The Laws of Love

by Belle Winters

  He met my eyes and gave me a hint of a smile. “Yes, I seem to remember that clearly.” He made no further mention on my things – or better yet, my lack thereof and I was happy.

  The next few days’ kind of breezed by and we were at the airport waiting for my parents before we knew it. They were both excited to see Ayde again and he them. It made me feel good inside that he got on so well with my parents. He deposited us at the new place and left to give us time to catch up. They oohed and ahhed about the apartment and I felt like such an imposter. I needed to set the guilt aside if I was going to make it through this visit, otherwise they would see right through me.

  Ayde came over the next day and my mom broached Christmas plans. “You haven’t decorated or anything yet and Christmas is only two weeks away.”

  I opened my mouth to answer but Ayde cut me off. “Well, tomorrow is Sunday and my parents always do this whole family dinner thing. My mom wants me – no threatened me to invite you and not take no for an answer. Plus, my mom goes all out for Christmas. It’s usually just immediate family but I wanted to invite you to celebrate with us as well.”

  I wasn’t sure how much of a good idea that was. Before I could get my thoughts in order my mother, the traitor responded. “That is so thoughtful and that sounds like a wonderful idea.” She turned to me. “You’ll get to meet his family now.”

  Ayde laughed. “She’s met my family ages ago. They always invite her over, she’s a fan of my mother’s deserts.”

  My mom laughed along and my dad spoke up. “Pies? If there’s pie she’s got her face in it.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Gee thanks.”

  Drayden had bought dinner over and I thought it was a goodtime to eat. “Can you help me with the food?” I asked him. he nodded and stood following me to the kitchen.

  Since he’s gotten here he hasn’t touched me. At all. I was a little concerned because that was so unlike him. Ever since we started this whole thing we have going on between us he hasn’t been able to keep his hands to himself whenever we were together. There was constantly some type of touching. Him running his fingers through my hair, holding my hand, full out groping me, placing a hand on my knee or thigh, or rubbing his leg against mine as we sat side by side working together.

  When we cleared the kitchen and were completely out of eyesight from my parents he pushed me against the counter and kissed me like a starving man. You would think its been weeks or months since we’ve last kissed the way he went at me. He broke the kiss when we needed air and put his forehead against mine. “Shit that was hard.” He whispered.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “I wanted to do that since I saw you.”

  I frowned. “So why didn’t you?” I asked.

  He shrugged. “Your parents, it seemed a bit inappropriate and I’m not sure how much they know about our relationship.”

  It didn’t escape my notice that he referred to this thing as a relationship. “did you want to keep it a secret?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “It’s not that but I can’t read your dad. He likes me, but I’m sure he thinks our relationship is strictly platonic whereas your mom has suspicions of our attraction but knew that we weren’t pursuing it. At least not then anyway, I’m not sure if she knows either. I’m kind of nervous about their reaction since I’m your boss and all.”

  I laughed. “Holy shit, finally I know what scares you. Parents!”

  “Shhh” he urged looking around as if he’d know whether they heard us or not by inspecting the kitchen.

  I rolled my eyes and began getting what we needed. “Fine, your secret is safe with me.” We had dinner and Ayde made his way out without so much as a goodbye kiss.

  Drayden

  I picked up Cassie and her parents for Sunday dinner. The one thing I didn’t think about was my own family, who we would be with in only a few minutes. They were sure to blow us up no matter how much I would try to avoid it so I guess we would see her parent’s reaction soon enough. We reached my home and I saw as her parents sized the place up. Her mom looked pleased, while her father was unreadable my nerves were kicking into overdrive.

  My dad greeted us at the door. He pulled Cassie into a hug and introduced himself to her parents. From there he led us all into the house where he introduced my mom and she hugged Irene and Jordan. We went out into the family room – as per usual – with my dad where Shelly, Laura, and Amy were. My sister had really taken them on as friends. Cassie handled introductions here and we all got comfortable.

