That gets my girl. She groans, pulling herself off the desk. She turns, giving me an eyeful of her full breasts and I’m tempted to put my mouth around them and suck until they’re red and bruised. Her glazed over, content eyes find mine, and the way she smiles at me is like a gift.
“What’s that look for?” I ask, while she pulls her blouse closed, which disappoints me. I love her fucking tits.
“You called me princess. I thought you weren’t my fairy tale ending?” I knew she would catch that. My mouth got away from me in the moment.
“Well things have changed, and I’m going to give you whatever you want. I’m here to please you, fuck you, be anything you want me to be. You’re mine. Which means, baby, I’m all yours.” Her smile always takes my breath away. Fills that emptiness in my chest that’s been dormant for the past few years. I thought I knew what love was, but I was wrong. I wasn’t even close. This is love. Her in my life, bringing back life into mine. She is just as James described her. An angel. “I wanna make you happy, Kase.”
I watch her eyes soften. “Creed, you do make me happy.” She places her hand on my cheek and I lean into her touch. I can never get enough of the feel of her skin on mine.
“Well, I want to make you happier.” I have to break away from the way she’s looking at me. Her eyes put me in this spell, where I threaten to spill everything. Tell her every single one of my dark secrets, right down to the one that involves her. I want no secrets between us. But I know one needs to be. “Let’s get you back to working so we can get out of here and I can take you back to our place and fuck you all over our furniture. Then, if you’re a good little kitten, I’ll even make you a bowl of your favorite cereal.”
She laughs, pulling down her skirt. Tucking her blouse in, she adjusts herself, while I pick up her laptop.
“Is it broken?”
“I’d buy you a replacement every time if it leads to getting you sprawled out on that desk.” And dammit, I’m already half-risen to the occasion thinking about it. I need to get out of here before I fuck her again.
She grabs her computer and the contracts she was working on, knowing she’s headed to the boardroom. I look at the time and I have a meeting in fifteen minutes. I allow her to go ahead of me so I can watch her ass sway in that tight skirt.
“Well, in that case, I will mark you in as a working lunch.” She twists her head back to offer me that damn smile I crave as she unlocks the door.
“God I just want to bite your ass right now.” I make a growling sound and she giggles, throwing the door open, knowing I won’t overstep in public. I try and reach for her to pull her back in, but she slams into someone, almost knocking back into me.
“Woah! I’m sorry, I wasn’t paying…” Her apology fades. As does my good mood. “…attention,” she finishes, her last word thick with shock.
Fuck.
Fuck no, this is not happening.
Not now. Not after everything.
“Well, isn’t this a pleasant surprise,” Steven says to Kasey, his words thick with sarcasm. There’s no doubt he might be surprised to see her, but he’s also calculating why. And I don’t need to see Kasey’s face to know she’s lost all color.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, my tone blank.
“The Wheatland project. But first, I would like to know why my ex-wife is here?” Steven’s voice is hard. He’s angry. At one point, exactly how I wanted him to be if and when he found out.
“That’s none of your business. I told you the project was on hold over the phone. Why are you here?” He doesn’t address me though. He turns his anger towards Kasey.
“You care to explain, honey?” His nickname causes her to flinch. “What, cat got your tongue? I asked you a question!” He raises his voice and this time, she does jump. I bring her behind me and away from my brother’s vicious glare.
“Unless you tell me what it is you want, get the fuck out of here,” I demand, still holding onto Kasey’s bicep. God, I can feel her shaking.
Fuck.
“And you’re protecting her? How cute. How exactly did this happen? She find you so she could make me jealous?” He turns his hateful words on her. “Did you think this would win me back? Fuck my brother? Get you noticed? What a little slut, to think—”
I raise my fist and punch my brother in the mouth. Kasey screams. I go at him, wanting to rip his throat out for speaking to her like that, but I feel Kasey’s arm around me.
“Creed, please. Don’t. He’s not worth it.”
