Chapter Eight
Lizzie: I like it when you go all dirty. You make me so wet.
Time didn’t seem to matter to Elizabeth anymore. Her time was spent with Daniel, college, or work. She found herself looking forward to the times with him more than anything, and that scared her a little.
So when he said he needed to leave to help with a case several hours away, she didn’t mind. The distance helped for her to put their relationship into perspective.
They didn’t have a relationship.
He was her boss.
The guy she slept with for money.
Standing in the library late one Friday evening, she glanced through the shelves, looking for a title that would help with her latest assignment, learning and identifying behavioral practices.
“Hello, stranger,” Billy said, startling her.
She gasped as she’d been so deep in thought that she didn’t hear him come close.
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.”
“It’s fine.” Closing the book, she held it in her arms and was about to pass by him.
“I’ve not seen you around here for a couple of weeks.”
“I’ve been really busy.”
“With your older boyfriend?” he asked.
She didn’t say anything, waiting for whatever he was going to say. Since the Halloween party she’d been trying to put some distance between her and Daniel. She answered whenever he called, but she also stopped doing so much studying while she was in his company.
For some reason in the past couple of months she’d gotten into the habit of sharing stories she’d read online that she found shocking or just plain funny.
With him away, she was more than okay to try to focus on her studies and work. Even as she tried not to think about him, her body had other ideas. At night she’d wake up missing his touch, and the way he’d stroke her just to hold her.
“You’re very quiet about that. You don’t speak about anything, do you?” he asked.
“My relationship is no one else’s business.” She shrugged. “I don’t expect you to share your relationships with me.” Nor was she interested in knowing the details.
“So you’re still dating him.”
Elizabeth sighed, staring at him. “What is all this about?” she asked.
“What’s what?”
“Cut the bull here. I’m not a sophomore or a high school girl. I’ve seen the way you and your little clique operate. I’m not buying this sudden interest in me.” She tilted her head to the side. “Is this some kind of joke, or are you betting money? I’m sure that’s the latest rumor I’ve heard.”
Spending most of her time alone, and tending to be invisible, she got to hear a lot of the gossip. Most of it was crap, but she heard there was a bet going on between Billy and his friends that he can’t get a girl into bed. If he does, he wins a couple thousand dollars, and some car.
Billy’s face went bright red, and for some reason, Elizabeth found this to be the most entertaining thing she’d seen.
“Wow!” She shook her head. “I’m the girl. Right? You’ve made a bet to see if you can get me into bed.” She bent over laughing, and remembering that she was in the library, she continued to laugh all the way back to her desk.
She saw several of his friends waiting at the table, and that just set her off. Even though there were several people studying, and she hated being the center of attention, she couldn’t control her humor.
“This is just … I cannot believe this.” She picked up her bag and books before returning her attention back to him. “No. Hell no. It’s never going to happen.”
She borrowed out the books, leaving a shocked Billy and his friends behind.
Walking the short distance to her apartment, she dropped her bag and books before calling Daniel.
This was the first time she’d have called him in a week.
Grabbing a soda out of her fridge, she dropped down into her chair and waited for him to pick up.
“Hello,” he said.
She frowned as he sounded a little put out. “Would you like me to call another time?”
“No, no, everything is fine.” Elizabeth heard some laughter in the background along with music.
“What’s wrong?”
“Oh, nothing was wrong. I just wanted to tell you something. You know, to do with Billy.”
“Are you dating him?”
“No, of course not. He asked me out, and I figured out that it was all for some kind of bet. I’d been hearing a lot of rumors, and I couldn’t—”
“Daniel, baby, come on. It’s our party. Come and join the fun.”
Everything inside Elizabeth froze.
The feminine voice sounded flirtatious and familiar with Daniel.
Biting her lip, she heard Daniel respond.
“So what was this about a bet?” he asked.
“Erm, it’s nothing. I’m tired. I’m sorry to have disturbed you. I’ve got to go.” She quickly ended the call, dropping her cell phone onto the sofa between her thighs.
Her heart raced, and she hated that her tears began to sting from the pain.
She didn’t know what to think in that moment. Her cell phone buzzed, but with how close the tears were, she didn’t trust herself to answer. Turning her cell phone off, her apartment seemed so quiet.
He was with another woman, and she sounded way more familiar than Elizabeth would have liked.
Determined to put it to the back of her mind, she focused on the book right in front of her, wishing more than anything that she could just forget it. She didn’t need or want to think about Daniel right now.
No matter how hard she tried to focus on the pages of her book, her breaking heart wouldn’t let her. Finally giving up, she grabbed her cell phone and headed toward her bedroom.
She needed to turn it on as she used her phone as an alarm.
