The Finished Masterpiece (Master of Trickery Book 3)

by Pepper Winters

  He licked his lips, then looked one last time at Gil holding me prisoner before sighing and heading back to his desk. The second he was gone, I swatted Gil’s hand from me and swooped to my feet. “What on earth are you doing here?”

  My whisper sounded far too loud in the suddenly quiet space. Colleagues pretended to work but kept their attention on the new girl and her uninvited beau.

  “I’ll tell you back at mine.” He grabbed my wrist, tugging me with urgency and strictness. “We need to leave. Right now.”

  “What, why?” I twisted my arm, dislodging him. “I can’t go anywhere with you. I’m at work, Gil. I have a commitment to—”

  “Olin? Everything okay?” Shannon stretched an annoyed smile with bright pink lip gloss, her hair tied back with a matching coloured ribbon. Her shrewd gaze flew from me to Gil and back again. “You know company policy. Friends and family have to be signed in and approved by management.”

  “Approved by management?” Gil coughed. “You can’t prevent me from seeing her.”

  Shannon’s lips pursed. “I can if you’re disrupting other employees.”

  “I’m not disrupting anyone. Olin needs to leave. I’ve come to take her—”

  “I’m staying,” I whispered harshly. “I finish work in less than an hour. I’ll come to yours when I’m done.”

  “I’m not going anywhere without you.” His voice darkened with warning. Looking frostily at Shannon, he added, “Don’t penalize her for this. Blame me. Blame me, but it won’t change the fact that I’m taking her.”

  My mouth hung open. I rushed to do damage control. “I can’t take time off. I literally just started here. I told you, I’ll come to you when I’m finished, and not before.”

  His gaze flashed, his body rippling with energy. “You’re not leaving here on your own.”

  My mind tangled the past with the present. He’d always escorted me home. Always there to chaperon and guard. I’d always felt so safe in his presence, knowing he’d never let anything or anyone hurt me.

  Despite Shannon watching us, a twinge of pain left over from our fight made me whisper, “You were fine letting me walk home in the dark the other night.”

  His face turned to grey ash. “I know. It was the hardest and shittiest thing I’ve done in a very long time. I’m so sorry, O.”

  I wasn’t expecting that, nor the sincere anguish on his face. It gave me nothing to argue against. It made me see the seriousness of his request.

  Not that it’s a request.

  I sighed, glancing furtively at Shannon. “Sorry about this, Shannon. I value my employment and won’t jeopardise—”

  “It’s fine.” She nodded. “I’m sure there’s an explanation.”

  “There is. An exceedingly simple one.” Gil raked a hand through his unruly hair. “I need Olin to come with me—”

  “I’m staff, Gil.” I cut in. “I have an obligation to stay until it’s time to go home.”

  Couldn’t he see he was messing up my chances for long-term employment?

  I need this job!

  I needed to pay my bills, so I no longer had to stare at my ceiling late at night and fear the words ‘bankruptcy’ and ‘homelessness’.

  “Olin.” His big hand captured my cheek, erasing the outside world.

  It was just us.

  Us.

  In a sea of people who no longer mattered.

  His thumb caressed my cheekbone. His breath caught. And my heart answered his. My need matched his. I—

  “You need to come with me.” His voice shattered the illusion of aloneness. Bringing his lips to my ear, he added, “Please, don’t argue. I don’t have the strength today.”

  I pulled away, shivers still dancing over my skin. “I’m not being difficult, Gil. I truly can’t leave.” I pointed at the bank of elevators. “Go home. I’ll come by after work and we’ll talk.”

  He crossed his arms, bracing himself against the many curious stares we’d invited. “Like I said before, you can’t leave this building alone.”

  “What? Why?”

  His jaw clenched. “He knows where you work.”

  My heart tripped. The rush of adrenaline from unsuccessful kidnappings and Gil’s subsequent punishment sent worry-filled fire through my blood. “That arsehole? How the hell does he know where I work?”

