Corrupt Desires

by Jennifer Bene

  Phee was lost in self-critical thoughts when she heard Mr. Collins speak up again. “Before you go, Mr. Holbrook… can you provide a quote on what the upgrades in the southern district will entail? For the sake of my readers.”

  Bryant took a steadying breath, and then his eyes caught hers across the room. Turquoise gemstones under the bright lights of the television cameras, and she could see the exhaustion in him. Tonight was supposed to be relaxing, it was supposed to be easy, and then this asshole had shown up at the briefing. Again. “Absolutely, Mr. Collins. We are making structural improvements to several of the apartment buildings in the district to ensure the safety of citizens in the city, because the health and safety of all citizens is a priority for the NDF. Thank you and—”

  “It’s odd that these improvements weren’t made before the NDF took power. That is, if they’re actually so necessary to the health and safety of our populace that this government would feel the need to override a popular vote to do it... don’t you think the COF would have addressed it long before now?” Mr. Collins was standing again, interrupting Bryant’s closing remarks, and Phee saw the flush in his neck before he started answering.

  “The COF, as we have made very clear, cared little about the population that resides in the southern districts, and in fact took action against—” Bryant was doing his best to stay calm when the reporter interrupted him again.

  “Yes, as the NDF keeps claiming, however there are many individuals that read my paper that feel the majority of the evidence that has been provided against the COF was falsified. Just like the supposed need to upgrade—”

  “Supposed? Falsified? Come now, Mr. Collins, the COF killed the poor and the weak in this city. That’s been proven in several court cases, and you’re insinuating that our efforts to improve the living conditions in a traditionally underserved—”

  “Repeating the same claims doesn’t actually make your argument any stronger, Mr. Holbrook.” The reporter laughed to himself, looking around the room with an eye roll. “It’s not like any of the NDF have done anything to provide real evidence for half of their outlandish claims about the COF.”

  Phee wanted to scream, because this man had clearly never lived in the fog. Had never lost family and friends to the COF, and had never lived in a place where you never saw the sky. Her fraying temper was about to snap, and she stood up, but Bryant’s glare stopped the angry words from leaving her lips.

  But it was too late, by standing she’d drawn Mr. Collins attention, and he smiled. “Ah, aren’t you the future Mrs. Holbrook?” His eyebrow lifted, his pen poised over a notepad, and Phee looked up to see that Bryant’s perfectly controlled expression had gone blank. Shit. “If I remember correctly, you used to live in the southern district, and Bryant Holbrook was dating you before the NDF took control?”

  The whole room swung towards her. Cameras swiveled on their stands, cameras flashed, and lights landed on her. She swallowed. “I mean, not really—”

  “Do you think that his relationship with you is affecting his decision making in regards to Proposition 61? Have you had influence on decision-making members of the NDF in terms of which buildings in the city are receiving the planned assistance? Are any of your friends or family directly benefiting?” His rapid-fire questions hung in the air while others began to call out questions as well. A blush rushed up her chest and into her cheeks, and instead of wearing armor she felt naked and terrified in front of the crowd of bloodthirsty reporters.

  “That’s enough!” Bryant’s voice was a boom from the stage, effectively silencing the horde in front of her. “This press conference is over. Any further questions can be logged with the clerk at the back of the room. Thank you for your time, and good night.” He left the podium at a brisk pace, and Phee felt frozen in place as the cameras slowly started clicking off and the lights were shifted away from her. It wasn’t until Bryant grabbed her arm just above the elbow and started leading her out the side door that she snapped out of it. One glance at him was all it took to know how dark his mood had turned.

  “I’m sorry, Bryant, I didn’t mean to—” she started to mutter apologies as they climbed into the private elevator that led to an underground parking garage for NDF employees, but Bryant’s hard turquoise eyes silenced her. Phee chewed on the inside of her cheek as the elevator dropped and her stomach plummeted with it. She was queasy with nerves as they exited and walked towards his car. She wanted to explain that it had been impossible to listen to that asshole Mr. Collins tear him apart for doing something good, but she’d managed to hold her tongue at least. That had to count for something.

