Black Mark Series Book 1: Black Mark's Resistance

by Ebony Olson

  “I am torn, Mora. I want you to take the job at Blake Industries just so I am not your boss any longer. However, I would miss you, and you are good at your job. I think Warren would kill me if I fired you.” Darius took a deep breath. “I really wish...”

  My phone started ringing. I winced and wanted to curse whoever was on the other end. Pretending to have been woken up, I grabbed my phone from the nightstand and looked at the caller ID before I answered.

  “Alex?”

  “It’s Friday. Where are you?” He yelled over the clamor of a night club behind him.

  “I’m in bed. Where are you?” I responded unhappily.

  “J.J’s. Get your ass out of bed and get down here. Jasper is here and looking for you. You should see the ring he bought, Mora. It is stunning. You are going to die when you see it.”

  I cursed. I had no doubt that Darius could hear both sides of the conversation.

  “That’s not going to happen Alex. I’m in Germany.”

  “You are where?”

  Alex disappeared from the line and I could hear yelling. Suddenly the other side got quiet.

  “Come on, Mora. Get your ass down here,” Jasper’s smooth voice coerced.

  “I’m in bed already, Jasper,” I whispered.

  “So get out of it, and why are you whispering?” Jasper laughed.

  “Because I’m not alone in the bed, Jasper,” I murmured.

  “Oh.” Jasper went quiet for a moment. “Shit, baby. Is it the guy from your birthday?”

  “Yeah, it’s the same guy.” I cringed. I hated that Darius could hear this conversation. I would have left the room, but I was naked and hoping Darius wouldn’t notice.

  “So he has become a regular thing then?” Jasper asked, curious.

  “No. Not at all. This is only the—it doesn’t matter. It’s not that,” I answered clumsily.

  “Are you sure, baby? You do not sound sure.”

  “I’m sure. He’s a work colleague.”

  “What the? Are you trying to lose your job? Didn’t Rafal say no work romances?” Jasper sounded concerned.

  “Yes, Mr. Rafal did put an edict out against me being involved with anyone at work.”

  “So what happened?” Jasper chuckled hearing the annoyance in my tone.

  “I got drunk, you weren’t there,” I responded dryly. “Look, I have to go.”

  “Okay, Mora. Can we do dinner Monday?”

  “I’ll check my diary and get back to you.” I hung up. I put my phone on silent and placed it back on the bedside table before huddling back beneath the covers. “Sorry about that.”

  “Mr. Jones wants you to look at a ring?” Darius asked, a bite in his voice.

  “Yes. I didn’t expect it this soon. I thought he’d wait till New Year’s Eve or something equally cheesy like that.” I shook my head with a smile. “I can’t believe he’s finally willing to commit.”

  “I take it that it is an engagement ring then?” Darius’s voice was deep and gravelly.

  “Sure is. Now that he’s ready to settle down, Jasper wants to marry next summer and start a family soon after.”

  Darius was doing that finger tapping thing on his sternum again. “And you are happy with his plans.”

  I rolled to look at Darius. “Of course I am. He’s not young anymore and he deserves to be happy.”

  Darius was out of the bed a moment later. He grabbed up his pillow and quilt and stormed out to the living room slamming the sliding doors after him. I was utterly surprised by his reaction. I lay there wondering how I’d offended him. Then it clicked. Darius still thought I was with Jasper. He thought the ring was for me.

  I sighed rolling onto my side. “It’s for the best, Mora. This was never going to work.”

  ***

  Darius was gone when I woke in the morning. He left a note telling me not to bother with the conference, to go and enjoy Munich. So I did. I walked around the city exploring buildings older than the country I was raised in.

  I ran into a group of four Australians who were doing the tourist thing and looking for the Hofbräuhaus. It was located immediately across the way from my hotel, so I offered to show them how to find it. In return, they asked me to join them for lunch.

  This resulted in a lot of beer drinking on their part and the enjoyment of good German food by all of us. We were still there when dinner came around. Zane, a twenty-five-year-old travel agent who dragged his friends along for a European adventure, planted himself next to me at lunch and hadn’t moved.

  I wasn’t drinking. I wasn’t stupid enough to do that with strangers. I was the only one in the group who wasn’t. Just before seven, I watched Darius walk in with some of the people from the conference. They sat at a table across the hall from our corner seat. I stayed until Zane’s hand found my leg and started sliding up under the hem of my skirt. That was my cue to leave.

  I bid everyone farewell and started to leave.

  “Come on, Mora. Stay a little longer,” Zane called when I was halfway to the door.

  Up until that point, Darius hadn’t spotted me. I was watching his group as I left, so I saw his head snap around at the sound of my name being sung across the hall. I turned my eyes back to the group, gave them a smile and waved again before continuing out of the hall. I didn’t look back at Darius, didn’t acknowledge him. Just took myself back to our room, showered and climbed into bed early.

  I vaguely heard Darius come in. He showered, and yet again, I watched him watch me from the doorway to the wardrobe. Eventually, he collected the quilt and pillow and went to the lounge. Again, I went the entire day without seeing him. I was sitting with all our gear packed in the room at five o’clock when the conference ended.

