I show up on his doorstep with a smile on my face and rope in my purse. He's not getting away from me this time. He's going to lay there like a good boy and answer every question I have for him. No dodging. No escaping. He's going to endure my full wrath. He deserves to have to endure it for what he's put me through.
“Don't you look sexy tonight.” He gives me his classic panty melting grin as his eyes scan me from top to bottom.
“Tonight is special,” the words have a clipped edge, but I hope he can't hear it. “Tonight, we're going to do something different.” I don't even look at him as I take his hand and lead him into the bedroom. He follows me like a lamb to the slaughter. Sex. That's all he cares about. That's all it takes to get him moving.
“What do you have in mind?” He draws me against him, gazing down at me with hooded eyes. On any other night, I would be melting in his arms. Tonight, I'm as cold as ice. I'm disgusted by him. Disgusted and hurt and numb.
Inside, I'm trying my best not to feel a thing. My adrenaline is pumping though. What I'm about to do is so batshit insane. But it feels like the only revenge I can take. And I want revenge. My heart has never been so battered in all of my life. First, he hid that he had an ex-wife from me. Then he lied about still volunteering at The Billionaires Club. Then he didn't tell me he has a son. And a few days ago, I found out he's paying Ryan to spy on me. Yes, he deserves what's coming to him.
I pull out of his grasp and open my purse to extract the two lengths of rope. I would have bought handcuffs, but rope is cheaper, and I'm still working on a mall paycheck budget.
“Got some kind of a home project going on?” He steps up behind me and peeks over my shoulder while I untangle the rope.
“I'm going to tie you to the bed and tease you until you can't stand it,” I tell him matter-of-factually.
He shifts his weight from one foot to the other. “I didn't know you were into this kind of stuff, but I think it would be much more fun if you let me tie you down instead.”
“Don't you trust me?” I practically snap at him. The answer is obviously no if he's having Ryan spy on me, which he is.
He notices my tense mood. “Are you alright?”
“I'm fine. Get undressed and lie down. Take everything off.” I set my purse on the floor and take the rope in my hand before stepping away. I want to watch him undress for the last time. See his gorgeous naked body for the last time.
He gives me a concerned look, but that doesn't stop him from obeying. I stare at him with a mix of desire and hatred. Just being in his presence is causing the fissure in my heart to deepen. I can't believe I allowed myself to fall for him. He was dangerous from the beginning. Dangerous to my heart. Everyone tried to tell me that, but I didn't listen. This is what my stubbornness has gotten me, a broken heart and a shaky mental state. Now, I'm paying it forward. About to pay it forward.
He finishes undressing, and I take in the sight of his naked muscular frame. So desirable. I have to resist him though. If I let him touch me, I'll be lost. Even though I despise him right now, I can't deny my want for him. Maybe it's made more intense by the fact that I know I'll never have him again. It's my last chance. My last time with him.
He steps towards me to draw me into his arms, but I move back towards the door, turning my gaze from him. “Lie down on the bed.”
“Are you sure you're okay?” He quirks a perfect eyebrow at me.
“I'm fine. I'm just frustrated about some things that happened at work today,” I lie. Does it matter anymore that I'm lying? No. I think I'm beyond the point of caring about which one of us is lying.
“Do you want to talk about it?” his voice grows sympathetic, and he moves even closer, putting his hands on my shoulders in a comforting gesture. I hate it that he's this close to me. I want to retreat, but I'm running out of room.
“We'll talk about it later.” I can't even look him in the eye.
He leans down to kiss my cheek, and I put a hand on his firm chest, trying to push him away. “Anders. Bed.”
“Listen, if you're not in the mood, we don't have to.”
Ugh. I hate it that he's being so considerate right now. It's only making this harder. I have to do this though, not just for me, but for every woman he would ever try to lie to and spy on and screw over again.
I force myself to look at him, swallowing my pain to step closer and lightly brush my fingers across his broad chest. “I want to. I really want to,” my tone is deceptively seductive. I have to get him into bed. Have to make him think that everything is alright between us.
“Mm,” he purrs, cupping my face with his hand and tilting my head so that our lips meet. His kiss is so sensual, it makes me want to cry. Maybe I can't do this after all. Maybe we should just talk this out.
My mouth moves with his, tasting him. He reaches for the buttons on the front of my blouse and begins unfastening them. I quickly swat his hand away, withdrawing from the kiss and licking my lips.
“No,” I say weakly. “On the bed. Please, Anders. You're always in control. I want control tonight.” My mind drifts back to what Ryan told me in the bar. That everything we ever talked about he relayed to Anders. I have to do this.
“Alright,” he surrenders, giving me a tender kiss on the forehead before retreating to the bed. “How do you want me?”
In so many ways. Ways that you'll never be able to give yourself to me. Why couldn't you have been perfect? “Put your hands against the bed posts.”
I crawl on top of him and begin tying his wrists to the bed posts. He lays beneath me, obliviously happy, while I take his freedom away. My hands pull hard at the knots, making sure he can't escape.
“I missed you while I was away,” he tells me as I finish the last of the knots. I can feel his body shifting beneath me in aroused anticipation. I bet he thinks he's about to get a nice treat, some special sexy time. This is going to be special alright.
“I missed you too.” It's the truth. I did miss him all the way up to the point that Ryan told me about the shady bullshit he was pulling. After that, all I felt was nervousness for his return. At least, I had a few days to plan this.
When he's well secured, I move down his body, locking eyes with him for the first time since I've been in his loft tonight. His are clouded with lust. Mine are doing their best to hide my pain behind an air of seduction. I hike up my skirt and push my hips back so that my silk panties are rubbing against his erection. His cock throbs up against me, and he groans, wrapping his fingers around the rope.
