by Nikki Chase
I thought being with a man would make me feel used. Maybe that’s because I’ve seen my mom get hurt too many times. But with Ethan, even if technically he’s using me to ward off the media, it’s not a deliberate decision on his part. Again, it just happened.
Besides, it’s not like I’m not benefiting from this arrangement myself. To be perfectly honest, I want him to touch me and kiss me and, yes, use my body for his pleasure. But so far, he has only been giving, without asking for any sexual favors in return.
I gasp as Ethan’s fingers travel up my inner thighs, raising the hem of my floral sundress. We’re out in the open, and I feel like anyone could see us.
“Ethan.” My voice comes out hoarse and needy. It doesn’t sound at all like the order to stop that I meant to issue.
“Yeah, kitten? Fuck, I love it when you say my name like that, with that sexy voice.”
“We shouldn’t,” I say between heavy breaths as he finds my pussy and rubs me over my panties. “Someone could see us.”
“I told you, this is a secret place,” he says confidently as he pulls the crotch of my panties aside and touches my folds. “Besides, I can tell you want this. You’re too damn wet to go home like this.”
“Ethan, I…” The rest of my sentence hangs in the air, forgotten as Ethan rests his finger over the hood of my clit and puts a little pressure on it. I whimper and involuntarily push my hips down and forward against his hand.
“Let me satisfy more than your curiosity, kitten,” he whispers in my ear. His finger slides smoothly over my pussy, aided by my wetness. He flicks my clit, making me cry out against his strong, muscular shoulder.
With the wind teasing my entire body, heat spreads through my limbs, making me shiver with need. I can only hold on, clamping my fingers onto Ethan’s arms, as my orgasm starts roaring to the surface.
He rubs me more insistently and says, “Come for me, kitten. Come on my fingers.” He drops his head and bites my neck without any warning.
That does it.
I hold on tight as wave after wave of pleasure washes over me. I explode and gush all over his fingers. My body shakes on its own, making it hard for me to keep standing. Ethan holds me up, even as he continues to skillfully manipulate my body, squeezing the last shiver out of me.
“Let’s get you home,” he whispers in a low, guttural voice that sends a thrill down my spine. He takes my hand and puts it on the bulge in his pants, leaving no doubt as to what he wants.
Ethan
I’ve always preferred my home to the office, even though I work a lot.
The whole reason I work so much in the first place is to give Penny a good life, so she has always been my priority. It wouldn’t make sense for me to then spend all my time at the office while neglecting her.
But right now, I have a completely different reason to rush home, and that reason is straining against the zipper of my jeans right now. My cock is so damn hard it’s throbbing.
I would’ve taken Megan up there on the rooftop if she weren’t a virgin. It can be painful for her, so the least I can do is make sure she’s comfortable. While it’s nice on the rooftop, it’s not the coziest place I could think of.
The whole way down, I have my hands on Megan’s tight little body. Now I know what it means for a girl to have all the right curves in all the right places.
I push her against the wall in the elevator, in the corner that I know isn’t covered by the security cameras.
“Fuck, Megan, what are you doing to me?” I ask as I claim her hot lips. Of course she can’t respond, with me doing all I can to turn her lips red and puffy, just like I did to her pussy last night.
It used to bug me that the cameras don’t cover the entire elevator, but right now that’s a good thing. I’m glad for the little bit of privacy.
I don’t really care if people are going to talk about me acting like a perv in public. But I know Megan does, and it would affect Penny, too, indirectly, if and when the vulgar details emerge in the gossip tabloids.
When we reach the ground floor, I walk briskly toward the car park, keeping my pace just slow enough so Megan can keep up.
I know something’s wrong when I see the security guard’s face. He looks apologetic, which is never a good thing.
“I’m sorry, sir,” he says, as I expect him to. “I tried to tell them they need an appointment to see you, but they wouldn’t listen.”
I glance at a couple marching across the lobby toward me. They look like they’re in their forties, and they’re furious.
I take a deep breath, readying myself for what’s to come. I don’t know what exactly their problem is with me, but I’ve made enough enemies to recognize that look of pure hatred when I see it.
“Hunter!” the man yells out. “My wife and I have been trying to call you for months. Why are you avoiding us?”
Holy hell, I don’t even know these people.
“I’m sorry, what is this about?” I ask politely.
This being Saturday, there’s only one security guard on the ground floor. I’d rather not have this turn physical, especially with Megan by my side.
I glance at her. She looks scared, trying to hide behind me. I let go of her hand. “It’s okay. Just don’t stand too close to me.”
“You forced us to sell our land a few years ago. We had to let it go, even though the price was way too low for the market and we wanted to keep it.”
Ah, two more of Lucas’ victims. Of course they’d direct all their anger at me.
He has always been sly enough to disassociate his name from all of our projects, whereas I’ve always appeared all over the news as the face of the company. I realize now that was a dumb move, but at the time I didn’t know any better.
“I assure you, Hunter Corporation has never done anything by coercion,” I say.
