He’d left me there so worked up, my eyes glazed over and my dress wrinkled.
Fuck. I walked out of his office to the elevators where Ashley was waiting for me, pressing all over her phone.
“So?” she asked, glancing up at me momentarily.
“So, what?”
“So, I’m guessing you two made plans.”
“Why would you say that?”
“I thought he was going to bend you over and fuck you while I was in there.” I smacked her on the shoulder as the elevator appeared, the cheeky grin never disappearing from her face.
I decided it was time to face the music and call Alfred, to let him know that I needed to change my plans. Guilt stirred in my stomach, but I dialled his number anyway and waited for him to pick up “Alfred?” He answered the phone but hadn’t said a thing since, “Alfred?”
“Yes, I’m here darling. How’d the meeting go?”
“It went great, but I was actually calling to cancel tonight. Can we reschedule?” He sounded slightly let down. I hated doing this to him.
“Yes”
“When?”
“Tonight, stop by the Hamilton on 3rd a little after 6. We’re having a charity event, just stop by for a bit. I haven’t seen you in a couple weeks. It’s either dinner for a few hours, or the charity event for a bit, your choice”
I could say that Alfred didn’t know much about me, but he knew that I did not like to be with him for extended periods of time.
“Okay, I’ll see you later, then.” I wondered what the charity event could be for, but I decided to go along with it anyway.
“Brooklyn, wear something pink.”
“Okay, fine. See you after 6.” I hung up the call, preparing for my stress reducing run through the park.
I surely needed it after the day I’d had, and it was barely past noon.
CHAPTER 5
Logan
The day was filled with meetings, meeting after meeting. I couldn’t get her out of my mind. I kept getting distracted by the taste of her on my lips and how she’d felt against my tongue, how I could just barely see the marks I’d left all over her neck. I had to take an early break because of that little minx. I should’ve fucked her again in my office, bent her over my desk and made her scream right then. Instead, I was a gentleman and gave her an orgasm. I was not a selfless man, not by any means, but this morning, I was. Even just tasting her got me hard in no time. It was almost painful by the time she left my office.
Now I was sitting in the middle of a conference call, not paying a lick of attention to who was saying what. I was thinking about fucking Brooklyn senseless and how hot she sounded when she was moaning my name before, how her ass jiggled as I fucked her as hard as I could. I could imagine fucking her without a condom, too—I was throbbing at the thought of spilling deep inside her. I’d plug her up after, too, to make sure she’d be feeling me inside her for days. I would, fuck her senseless, that is.
I was saved from the damn conference call when my brothers both burst through the door of my office. Whatever they had to say was much more important than the people droning on the other side of the line. "I am sorry, but something has come up. We will reschedule." I didn’t wait for an answer, just hung up. It really wasn’t outside of my norm to piss someone off like that anyway.
"What can I help you boys with?" I asked, trying not to let on what my mind had been on.
"We want to know about the shipment that was intercepted by the feds, Lo," Christian inquired, both of them looking to me to answers I didn’t have. I knew a little more than they did considering I ran the company. I had also had Reggie look into what I could. Suspicions were mostly what I got out of it; nothing more. Though, I wasn’t usually wrong about things. Call me cocky, but my intuition was spot on.
"The raid was actually from the DEA, which is not surprising, considering the people we have dealt with in the past. Father wasn’t as careful as we have been, and I am sure his actions alone got the company looked at a few times. I have been able to clean up a lot of what we do, including ties with Rafael Ramirez. I don’t know much, but I have a theory that he is involved," I admitted to them, standing up with my hands in my pockets and my fingers thoughtfully at my bottom lip. My brother, Jordan, had the same habit when he was thinking through what he was saying.
"You mean the Mexican cartel had something to do with outing us?" Jordan asked, sliding into a seat, looking stupefied by the idea.