  “Look...I’m going to leave you guys to it.” Shannon cleared her throat. “This is obviously private. I’m sure if this is a family emergency, the company will understand if Olin leaves a little earlier than normal.”

  “It is an emergency.” Gil never looked away from me while answering her coolly. “And she’s family. So it fits both criteria.”

  I sucked in a breath.

  Family.

  I thought I was the only one who remembered that promise.

  Family.

  You’ve slept with this man.

  Family.

  You’ve loved this man.

  Family.

  Yet right now, you can’t understand this man.

  “Okay, not a problem.” Shannon waved and tottered quickly away on her heels. The second she was gone, I repeated my question, my breath thin. “How does he know where I work, Gil?”

  “Same way I do.” His body tensed. “Your contract with all your work info must’ve fallen out of your bag when he...when he tried to take you. He paid me a visit today...he showed me.”

  So that’s where it went.

  I’d looked highly incompetent when I’d arrived on my first day missing my signed contract.

  My heart sank, two anchors of terror dragging it down. “He’ll know where I live too. My address was on there.”

  He nodded.

  Fear for myself was quickly overshadowed by fear for him. Placing a hand on his forearm, I did my best not to be hurt when he twitched and acted as if I’d stabbed him with my pen. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

  His gaze snapped to mine. “I tell you I’ve put you in mortal danger and you still ask if I’m the one okay?” He backed away, rubbing his mouth with his hand. “Olin, you really need to stop caring about others and put yourself first. Your goddamn goodness is going to get you killed.”

  “I’m sorry if my ethics annoy you.”

  “They don’t annoy me, they’re just not wise. Worry about yourself for fuck’s sake.”

  “Don’t you think it’s up to me who I worry about?”

  “All I’m saying is, don’t waste your concern on me.”

  “Ha!” I rolled my eyes. “I’ve literally worried about you my entire life.”

  “Did I ask you to?” His temper thickened.

  “No. It’s just what someone does when they care—”

  “Stop.” He sighed heavily, torment cloudy in his gaze. “Shit...why are we fighting?” One hand opened and closed by his side, the other reached for me despite himself. Once again, he fought the familiar urge to touch, to connect, to bond. “I’m sorry for causing you stress, O. I—”

  “It’s fine—”

  “No.” He shook his head. “I never deserved you. Not even when I had you. I definitely don’t deserve your concern.”

  His hand dropped.

  He went to shove it into imprisoning pockets.

  I reached out and stole it, wrapping our fingers together, binding us tight. Power ignited between us—something pure and transparent, honest and true. It hummed from his palm to mine, tingling and kissing its way up my arm and down my spine. “Just answer my question. Did he hurt you?”

  Gil pulled away with a grimace. “No.”

  That was a yes.

  He glanced at the elevators, his desire to leave obvious. “Please...just trust me.” His eyes flickered with the past, with a younger Gil who I very much used to trust.

  Before he’d broken my heart.

  My questions and worry could wait.

  “Okay.” Snatching my handbag, I logged off the work system and brushed past him with quick steps. He didn’t say a word, following me like a quee
n’s guard, waiting possessively close for the elevator to arrive.

  My heart beat skipped and tripped having Gil so near. My body steadily betraying me, filling with desire, remembering what it was like to be with him, to kiss him, to have him inside me.

  By the time the elevator scooped us up and swallowed us from the curious stares of employees, my knickers were damp and blouse far too tight.

  I struggled to catch a proper breath.

  I leaned forward to press the button for the ground level, but Gil beat me to it. Our fingers brushed on the button, sending a bolt of lust through my blood.

  I didn’t know what it was about elevators, but it seemed all great romances had an epic kiss in the claustrophobic transportation. Our tale wasn’t exactly a romance, but Gil’s hand cupped my cheek, his thumb feathering over my bottom lip. “I’m sorry about the other night.”

  I moaned under my breath as his thumb dipped into my mouth.

