll tell you. She’s pretty. Smart. Real. That girl has something. I see something in her that’s rare nowadays for girls that are that attractive. Her work ethic. Her tenacity. Without being calculating. You know? Alice sent her the wrong apartment key and was telling me she was going to fix it and I had an epiphany. I told her to leave it and keep mum about it. I know you’re not happy to be here. I thought… I thought she’d be an incentive. A fun distraction having a pretty girl in your apartment and maybe you’d start dating her. Maybe wanna be home longer. I guess… I guess it was stupid. I want my son happy. I want you home.”

  “It’s not as simple as planting a pretty girl in my apartment, Dad.”

  “I know it’s not,” the weight in his voice hits me in the gut.

  I glance at my wrist and see it’s 6:55. I should go change so I can meet my brother.

  “I gotta go. I’m meeting Auz for dinner.”

  “Oh?” Dad sounds surprised.

  Not surprising he’s surprised. I haven’t exactly spent much time with my family lately. When I’m here, I always make sure to see Adele and Braeden, sometimes Austin, but it’s been a while since my brother and I decided to do something together. Because I’m so filled with guilt over what I know. Or, what I might know.

  “Yeah. See you at the office tomorrow. Don’t be shocked if Carly asks you to move her. I’ve been a bit of a dick.”

  He barks out a laugh. “You? I don’t believe that for a minute!”

  I laugh.

  He laughs.

  “That’s a nice sound, my boy.”

  My laughter dies.

  “Gotta go. See you tomorrow at the office.”

  “You will. Bye, Aiden.”

  “Bye, Dad.”

  I stare out at the city for a few minutes and then decide the walk to Buchanan’s will do me good. I head into the master bedroom and move through the space until I hit the bathroom.

  It’s still warm, humid, the bathroom mirror fogged up. There’s a mess of my bathroom shit all over the place, and it smells like peppermint and something else. Something floral, feminine. Been a long time since I’ve smelled feminine smells in my bathroom. I undress and get into my shower and see all her stuff is still here. Her shampoo. Conditioner. Bodywash. Purple glittery razor. Giant pink netted sponge thing. I’m thinking about her peeling off her clothes in here, naked in here, picturing her beautiful tits.

  I grab the bath net thing and put it to my nose. Oh, great. My eyes roll as I catch a glimpse beside her conditioner bottle. She took a shower with my fuckin’ pocket pussy right there lying on the shelf beside her hair shit. It’s just sitting there. She had to have seen it. My head rolls back as I chastise myself.

  Naw. Fuck that. This is my space. Her fault for comin’ in here.

  I lift it, squeeze it so the opening winks at me, then fill it with a glug of her hair conditioner. Conditioner that smells like candy.

  I’ve got a glare on my face as I angrily slide the pocket pussy onto my shaft and then the anger intensifies as my head rolls back now for a different reason and I angry-fuck my toy, envisioning my nose in her hair as I imagine I’m doin’ her from behind in here, her slippery wet body pressed up against the tiled wall, her whimpering my name over and fucking over.

  ***

  I text my father before I leave for the restaurant.

  “Don’t move her. Even if she asks.”

  Dad: “Not a problem, Aiden.”

  21

  CARLY

  “He’s not just an alphahole. He’s an angry, scary alphahole.”

  I’m telling the girls what happened as we walk to the steak house a few blocks away. Well, what happened today, anyway.

  Meryl is mortified on my behalf. First, at my being frightened out of my mind because in Psycho Norman Bates style, someone ripped the shower door open screaming and red-faced at me while I was naked.

  God. It couldn’t have been any scarier if he’d had a big butcher knife in his hand. I’m going to have nightmares!

  “What roommate sitcom or romcom doesn’t have a ‘walked in on my roommate in the shower’ scene?” Ally reasons. “It’s inevitable in a co-ed roommate sitch.”

  I wince. “This isn’t a sitcom. It’s my life. Though you’d never know it. It freaking feels like it’s not only a sitcom, but I’m in the middle of sweeps week so they’re making everything happen to up their damn ratings!”

  I cover my eyes with one hand and blow out a big breath.