Steven grabs at his mouth, wiping the fresh blood from his lip. “You son of a bitch. You’re gonna pay for that.”
I’m seconds away from losing control. I don’t care if he’s blood; he’s been dead to me for years. Kasey isn’t the only one now who’s shaking. “You can tell me why you’re here or you can just fucking leave—”
“I called him.”
We all turn to see Todd standing a few feet away, his arms crossed over his chest. “Thought he would like to know the real update on the Wheatland case. Told him how your new girlfriend has made some changes around here.”
Steven turns to me, taking a menacing step closer to me. “And you can imagine my surprise when he told me you had a girlfriend. I couldn’t even believe it. I thought, after Mary, you were done. But the way Todd described her. Those eyes. Those lips. Even gave me a nice little vision of her perky little tits. It’s then that it all started clicking for me.”
Don’t do it.
“Get out of here.”
“Not a chance, brother. Not when the fun is just about to start.”
Kasey pulls at my arm to yank me back, but this isn’t something I can walk away from. I want to yell at her to leave so she doesn’t hear this, but I know that this is my brother’s plan.
“Oh how cute, your girlfriend wants to save you. Does she know about you? Really know?” I want to break his jaw. Find a way so he can’t talk. Spill the words I never want her to hear. “Speaking of, how did you two meet? Or shall I say meet again?”
I don’t answer him, but that doesn’t stop Kasey from doing it for me. “We ran into each other at a conference in Atlanta. It’s not what you think.”
Oh, but it is. The way Steven’s face lights up with evil, I know he’s put his last puzzle piece together.
“You just crossed paths, is it?” he says to her. I can’t form a word for the life of me. I don’t know if I should turn and start begging her to forgive me or accept my fate now.
“Yeah, I didn’t stutter. Why don’t you just leave us alone. This has nothing to do with you.” I want to grab her cheeks and kiss her hard for her fight to protect me, us. It also makes me hate myself even more for what’s about to come.
Steven laughs cynically at her reply. He brings his hand to his chest as if he’s just heard the funniest joke. “Oh wow. So that’s what you think. You think my brother just happened to run into you? Interesting. Creed” - he turns to me - “how exactly did you find yourself in Atlanta?”
That motherfucker is baiting me. He wants me to be the one to dig my own grave.
“Not gonna answer? You think I didn’t catch on when you started asking questions about her? Hanging on every word when I mentioned her being in Atlanta for a silly job fair. Your intentions were clear from the beginning. I knew you would go after her. I’m just surprised you actually went through with it. “
Kasey can’t hide her sharp gasp. “Wha—what are you talking about? How did you know I was in Atlanta?”
Steven turns back to me. “Facebook, sweetheart. Well, Mary informed me. Speaking of Mary… he ever mention why there’s such a lack of brotherly bond between us?”
“Steven, don’t.”
He ignores my plea. He doesn’t even wait for her to respond. “I figured he wouldn’t since it would really ruin his plan, I’m sure. Shall we tell her about Mary?” He looks at me, waiting for an answer. One I can’t bear to give. I hear Kasey’s breathing pick up. The name will click for her. And she wil
l be most curious as to my connection between Mary and her ex-husband.
“What about Mary?” And there it is. The first nail in my coffin.
“Well sadly, you know Mary. She not so gently blew our cover in a rage of jealousy. It was probably for the better, though. You and I weren’t working out and well, Mary and I, we just have this connection.”
What is he getting out of this? He won in the end. Why does he need to crush me twice?
“I know who that whore is, but what does she have to do with Creed and I?”
“Did you want to step in, brother?”
I know I’m done for. There’s no way of hiding behind this now. I strip any emotions from my face, replacing it with my blank stare.
And I answer. “She was my fiancée.”
Her sharp intake of breath guts me.
“Your fiancée?”
I don’t look at her. I keep my eyes on my brother. “We were engaged to be married. Until she cheated on me with my brother. She left me for him.”
