by Emery Cross
I ducked into the small washroom to tidy myself up. I’d always wondered if this had once been the star’s dressing room because the girls using the other rooms had to share the restroom down the hall. The perks of being Diamond, I thought cynically.
I checked my face in the tarnished mirror hanging over the sink. My lips looked puffy, my eyes were a little glazed, and my hair was tousled. I looked like I’d spent a weekend being ravished instead of a couple short hours. I tissued off some of the eyeliner that had smeared beneath my eyes and tamed my hair a bit.
I stepped out of the washroom to find him shrugging into his jacket. He combed his hair back into place with his fingers. Besides the fact he’d left the tie off, he looked as perfectly groomed as when he’d arrived.
Not bothering with panties or a bra, I quickly yanked on the pair of jeans and t-shirt I kept in the nightstand cupboard. I found my fake sheepskin boots under the bed and pulled them on. I looked up to find him staring at me.
Despite my unglamorous attire, his eyes were dark with lust, as though he could go another round or three hammering me up against the wall. It made me wonder why he was calling it quits so soon. With his eyes focused on me, I was aware of the way my breasts bounced as I moved past him.
The wine bottle was now swimming in melted ice. I freed the cork, set the corkscrew down and filled a glass to the rim. I intended to have a couple of generous glassfuls before I faced Victor with my resignation. I wished I could just take my cut of the money and disappear, but I feared Victor would hound my friends to find me.
“Get your things. You’re leaving with me.”
So he wasn’t through with me, and now he expected to take this party on the road? “Auction business gets finished here. Tonight.”
His blue eyes regarded me steadily. “I have a vacancy in one of my high-rises.”
I raised my eyebrows. “You want to keep me?”
“It would mean a generous allowance, a personal shopper, a driver...hell, a chef, if you want one.”
“I told you, I’m not interested in being any man’s exclusive property.” I took a serious swig from the glass.
His jaw twitched. He looked down as he adjusted his cuffs, his thick lashes veiling, for a moment, the obvious anger in his eyes.
He lifted his gaze and swept it over the room. “Poor Sam must be turning in his grave.”
The man was utterly ruthless. “And you think my being a rich guy’s private piece of ass would please him?”
“You can take some college classes. Study literature.”
“I don’t even have a GED.”
His eyes flickered as if taken aback by my revelation.
The reaction, subtle as it was, stung. Somehow it mattered what this stranger thought of me. I desperately wanted to tell him that I’d run away from home because my stepfather felt he’d gotten himself a two-for-one deal when he married my mother.
I caught my bottom lip with my teeth to prevent myself from making excuses. The gesture drew his attention. “Enroll in an exam course—” He lifted his gaze from my mouth with obvious reluctance. “Or let me help you prep for the test. Then sign up for courses...or don’t. Whatever you want to do.” He shrugged. “As long as you make yourself available to me whenever—”
“You want a little pussy,” I finished for him.
“Exactly. It’s just sex. You won’t owe me anything beyond that.” He reached down and popped open the row of riveted buttons on my well worn jeans. He slid his hand into the front of my pants, jamming his big fingers into that tight space. With no underwear to obstruct him, he began rubbing my slit making me tremble with pleasure. He dipped his head, and I found myself panting into his parted lips. It took only moments for him to bring me to the edge. Shamelessly, I began grinding against his hand and moaning against his mouth until another shimmering climax overtook me.
He pulled the silk square from the front pocket of his jacket and gently dried me before fastening my jeans. With his head tilted back slightly, he studied my face as he wiped his fingers on the pocket square. He was trying to determine whether my eager response to his touch was real. After tucking the cloth into his pants’ pocket, he pulled out the burner phone I’d seen him with at the mart. He started typing something into it.
The three successive orgasms were making my blood run like molasses. I wanted to curl up and sleep, preferably tucked against his hard body, but the chance of that was nil. He handed me the burner, and I found my brain was as lazy as my body. I stared at his contact info on the screen for a bit until it registered. Rafferty Cade.
