by Amber Rayne
It was a local event, and Aiden had downplayed the number of people and cameras that would be there. He remained unperturbed as he always had, almost comfortable with, or at least tolerant of, the flashes going off in his face and people telling him to move and stand in a particular position. And just like the last event for his father, they both ushered a fake smile onto their faces and shook hands before embracing. I chuckled to myself, wondering if anyone noticed how they held each other’s hands too tight. How they clenched their teeth together as they whispered something to each other.
“What nice things did you two have to say to each other?” I joked once he’d taken a place standing next to me.
“The usual stuff. Niceties.”
“Like what?” I asked playfully.
“I’m sure a couple of fucks and jackasses were tossed around. You know, terms of endearment,” he joked before he led me through the crowd to a spot in the corner where we could be away from the center of attention. Once we were settled near the thick decorative drapes that were drawn back to give a view of the beautiful garden that surrounded a marble fountain. Exotic flowers decorated the area, and a soft illumination of lights complemented the crowd of pastel colors. “I thanked him for the property,” Aiden said.
“And his response?”
Amusement flickered in his eyes long before the smirk overtook his features. “He told me to go to hell.”
“You two do have fun,” I teased. It became more difficult to keep my focus on Aiden when each time my gaze drifted from his to scan the room, it landed on Elizabeth, her crystalline eyes fixed on me, her full lips twisted into a scornful moue.
“Did she really think you two had a chance of getting back together?” I asked when his eyes followed mine across the room.
He didn’t immediately answer, and when I looked at him, I realized their eyes were fixed on one another. I quelled the ache that it caused.
“I loved her, and that made me foolish when it came to her,” he admitted softly to me. “But not foolish enough to ever go back.”
I turned to face him, and his gaze dropped from her and fastened on me.
“Do you think it’s because of her that you choose this?”
He leaned down and spoke softly to me. “What’s this?”
“Superficial interactions that will never be anything more than that—superficial.”
He exhaled. “We are very different” was the only answer he gave me, and I knew I wasn’t going to get more, no matter how much I craved it.
I plastered on a fake smile as Aiden’s father approached. “Councilman Matthews,” I greeted him.
“It’s Alexander, Ella.” He said my name with the same intonation and silkiness of his son. “Is this your first time at the Merkell Center?” he asked.
I nodded.
“I’m going to steal you away for a moment and give you the tour.”
Before I could decline, he extended his arm to me and I took it. Once we were a few feet away, I spotted Elizabeth moving in Aiden’s direction. I was guided to the garden that I had been admiring from afar.
“I will say, next to you, this may be the most breathtaking thing I’ve seen today.”
“Shouldn’t that be your wife?” I acknowledged, maintaining the cordial smile, aware that we were being watched as he pointed to the various flowers throughout the garden.
“She is quite lovely, but is it wrong for me to acknowledge other works of beauty?”
“I’m not a ‘work.’”
He chuckled. His wide, charismatic smile was definitely made to be in front of cameras, and used for hawking promises he’d probably never keep. I kept pace with him, his cadence slowing.
“I’ve been made aware of the many associates my son has entertained since his divorce. You are the only one that I’ve met more than once, and who has met his friends as well. I find that interesting.”
It doesn’t mean anything.
“What’s so interesting about it?” I asked.
He chuckled, but it lacked amusement or even joy.
“You seem nice.”
“Is that a flaw or an asset to you?”
“Both,” he said softly, the gentleness in his tone a contrast to his face and stiff posture. He looked around the garden before stepping closer to me. “It is also our flaw and asset that nice sweet women don’t stay that way with us.” The lascivious way he looked at me, I had a feeling “nice” was just a euphemism.
“Do you make it a habit to hit on any woman your son brings around? Do I automatically become part of this game by association?”
He grinned. “My son has wonderful taste in women. I can admit, I’m envious of him.”
“That’s unfortunate. Instead of being envious, you should be happy he found someone he enjoys spending time with.” I turned away and started toward the house. Glancing back over my shoulder, I saw he was still watching me. “Councilman Matthews, you should have used this time to convince me to vote for you and not give me more reasons not to.”