  I was quiet for the most part sitting by myself once in a while engaging in the conversation with Jordan and my dad. We sat around for dinner and I chose to sit next to my mom and away from Cassie. Being close to her is too tempting and I didn’t know how much more restraint I could muster.

  My mom had made steak and I was ravenous. I cut off a piece of steak and just as I was bringing it to my mouth Irene spoke up. “I’m quite impressed.” She said.

  The questioning looks around the table told me I wasn’t the only one who was confused. She took a sip of water before catching my eye over the rim of her glass. “That you two have made it this long trying to pretend that you aren’t together.”

  I heard choking and I turned my head to see Cassie sputtering. Laura patted her on the back and she got control of herself. My mother, father and Shelly all had their heads down but I could still see all the signs of their silent laughter.

  I cleared my throat and looked from Irene to Jordan. My mouth opened and closed a few times but nothing came out. Thankfully, Cass didn’t seem to have the same speech problem I did. “What are you talking about?” she asked but it came out as a squeak. No way was anyone going to buy that. My silence may have been better.

  Jordan leaned forward placing his elbows on the table. “Are you two seeing each other?” he asked eyes bouncing between the two of us.

  I gulped and met Cassie’s eyes. He looked a tad bit pissed and I didn’t know what the hell he was going to do. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve never had an issue with defending myself but there’s not a damn thing I would do if he had a reaction. He had every right, I’d been in his home and almost took his daughters virginity under his roof. I’ve done worse than any of the knew so I would more than certainly deserve whatever it was.

  I decided to bite the bullet. “Yes. But in our defense it is fairly new. We weren’t seeing each other that way when we were in Texas.”

  Irene rolled her eyes and I wondered if she was going to blow us up. Jordan frowned. “What do you mean? I was certain you two were an item before, you sure as hell fight like a married couple. You think because you didn’t do it in my face I didn’t know? We could hear the screaming matches through the house.” He shook his head. “Well at least I wasn’t too far off, but I was so sure…”

  Cass frowned. “What do you mean? Why would you think that we were?”

  He gave her a look that clearly said ‘are you serious?’ “sneaking out in the middle of the night to build snowmen, we watched you two for a while out there you know, sleeping in the basement… I thought you two may have been doing other things and were trying to be discreet.”

  Shelly spoke up. “You two were canoodling in the basement of her family home? Naughty, naughty kids. Now what’s this about a snowman?” she asked getting excited.

  I groaned. “Well she’s a grown woman, I would’ve expected her to be having adult relations. I wasn’t happy about the idea, but what could I have said? She’s 28 years old, I’m an old timer but I do believe that people reach a point where their parents just need to take a step back with some things. If she was 18, that’d be a different story. Oh and the snowman thing they took a bunch of pictures.”

  He was diming us out big time. My family was intrigued now, I’m sure they couldn’t imagine me building a snowman. “Whip out those pictures.” Shelly demanded.

  I sighed and took out my phone scrolling to the pictures from that night. I didn’t care if they snooped throu
gh my phone I have nothing to hide. Before I would be concerned about her seeing some raunchy texts or picture messages, but that’s all gone now. I was making sure I didn’t have any pictures of Cass in my phone I wouldn’t want any of them to see. I knew I’d taken pictures of her but when I found none, I realized that they must all have been mental.

  I handed the phone over and they all stuck their heads together as they passed around the phone looking through the pictures. My mom looked overly happy as she scanned the photos and I caught Cassie’s eye. She had a deep blush coating her cheeks and she looked like she wanted to disappear into the floor. I grabbed our plates and gestured for her to follow me. We got up and left the room and no one else seemed to notice.

  I led her upstairs to my room so we can eat without being under everyone’s scrutiny and to get some privacy. Yep, I was 33 fucking years old and I was sneaking off to my childhood room with my girlfriend while our family acted like this was our first date or relationship. Hell maybe it was but still, I felt too old for this shit.