“Yeah, then what do you call sending thugs to our home in the middle of the night?”
“I don’t know, and I’m sorry you had to go through that. But I guarantee that Hunter Corporation has never done anything like that.”
“Fuck you, Hunter!” The man lunges at me with his fist pulled back.
Luckily, the security guard has succeeded in getting another guy to come down from his station upstairs. The two men hold back the angry guy by his chest and shoulders.
“Sir, we’re going to have to ask you to leave the premises,” one guard says.
“No! Stop treating me like a fucking criminal! I’m not the criminal here! He is!” He points at me with his index finger while screaming.
The woman, who I assume is his wife, frantically tries to get the two burly guards off him, to no avail.
“I’m sorry, sir, ma’am,” I repeat. “But Hunter Corporation has never hired any thugs or used force to acquire land. If you—”
“Bullshit!” he cuts me off.
“Please listen. I want to help you, but I can’t do that if you don’t listen.”
“Why do I have to listen to your bullshit?”
“Because I’m not the person you should be angry at. You should direct your grievance to Lucas Murdoch, the CEO of Primaland.”
“No! Your people always pass me around whenever I call, transferring me from one department to another. Now that I’ve got you here, you’re not going to tell me to just talk to yet another guy.”
“I understand your frustration, but—”
“Do you?” the woman asks. “Do you know what it’s like to lose sleep because you’re afraid some men are going to come in the night and assault your family? Do you know what it’s like to have to let go of land that has been in the family for generations, just because those same men have been threatening you for weeks?”
I take a deep breath. This is fucking frustrating, that these people are coming for me, when I’m also another victim of Lucas Murdoch’s dirty tricks.
“That’s not what I mean,” I say in as calm a voice as I can, even as my fists ball up in anger. “I’m just saying, I understand you’r
e frustrated, but you’re not directing it at the right person.”
“Yeah? Explain why all the paperwork has your company’s name on it, then,” the man challenges.
“Like I said, then man you want is called Lucas Murdoch of Primaland. I don’t—”
“So you’re not going to at least give us fair compensation for what you took from us?”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to explain. That compensation is not mine to give, as Lucas Mur—”
“Fuck you, Hunter!” the man repeats, his face red with anger.
“I told you, John, we should’ve joined the others. He’s not going to pay up,” his wife says to him, even as she continues to glare at me.
“You’ll be hearing from the lawyer, motherfucker,” the man shouts. Then—and I wouldn’t believe someone would actually do this in real life if I didn’t see it with my own eyes—he spits. He ejects saliva from his mouth and it lands wetly on the tiled floor.
I see now that I can’t talk to these people. I don’t know what lawyer they’re talking about, but I’m sure my legal team can take care of that.
“Please escort the lady and the gentleman outside,” I say to the security guards—something I should’ve done from the beginning.
Talking hasn’t accomplished anything. It has only drained me of energy.
The two guards herd the couple out, as they continue to scream obscenities at me.
I scan the lobby for Megan, and find her standing a few feet away, near where the elevators are. I sprint toward her, worried she might be terrified.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
“Yeah,” she says, putting on a smile and a brave face.
“I’m sorry you had to see that.”
“It’s okay.”
“Sometimes… Well, it’s business. I try to be in control, but sometimes things happen without me knowing, things that affect people in a bad way.”
“Can we just go home?” Megan asks softly.
“Of course.” I understand why she wouldn’t want to be here, after the spectacle she just saw.
I put my hand around her waist and lead her out to the car park, the security guard following behind us in case the couple from before tries something again.
She looks fine and she says she’s fine, but I can feel her body shaking.
Damn it. Fuck Lucas. He doesn’t even have to lift a finger to mess with my family.
Megan
“Who's Lucas Murdoch?” I ask when we're home, sitting on the couch.
I’ve been quiet since the incident at the lobby, too busy with my own thoughts to talk. I keep coming back to the same question, and I need to know the truth now.
Despite the extensive research I’ve done on Ethan, that was the first time I’d ever heard that name.
“Lucas Murdoch,” Ethan says with a heavy sigh, “is the thorn in my side. I used to think he was a friend, and that was the biggest mistake I ever made.”
“What happened?”
Ethan takes a deep breath. Looks like this is going to be a long story.
“It's a long story,” he says. No kidding.
“We have time.”
“Yeah. I'm just trying to think about where to begin.”
“At the beginning?”
“Good suggestion.” Ethan chuckles and pauses to think. “I got to know Lucas at some networking event—I don't even remember which one. I used to go to a lot of networking events when I was getting started, trying to find people to do business with.”
“And you partnered with Lucas?”
“Something like that. Before I got sick, I worked as management at a mall. I knew there was a lot of money to be made in running shopping centers in certain areas. I’d done my research and I knew exactly what to do. I had the experience and the skills, but not the money.”
“Let me guess, Lucas had the money?” I ask.