  Darius arrived twenty minutes later. “I will pack and then we can get to the airport.” I pointed to his bag by the door. “Thank you. Let’s go.”

  The ride to the airport was stone silent. This time, when Tracey offered her services after takeoff, Darius accepted. They moved down to the massage bed behind me, she rubbed him down, and then sucked him off.

  I pulled a book I was reading out of my bag and lost myself in the pages, paying no attention to what was happening directly behind me.

  “Miss Ellis?”

  I looked up to find Tracey looking at me with worry. I took a quick look around and realized the plane was on the ground. “When did we land?”

  Tracey looked amused. “Ten minutes ago. Mr. Rafal wants to know if you plan on joining him in the car or are you catching a taxi?”

  “Oh.” I unclicked my sash belt and pulled my boots on. “Tell him to go ahead. I can catch the train.”

  “At eleven at night?” Tracey looked worried. She looked me up and down then looked over her shoulder. “Margaret, tell Mr. Rafal, Miss Ellis will be there in a minute.”

  The other hostess smiled and stepped out of the plane door.

  Tracey sat down as I shoved my book in my bag. “Want to tell me what happened in Munich?”

  “Nothing.” I stood.

  Tracey grabbed my arm and pulled me back into the seat. “Nothing my ass. You are into him, he is into you. Why are you both fucking around with this?”

  “Look, I appreciate you’re his friend, but you know what he’s like. He doesn’t date, doesn’t have serious relationships. I don’t want to be the boss’s sex toy. I’m good at my job. I don’t want anyone thinking I only got my job because I give good head.”

  “So quit,” Tracey answered with a shrug, as if it was so easy.

  “I tried to find another job. They blocked it and refused to release me from my contract,” I huffed. “The truth is, most of the time, I love working for him. Working and living with the brothers has been one of the best experiences in my life. It’s only when Mr. Rafal and I are left alone it becomes a strain for both of us. If I could just avoid being alone with him, this would be the best job.”

  Tracey closed her eyes as if in pa
in. “When you came for me...” She paused and looked away.

  “What about it?” I asked totally thrown by the change in subject.

  Tracey looked me in the eye. “It was not my fingers you came on.”

  I looked at her confused, then my mind flashed back to her sucking Darius’s fingers afterwards. Pure anger flooded my system.

  Tracey looked panicked. “Look, it was obvious you were into each other. I know Dare. He was rock hard for you and he turned me down. He’s not the sort of guy to do that if it’s not real. He didn’t want your view of him to be obscured by me.

  “Then coming home, he not only took my offer, he pointedly moved us closer to you. I have never massaged him before. He has a masseuse for that in London. I suck his cock when he’s horny and that’s it. What happened coming home was to goad you. Except, it didn’t work. You just put a wall up and, I don’t know, you left reality.”

  Tracey stood and moved out of my way. “You two need to work this out between you or you will break each other denying what you really want. That’s all I’m saying.”

  I nodded and stood. “Thank you, Tracey.” I held out my hand. She seemed surprised but shook it. “It was nice meeting you.”

  “You are not angry I tricked you?”

  I gave a soft humored huff, shook my head and moved to the door. I couldn’t be angry with her. I’m not stupid. I knew at the time those weren’t her fingers. In truth, I didn’t care. I wanted to climax by someone else’s touch after four months of my own. My mind just took the acknowledgement of who it was at the time and threw it out the window.

  I walked toward Darius’s car. Clark smiled and opened the door. “Welcome back, Miss Ellis.”

  “Thank you, Clark. Give us a second, will you?”

  Clark nodded, his smile vanishing.

  I dropped down into the seat and waited till Clark shut the door. “I never want to be alone with you again,” I stated calmly.

  Darius stopped typing into his phone.

  “You have to travel, both Warren and I go, or Warren goes with you. Never just us. We fuck up a good working relationship whenever we are left alone. It’s stupid that as two grown adults we need to be chaperoned to ensure we behave ourselves, but apparently that’s the case.”

  “Anything else?” Darius growled

  I moved toward him, turning my body to half face him getting in his personal space.

  I kept my tone even, my voice low to ensure it didn’t travel out of the car. “You ever fuck me again without my consent, with any part of your body, I’ll charge you with rape.”

  Darius met my eyes surprised. He slowly closed his eyes. “Tracey,” he muttered angrily.

  I knocked on the window letting Clark know we were done and sat back in my seat, preventing Darius from saying anything else that he wasn’t willing to be overheard.

  He was right to be angry with Tracey. She was his friend and his employee, she shouldn’t have told me. I liked her better that she did, and I know she told me to try and make me realize that my body reacts to Darius. The fact is, I was already very aware of the effect Darius Rafal had on me.

  The problem wasn’t that my body lusted for him, or that my heart beat faster in his presence. It was that this was not the sort of man to want marriage and children. I was not going to break my heart on Darius Rafal.