“Oh, my God…” I hear her unsteady breaths. I know her thoughts are all over the place, and I know her initial reaction is to feel for me. She shouldn’t.
“Oh, don’t feel bad for him. That’s not the best part of the story. Is it Creed?”
I know her eyes are on me. I know she’s confused.
“Let’s not play coy here. Why don’t you tell her why you really ran into her? What your plan really was. Or shall I do it for you? Revenge, was it? To get back at me for stealing your future wife, you thought you’d steal mine?” His words are harsh but true. His breakdown of my plan for revenge was simple. Find where Kasey Bishop would be and sleep with her. Throw it back in my brother’s face.
“Wait, that can’t be true. He didn’t even know I was going to be at that hotel, did you. Tell him.” She turns to me, wanting me to back up her theory. But…
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because I knew you would be there. I knew exactly when you would come down. How to break you down. And how to get you in bed. I was in Atlanta for you.” I hate myself. I hate myself for not being honest with her in the first place. When I still had a chance to explain.
“You… you set me up?”
I can’t stand to hear her sad voice. I can’t stand to hear the conviction in her words. A side, the old me, fights through, anger taking its place. “Yes. I fed you everything you wanted to hear so you would agree to sleep with me. Then I convinced you to spill it to my brother. You would tell him, thinking you got your revenge, when in reality, it was mine you fulfilled.”
“You used me?” I can tell her lower lip is quivering by the sound of her voice. I still refuse to look at her.
“Yes.”
The sound of betrayal and hate leaves her lips as I hear her first cry. I’ll never forgive myself for what I’ve done. I let the hatred of my brother ruin the only good thing that’s ever truly come my way. I know she won’t understand or forgive me, but I need to try.
“Kasey, listen…” I turn to her and her tears destroy me.
“You’re a liar.”
“Yes, about how we met, but everything else has been the truth—”
“The truth? Do you even know what that is? You’ve done nothing but lie to me since the day you planted yourself into my life.”
“That’s not true—”
“You HAVE! You still lie now! Meeting me at the hotel. The job, us. Was having me move in with you just another way to make me look like a fool?”
“No! That wasn’t the case. Yes, I set you up, Yes, I fucking lied, but then plans changed. I changed.” I want to grab her and wipe away the tears that won’t stop falling down her cheeks. I want to beg her to stop crying. I want to plead for her to stop looking at me with such betrayal. “I did it to hurt my brother. I wanted him to feel just as betrayed as I did.”
Her eyes change, and it’s then I know I’ve lost her.
“Well for the record, I understand exactly how you felt.” She goes to leave and I grab for her. “Don’t you touch me. Don’t you ever touch me again!” she yells, causing my hand to fall back to my side. “You know. It all makes sense now. The small hints you left along the way. How one day I would see you as the bad guy and would leave. All the times you made me feel such sorrow for you. But in the end, I was just a pawn for you. This was never real. And it’s obvious now no one can make you feel better. Because you have too much hate and anger inside you to feel at all.”
“That’s not true—”
Steven decides to step in and push the knife even further into my chest. “Give it up, Creed. It’s obvious you failed.”
I turn to my brother, barely seeing him through the deep red clouding my vision. “No, you failed, you fucking piece of shit! You failed the second you let her go. You failed the second you chose a cheating, worthless slut over someone as pure and perfect as her. I may have lost her because I lied, but you, you asshole, never truly had her. So you can get the FUCK outta my office!” I turn to Todd. “You’re fired. Get your shit and get the fuck out.”
I’m heaving. I turn to Kasey, who luckily hasn’t run off just yet, and I try one last angle. It’s a low one, but it’s my last shot. “I lied to you, and I had intentions, yes. But those became regrets instantly once I got to know you. I should have told you. I’m wrong. But it doesn’t change how I feel. I love—”
She slaps me so hard across the face, I swear I see stars, my eyes burning.
“How dare you. How dare you try and use those words to fix what you did. This… whatever I thought we were… It’s done. Don’t contact me. EVER.”