  His emerald gaze darkened, his body pressing into mine until he crowded me against the mirrored wall. My spine crashed against the coolness, my breasts and belly tingling as he imprisoned me with his weight.

  He trembled, his hips tight on mine, one arm braced on the mirror. “I’m sorry for being so rough with you. What I did...wasn’t right. I wasn’t...myself.”

  My heart galloped as his voice caught with something dark and dismal.

  My mind was useless, already drunk on his almost-kiss, but temper flared with coherency. “Wait...you’re apologising about having sex with me?”

  He frowned, his stare fixated on my lips. “I was rough with you.”

  “I liked it.”

  “I fucked you like an animal.” His forehead furrowed as he shut his eyes. “I never wanted to treat you that way. I made a promise when I was younger to always treat you with—”

  “With silk gloves?” I moved, trying to push his heavy weight off me. He didn’t let me, trapping me harder against the wall.

  “With respect.” His eyes locked on mine. “Men are monsters, O. I learned that lesson right from childhood.”

  The whorehouse of his youth.

  The screams of sex.

  The howls of men.

  For the first time, comprehension bowled into me. “Is that why you never attempted to sleep with me when we were younger?” I didn’t know how I felt about that. In awe? In pain? Grateful? Frustrated? “You knew how much I wanted you, yet you never touched—”

  “How could I touch you when I was that bastard’s son?” His mouth bracketed by strain. “I didn’t know if I could control myself, and judging by the other night, I was right to keep my dick in my pants.”

  “Wow.” I went to push him away but wrapped my hands behind his neck instead. “You’re an idiot.” Jerking his head down, I kissed him.

  He convulsed as my tongue broke the seam of his lips, tasting him, claiming him. His hands dove into my hair, holding me still as he opened his mouth and kissed me exquisitely hard.

  The hushed world of the elevator, the weightlessness of falling—it became a tinderbox. A mirrored prison where lust was a scalpel and desire a blade. Need sliced at my skin, blood bubbled with want.

  Our lips slipped and glided, our teeth clacked, our tongues tangled.

  His hips thrust into mine. His hands dropped to my ass, squeezing me, massaging with animalistic paws, wrenching me against the hard steel in his jeans.

  The elevator pinged.

  The doors opened.

  The architecturally light-drenched lobby ripped apart our hushed, erotic world.

  Gil tore himself from me, stumbling backward with his hands shaking and lips wet. I swayed on my heels, swallowing hard, smoothing my skirt down with trembling fingers.

  I managed to walk off the elevator and ignore the amused stares of two security guards, my body still clenching for Gil.

  What the hell just happened?

  Pulling me to the side, wrapping us in shadows of a corridor leading to the washrooms, Gil gritted his teeth. “That shouldn’t have happened.”

  “I kissed you. I started it.”

  “Yeah, but I—”

  “Don’t worry, Gil. I wanted you to maul me. I like it when you lose control. The only thing I don’t like is when you apologise for it.”

  “It can’t happen again.”

  “I’m getting tired of hearing that.” I sniffed. “It’s repetitive.”

  “It’s the truth.”

  A dagger slipped through my ribs and found my heart. “Why are you so determined to stop this?”

  His eyes sought mine, empty but depthless at the same time. “Because I only destroy those I love. And I fucking refuse to destroy you.”

  I rubbed at my aching chest. “But what about us?”

  He exhaled hard, his tan jacket creaking a little. “There is no us.”

  “There’s always been an us.”

  “It’s because of us that you’re in danger!”

  “What does he want from you, Gil?”

  His face shut down, his features unreadable. “Nothing.”

  I walked away, my heels condemning and loud on the travertine floor.

  “O.” His fingers wrapped around my arm, dragging me to a stop. “I can’t let you leave. You can’t be alone. Not until I figure this out.”

  Annoyance trickled with previous passion, creating a cyclone of unresolved emotion. “You’re forgetting I’ve lived alone for most of my life. I’ve managed perfectly well without you. ”

  I aimed for that to bruise just like he’d just bruised me, but I wasn’t prepared for the way sorrow painted his body with tragedy. “I know.”