Sitting down on her empty bed, she stared at the phone, wishing she could just leave it, and not have to worry about him calling her.
In that moment she realized that even though he didn’t want to share her, and she’d agreed to no other men, Daniel hadn’t done the same about women. He was the boss, and this she needed to remember. Just because she enjoyed his company and he was a lot of fun, he paid her to be there.
It didn’t matter if she hated that reality as it was the truth.
Finally, accepting that, she turned her cell phone on. She lay down in bed, getting comfortable. The moment her cell phone loaded, her cell began to beep with missed calls and texts.
She saw five missed calls and several texts.
Daniel: You didn’t need to hang up.
Daniel: It’s not what it sounded like.
Daniel: Look, I’m at a family party, and there’s a lot of women here from my past. Not lovers either. Just people I remember growing up, their kids, and whatnot.
Daniel: The woman you heard is the mother of two kids, and is very much in love with her actor husband.
Daniel: Elizabeth … please answer the phone.
Staring at the messages, guilt swamped her, and she gasped as in that moment, her cell phone began to ring.
She debated answering it but saw no real choice.
“Hello,” she said.
“Finally. Why did you hang up like that?” he asked.
“You sounded very busy.”
“I’m never too busy to answer the phone for you. Look, I know how it sounded, and I’m sorry. My parents arranged this party weeks ago. I didn’t know, and I decided to see them on my way back. Nothing has changed with them. They still want me to settle down with the right girl as if I’m not a forty-year-old guy who wants to make his own decisions.”
“You really don’t have to explain anything to me. This is our arrangement, remember. I shouldn’t have called you. I’m sorry.”
Silence met her words.
“Don’t. Don’t do that. I’ve got no problem with the fact you called. Do you even realize that this is the first time you’ve called me?”
She frowned. “It is?”
“Yes. I usually start all the talking and all the texting.”
“Oh.”
“Why did you hang up the phone?” he asked.
“I didn’t want to interrupt your evening. It’s fine, Daniel. I just wanted to tell you about figuring out about Billy.”
“Tell me,” he said.
She glanced over at the clock. “It’s really late, and I’ve got to get some sleep.”
Tears spilled out of her eyes. She had to take a step back now or risk even more pain when he ended this between them.
No matter how much she wanted to forget that he paid her for sex, she couldn’t. He owned her, and that was the way she’d see it.
“Goodnight, Elizabeth.”
She hung up without saying a word.
****
Daniel wanted to launch his cell phone across the damn balcony. She’d withdrawn from him. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know why. When her call came, he’d only just gotten to his parents’ house, and he’d been so tired, he’d been somewhat taken away by everything.
Her call had been a pleasure.
Damn it.
All the ground he’d fucking covered was now gone.
Taking a seat on one of the chairs outside of his room, he watched the moon. The party had started to die down an hour ago, and he wasn’t interested in joining anyone. Once he realized that his parents weren’t interested in seeing him, and kept throwing woman after woman in his face, he’d split, heading up to his room.
From there, he’d been phoning and texting Elizabeth, hoping she’d pick up.
He’d not had an ounce to drink, and by the time he woke up in the morning, he was alert enough to keep on driving.
Deciding not to linger to see his parents, Daniel went straight to his car, and began the journey back home. Only he didn’t park outside his penthouse or the apartment where he and Elizabeth spent most of their time. He parked outside her apartment building, and using the spare key he’d gotten made, let himself inside her home.
Her apartment, though small, was always spotless. She didn’t like mess, and he appreciated that.
Heading to her kitchen, he started the coffee machine he’d purchased for her, and then he began breakfast.
She didn’t have a lot of food, not as much as they shared in both of his apartments, but he found some slices of bacon, eggs, and bread.
He’d been in her home for ten minutes when she emerged from her bedroom, holding a bat.
“Don’t worry. I come in peace, baby.”
“Daniel?”
“The one and magnificent only.”
“What the hell are you doing in my apartment?” she asked.
“I’m making breakfast. I think that’s really obvious, and I have to say you really do look cute in those pajamas.”
She dropped the bat and glared at him. “Why are you here?”
“Is this one of those deep and meaningful questions that only scientists like to debate?”
He saw the twitch of her lips, but still, she didn’t completely laugh, which he didn’t like.
“How did you get inside my apartment?”
Daniel lifted up the spare key he’d gotten made. “Not hard to do when you left them on my kitchen counter a while ago. Before dropping them off with you at the coffee shop, I had a spare set made.”
“Without my knowledge.”
“Yep. I do things like that.”
She sighed. “I better go and get dressed.”
“No need to on my account. Please, take a seat, and we can talk.”
“We’ve got nothing to talk about.”