  He opened her car door but refused to look at her as she sat down and he instantly slammed it shut. When he climbed in on his side, the jingle of his keys was the only sound in the car until the engine roared to life.

  “Bryant—”

  “Stop, Phee. I’m grateful that you held your tongue, but the last thing I need is you grabbing the attention of Mark fucking Collins. I need to calm down after that shitshow before I try to discuss this.” His voice had a delicious growl to it that would have turned her on if she didn’t feel so guilty. On any other day she would have made a joke about how many spankings she’d earned, but she had a feeling that it wouldn’t be welcome right now — and whatever was happening tonight she knew it wouldn’t be the relaxing movie and pizza they’d planned that morning.

  “Okay.” She nodded and looked out the window as they swept up to street level and began the short drive to their lofty apartment.

  Several people had suggested Bryant move, because his home was known to members of the COF, but it was theirs. The place they’d stood the morning after their first date when she’d watched the fog roll across the city like an ocean of clouds. There were still mornings she did that, and he sometimes stood there with her, both of them wrapped up in the visual of taking flight while she told him one of her stories, just like her mother used to do with her. It was how she kept her mom alive in her mind.

  The passing streetlights caught the diamond on her finger and tugged her back to reality. Glancing down at the ring, an elegantly simple white-gold band with some small filigree around the solitaire, she started to spin it with her thumb. Making the light fracture each time it popped through the window. Bryant had asked her to marry him barely two months before, in the middle of Arasme Park. The same park he’d taken her to on their first date, the one with the towering statue silhouettes. It had been perfect, and she had said yes without hesitation.

  Even knowing it was signing on permanently to all of this shit.

  But Bryant was worth it.

  When the car rocked to a stop in his parking space he was out and around it before she’d caught up to their arrival. Then he was pulling her door open with a lot more calm than he’d shut it, and she looked up into his face hoping to see him more relaxed, but he was still stiff. With a sigh, she stepped out and shut the door, listening to the car beep as he locked it. Then Bryant took her hand in his, warm and comforting, and she felt a little of the tension ease inside her as they walked to the elevator.

  Once the doors closed he turned to face her and she felt herself slipping into the undertow; the ineffable pull of Bryant Holbrook. “I have to make some phone calls when we get upstairs to address what happened, loop Easton in on Collins’ latest gambit.”

  “What can I do?” she asked, voice quiet because she knew there was nothing she could actually do to help.

  A low groan slipped from his lips as he traced her jaw before brushing his thumb over her lips. “I have some ideas, but I can’t get distracted right now, baby. I’ve got to remember Collins’ exact words.”

  “Okay.” She nodded, grateful that he didn’t seem angry at her, but she still felt the space between them when he stepped back to stand beside her even though he kept their hands linked.

  The hallway had been empty of security for almost six months, and she was grateful that she didn’t have to pass by any of the guys with Brya
nt feeling the way he was. They always made it worse with their questions, pestering him, and her, whenever they’d come home upset. It was part of the reason Bryant had insisted they be pulled back. The parking garage was secured by a gate and a guard, and the front lobby always had at least two NDF security posted. The building was probably one of the safest places in downtown now.

  Just another benefit to being engaged to a top member of the New Democratic Fellowship.

  Once they were inside he locked the door and immediately walked away from her, tearing his suit jacket off as he dug his phone out. Their beautiful apartment now held a lot more color than it had when she’d first been there. There was the bright blue rug in the living room, her eclectic collection of pillows on his pristine white couch, the giant crocheted blanket her grandmother had made her which was a motley mixture of colors. Bryant had stumbled into her life by chance, a happy accident, but he had welcomed her into his.

  And then asked her to become a permanent part of it.