She turns and runs out of my office. I want to run after her and make her listen to me. Kiss her deeply so she understands how much I fucking love her and how sorry I am.
But I don’t.
The sounds of my brother’s laughter breaks me from my spell. I turn to him, as he takes humor in my pain. He’s never had regret over hurting people. I look at him with such hate and, with nothing left to lose, I let out all my built-up anger. I tackle him, raising my fist to his face and bring it down. One after another after another.
“HERE, I EVEN MADE YOU a bowl with just the marshmallows. It’s a cereal lover’s dream meal.” I shake my head at Amy and flip to my other side, pulling the comforter over my head. Have I ever mentioned how much I love my bed?
“Kasey, you need to eat. Starving yourself isn’t fixing anything. You’re starting to hurt the cereal’s feelings.” I hear her take a bite, the sound of a mouthful of marshmallow crunching inside her mouth. Clearly she has the cereal’s feelings under control.
After a few more crunches, I can’t bear to think she has to eat that whole entire bowl of just marshmallows, so I throw the covers off my head and sit up. “Oh, for the love of God, give me that bowl.” She laughs while I snatch the bowl out of her hands. Wow, she wasn’t joking. Full bowl. All marshmallows.
I take a huge bite, the instant mouth explosion of goodness hitting my taste buds. I always wondered why they bothered putting actual cereal in the cereal. It’s the marshmallows people truly want.
“Did you know that you can actually go online and purchase a bag of straight Lucky Charms marshmallows?” Amy says, grabbing at the bowl and stealing a bite.
“No way, I don’t believe it,” I reply, snatching back the bowl. Another full bite of pure bliss.
“Swear it. A girl at work told me about it. Not cheap, but my time ain’t cheap either, and I don’t even want to go into how long it took me to pick out each one from the grains.”
I look at Amy, who just nods her confirmation. Then I feel bad. “I’m sorry. I should be more appreciative of your hard work. I’m a jerk friend.” I swallow and hand her back the bowl.
“It’s okay. You’re kinda allowed to be one right now.” Yeah, so that makes me feel even better. Not. This is the second time I’ve ended back on Amy’s doorstep, heartbroken. If she was smart, she would stop answering her door.
&nb
sp; When I left Creed’s office, I barely remember stopping at my apartment, grabbing a bag of random things, and leaving. I called Amy on my way home. It didn’t help that I was hysterical, for the first time, trying to explain to her my story about Creed. With all the hiccupping and stuttering, I knew I wasn’t making sense. I was able to at least make out that I was coming home and I needed her.
Scary enough, it took me an hour less than it should have to get home. I can’t imagine how fast I had to have been going to make such record time. I’m surprised I was never stopped by cops or ran anyone off the road. But then again, the drive home was a blur. So I could have. Note to check news reports when I’m done wallowing.
I was unable to talk about it for the first two days home. Anytime I tried to spit out a word, I would start crying. It was like I was broken. By day three, I was tired and dehydrated. Day four, I was just tired. I just wanted to move on. Accept my own fault in the situation. I knew I shouldn’t have gotten involved with Creed Monroe; it’s only fair I took partial blame in it all. I wanted to pretend that I wasn’t hurting. But that was a lie. I wanted to act as if I was over it. But I clearly wasn’t. I wanted to be strong and tell myself it wasn’t the end of the world. But then why did it feel that way? I just wanted to stop feeling, period.
On day five, I finally showered. It helped me feel a little more human. When I got back to my room, I noticed Amy took my comforter and sheets off my bed so I wouldn’t try and escape back to my secret hideaway. But when I started to cry, she apologized and put them back on, helping me crawl back in and under my blanket cave.
Between day three and day five, I acknowledged that Creed never tried to call me. On day six, I started a rash of horribly mean text messages to send to him. On that same day, I allowed Amy to rip my phone out of my hands and delete them before I sent a slew of regret messages. I swore I wouldn’t regret them, but thankfully a few hours later, I knew I would have.
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