“Is there a game?” he asks. “I wasn’t aware of one, unless you mean this foolish competition between us that I will clearly win.”
Fucking asshole. I smile at him, but I’m balling my fists at my sides. “Why don’t you go fuck yourself man?” I counter.
I absolutely hate his guts. We’ve always been at each other’s throats right from when we were kids.
The thing he hates about me is that I have parents who love each other. His got divorced when he was twelve. Uncle Jackson likes to think he’s some kind of king, but he’s another prick I can’t stand. My parents will never tell me this, but that divorce was down to cheating. His father cheated on his mother and he’s had four stepmothers since.
He can’t stand the stability I have in my life and that my ass didn’t use the silver spoon I was born with the way he does.
“I don’t need to do things like that, Josh. Not when your little associate looks so damn scrumptious. I’m very aware you can’t sleep with her. That doesn’t mean I can’t.” He laughs. “I’ll bet her pussy is as good as –”
Motherfucker, he doesn’t get to finish.
I land a fist straight in his face so hard it knocks him to the ground.
The prick gets up ready and launches for me, coming after me like when we were kids. We aren’t kids anymore though. I’m not the scrawny boy he used to push around.
I have muscle on him and I’m already hyped up on the fact that this fucking competition exists. He’s not having my girl.
A one, two punch sends him back to the floor. Matt grabs me holding me back to stop me from beating Riley’s ass senseless and just then Giselle walks in looking bewildered. I see her and see the knowing look that comes into his eyes. He knows she means more to me than what everyone else can see. But he also knows to beware of me.
I shrug Matt arms off me and straighten up.
“You,” I say, pointing to Riley. Blood has started to pour from his nose. “You stay the fuck away from her. Don’t push me or think you can test me. Blood won’t matter if you do.”
At that moment, I don’t care who’s watching me. I take Giselle’s hand and lead her away.
I lead her back to my office, again not caring about the looks people cast my way. I know people talk here. I know people talk to Dad. That’s how he found out about the temps and any other shit he might have found out about me.
If someone wants to be a prick and tell him they saw me holding Giselle’s hand I’ll find a way to deal with it. Right now, the possessive side of me that truly believes she’s mine is acting out. Acting like she is mine, and it won’t allow me to hear another man talk about my woman that way. And it won’t allow me to let her go.
I’m still holding her hand even when we walk inside and close the door, shutting out Sheila’s stares as she breaks her neck to see what’s going on. She’d better not mess with me either. I upgraded her from receptionist to secretary because she’s reliable and I also practically tripled her salary.
I pray it’s not her who fills Dad’s ears with updates on my extra-curricular activities.
A little squeeze to my hand snaps my attention back to reality. Giselle runs her finger over the top of my thumb, and a blush creeps into her cheeks.
“Josh, are you okay?” she asks. She’s going to have more questions than that. She heard me say enough to know I was fighting over a woman.
My threats to Riley were enough to tell all. I didn’t even look back at Matt who must have been shocked to shit too by my actions.
Fuck, I got so mad at Riley it completely escaped me that he knew I wasn’t supposed to sleep with Gisele. That meant he and Dad were talking and I fucking hate when that happens. Riley acts like he’s the saint when he’s not. He acts like he’s so much better than me so he can kiss ass and fucking brown nose to get ahead of me because he’s jealous.
“Yes, fine.” I tell her.
She glances down at my hand still holding hers. “We’re holding hands in front of people, and you were fighting with your cousin… and you threatened him.”
I bite down hard on my back teeth and look at her. As I do I find that I can’t look away.
We’re holding hands at the office and I’ve been sneaking around with her for the last two months. This is not the kind of woman you sneak around with.
Look at her… beautiful and perfect. Inside and out. She’s the kind of woman you show off.
She’s the kind of woman you make sure people know is yours. She’s the kind of woman I would make sure people knew was mine. Riley wouldn’t have been idiot enough to taunt me the way he did just now if he knew she was mine.
I sigh and release her hand on that thought.
Fuck… what the fuck?
I need a drink or something. I walk over to the window and gaze out ahead at the lake in the distance. It serves as a distraction.
What soothes me more is the dainty hand on my arm. I turn back to face Giselle and I think about it all. What if I changed the rules of the game?
What if I did that?
I don’t know how to be the kind of man she deserves, but surely I can do better than that idiot Kirk.
“Josh, who were you talking about? It sounded serious and I’ve never seen you get so mad. Did he say something about someone… a woman of sorts?”
Shit, I just realize the other thing she could be thinking, that I was fighting with my cousin over some woman indeed, but not her. Considering I’m the watcher, the observer, I should have picked up on that straight away.
“It was you,” I answer and her eyes widen.
“What?”
“Don’t worry about it. Just don’t talk to him. He’s an ass.”
She smiles a little. “Josh you call everybody an ass. If they wear the wrong color or eat the wrong food, they’re an ass.”
I chuckle. “Okay, maybe I was having off days when I called those people whatever the shit I called them. Him though… it’s real.”
The seriousness returns to her face. “What did he say about me?”
