God, he was beautiful.
After all these years, my entire life following him with my eyes, my body still warmed whenever he was close.
I crossed my arms over my chest, trying to dull the thud of my thrilled heart. I shouldn’t want to be close to him. Not after how he’d pushed me away nearly my entire life and treated me all those years ago.
I brought my hand up to my neck, absently running a finger over the jagged line.
“Simon is going to do a walk-through of the stairwell and your floor,” he told me. “Come on. I’ll take you up.”
“I said forget it,” I insisted, not budging. “I don’t need help.”
But he walked to the other elevator anyway, and I spotted the security guard opening the door to the stairwell and disappearing.
Reluctantly, I followed Michael, stepping into the elevator in my bare feet and watching him push twenty-one.
“You know what floor I live on?” I asked.
But he didn’t answer.
The elevator began ascending, and I stood there next to him, trying to remain still. I didn’t want to breathe too hard or fidget too much. I’d always been hyper-aware of Michael, and I was afraid he could tell. Maybe if I thought he saw me as anything other than trivial, I wouldn’t worry what he thought so much.
But as I dropped my arms and stared ahead, the slight flow of air coming through the vent making my hair dance across the skin of my chest and the tops of my breasts, I licked my lips, feeling the pull of him right there, only inches away. My chest rose and fell, heat cascading down my neck, and I felt my nipples tighten as the fire over my skin moved across my stomach and pooled between my thighs.
My sleep shorts felt too tight all of a sudden, and my stomach felt hollow, aching like I hadn’t eaten in days.
Jesus.
I reached up, brushing my hair behind my ear and feeling like he was looking at me.
But I wouldn’t dare a glance. After seeing the cover model he’d brought home for the night, all I could do was straighten my back, square my shoulders, and deal.
Like I had for years.
The elevator stopped, and the doors opened, Michael stepping out first, clearly not the gentleman Mr. Patterson was. He walked directly for my apartment, and I followed, speaking to his back.
“When Mr. Patterson showed me around today, he told me that apartment was empty.” I glanced behind me at the door of the supposedly vacant apartment. “But I heard noises just a little while ago.”
He turned around, eyeing the door behind me. “What kinds of noises?”
Headboards banging the walls, cries, screams, pants, people going at it…
I shrugged, deciding to be vague. “Just noises.”
He exhaled a sigh through his nose, sounding annoyed. Walking around me, he made for the other apartment and jiggled the door handle, knocking several times when it didn’t work.
The door opened, and I widened my eyes in surprise, but then the same security guard from downstairs emerged.
“Nothing here, sir. I checked the stairwell, and there’s no sign of a disturbance.”
“Thank you,” Michael offered. “Make sure the apartment is locked, and head back downstairs.”
“Yes, sir.”
I watched the guard lock the front door and then wait at the elevator as Michael walked back over to me, keys out and his hazel eyes looking even more impatient.
He brushed past me and unlocked my front door.
“How did you know I locked myself out?” I followed him into the apartment.
“I didn’t.” He slid the keys into his pants pocket. “But I figured it was a safe bet. You didn’t have keys on you, and the rear apartment entrances leading to the stairwell always auto-lock. Remember that.”
I rolled my eyes, watching him charge through my apartment. Three years ago—hell, five days ago—I would’ve loved to have him in my space. Talking to me, watching out for me…
But that’s not what he was doing now. I was still as invisible to him as the air he breathed. And far less important.
One night. It still lived in my memory, vivid and wild, and I wished he’d remember it. But it had turned to shit, anyway, just like the way he treated me.
Crossing my arms over my chest and steeling myself, I stared off, just waiting for him to leave.
He checked the rooms, the rear entrance, and came back out, pushing on the glass doors to make sure they were secure.
“It’s not unusual for the staff to take breaks in one of the empty apartments,” he explained in a flat tone. “In any event, it’s quiet now.”
I nodded, forcing a defiant look. “Like I said, I don’t need help.”
I heard him breathe out a quiet laugh, and I looked up, seeing a condescending smile in his eyes.
“You don’t, huh?” he replied, sounding snide. “You got everything covered? You’re in control?”
I lifted my chin slightly, not answering him.
He strode back over, eyeing me with arrogant amusement. “It’s a nice apartment,” he commented, gazing around him. “You must’ve worked hard to earn the money to pay for it. As well as the bills to those credit cards in your wallet, and that nice, new car you just got.”
I ground my teeth together, a flood of emotions I wasn’t sure what to do with hitting me. I hated what he was saying. It wasn’t that simple, and it wasn’t fair.
He stepped up to me, narrowing his eyes. “You ran away from my brother, my family, your mother, and even your own friends,” he pointed out, “but what if one day you found that all of those securities you took for granted—your house, your money, and the people who love you—weren’t there anymore? Would you need help then? Would you finally realize how very brittle you are without those comforts you seem to think you don’t need?”
I stared up at him, hardening every muscle, so I wouldn’t give myself away.
Yeah, sure. I enjoyed the money. And maybe if I were really serious about being on my own, I’d have chucked it all. The credit cards, the car, and the tuition money.