"It's just a theory," I told them, not wanting them to go after anyone just yet. It would only make things worse. "Recently, we stopped doing business with Rafael because he was getting too sloppy, attracting too much attention from the feds. It wasn’t good for the business or us, but Rafael knew the process we used by heart. We loaded up tractor trailers and shipped them that way, using the same specific trucking company every time. It was a reliable routine, but it seems that Rafael knew too much; how to get to the company Ariba. I would not be surprised if Rafael had someone call in a tip as a way to get back at me for ending our business relationship. He is not the kind of man to like those things. He doesn’t like being cut off. I had no choice, though."
Jordan was nodding along with me, taking it all in. He had met Rafael once or twice and knew the man had no kindness in his heart. "I think you could be right. It means we need to start changing up the way we do things."
I knew Jordan was right and had already planned on that, but I didn’t like change, especially when it involved going with a different arms dealer entirely; one I did not like the reputation of. It meant that I had to use Sergei Kolosov. There were two problems with that; one, my competitors almost all used him. It would mean more animosity between the Steele’s and those competing with us. The other problem was that Sergei was a known monster. There was no other way to describe the man. But with Rafael being the slimy fuck that he is, I have no other choice.
"I know. We're going to be in business with Sergei Kolosov."
Christian’s eyes went wide, and I couldn’t blame the look of fear in them. I didn’t like dealing with the dangerous ones if I had a chance. Rafael was nothing compared to Sergei. He was Russian, but not affiliated with the Mob at all. He had no affiliation with the clans who fought over the U.S territory. At least it would temporarily keep us out of that drama. Mexico, Russia, Romania, and Ireland had a longstanding war with each other that spanned decades. It was too much of a mess to get all tangled in by using one of them for anything. "You know what he does to women," Christian said, looking between us like we might change our minds. I knew what he was talking about.
"It doesn’t matter. There is no choice," I told them. It didn’t matter what I’d thought of Sergei, or his specific ways of conducting business. I had clients who needed their guns, guns I can’t provide without having the stability of an arms dealer. Unfortunately, now I have to do business with the devil himself.
A knock came to the door, Esmerelda, my assistant, and practically my mother. The short, middle aged, Hispanic woman was my favorite. She had a motherly aura about her, and I loved it. I’d stolen her from my father’s team before he passed – he was furious, but understood why I’d want someone as trustworthy as Esme on my team. Plus, she brought in empanadas. “Mr. Logan, you better get going. You’ll be late.”
“Thanks, Esme.” She walked back out of the office to her station. I’d better get this over with; I knew I’d be counting the hours down until I was able to see Brooklyn again. Now that I had her in my grasps, I definitely wasn't letting go anytime soon. She was mine, even if she didn’t know it yet.
CHAPTER 6
Brooklyn
Wear pink; the comment kept going through my mind. I’d been in front of this closet for at least thirty minutes, or maybe more, no doubt. I pulled out an asymmetrical, off the shoulder dress that stopped just below my ass. It was sexy enough for my impending date, but it didn’t seem as slutty as some of the other pink options I had in my ever-growing closet. I gazed through my closet, lo
oking for a good shoe and clutch pairing, finding a pair of rose gold strappy heels with a matching clutch in a similar shade of pink.
I was off to this charity event, and I kept wondering what it was for. Alfred wasn’t normally that vague when we spoke.
“Hey, bro.” I spotted Seb coming out of his room, decked out in a tux. “Are we going to the same place?” Seeing as Alfred decided to invite me, I had a feeling he would’ve extended that invitation to Sebastian as well.
“Al called me earlier, so yeah, I’m betting we are.” Alfred has been very generous to Seb, since he ‘found out’ about me, embraced me, I didn’t really know what to call it. When Alfred entered my life, he also entered Seb’s, creating opportunities for him, giving him a good job that paid extremely well for someone as young as he was. At 22, Seb had it good, almost making 300K a year.
“Did he tell you what kind of event this is?” Seb watched me as I asked him the question, grinning a little bit.
“He didn’t tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
Seb tossed his suit jacket over his arm, walking towards the door. “Seb! What didn’t Alfred tell me?” I was starting to get anxious now. This was starting to feel more and more like some kind of surprise.