“Close,” Ethan says. “He didn't personally have the money himself, but he knew people who did. After listening to my ideas, he told me he’d introduce me to some people. Investors. People with money but no time—or skills.” Ethan snorts in a way that makes it obvious he’s aware of how good he is.
“Long story short, I presented my ideas to some rich people and some of them agreed to work with me. I built a team and we, well, made it happen. Lucas was the person responsible for acquiring land and erecting the actual building.”
“From what those people said at the office, it seems like he didn't really follow the rules, did he?”
“You’re right. He didn't.” Ethan heaves a big sigh. “He definitely didn't. He was harassing landowners who didn’t want to sell, and pushing their prices down.”
“Didn't you know he was doing this?”
“No, and that's…” Ethan trails off, looking like it's a real struggle to get the next words out. “I trusted him. He was there from the beginning, you know? He was the first person who believed in me. I thought he was my friend.”
So he got burned by someone close to him. That explains why he always prefers to work on his own, and why he keeps a distance from the staff.
“When I found out, I kicked him out of the project. I told him I was going to tell the investors what he’d done if he didn't leave. So he did. He left.”
“And you never told anyone about it?” I ask incredulously.
“It's… I want to say it's more complicated, but that's not an excuse. I didn't tell anyone. I regret that now, but at the time, I…had other things on my mind.”
“Like what?” I can't believe he’d turn a blind eye to something like that, happening right under his nose. What excuse could he have?
“Well, that was when I was just beginning to earn some money and talking to lawyers about getting Penny back. It became apparent that I needed to spend a lot in legal fees. I was worried that if I’d told the investors about what that fucker was doing, they’d pull their funding and we’d have to end the whole project. And then I might never get another chance to try again. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
“Can't you get him now?” I ask.
“I’ve asked my attorney about it, but I don't have anything on the guy. I was eager to just get rid of him without alerting the investors, and I was relieved when he said he’d leave voluntarily. The only thing he wanted was to comb through the documents and get rid of anything I could use against him. I said yes.”
“Why?”
And how could you? I want to ask. But I feel like Ethan would have a good reason behind his actions, even if he’d made questionable decisions.
“I was worried he’d call my bluff and tell me to go ahead and report him to the investors. I wouldn't know what to do had he done that. I could lose everything, all my hard work, all my effort to get Penny back, up until that point.
“And Penny, she hated living with Ashley. Penny used to call me in the middle of the night when Ashley hadn't come home yet, scared shitless because it was dark and she was home alone.
“It was so hard not to just go there and take her with me. You should've heard her voice. She was always trying to be strong, trying not to worry me. She’d tell me she was just calling because she was missing me, but I could hear the fear in her voice, and it was…” Ethan’s voice trails off as he rubs his palms over his face, his sentence unfinished.
Taking a deep breath, he continues, “It was the hardest thing I’d ever done, just listening to her and not being able to do anything about it. They would've arrested me for kidnapping, had I just driven over there and taken her home.”
“I’m sorry you had to go through that.” I scoot over on the couch and rub his back, hoping to give him some comfort.
“I know it was wrong that I let Lucas go like that. He wronged all those people. I should've done more to help them.”
“You had your own problems. I understand why you made the decisions that you did. You had to put Penny first.”
“Yeah. That's what I tell myself. But it doesn't make me feel good
when I have people coming to my office, screaming about how I’ve ruined their lives.”
“They just don't know the whole story. I’m sure people would understand if they knew where you were coming from.”
“I could've done more,” Ethan says with a regretful expression that breaks my heart.
“No, you couldn't have. Not without sacrificing your goal of getting Penny back.”
He goes silent, then he turns to me. Looking at me with a pair of vulnerable blue eyes, he says, “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For saying that. I never told anyone that story before. I didn't think anyone would understand. But you…” Ethan’s sentence hangs in the air as the corners of his lips curl up. He repeats, “Thank you.”
“My pleasure.” I return Ethan’s smile.
I don't mind him unloading on me at all. If anything, it feels like a privilege to be the first one he trusts with his side of the story.
Now I know why he had to put his work first, above anything. It was all for Penny.
Despite the vast wealth that he has today, he was struggling all those years ago. Like many other people, he was just doing his best for his family.
Ethan gazes deep into my soul. And in this moment, I feel like we’re bound together—not just by the legal contract of marriage, but by this secret that he has just shared with me. He has just invited me into his inner circle, showing me that he trusts me.
I forget all the anger I feel toward him. It’s like all those ugly emotions have just evaporated, replaced by overwhelming affection.
I lean closer and touch my forehead against his, closing my eyes. I’m not surprised when he kisses me, light and refreshing like a drizzle on a sunny day, washing away any negative feelings I’ve ever had against him.
I know him now, and he’s a good man.
He’s not flawless—nobody is. He’s right, in a way; he could’ve done more for the victims of his former business partner.
But he didn’t actively do anything bad. He just found himself in a shitty situation and made the best decisions he could. Nobody could please everybody all the time.