So was I what he implied? A coward who talked a good talk but would never really know pain or the struggle of having to fight for anything?
“No, I think you’d be fine,” he said in a low, sultry voice as he took a lock of my hair, grinding it between his fingers. “Pretty girls always have something to trade in, right?”
I shot my eyes up, locking gazes with him as I knocked his hand away. What the fuck was the matter with him?
The corner of his mouth tilted in a smile, and he walked around me toward the door. “’Night, Little Monster.”
And I whipped around, just seeing him slip through the door and close it behind him.
Little Monster. Why had he called me that? I hadn’t heard that name in three years.
Not since that night.
Present
DON’T BE ALONE WITH HER.
My one rule. The one thing I’d kept to myself and promised to heed, and now I’d broken it.
I breathed hard, my arms folded across my chest as I glared ahead at the rising numbers on the elevator wall. No one else knew her.
Not the way I did. I knew better. I knew how good she was.
Erika Fane played her parts well. The dutiful, self-sacrificing daughter for her mother, the pleasant, agreeable girlfriend for my brother, and a shining student and beauty in our seaside community growing up. Everyone loved her.
She thought she was nothing to me, insignificant and invisible. She wanted me to open my eyes and see her again so fucking badly, but she didn’t realize that I already did. I knew the deceiving cunt that stewed underneath that perfect little sheen of hers, and I couldn’t forget.
Why the fuck did I take her to her apartment? Why did I have to make sure she was safe? Being near her made me falter. It made me forget.
She’d burst through the stairwell doors, frightened and flushed, looking small and fragile, and instinct immediately kicked in.
Yeah, she
played her parts well.
Don’t be alone with her. Don’t ever be alone with her.
The elevator doors opened, and I stepped directly into my foyer, rounding the corner into my darkened living room, but then I slowed, noticing the girl I had sent up and nearly forgotten about. She sat in the middle of the floor, straddling a wooden chair.
Completely naked.
I held back a smile, surprised at her ingenuity. Most women waited for direction.
I narrowed my eyes, approaching the chair as her lips quirked in a small smile. Her forearms rested on the top of the chair-back, while her legs were spread wide and her high-heeled feet were planted on the floor on either side of the chair.
Stopping a foot in front of her, I let my eyes fall to her exposed body: supple, open, and ready for me. Her breasts were perfect and round, and I gazed down at her tan stomach, letting my eyes drop to her bare pussy and wondering if she was already wet.
I reached up, running the back of my hand over her cheek, and she leaned into it, eyeing me playfully as her long, silky hair draped over her breasts. And then she darted out, catching my thumb between her teeth and biting it gently.
I stared down at her, waiting to see what she would do next. Suck on it? Lick it? Maybe bite it harder? I liked it when I got as good as I gave. When a woman showed the fire in her instead of sitting idle.
But then she just let it go, offering me a shy look and leaving the ball in my court. It was my job to attack and hers to be the willing piece of meat, I guess. God, I was so fucking bored.
I tipped her chin up, ordering in a gentle voice, “Stay here.”
I needed a breather to get in the mood for what I no longer wanted.
I walked past her, up the stairs, slipping off my jacket as I climbed. Entering my bedroom, a large space with a king size bed and plenty of room to relax, I walked for the shower, which sat between the bedroom and the master bathroom. It was out in the open and completely visible from the bed. Sometimes it came in handy when I had a girl or two over and wanted to watch them play.
I stripped out of my clothes, tossing them on the ground and stepping into the shower, in no hurry to return downstairs.
The rainfall overhead poured down, immediately drenching my hair and spilling its heat over my shoulders and back. I wished I could say it was all the hours logged in at the gym, the personal trainer making sure I was ready for the season, or the constant practices we’d been attending since they increased our workout schedule, that caused the tension in my head and body, but I knew that wasn’t it. I was twenty-three, in the best shape of my life, and contending with demands I’d lived with for nearly my entire life.
It wasn’t basketball. It was her.
After three long years, she was here, they were here, and I could hardly think of anything else.
I wondered if she’d still want me when all was said and done. After all the years of watching me, probably wishing I’d touch her, wouldn’t it be fucking ironic when I finally did take her in my hands and pressed my body into hers, that she despised me?
Yeah, you’re going to be in my bed, baby, but not until you wish you hated me.
I let out a breath, bowing my head and closing my eyes.
Jesus. I wrapped my hand around my cock, feeling it throb and pulse as it grew thick and hard at the thought of her.
I ran my thumb over the fat tip, wiping away the cum that was only a small measure of what was begging to get out.
Goddamn.
All it took was the thought of her, and how I’d almost given myself away in the elevator with her earlier.
She’d been amusing. The way she tried so hard to not look like she was losing her fucking mind with me around. How her shallow breathing made her tits rise and fall, and how those nipples poked through that tight, little tank top of hers, making me want to take one between my teeth and teach her how to scream my name so well she’d say it in her sleep.
That golden skin, tan from her summer in Thunder Bay, looked like a feast, and that hair, blonde and straight and brushing across her face and neck as it spilled down her back. It looked so soft, I couldn’t resist touching the bright strands.