“Oh no, you can see when we get there.” He grabbed my hand, and we went down to the parking garage, slipping into Seb’s red Audi R8. “I noticed you didn’t come home last night.” He shot me a questioning glance, “Once Elise was drunk, she told me how you wanted to fuck that guy at the bar.”
“Okay, One- I did not want to fuck him. Elise told me I needed to fuck him.” He scoffed at my response, almost seeming like he didn’t believe me.
“You needed to fuck him? Seriously?”
“Seb, why the fuck are you talking to me about this? Do you really want to know who I’m fucking on a regular basis?” I shot him a glare. There were two things I didn’t like talking to Seb about; my sexual partners, and my cocaine addiction; two things he always seemed keen to bring up when I was around.
“I should ask just because of last time,” he hissed, gripping his hand further on the stick shift.
Ouch. That hurt. There were a lot of things about my last relationship that were super fucked up. Nothing about it was normal. I’d spent years with Bryce. We’d known each other since we were both kids. He’d gotten us both addicted to cocaine, only now, it was him that was still addicted, stuck in a downward spiral. Alfred sent me to rehab a year ago, and I’d been clean for six months. My sobriety is the most important thing in my life, and Bryce coming up to me at Mason’s last night…well, let’s just say that was a test to see how strong I could be. There would’ve been a time where I would have followed him like a lost puppy, snorted that coke and been in the best high of my life. Today? I’m not that Brooklyn anymore.
“Fuck you,” I snapped out at him. I couldn’t even look at him right now. My brother was supposed to be my supporter. He was supposed to pick me up when I was feeling down. He had the same guidelines for me as being his sister as him being my brother. But he was just so good at bringing up my past mistakes.
He flew through Atlanta until we were on 3rd, right in front of the Hamilton. The large building gave me a sense of de ja vu to where I had been earlier that morning. A valet came to my side of the car first, opening the door. I strode out into the building, but not before noticing the seal plastered all over the backdrop of the red carpet ‘The Ellis Harper Foundation’. What was going on? Why was my mom’s name everywhere? I walked into the hotel lobby, the entire place completely transformed with sheets of white, black, pink, and gold. It was elegant, beautiful. Again, I spotted Mom’s name everywhere, on shirts, tablecloths, bottles of water, everything.
I glanced around the room, looking for Alfred. I scanned and scanned but didn’t see him. Instead, I saw a friendly face I knew all too well by now. He met my gaze and smirked. What was he doing here?
I walked over to the booth he was at, sliding in next to him. “What’re you doing here?” I smirked. I hadn’t known the man for a full twenty-four hours, and he already had the ability to make me smile like an idiot.
“I could ask you the same thing.” He took a sip of whiskey, grabbing the attention of the waiter nearest to us, and ordered me an extra dirty martini.
“You’re observant,” I commented. He seemed to remember my drink order from the night before. Logan smirked, taking another sip of whiskey, locking eyes with me.
“I pay attention to details.”
“So, why are you here?”
“Why are you here?” he countered back.
“I asked first.” he chuckled at my response. “I was invited, and you?”
“I was also invited.” Logan’s eyes met mine yet again. “Ellis Harper of any relation?”
“She was my mother; she died two years ago.” The waiter approached us with my drink at just the right time, and I took a hefty sip. The alcohol slid down my throat, hitting my stomach in just the right spot.
“I’m terribly sorry.” It was almost an automatic response. I’d expected it from everyone, but I got the impression that he was one of the only people that were actually genuine when they said it.
“What type of foundation is it?” I looked at him puzzled, then realized he was asking me about the Ellis Harper Foundation.
“I haven’t got a clue. Got a call to show up and saw this.” I waved my hand around “Your guess is really as good as mine.”
Logan made a ‘hmmmpf’ sound. “Who made the foundation?”
“Again, absolutely no clue. I’ll have to ask Alfred.”