“I don't think I like being tied up,” he says with no real discomfort. “It drives me insane not to be able to touch you.”
“That's part of the point.” I lean over him and taste his mouth. His kiss is so eager. Just feeling his lips against mine makes my heart break a little more. It's now or never. “And you're about to like being tied up a whole lot less.”
“Well, you said you were going to tease me until I couldn't stand it. I'm not far from that point.” He bucks his hips slightly, rubbing his cock between my legs. My clit throbs in approval, and I silently curse myself. I'm not supposed to want him right now.
“Did you think about me while you were on your trip?” I decide to go with my body's desires, rocking back and forth on his member. I did tell him I was going to tease him. He deserves this extra bit of torture, and I might as well use him for my pleasure while I have him tied down and at my mercy.
He closes his eyes and relaxes, his arms going limp while he tilts his head back and moans softly. “You're all I could think about. Every night, I dreamed about this. I dreamed about tasting your pussy and shoving my cock inside of you.”
“You're so naughty,” I purr darkly. Naughty and horrible. He's a very bad boy.
“You make me this way.”
I highly doubt that. He's always been bad. That's pretty obvious to me at this point. I was just too blinded by lust to see it. “Did you wonder what I was doing while you were gone?”
“Everyday. I pictured you at your little kiosk in the mall.” He smirks. “Did you get the flowers I sent you?”
“Mhm.” My heart aches as I remember the evening before I met up with Ryan at the bar—the day that everything went to shit. Prior to that, Anders was winning the perfect boyfriend award, sending me flowers several times a week with sweet little notes attached to each bouquet. Once I found out that he was spying on me, I threw all the flowers he gave me away. I didn't want to be reminded of him or the pain that he caused me. “You knew what I was doing while you were away,” I say coldly.
“Well, we did talk a few times, and we texted each other pretty regularly up until those last few days.” He swipes his tongue across his top lip, and I watch his mouth hungrily. Unable to stop myself, I reach down and kiss him. It's chaste and sweet. When I pull back, he tries to follow me until his body reaches its limit from the restraints.
I still on top of him. “You didn't need to talk to me to know what I was doing, did you?”
His eyes open, but he doesn't look concerned. “What do you mean?”
The cool demeanor I've been holding onto drips away, and I cross my arms over my chest to show him that the game is over. “Don't act like you don't know.”
“Don't know what?” All traces of lust leave his expression as he realizes we're about to get into an argument.
“I'm not the only person you were texting while you were away.”
He rolls his eyes and sighs, “Not this again. I swear, I'm not cheating on you, Tessa.”
A harsh laugh escapes my throat, “You're so dense.”
“I don't think I am.” He scowls at me. “You're being insecure.”
“Insecure?” My nostrils flares. “Insecure.” It's taking everything in me not to slap him. “You're fucking spying on me, and I'm the one who is insecure.” I put my full weight on his cock, sitting back against him, using him as a chair. He winces slightly, but quickly recovers.
“What are you talking about?”
Oh God, he's going to keep playing innocent. Of course, he is. Because that's the kind of selfish lying asshole he is. “Ryan told me you're paying him to spy on me.” I spell it out for him.
For a moment, he looks shocked, but then it melts away to anger. “That's bullshit. I wouldn't do something like that to you.”
“He showed me the fucking texts, you asshole,” I practically scream at him, leaning down and getting into his face, my eyes widening for effect. He presses his head back against the pillow, retreating from me the best he can. In an instant, I see the look of defeat in his eyes.
“It's not what you think,” he says softly.
“It's never what I think, Anders.” I'm seething now. It's exactly what I think. He's so controlling that he can't stand to not know what I'm doing.
“Please, let me explain.”
“No. No more.” I shake my head at him. “I'm done listening to you explain. Now, you need to pay for what you've done. You may have thought I'm some sweet passive girl who was just going to let you get away with your shit. I've taken a lot from you. I've forgiven a lot. Not this though. And the worst part is, there's almost nothing I can do to you. You're too rich. Too powerful.” Too rich for his own good. Ryan's words play through my mind. He wasn't joking. “But if I can do nothing else, I'll make you think of the consequences. You'll never do this to another woman again.” I pull myself off of him and walk towards the door.
“Tessa, wait.” He strains his neck to look at me. “Untie me. We need to talk about this.”
I turn to him in the doorway. “I'm done talking to you, Anders.”
“You're being irrational.”
“No.” I point at him, feeling like my head might explode from anger. “Having your girlfriend spied on by one of her friends is irrational. You know, there are only two things I regret from this. One is that you're going to fire Ryan. That goes without saying. But I think he knew that when he told me. And two, that I actually fell in love with you.” Tears come to my eyes unbidden, and I don't even bother trying to hide them. He needs to see my pain, to see all the pain that he's ever caused me. There's so much of it. “You told me you love me, and I believed you. I wanted to believe you. And I loved you too, but I never said it because I was always afraid some bullshit like this would happen. And it did. So, I guess I should be glad that I didn't say it. But I'm saying it now. I loved you. I was in love with you. But you fucked it up. You fucked it all up.” I flail my hands. I know that I'm crossing the border of looking crazy, but I don't care anymore. My emotions are on the fritz. There's no longer a filter between my mind and my mouth. Everything that's coming out is raw. So painfully raw. “You will never do this shit to another woman again.” I shake my finger at him. “Never! Do you understand?”
He's silent now, gazing straight into my eyes as if he's trying to read my soul. I sniffle and turn away.
“I loved you,” my voice softens. “But now I hate you. You've destroyed me completely. I'll probably never think about love the same way again. I hope you die.” I nod, and then I leave. I can hear him calling my name as I walk away, can hear the sound of his wrought iron headboard rattling as he tries to free himself, but I'm not really listening anymore.