I’d done very well at ignoring her during my life, at first because she was too young for me to care and then because I needed to be patient.
Now, the timing was perfect, she was here, and so was I.
Only I wasn’t alone.
And the best part? She didn’t know that we knew. She didn’t know that we were coming for her.
Turning off the water, I breathed in and out, my cock aching and damn-near sticking straight out, needing release. I wrapped a towel around my waist and combed my fingers through my hair, walking out of the bedroom and down the stairs.
Alex, the young woman I’d taken to the team party tonight, still sat dutifully in the chair, her heart-shaped ass somewhat more appealing now that I was rock hard.
But I still wasn’t quite ready. Pouring myself a drink, I walked to the windows overlooking the city. The lights and the energy lit up the night, making it look like a sea of stars floating ahead of me, and it was one of the first things I learned when I’d visited this place as a kid. Meridian City was certainly more inspiring from a distance. Most things were, I’d come to realize.
The closer you got to anything beautiful, the less beautiful it became. Allure was in the mystery, not the appearance.
Letting my gaze fall, I spotted Rika through her windows. Her apartment sat on the level below but not directly beneath mine, so my windows offered an excellent view into the courtyard, as well as into her apartment. I narrowed my eyes, watching her flit about and wondering what she was doing.
She had splayed out a drop cloth below a wall, and there were cans of paint sitting on the living room floor. She stepped up on a ladder and arched up on her tiptoes, reaching for where the wall met the ceiling, smoothing something over with her hands.
She must’ve been putting up painter’s tape. It was nearly two in the morning. Why was she painting?
Her nice, little ass jutted out, and the black lace trim around the bottom of her tank top rode up, revealing the skin of her stomach.
Heat spread over my chest and down to my groin, my heart beating harder. Rika had a hell of a body, even though she didn’t have a clue how to use it.
Soft, cool hands ran over my shoulders as the girl came up behind me, standing naked at my side. The privacy glass wasn’t on, but neither were the lights, so Rika wouldn’t be able to see anything up here if she looked.
Alex gazed out the window, probably seeing what I was looking at, and then turned back to me, slipping her hand under my towel.
“Mmm…” she moaned, feeling how hard I was. “You like her.”
I stayed still, watching Rika as the girl stroked me. “No.”
One time I thought I might. For a few hours, long ago, we looked through the same eyes, and I felt like I could trust her.
It had been a mistake that cost my friends their freedom.
“But you want her,” she pushed, rubbing me faster and knowing exactly where my hard-on came from.
I let her handle me, but unfortunately I had no desire to reach out and touch her. I stared down, seeing Rika step off the ladder and drop to her hands and knees, running tape along the crown molding as she arched her back, taunting me.
I grunted, feeling the girl’s strokes get faster.
“Yeah,” she taunted. “So sweet and innocent, isn’t she?”
I swallowed through the dryness in my mouth and glared down at Rika. “She’s neither,” I gritted out under my breath.
“Maybe not,” the girl teased. “The shy ones tend to be the baddest after all.”
And then she leaned in, burying her lips in my neck and whispering, “I’ll bet your brother can tell you what a bad girl she is.”
Jesus.
I planted my hand against the window, leaning in as Rika sat back on her knees and looked up at the wall that she appeared to be
getting ready to paint.
I hoped that wasn’t true. I only wanted two things…that my brother hadn’t broken her in as well as he bragged and that Rika had as much fight in her as I hoped.
“Yeah,” the girl breathed, kissing a trail down my jaw. “I’ll bet he knows exactly how she likes it.”
I instantly straightened, turning my head and placing a hand under her jaw, holding it tight. “My brother is the last person that knows anything about her,” I bit out, glaring down at her. “Now go home. I’m not in the mood.”
I pushed her away, and a shocked breath escaped her as she pinched her eyebrows together, looking confused.
“But you’re…,” she protested, gesturing to my cock tenting the black towel.
“That’s not for you, and you know it.”
Facing the window again, I tightened the towel around my waist and watched Rika pull her hair up in a ponytail and then bend over to pick up a can of paint.
But then I heard the ding of the elevator behind me, signaling that it was descending to pick up whoever had called it, and I quickly glanced over my shoulder to see the girl still standing there naked.
“You’d better hurry,” I warned. “I’ve got company coming up, and they’d love nothing more than to find you like that.” I let my eyes fall down, indicating her naked form.
Her eyes shifted side to side, hesitating and looking displeased. I didn’t know if she was really disappointed or just offended.
I really didn’t care. I’d already paid her, after all.
She finally turned, hurrying for wherever she’d dropped her clothes, and I heard rustling as she got dressed.
Looking back down, I saw Rika pour paint into a tray and then dip in a roller, soaking it in red.
My favorite color.
It was brave and confident but also aggressive and violent. Not sure why I favored it, but I always had.
The elevator bell dinged again, and I stood up straight, steeling my back as I heard deep voices enter the penthouse.
Turning around, I saw the girl, Alex, slip on her last shoe and grab her clutch purse before hustling in the direction of the elevators.
But regardless of whether or not she was dressed, she wouldn’t go unnoticed.
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