“Actually, I think we’ve got a lot to talk about. More than you want to admit.” He began to fry up some bacon, and his stomach growled in that moment.
“Look, I was a little taken aback by the woman in the background. I’m sorry, and it won’t happen again.”
“You know, I like that you’re a little jealous.”
“I’m not.”
“And you’re a liar, too.”
She gritted her teeth, taking a seat at the kitchen counter, the only one available.
Removing his jacket, he released his tie and continued to work.
“I’m not in love with you,” she said.
“Now that stung.” He glanced over at her, and he didn’t like how determined she seemed not to have any feelings for him.
This was your own agreement. The fucking without the feeling.
Either way, he believed she was trying not to have feelings for him, even though she did.
He could work with that. No matter what Elizabeth said, she had feelings for him. He wasn’t stupid. A woman who hung up the phone and then created this distance was a woman protecting her heart, and he had no intention whatsoever of crushing it.
“I happen to care about you a great deal, Elizabeth. I enjoy the time we spend together, and you’re the first woman in my life that has ever made me feel that way. In fact, the very thought of another man touching you, or having anything to do with you, fills me with a deep-seated rage. That Billy guy you’ve spoken about, world’s biggest asshole, and I know you can do so much better. You can have me.” He tapped his chest and smiled.
There was a hint of a smile on her lips.
Plating their food, he pulled the second chair that he’d purchased when she’d been sick, and sat opposite her.
When he handed her a slice of buttered bread, she took it. “Thank you.”
“I missed you while I was away.”
“I … you don’t want love, Daniel. I’m not saying that I’ve miraculously fallen for you in the past few months, but you’ve got to understand that it’s not hard to do. I … don’t want to get my heart broken, okay? I just … I want to get through college, pay my debts, and make a new life. You can’t keep breaking your rules.”
“Didn’t you know? Rules were made to be broken.”
“Please don’t make a joke out of this or say something that seems to appease everything and everyone. I’m not trying to be a bitch here. You pay me for sex. We have a lot of sex, and I need to remember that. I can’t keep forgetting that you’re my sugar daddy in all of this.”
He watched her. From the death grip she had on her fork, she really was struggling to deal with their relationship, and Daniel couldn’t blame her.
Not once had he given her any reason to believe that there was going to be more between them, and he couldn’t do it.
Women didn’t work for him, not in the long term. He found more often than not, he got bored. Normally, he was bored with a woman within a couple of months.
That time frame had already come and gone with Elizabeth, but he didn’t want to give her false hope, nor did he want to let her go.
The thought of another man touching her filled him with jealousy so dark it was like a crushing blow in the pit of his stomach.
“I like breaking the rules. I follow the law, and I’ve watched people who have absolutely no regard for it come and go. They abuse it, and in this, we can bend to suit our needs. I don’t just enjoy sex with you, Elizabeth. It’s not like when you’re on your monthly cycle I don’t see you. I like coming to the coffee shop, watching you study, helping you answer stupid questions that your professors think show intellect but for me, make them total assholes. I don’t want us to stop what we’re doing. I enjoy your company, and stop bringing up the damn arrangement. You’re not a whore, not to me, you’re not.” He reached out, taking hold of her hand. “I want to be your friend just as much as I love fucking your brains out.”
Elizabeth burst out laughing. “Wow, that was so sweet, and then you added that at the end.”
“I’m a dirty lawyer.” He winked at her.
“You never made the same agreement as I did,” she said.
“Which one?”
“The … erm … other men part.”
“I’ve seen what happens when there’s more than two people in a relationship. There’s no interest for me to see or be with another woman. On that, you have my word. If there ever is another woman, I promise you, you’ll be the first to know, but I will not cheat. I couldn’t do it, not even when I was a punk ass kid and a little know-it-all.”
“Did you drive your professors crazy?” she asked.
“All the time. I answered back. I always had a smart-ass comeback for them, which they hated so damn much. It was funny. I guess I was like the class clown to a lot of kids. You see, my professors didn’t realize that I’d been reading law books since I was thirteen years old. That’s how addicted I was to the law. It’s why I’ve got no interest in advancing my love to anything else. I love the law, and that’s where I want to stay. In my opinion there’s quite a few gaps that need fixing. I believe with the right dedication, and research, and proof, we can make the system equal and just.”
He loved seeing that smile on her face, and he’d gladly do anything to see it.
“Sounds like you’re an idealist as well.”
“Much to my parents’ disgust. They believe there’s a tier system, and there are those that are above the law. No matter how often they tried to get me to agree, I couldn’t do it.”
“You’ve surprised me, Daniel.”
He kissed her knuckles, winking at her. “Prepare to be surprised more often.”