CHAPTER EIGHT
Zek
It was agonizing walking out of the cabin with her and not having had the opportunity to touch her the way I wanted to. She’d taken her time to work me over the edge, and all I could think about was returning the favor. Where I enjoyed getting pleasure, I much preferred giving it. There was power like none other in hearing a woman scream my name. Especially one I found myself falling in love with.
“I can drive if you want. I was teasing you back there.” I reached for the key and gave her a cheeky grin as she handed them over to me.
“It was actually me teasing you. You seemed to like it quite a bit.” She wagged her eyebrows at me, and I couldn’t help but pop her ass. We could be so good together. I prayed she could see it like I could.
“I loved it, but I’m a little upset that you didn’t give me a turn. Quite unfair of you, counselor.” I got in the car and turned it on, but waited until she was situated to pull back.
“We bend the rules when necessary.” She smiled at me and leaned back, letting out a tired sigh.
I couldn’t deny myself the pleasure of watching her for a few minutes. Her pretty mouth was red, and her lips a little puffy from stretching around my cock. I stifled a growl at how much she belonged in my life, belonged to me. I would have her once everything was said and done. I just needed a clear path in front of me, and then I was moving in full speed ahead.
Something buzzed as I pulled onto the main lanes, and I ignored it, but Alisa sat up and looked around the floorboard frantically. “I’m looking for my phone. Have you seen it?”
“Try your purse?” I glanced at the dash to see that her phone was connected to the console. “Here, use this.”
I pressed the button to talk as she jerked up and gave me a look. “Hello?”
“Hey. It’s me.” A male voice that I didn’t know filled up the car, and I stiffened.
She closed her eyes and mouthed that it was her ex. I regretted like hell hitting the button. No wonder she’d tried to find her phone. The tension in the air was almost capable of being cut with a knife.
“Hey. I’m driving back from a meeting. Can I call you back?”
“No. I want to talk right now.” He let out a sigh and she started to combat him, but he didn’t let her. “I’ve been thinking a lot lately about us. Maybe I was too harsh on you. Maybe—”
“Ben, I’m not in the mood for this. You were right about our lives being too different to keep going the way we were. We’re better friends than we were a married couple.” She pressed her hand to her face, and I couldn’t stop myself from reaching over to brush my hand over the top of her back.
I wanted her to know that it was okay, that I was good with her talking to him or anyone she deemed appropriate. She wasn’t asking my opinion, but nonverbally, I wanted her to have it.
“No. I don’t think so. I can’t stop thinking about you. How cute you are when you read late at night and can’t see the words anymore.” He let out a soft laugh. “How beautiful you are when you come for me.”
“Ben.” She jerked back, her eyes rimmed with tears and her face flush.
“I’m serious. I need to see you tonight. Not as some girl I’m casual friends with, but as the woman I fell in love with. Let’s take a bath together like we used to. You know how much you love it in the tub. I could—”
“Ben. Stop. Shit.” She reached up and let her fingers run over the button, jabbing at them. “I have to go. I’ll call you when I get home and we can talk about the investments.”
She dropped the call and sunk down into her seat, turning her face away from me.
Dark emotions rolled through me, and I wasn’t sure if anger over her loving someone else or hatred toward myself for giving her up was stronger. I reached out and touched her hand as she jerked it away.
“Don’t,” she whispered harshly as tears ran down her face. The soft sob that left her tore me in two. What the fuck was I thinking? That I could just jog back into her life, steal her body for a few nights and what? She was hurting from her recent divorce, and I hadn’t stopped to even think twice about it. I was a greedy bastard.
“I’m sorry.” I put my hand back on the wheel. “I’m so sorry.”
“For what?” She sat up, turning to me as anger burned brightly in her gaze. “For my failed marriage and my overbearing career?”
I pursed my lips, not sure what to say. Shaking my head, I glanced at her. “No. For thinking that your marriage wasn’t all that it was to you. I forgot all the little parts that you must be missing.”
“Don’t. I’m the one who should be sorry. How embarrassing.” She wiped at her tears angrily.
“No. It’s okay. I’m just sorry I didn’t see it before. I wanted to be close to you, but I should have—”
“Do I really look like I’m in a place to handle this conversation? You being sorry for making love to me isn’t going to help right now. Please... just leave it alone.” She collapsed against the seat and closed her eyes.
I reached out and held her hand, squeezing softly every time my heart swelled in my chest for the beautiful woman next to me. I parked the car outside of my office and started to lean over to kiss her, but a horde of reporters jogged out from all angles.
“I’ll call tomorrow. Thank you for going with me today. I’d lean over and kiss you so hard it would steal your breath, but with all these people, it wouldn’t be good.” I locked eyes with her. “Don’t you dare go back to your ex. If you do, just drop the cases. I don’t want to keep pushing forward in this thing with you if there is no hope at all.”
She nodded. “Always about you, isn’t it?”
“No. It’s about you right now. Forgive me for today.”
“I only have one thing to forgive you for.” She smiled tightly and got out of the car, walking around it and waiting for me to get out. Her voice was so low, that I was sure no one but me heard it. “For making me want so goddamn bad that it hurts.”