  I handed her; her plate and she dug in. When we were done eating I piled our plates up and scooted back onto the bed so that my back was against the headboard. I pulled her back to sit in between my legs and she leaned her back against my chest.

  “That was horrible.” Cassie finally said.

  I laughed. “Hey it went better than I thought, I was sure your father was going to kill me.”

  She shook her head. “No. but I was surprised that he thought the same thing my mother did. I guess that’s why they weren’t asking questions or thought it weird your parents invited us over or that I’d been here. Hindsight is something isn’t it?” she asked.

  I nodded. “Umm hmm.” I leaned down and placed a kiss behind her ear. I worked my way down her neck and to her cheek. “I’m happy they know though.”

  She titled her head to the side to allow me better access. “Is that right?”

  “Yes. I was thinking about how I would survive waiting for them to leave to have you again. I couldn’t wait to touch you.”

  She scooted further back so that my erection was pressed against her ass. I reached around her and slid my hand underneath her shirt until I found her erect nipples. “Please touch me.” She whispered. She didn’t have to ask twice.

  We had us a quickie and made sure that we didn’t make too much of a mess out of ourselves. I’m sure it would be assumed but we didn’t need to give them anymore fuel. We waited until she no longer looked flushed before we went back downstairs, she was eager for desert. They seemed to have gotten it all out of their systems and things were back to normal. I didn’t have any issues touching her anymore but I kept it PG. I always did in front of people.

  As we were leaving, Irene promised to call my mother and said she would definitely be seeing her on Christmas eve. Apparently they made plans that we’d all stay at the house the night before so we were there first thing Christmas morning. I had no issues with that as long as everyone was aware that Cassie would be staying with me in my room.

  Chapter 12

  Cassie

  Drayden’s office was officially back in order so we would be reporting back to the office on Monday. I would miss being alone with him in his house while we worked and were free to take breaks to kiss and do whatever the hell else we wanted to. I bought his morning coffee with mine as I made my way to the office. I was a bit late today being off of my normal schedule and I hoped he wouldn’t have my ass. Just because we were in a relationship, I wasn’t expecting any special treatment. He was there when I arrived as I expected and I went straight into his office.

  “You’re late. Did you have an issue with your minions this morning?” he asked.

  I handed him the coffee. “I wouldn’t had guessed you knew anything about Despicable Me. I guess that makes me Gru.”

  He nodded. “It does. When you get settled can you see if you can wrap up these guy’s identity. Their security is fucking tight, and its driving me mad.”

  “Me too. I’ll get right on it.”

  I went to my desk and booted up. They had reinstalled all the apps I needed and input some pretty hardcore security. I got an idea and ran with it. Being Ayde’s assistant gives me access to employee files. I found Paul’s file and looked up where he went to school. From there I used my best friend google and lined up his schools with Paul. They’d been going to the same schools from elementary school through Harvard. Interesting, I would bet that these guys who are working with them had also attended school with them. Looking at the comradery between the two men and how smart they’ve been they would only enlist people they could trust.

  I kept digging and what do you know, they were in the same fraternity. That information was easy to find. I looked up guys who were in the fraternity at the same time as them and slowly went down the list looking up each guy. Eventually I found three men who worked for Mavorik’s company. They must’ve got in through family connections, and I wouldn’t doubt that this plan has been in motion for a while. Big expected payouts, a good job on the resume, and a set future by pulling this off. As I dug as much as possible into these guys backgrounds I found that their pasts slowly interjected them in the paths of Paul and Jerry slowly but gradually. They all definitely knew each other before college that was for sure.

  I felt good about my discovery. I pulled up the chat box and clicked on Ayde.

  Cassie R: Found some good information

  Drayden M: Good news, let’s chat after this meeting.

  I checked his calendar and saw it would be another hour before he would be free. I ordered us some lunch and went back to my actual work. The food came just as he was wrapping up his meeting and I got our lunch and made my way into his office.