  God, he saw me naked. He saw me in all my naked glory! Ugh.

  “I can’t ever look him in the eye again.”

  “Why was he so mad that you used his bathroom, though?” Ally is trying to figure this all out.

  I haven’t given all the facts. I haven’t said that there was a woman there last night, that she’d been there in his shirt and had stilettos with lingerie on. I hadn’t said I’d heard them fighting or that I had a suspicion that this was why he was extra broody and asshole-ish at work today. We all bore the brunt of that.

  I told them my part of the story. Not his part.

  I shake my head.

  “I’ve left out some facts. Facts that aren’t mine to share. I guess I crossed a line using his bathroom.”

  “No! You can’t leave out facts!” Ally throws her arms up with exasperation.

  “Let’s change the subject,” I mumble.

  “Gawdddd,” Ally whines, “You’re like Fort Knox.” She grabs my shoulders while we’re still walking and now she’s walking backwards in front of me, shaking me in jest. “Let. Me. In.”

  I laugh.

  “We need to ply her with wine. That’s how she talked last time,” Ally complains.

  “Leave her,” Meryl defends. “She’s trying to respect the boss’s privacy.”

  “Thank you,” I say, with feeling.

  Meryl chuckles.

  She looks amazing tonight. She’s in a little black dress of Ally’s. It’s a swingy dress with cap sleeves that hits above her knees. But, she’s in flats. I tell her she looks amazing, but doesn’t she know that there’s a rule that says that no one over fifteen or under eighty should ever wear flats with a little black dress?

  I read this in one of my favorite author’s romance novels and its wisdom that should be imparted on every woman. Meryl giggles, telling me she doesn’t walk properly on heels and it’s either flats or crutches.

  “I walk like a baby giraffe who was just born when I have heels on.”

  Ally’s wearing a hot pink dress with frills and an empire waist. She has on pink suede high heeled thigh-high boots. She looks beautiful with her pink hair in this getup. She’s wearing blue lipstick and bright blue eyeshadow which takes her from starlet-looking to looking doll-like. It’s her, though. In terms of st
yle, she marches to the beat of her own drum, for sure. Each of her fingernails is painted in alternating pastel pink, blue, and white.

  ***

  Buchanan’s Steakhouse is fancy.

  We sit down and when the menu comes, I’m suddenly wondering if the two $50 gift cards will be enough to feed and water the three of us.

  “I’ve got the difference,” Ally mutters, reading my mind as I look at the prices.

  “I’ll just order an appetizer, don’t…” I start to say. And as I look at the prices, I decide to order an appetizer and tap water, because holy crow.

  She glares at me and reminds me instantly of my Aunt Susan who always fights over the bill with my parents. It’s easier to let Aunt Susan pay than to argue with her. Not that my mother ever lets it just be that simple. It’s always a scene. We all just get up and go hang out in the parking lot of whatever restaurant while they duke it out, even though it always ends the same. Aunt Susan paying and Mom pouting about it for the rest of the evening.

  “Order a steak,” Ally demands.

  I raise my hands in defense.

  “You, too,” she snaps at Meryl.

  “I’d really like chicken cordon bleu,” Meryl whispers to me. “Is she going to make me eat steak?”

  I bust up laughing. Ally does, too. Meryl cracks up. And that’s when we see Austin Carmichael walking to the bar near our table.

  My laugh dies. Austin. Does that mean Aiden is coming here, too? Austin said they had plans. Was that true?

  “Shit,” I whisper, hiding behind my menu.

  “What?” Meryl asks.

  “Roommate-boss-alphahole-who-saw-me-naked’s brother at 1:00.”

  “One o’clock?” Meryl asks, curiously.

  “At the bar. Oh!” Ally exclaims excitedly, and then hops out of the booth and heads in his direction.

  “Nooo…” I try to say, but she’s already gone.

  “Oh God.” I am beyond mortified.

  She comes back with Austin and I hear Meryl say, “Oh no.”

  She’s holding his hand and steering him into the half-circle booth on the other side of Meryl.

  “Hey ladies,” Austin greets.