I stood speechless as she drove off. The cameras flashed around me, but nothing could reach me in the place I’d crawled into. No one understood, not even Alisa.
***
Getting through the crowd of reporters was far easier than I thought it would be, but I should have turned the car around when I found a dark blue BMW waiting for me in the drive of the house. Something told me that whoever had come to visit wouldn’t be welcomed. I didn’t know anyone who drove a beamer.
I got out of the car and walked to the house, not turning as the door to the car slammed behind me. I figured whoever it was would get the clue that I wasn’t interested in entertaining anyone that night.
“Zek.”
The sound of Melissa’s voice should have surprised me, but after hearing that she’d gone to Alisa’s the other night, I figured it was only a matter of time until she came to me.
Turning, I crossed my arms over my chest and pressed the record button on the phone in my hand.
“Melissa. What a pleasant surprise.” I gave her a tight smile.
“Right.” She walked toward me with malice on her pretty face. Seeing her again reminded me why I’d let her have access to my body in the first place. She didn’t have a thing on Alisa Manning, but the girl was still a bombshell nevertheless.
“What do you need? I’m tired, and spending time with you is honestly the last thing that would be positive to getting my life back.” I tilted my head and studied her. “Why would you lie to everyone about us?”
“Oh you know... the usual.” She shrugged and stopped in front of me. Something deep inside of me whispered for me to be on-guard, but I wasn’t too worried. The girl was a hundred and twenty pounds sopping wet. She wasn’t going to best me, but her acting psychotic was a high possibility.
“Nope, can’t say that I know the usual. I’ve never worked to ruin someone’s life. You’ll have to tell me what drives someone to such unacceptable levels of insanity.” I shrugged. “Unless you’ve always been sick.”
“Sick? I’m not sick. You wanted me that day in your office, and if I recall, it was you that invited me to the cabin.”
“I sure did.” I slipped my hands in my pockets, depositing the phone. “I wanted to see if after you offered yourself up in the office that maybe you wanted to try dating. I was looking for a girlfriend. You seem like a nice girl, and we were more than compatible, though you’re a little more aggressive than most of the girls I’ve dated.”
She blushed and had the nerve to look a little shy. It was almost comical.
“Really? I didn’t know you wanted a relationship. Why didn’t you say so?” She moved toward me, stopping only as I held up a hand.
“I don’t know. That time is long gone. I’m not a man-whore, love. I’m a guy who loves to treat a girl right, lift her high up like a princess and shower her in gifts and affection. I thought you wanted to be that girl, but you lied to everyone and dragged me through the mud, and for what? Money? Your father is one of the richest guys I know.”
Her features tightened, showing me a good glimpse of the crazy underneath the mask. “This is all his fault! This was his idea after I told him how easy you were. I thought you were a man-whore, a user of women. You deserved what came at you. Or I thought you did.”
“I’m not that guy at all. You caught me off guard that day in my office, and I’ve never regretted a decision more.” I gave her a tight smile. “I’ll see you in court soon. Have a good night, Miss Mills.”
“No. Wait. I want a relationship. I didn’t realize a guy like you could want a girl like me.” She reached for me, and I backed up, hitting my back on the door just behind me.
“I’m not interested in that anymore. You need to go.”
I started to turn and she moved toward me. Moonlight gleamed off a sliver of silver in her hand. Instinctively, I turned and raised my arm, but felt the metal slice into my face. It was better than being stabbed in the back.
“You bastard,” she screamed and sliced at me again. I was ready this time and dodged the blade, knocking it from her hand.
“What are you doing? You crazy bitch.”
I turned her and wrapped my arms around her, holding her against me with one hand as she kicked and screamed. I pulled out my phone and called the cops as I locked her body against mine. With her back to my chest, she couldn’t scratch or bite me, though it didn’t stop her from trying.
By the time the cops came, I was weary and scratched up anyway, dripping sweat from every pore. She’d gotten the better of me because I was trying not to hurt her. I didn’t need anything else against me where the girl was concerned. I had her on tape and unfortunately had a scar on my face to prove just how sick she was.
The paramedic wiped an antiseptic over the cut. I was lucky not to need stitches, just butterfly strips to close the wound. He patted my shoulder. “I’m going to put some additional gauze on it. We took a few pictures, so hopefully that helps you some, Mr. Kellington.”
I nodded. “Thanks. I need all the help I can get.”
They left me standing there in my driveway, shaken and exhausted. I wanted Alisa so bad, and yet to call her would just drag her back into a part of my situation that I honestly didn’t want her in. She needed to figure things out with Ben and had enough on her back.
She’d find out soon enough all the shit that just happened. I’d tell Lizzy tomorrow after a good night sleep. She could talk to Alisa about it when she was ready, but I was in no hurry. We had enough ammo against the Mills to shut the case down.
I could file a civil suit specifically against Melissa for assault and slander later. It would be down the line a little, but I had all the evidence we needed.
Now, I needed a few days to sleep and pull myself back together. Between wanting Alisa and trying to get rid of Melissa, I was over dealing with women for a small stint.