  “I figured that even beasts get hungry.” I said by way of greeting.

  He smirked. “Well baby, what do you have for us?” he asked.

  My eyes narrowed. “Call me that again and you won’t be having anything from this bag mister.”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know what’s in there but I’m positive there are other things in this room I’d be just fine eating.” His eyes flared and I was instantly horny.

  “Whatever.” I said attempting to brush it off.

  I emptied the bags and separated the food. He immediately began to eat and I took a bite before launching into what I just found. “Do you think we should maybe involve Gerald Senior? If we got him involved, we could get access to his company files and he could help us.” I suggested starting to dig in.

  “That sounds like a good idea but I don’t know. You have to remember, at the end of the day that’s still his son and from what he’s told you he’s willing to do what he can to get him out of trouble.”

  I frowned. “But he’s setting him up!” I said.

  He shrugged. “If it was me and my father or you and yours, do you think they would turn their backs on us no matter how disappointed they were?” I shook my head no. “Exactly. If we give him everything we know he could try to cover all this stuff up and what we haven’t yet found to get them both off the hook. We would need concrete evidence and proof before we even go to him. We need to make sure that there is no way out of this.”

  “That’s true.” I admitted in defeat. I was just ready to get rid of these dirt bags. It was a little depressing even thinking about working for the same company as some of these guys.

  My stomach twisted. The thought of this is making me sick. I went to take another bite and my stomach jumped. Holy shit I was literally sick. I put down my plate and hopped out of my seat running for Ayde’s bathroom. When I began heaving he was there right behind me holding my hair. When I’ve emptied out my entire lunch I was able to catch my breath.

  “I’m kind of scared I’m next.” He said looking worried.

  I shook my head. “I don’t think it was the food, I think it was my thoughts. These guys just are horrible.”

  He nodded. “Don’t let it get to you this way though. You need to compartmental
ize these things otherwise it might eat away at you.”

  He helped me up and offered me some mouthwash. After I had freshened myself up I made my way out to his office and my seat. We wrapped up the meeting and went back to work.

  Drayden

  I told Cassie to come over to my place that night but she didn’t show. She shot me a message that her stomach was still twisted and I figured she might’ve had a bug or something from when she threw up earlier. I offered to go to her but she turned me down.

  She came to work the next day looking more like herself than she did the day before. We buckled down to work and made it through the day. Somehow during the week, she was able to confirm the identities of the guys working for Mavorik. We were getting close; we were currently brainstorming how to get them to talk to us without approaching them point blank. That might not go over well as these guys seemed to have a high level of loyalty.

  I wanted to invite Cassie over tonight since I missed her yesterday but I didn’t. I was going Christmas shopping today and she was on my list. Her scarce wardrobe bothered the hell out of me. She had money, but she was doing one of the most selfless things I’ve seen in a longtime. Where she was living and how she’s living just to take care of her parents made her every bit as amazing as she looked. I wanted to help and I knew I could but she was too proud for help. I’ve been mulling over how to do things for her where I didn’t offend her or she took it the wrong way. Even if she had a lot of things I would still want to do things for her so that wasn’t the case. For once, I wanted to do all types of things for a woman – besides giving her pleasure – and the woman is downright stubborn to boot about it.

  By the time I got home, it was late and I was loaded down with bags. I was exhausted but I still needed my Cassie fix so I texted her. Can I come over?

  It only took a few seconds before my phone dinged with her response. Please?

  She didn’t even need to ask. I unloaded everything and made my way over to her. When I got there, her parents had already gone to bed and she practically dragged me into her room. We were both naked in seconds and then I was in her. She was like heaven, made specially for me. The way she fit me was perfect and always ready for me like her body knew the same as I did. She used a pillow to muffle her sounds, she could be loud. I couldn’t pound her like I wanted to because I didn’t want to risk the noises of the bed. When it was all said and done she draped her sweaty body across mine and fell asleep I followed shortly after her.