“Hamilton?”
“That’s the one.” I took another sip, a little bigger than the last. I don’t know why I brought up his name. He probably was the one behind this, but it was just awkward, I never knew how to introduce him to anyone. It wasn’t like we had the normal father-daughter relationship. I mean, I called him Alfred for fucks sake.
“How do you know him?” I knew the question was coming, but it didn’t make it any easier.
“Um, well. Alfred is –”
“Darling! You made it. I see you’ve been in good company. Logan, nice to see you again.” I rose out of the booth, giving Alfred a slightly awkward, albeit comforting, hug. It was probably the only normal thing about our relationship. Logan followed, shaking Alfred’s hand.
“You as well.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t see you earlier, darling. I would’ve come to keep you company. Say, where’s your brother?” A part of me felt like that DNA test was wrong and I was not Alfred’s child; that it was Sebastian. They were literally glued to each other’s’ hips.
“It’s okay, I had company.” I glanced to Logan, who had a small smirk on his face. “Not really sure about Seb. I got in here ahead of him once the valet came to collect the car.”
“Come, we’ve got a bit to discuss.” Alfred grabbed my hand, and I looked back to Logan who motioned for me to go and then walked to the bar. Alfred sat us down at a table. “I’m sure you’ve seen the logo.”
“I have. Why didn’t you tell me about this?”
He placed his hands over mine, “It was a surprise. All of this is for you and Seb, your mother, and the countless women who are going through what she went through.”
He’d missed most of my life, but he was doing everything he could to make up for that, I could see it now. My mother had a horrible experience with cancer. I remembered the day she found out. She’d gone for her yearly mammogram, and it was stage four already. In three months, she was gone. It all went by so quickly that I’d hardly been able to grasp the severity of it all.
“Thank you,” I managed to choke out, tears welled up in my eyes and damn, I tried my hardest, but a few slipped past me.
His hand brushed against my arm before he rose, hugging me, pulling me close. “Don’t cry, crumpet.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t you apologize, either, you’ve got nothing to apologize for.”
I do, I did. I’d given him such a hard time, even when he had been the one to put me through rehab, basically abolishing every paper who’d caught wind of my addiction. He made it all go away. I didn’t appreciate him for that. I’d accepted his help, but not much more. Yes, there was the 22 years of not knowing him that cowered over my head every day. I hated that he wasn’t there, I hated him for not being there. But, Alfred was my father. He was here now. Wasn’t that what truly mattered?
Maybe.
Maybe not?
“I do. I’ve made our situation a lot harder. I’m sorry for that, I. Jesus. When you showed up I was, I don’t even know how to describe it. It was the worst and best day of my life, mixed into one. I lost Mom, but gained you. I…hated you for not being there for me when I was a kid. I’ve been holding onto that.” Alfred stared at me, looking me up and down. His own sadness was written all over his face. I could see it in his bright blue eyes; the ones I had inherited from him.
“I would’ve been there if I could. I hope you believe that.” I do, but I don’t. There’s a reason he wasn’t there for me, and I know that, but what was the big enough reason for him to stay away that he couldn’t be involved in my life? It wasn’t good enough, and I doubted it ever would be.
I nodded, and he pulled me back into a hug. For the first time in the two years that I’d known him, I hugged back like I really meant it. I was finally giving him that part of me.
“Am I interrupting something?” I pulled away from Alfred. Seb was standing next to us, wrapping his arms around us each. I grabbed Seb’s arm, pulling it off of my shoulder. I was still pissed at him for his remark from earlier.
“Nope, I was just going to get a drink.” I strode off towards the bar, ordering another extra dirty martini. I needed a few shots of tequila, but I was sure there would be much to say about that one, especially at such a public and high-end event. I waited, leaning up against the bar, browsing around on my phone. A set of hands slid around my waist, probably Logan. I didn’t bother to turn around. The bartender was making my drink, the pressure around me getting tighter, more firm. An erection pressed against my ass, definitely Logan.
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