“Of Cade Properties?” My voice rose in awe. I’d seen his company’s signs on major developments throughout the city.
“I expect you to call me.”
And if I didn’t? Would he come fetch me and drag me by my hair back to his penthouse suite? I stared at his name for a moment longer, then tossed the phone in the bucket. It landed with a small splash. Ratcheting up the bitchiness, I snatched the bottle and turned my back on him as I headed to my private corner behind the partition.
He took the hint and left, shutting the door with enough force to rattle the walls.
I fought the urge to fish the phone out before the data was erased. I let out a cry of frustration. Rafferty Cade had just ruined other men for me and he hadn’t even needed to get naked to do it. I stretched out on the couch and found myself staring at his watch which was still sitting atop the little stand.
There was no use trying to chase after him. He’d certainly peeled his Ferrari out of the parking lot by now. With righteous anger, no doubt. I sat up, grabbed the watch, and slipped it over my arm. I pushed it far up my forearm. I lowered my hand and watched the heavy watch slide down to my wrist, splaying my fingers to prevent it from dropping to the floor.
I relived his large hands taking control of me, and an unbearable ache for him coursed through me. I shook off the watch and stuffed it into the pocket of my jeans. Surely, I would have to see him at least once more, so I could return it. I set the bottle on the floor, removed my boots, and curled up on the sofa. Without realizing it, the man had given me my freedom, and yet, here I was dreaming of belonging to him.
A loud banging reverberated from the theater area, as though someone were trying to knock down the building. I stood in alarm.
The door cracked against the wall. The partition was shoved aside and clattered to the floor. Brian looked panicked. “Cops!” The clamor of loud voices echoed through the building.
My mouth went instantly dry. Fear made me shake. Brian kicked over the wine bottle as he grabbed my arm. He hauled me down the hallway and into the locker room.
Brian was paid off the books. If he could manage to escape, no one could connect him to this place. He rammed his shoulder against the door of the unused storage unit, but the lock held. He gave it another bruising try, before he gave up and started to tear one of the planks off a boarded up window.
I tackled the other board. I caught my hand on a nail and blood dripped down my wrist. Brian grunted as he wrenched the first board free. Sweat streamed down his face as he pushed me aside to take over.
I could hear Hannah sobbing loudly through the thin wall.
One of the johns dove into the locker room. “Help me get this fucking door open,” Brian shouted at him. The door started to splinter as they both heaved themselves at it.
Heavy footsteps made the floorboards tremble. I stepped out into the hallway ignoring Brian’s panicked shouts as he tried to call me back. I quickly shut the door and hurried toward the approaching chaos. I had some stupid idea that I might be able to create some sort of diversion, to give Brian more time to escape. Besides, I wasn’t going to leave Hannah behind. Beneath the yellow glow emanating from the antique wall sconces, the uniforms and half naked people seemed to blur.
A st
rong hand caught me as I pushed open Hannah’s door. I caught a glimpse of Hannah’s stark white face as she stood in handcuffs in the center of her room. Her mascara was running down her cheeks. Her john had disappeared or been taken from the room already. I pulled out of the officer’s grasp and ran to her and threw my arms around her. The officer, a young man, who looked as if he couldn’t have been more than a rookie, stepped up behind me. This time, with less force, he took hold of my wrists and lowered them behind my back. Tears started in my eyes the instant I felt the metal cuffs.
My feet were cold as ice by the time we’d traveled through the theater to the forest of spinning red lights and white police cars outside. I looked behind me, but I couldn’t see Brian. Victor’s tall black head was being held as he lowered himself into a patrol car. It was over for him. It was over for all of us, and all I could think was how close I’d been to saving my sister.
The flashing lights made the sky appear blacker than I’d ever seen it. A crowd of curious and amused onlookers had gathered across the street to watch the spectacle. Hannah was in such a panic, she was close to a full on meltdown. The cars that passed, slowed down, the faces of the passengers gaping or nearly pressed to the windows. Someone rolled down their window and hurled vicious names at us.
Continue Rafferty and Remi’s story in Cade’s Property 2, Now Available.