  Phee twirled the engagement ring around her finger as she took a breath and walked towards the couch to drop her purse on the coffee table. His voice echoed out of the bedroom, “It was Collins and his fucking pro-COF newspaper. Yes, I explained the differences between Proposition 61 and what we’re doing, but do you think he cares?”

  There was a bottle of wine stoppered on the dining table, and she walked over to it like a lifeline. Grabbing two glasses and filling them until the bottle was empty. A little more than a regular glass in each, she set his down on the coffee table and took up her favorite spot near the floor-to-ceiling windows. Moonlight made the fog shimmer like liquid silver in places, glowing warmer in spots where the streetlights hovered like the will o’ the wisps that used to taunt her on her train ride home.

  “No! There’s no making him hear sense, he’s looking for any excuse to validate his narrative and the more we talk to him the worse it will be!” Anger threaded through Bryant’s tone, and she hated it when these bastards got to him. It was why Collins had made her so angry.

  All Bryant, and the rest of the NDF, were trying to do was make things better.

  Taking a sip of her wine, she tried to focus on the view and give him the space he needed to handle the results of the briefing. But, it was hard to ignore his shouts as something crashed in their bathroom. “I’m not fucking meeting with him, Davis! An interview would be suicide. He’d paint everything I said with his demented pro-COF brush and we’d end up worse than we are now.”

  “Have you even talked to Parks about this? I know he’d agree with me.”

  “I’m the Chief Advisor, Davis, and I’m telling you no. This will not help the fucking situation, it will only make it worse.” A pause, and then he laughed. “Fine, go call him.”

  Bryant came out of their bedroom a moment later and she almost groaned at how gorgeous he was. The sleek suit and tie were gone. Now he was standing in front of her with no shirt to cover his delectable chest and abs. Soft, gray pants and bare feet completed her head to toe glance, and she wondered if he could already tell she was turned on. Just being near him generally had her off in fantasyland, imagining him naked and doing all kinds of things with her, and to her — but actually having him half naked in front of her?

  She didn’t stand a chance at a clear head, even though she needed to at least try to help him.

  “I poured you some wine.” She pointed at the coffee table, and he looked over at it but came directly to her instead. Wrapping his arms around her middle, he squeezed her back against his chest so sharply that her wine almost sloshed out of the glass. “Bryant? What can I do?” she asked quietly, running her free hand over his arm as he nuzzled into her hair.

  “I have to make a few more calls, but I’d love to have you naked and kneeling and waiting for me.” The low growl directly beneath her ear had her thighs squeezing together and her mouth dry. Fuck, he’s so hot.

  “I can do that.” Grinning she bit down on a moan as one of his hands slid up to cup a breast through her bra, a nipping kiss landing on her throat.

  “Good girl,” he answered before he pulled himself away from her. Bryant was already tapping at the phone in his hand as she turned to face him. Lifting the phone to his ear, he kept his eyes glued to her, watching while she set the wine glass down on the side-table near the windows. “Hey, Carol, I need to give you a heads up on an issue, and I need your support.”

  In the silence of the apartment, Phee could hear the woman’s voice buzzing on the other end of the line, and she smiled because Carol Evans would never approve of what was about to happen.

  “Mr. Collins of the Freedom Post was at the press briefing today, and he…”

  Bryant’s retelling of the details faded from her ears as she reached back to undo the clasp at the back of her neck, inching the zipper down an inch or two so that she could move her hands behind her to drag it all the way down. His eyes were glued to hers as he discussed politics, the issue of Collins and his bullshit newspaper — all things she couldn’t do a thing about.

  But she could do a striptease that would have him focused on something very different as soon as his calls ended.

  “So, you understand why this suggestion from Davis to do an interview is ridiculous?” he asked before tilting his chin at her, a dominant gleam in his turquoise eyes that said, ‘Strip.’

  Smirking, she shrugged one shoulder of the dress off, and then another, letting it inch down her body as he stared, mouth a little open before he blinked and adjusted the phone against his ear.