I cup her face. “Baby, please… don’t worry about it.”
The longer I look at her, the more I contemplate the question looming over my mind and I decide that I can try.
I have a month left with her. It could be a month of something else too for me. Something different.
That means I have to be the one to change things up.
“Giselle, how about we do something different tomorrow night?” I ask. It’s going to take planning.
“Different?” A saucy glint sparks her eyes. “What more different can we do?”
I can think of a few things at The Dark Odyssey I want to try with her. That’s the beauty of it the place is filled with everything to live out your wildest fantasies. Even when you do it, it’s guaranteed that the next time you try it will be different.
It’s just like her. She is my wild fantasy and I can’t get enough.
I want more.
“There’s a lot, baby, but this will be different. You’ll like it.”
“Will I?”
I nod. She will. It’ll be something from her world. We are from two different worlds. There really was no way that we would have gotten involved had she not gone to the club that night, but she did.
She came to my world. Now I’m going to cross over to hers.
“Come here,” I say beckoning her to my lips for a kiss I savor, the way I savor her.
Chapter Thirteen
Giselle
Rachel and Jia are smiling at me.
They lean over the table at the coffeehouse and they’re listening to me babble on about Josh.
I’m listening to myself too. They’re intrigued and hanging on to every word I say.
I feel like I’m talking and I know it’s me who’s talking, but it doesn’t feel like me. Months ago when I first felt the signs of me slipping over this invisible line of fun with Josh, I reigned in myself and tried to focus.
Focus on my job and focus on cont
rolling my emotions. The thing I learned though about emotions is that it gets to a point where you can’t just keep them on a leash. You can only restrain them for so long, but your true feelings come out, eventually. Mine did yesterday and now I’m eager to see what Josh has planned for later.
“Giselle,” Jia begins with a bright smile on her face. “I’m gonna say that I love this. I really do. You’ve changed, and you’ve become this woman who is willing to push the limits. It’s a good thing.”
Rachel nods her agreement and raises her coffee cup like she would a wine glass.
“Here, here. I agree and I’m proud,” Rachel says. Her eyes twinkle with delight.
It’s nice to see my friends happy for me, even if there actually is nothing concrete to tell them. I’m just excited about later and that feels nice. It feels good. It means I’m healing. It means I moved on from Kirk and he doesn’t affect me anymore.
“So, any idea at all what you guys will be doing tonight?” Rachel asks.
I shake my head. “No. I have none. He didn’t tell me what to wear so I’m at a loss. He said to meet him in the park by the lake at eight. And as per usual he told me to go home early.”
They look at each other and smile.
“I can’t figure it out,” Jia states. “Maybe he’s thinking of some new ways to have sex or prep you for your club spree later.”
They both start to giggle. I thought that too and decided I wouldn’t hurt my brain trying to guess. I’m going to wear something nice. A little skater dress that’s smart casual. That should work since when we get to the club we always end up naked in either the suite or the playroom. I christened that room after he first took me over the edge in the playroom because that’s what it felt like to me. A place for us to play around with each other with fantasy adult toys, and my have we surely played. That man has done everything to me. things I would never even dream of or know was possible.
More than that is how I feel when I’m with him. He’s the fantasy and the man who I trust to take me on whatever wild adventure he conjures up.
Jia straightens as an idea seems to have hit her. “What if it’s dinner?”
I smile at the thought of that. “Dinner?”
“He said the river right. There’s some beautiful riverside restaurants. It’s gonna be something like that. I bet it is.”
“That means outside the club,” Rachel adds and wiggles her brows.
My breath stills. The thought of Josh wanting to see me outside the club and work is unreal.
We went to the club last night, and he seemed different. More attentive. It was the first night where it wasn’t just about sex. We talked more. I remember talking, then I fell asleep. Usually I’d get lost with him inside me and wake up like it too.
This morning when I woke up in his arms, he held me there for a little longer.
Jesus… am I allowing myself to get in over my head with this man?
“Outside the club would be nice. I won’t start thinking up stuff though. I shouldn’t,” I state. It’s time to do that reality check. I shouldn’t jump from A-Z, open my mind to new possibilities and then it will be my fault when it doesn’t happen.
I do wonder though… if maybe it could be more.
That fight he had with Riley said a lot. He hit his cousin because he said something about me. Something Josh didn’t like. it must have been pretty bad for him to act that way and then threaten him.
I didn’t know what was said but when I realized the fight was about me something unlocked inside me that really believed I belonged to him. The way he looked at me and held my hand is something I’ll remember. No matter what.
Rachel reaches across the table and taps the top of my hand. A smile fills her face.
“Open mind, Giselle. It means there’s no harm hoping for stuff with a guy you clearly like. The openness of your mind allows you to think of all possibilities. It means if one thing doesn’t happen then something else might. Since Josh seems like he’s really into you I doubt that you’ll be disappointed either way.”
It’s times like these that I’m grateful for my friendship with her. Jia nods, agreeing with that. Me too.
I started to change when I embraced the possibility of an open mind.