  My fight faded as fast as it had arrived. “You can’t keep what you’re hiding a secret. Not anymore. I deserve to know what’s going on. You can tell me. You know I won’t judge you. I’ll help—”

  “Stop.” His eyes darkened, glinting like chiselled stone. “You want to know? Fine. He wants you because he knows you mean something to me. That you’ll ensure I’ll obey.” He snarled as if he could deny it. “He’s right.”

  “Gil, I—”

  “I didn’t want this to happen. I tried to keep you away so this wouldn’t happen. But it has and...”

  “And?”

  His muscles locked in place. “And now we both have to pay.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  ______________________________

  Gil

  -The Past-

  “OLIN MOSS, WHAT have I told you about talking in class?”

  I looked up from the pop test Ms Tallup had assigned us. Olin’s shoulders hunched, her head slid to the side, her gaze catching mine.

  My fingers tightened around my pen.

  The class was silent.

  It’d been silent since the test began.

  My hearing was acutely attuned to Olin’s every noise, and she hadn’t made a peep.

  My eyes narrowed to blades as Ms Tallup snapped her fingers with a sniff. “Detention, Miss Moss. This afternoon.”

  “Wait. But I—” Olin held up a hand. “I wasn’t talking—”

  “Arguing won’t help your case.” Ms Tallup sat in her chair and ignored the class as Olin threw me a disbelieving look.

  I wanted to tell her not to worry. That she didn’t have to do detention because she hadn’t done anything wrong. But I couldn’t because I knew why this had happened.

  Last week, the deputy principal had found Olin and me hiding behind the school gym after hours. I’d had a rough night. My ribs were sore from being punished for not getting payment from some john at three in the morning.

  My father decided to take payment in blood.

  My blood.

  After he’d finished, I’d walked out of the house—if that was even a word for the hellhole I lived in—and wandered (stumbled) the streets. At dawn, I’d found an old sketch pad abandoned on the footpath a block away from school. Some of the pages held doodles of dogs and flowers, but the rest were blank, offering a distraction from my pain.

&
nbsp; I’d always liked to sketch, but I hadn’t attempted anything in years.

  But as the sun rose and I waited for Olin to arrive at school, I drew the building, the street, and the tree outside our classroom. I even drew Olin—or what I could from memory.

  All day at school, I deliberated whether to show her. The work wasn’t very good, but it’d made all the other shit in my life fade knowing I could create art from nothing.

  The magic it gave me while dragging a pen over paper had been life-changing.

  As life-changing as Olin.

  Despite my lines being rudimentary and my skill lacking, I decided to show her, picking a spot where we wouldn’t be seen by other students behind the gym. She’d been so happy to share in my newfound hobby, so grateful that I’d given her another piece of myself, and we’d hung out for far longer than we planned.

  And of course, we’d been caught.

  Caught at the exact moment Olin put her hand on mine and our eyes locked while we sat against the brick wall. My mouth watered. My heart galloped. My stomach churned for the taste of her lips.

  We’d been so close.

  So fucking close to our first kiss.

  But then the gruff command from the deputy ripped us apart.

  I’d been furious.

  But in an awful way, I was grateful.

  Furious to have the perfect almost-kiss ruined, but thankful that I didn’t lose control and ravage her.

  If I touched her.

  When I touched her.

  She deserved to be pampered and adored. To be given sweet and softness. Not devoured and mauled like I was desperate to do.

  I’d thought keeping my distance physically would be easier as time went on, knowing we could be with each other when I was sure she loved me and could never take that back.

  But...it only grew harder.

  So damn hard it was a physical ache every second of every damn day. I couldn’t breathe some days. I woke up at night with an unbearable pain to run over to her house and climb through her window.

  To crawl into her bed, to kiss her as hard as I could, to take everything she offered me.

  And that sort of desperation terrified me.

  I’d have nightmares about making her scream like the whores inside my home.