  “I—” He paused when she let the dress drop, and the hungry look he gave her promised a hot, rough night of fun. “I can see that if it went our way we’d gain benefits, but I’m not doing it, Carol. No, none of us should do it, it’s a trap.”

  Leaning down, Phee picked up the dress, giving him a full view of her cleavage bolstered by the bra, before standing up to drape the navy cloth over the back of the couch.

  “I’m asking you to support me, Carol. I can almost guarantee Parks will side with my decision, but if it comes down to the cabinet, I need you on my side.” There was an edge to his voice that Phee wondered if Carol could hear.

  Turning in her heels, slowly, she worked to remove her earrings, palming them as she swayed and moved to take off the necklace. When she faced him again, Bryant’s erection was already tenting the front of his soft pants. Her grin had him biting his lip before he forced his eyes to the ceiling, bracing one hand on his hip.

  “Thank you, that’s all I ask. If you can call Mills and let him know not to respond to any questions related to Prop 61 without our approval, that would be a big help… Yes… I agree, it has to be handled carefully… thank you again.” Bryant took a few steps towards her, and she set the jewelry beside her wine glass as he stopped short. “You too, good night.”

  “Carol is on your side?” she asked, fighting the urge to reach for his cock when he suddenly grabbed her by the back of the neck and kissed her. Dominating, possessing, he captured her mouth with his, almost bruising with the intensity of it.

  “Yes, but… fuck, you are making it very hard to concentrate.”

  “I can tell it’s hard,” she answered with a quiet laugh, trailing her hand along his waist to tug at the top of his pants, but just like she’d predicted he caught her hand.

  Groaning, he spun her and bent her over the back of the couch, delivering a hard spank before he grabbed a handful of her ass and squeezed. Pinned with his hand on the back of her neck, and the hard ridge of his erection rubbing between her cheeks, she squirmed. Instantly wet, instantly desperate, which was exactly what he wanted. Releasing her, he stepped back and held up his phone. “Just one more call, and you better be completely naked and kneeling by the time I’m done.”

  “Yes, sir,” she panted as she stood up, watching him dial someone, but she didn’t even care about the politics of tonight anymore. She just wanted her fiancé. To have his hands on her, for him to bend her over the couch agai
n and do whatever he had planned in his devious mind.

  “Easton. I do not have a lot of time to talk, but I want you to tell me if you’ve found anything on Mark Collins.” The edge in Bryant’s voice had her fighting a laugh as she slipped out of her heels and nudged them behind her. “Anything. On him, his associates, or anyone at that trash newspaper.”

  Phee unclasped her bra, taking one strap off at a time, before she cupped her breasts and slipped the bra free, dangling it from one finger until Bryant’s look told her to drop it. Now.

  “I want you guys to focus your efforts on him and his operation. He’s trying to stir up trouble around the construction in the southern district. … Yes, the repair work in the fog.”

  As she slid her underwear down, she kept her eyes on him, and he bit his lip. Wrapping a fist around the erection jutting out through the soft pants.

  “Easton, I just need you guys to find something. Anything to undermine him in the press before he ruins this.”

  His eyes followed her down as she knelt on the tile, knees spread just enough to give him a peek at the wet space between her thighs. With a flick, she tossed her underwear towards the couch and then wrapped a hand around her other wrist behind her back. When she opened her mouth, tracing her bottom lip with her tongue, he physically shuddered.

  “I have to go, Easton. Handle it.” He hung up, tossing the phone onto the carpet to avoid shattering the screen, and then he was in front of her. Fist in her hair as he angled her head back. “I am going to make you scream tonight, baby.”

  15

  Bryant was perfection above her, pupils blown to obscure almost all of the turquoise gemstone that surrounded it, and she wanted him to make her scream.

  “Promise?” she asked, grinning before he traced her mouth with his thumb and then pushed it between her lips. Sucking, running her tongue along it, she reveled in the way he groaned.