Rachel’s about to continue but stops when she lifts her head and looks over my shoulder. A little breath falls from her lips, then the widest smile spreads over her face.
I follow her gaze and see Dante coming through the door of the coffeehouse.
And damn, the man looks even better than the last time we saw him.
He has that sexy, tough guy presence, like someone like Hugh Jackman, but Dante Lombroso is Italian and is an Italian stallion in every essence of the word. His dark hair is cut into a neat faux hawk and he has the kind of face to turn heads. We aren’t the only ones looking at him. That man will get to a hundred and still be gorgeous. Even then I wouldn’t blame Rachel for her obsession with him and I don’t blame her now as she practically flies over to him. Her movement was one fluid motion. Realization it was him then flight to his arms.
Jia and I look at each other. Jia sips her coffee, blushing. She never blushes, ever. I just keep quiet and look back to the two. Rachel with her dad’s best friend.
I look and I try to do that thing Josh does. Watch. Observe.
Observe, and try to see if I can see more to the way Dante looks at Rachel than he always has.
They’re only paces away from us so I can hear them talking.
“My God, look at you,” he says fussing over her. I do not miss the twinkle in his eyes as he takes Rachel’s shoulders. “You look fantastic, Princesca.”
He’s looking at her like they haven’t seen each other in years, but it was just roughly over ten months ago. Just before Kirk and I broke up.
Princesca… I love the endearment. I have always loved it and as for Rachel, it really makes her head swell.
“Thank you, so do you,” Rachel replies. “When did you get back? I thought you were coming back next month.”
“Oh… I had some stuff to look into. Best to come home early.” He nods. “I’m just here for the week.”
“Oh, will I get to see you again?” Rachel asks and I feel sorry for her. she was crushed when he moved away.
“Of course, I’m not going to come home and not see my favorite girl. Let’s do dinner. You and me. And we can get ice cream.”
The dinner part of that suggestion was nice. I almost thought it was on the right track, but ice cream. She always told me he’d take her for ice cream at the kiddie parlor just like he did when she was five.
“Sure, okay. That sounds great,” Rachel answers and I’m crushed for her when a woman with platinum blonde hair walks in looking like she just stepped off the runway and stops at Dante’s side.
I feel even worse when Dante’s face lights up when he sees her. He releases Rachel and slips his arm around the woman who gives Rachel a stiff smile.
That’s when I stop observing.
“Rachel this is Maria, my fiancée. I’m so glad you got to meet her,” Dante says.
I stop listening then and turn back to Jia. I don’t need to watch anymore. Jia looks the same as me , crestfallen. She shakes her head too and bites the inside of her lip.
Moments later when Rachel returns to us her skin looks pale and her eyes too wide, like they’re tired from trying to give the façade of her looking excited.
She sits and stares openly ahead of us. It’s my hand on her elbow that brings her out of the trance.
“What’s wrong with me? I’m so crazy,” she says, and I feel worse when a tear runs down her cheek. Jia reaches for her other hand.
“I think it’s just time to move on,” Jia states, and Rachel nods.
“Well, she seems nice right? if I love him, then I should be happy that he’s with someone nice.” She looks to me as if for strength and I freeze because she’s shocked me again.
She’s never said she loved him. Not out loud, alth
ough it wasn’t exactly hard to guess.
“Yes,” I answer. It seems like the best thing to say because what else is there? Dante’s getting married. We just saw his fiancée and while she didn’t look all that thrilled to meet Rachel it doesn’t mean she and Dante aren’t meant to be with each other. Honestly, I might not be too thrilled either if my fiancé was holding Rachel the way Dante was, no matter the innocence in it. The woman looked like she just stepped off the runway, but Rachel looks like she could be walking right next to her on it. It was the threat of another beautiful woman why Maria looked the way she did.
“I’m sorry, Rachel,” I add and she nods. The light comes back into her eyes.
“It’s okay.” She smiles, but I can see it’s a smile she doesn’t feel. “I’m fine. I was just thrown seeing him. That’s all and meeting her for real. Don’t let me ruin your excitement for later. I think you will be quite surprised and happy with whatever Josh has planned.”
“You think so?” I ask going with the subject shift, although I can see she’s not as okay as she’s saying. I just hope that she’ll talk to me when she needs to.
“Yes, I absolutely do. I think personally we should go shopping for makeup or something to highlight the difference.”
I laugh and decide to humor her, and myself too.
I ended up buying a dress. It’s nothing fancy. Just a little black dress with a lace top that I’m wearing under a beige blazer. It floats about my legs as I walk down the path to the riverside. In my mind, I’m thinking that Josh might have chosen a restaurant. Nerves made me eat more than usual though, so I’m not actually hungry.
I see him just across the way, near the park entrance. He’s not wearing his usual suave clothes that he normally wears when we meet at the club. He’s wearing a leather biker jacket and dark jeans hung low on his hips. This is the first I’ve seen him in casual wear and he looks even better. This matches the bad boy version of him he portrays to the world.
Before him is a whole host of cars where people have gathered.
Entice: A Dark Billionaire Romance (Dark Odyssey Club Fantasies Book 1) Page 10