The polite smile had become his mask as Aiden walked around the room, Liz next to him, interacting as a unit. It was hard not to see them as the beautiful couple that people loved to be around. They were charismatic and attractive, each successful in their own right. Their confidence and ease around others made it difficult not to be captivated by them, which everyone they spoke to seemed to be. She’d found a comfortable position next to him, her arm resting affectionately on his arm, and I couldn’t do anything more than just stare at them. Forgiveness seemed so easy when you loved someone. Watching them together, I wasn’t confident that he wouldn’t forgive her, nor that he no longer loved her. People didn’t fall into the comfortable ease they presented with someone they hated. And they didn’t smile warmly at their ex-wives, who were now carrying another man’s baby.
I hated feeling this way, and I really didn’t have a right to. When all was said and done, what he did after the twenty-one days were over was up to him. Uncontrolled and unwanted feelings snarled at me, and nothing I did seemed to ease them. And when Councilman Matthews slipped into position next to me, he leaned over and whispered, “Would you like to get away and have a drink or something?”
Was he fucking kidding me? It took everything I had not to take a drink from one of the passing trays and toss it in his face. Giving him a big cloying smile, I said, “Offhand, I can think of at least a hundred things I would prefer, and one of those things is trying to keep myself from being mauled by a bear. Goodnight, Councilman Matthews.”
I didn’t bother to look in Aiden’s direction, or anyone else’s. I simply headed for the door. Fuck. I still didn’t understand why people cared to take pictures outside of this event. And there weren’t many, just two or three. My hand shot up to cover my face and shield myself from the flashing light. Bane waited outside the car, and the moment he saw me, he gave me an inquiring look.
“Will you take me home?” I said as I got into the backseat of the car.
“I wasn’t informed of this. Will Mr. Matthews be joining you later?” He rushed out, getting into the car, his confusion over the situation apparent. He kept looking at the entrance of the building for Aiden.
“He’s not coming, it’s just me. I want you to take me to my home, not his. I’m sure you will be back by the time he’s ready to leave.”
“I think it would be a good idea for me to check with him.” He took out his phone.
“Please,” I entreated softly.
He exhaled a long breath and nodded. The door swung open then, and Aiden slid in next to me. “Home,” I said to Bane.
“Fine. We can go home,” Aiden said.
“I want to go to my home.”
“What happened?”
And I rambled. It seemed so articulate and structured in my head, but when it came out, all the drama and dysfunction that had plagued the night came out without me stopping it.
“I’m not sure what kind of game you and your dad are playing, if it even i
s a game, or if you two just have the most truly fucked-up relationship I’ve ever seen. You and your wife—”
“Ex-wife.”
“Fine. But honestly, neither one of you seems to want it that way. Am I here to make her jealous? Or are you two dealing with each other in the same messed-up way you and your dad deal with each other?”
He listened intently to me, and I felt terrible for judging them, but they were so complicated, I was out of my league with the dysfunction that existed between them all.
“Bane, will you take us back to my home?”
“I’m not going home with you,” I asserted.
Cool dark eyes rested on me, but his voice was unusually kind. “Ella,” he said, his voice calm and firm and laden with command. “No, we are going back to my place.”
We were like strangers sharing a car. He was on one side and I was on the other as we stared out the windows. Streetlights flickered as we drove, soft music playing in the background. Occasionally I looked in his direction. He ran his finger along his lips as he kept his attention on the passing city out the window.
He extended his hand toward me and lightly stroked my leg. I didn’t immediately turn to face him, but when I did, he took a while to speak.
“We are fucked up,” he said in an even tone. I wasn’t sure if it was a new revelation, or he was just acknowledging it for me. He continued in the same voice, “My father and I have an adversarial relationship. I won’t try to convince you that it’s normal because it’s not. It’s fucked up. We are fucked up.”
He shrugged and then stilled. There was more than him acknowledging it; he’d accepted it for what it was. And I guessed that was the essence of who Aiden was. A messed-up situation that he accepted, but wasn’t going to change and didn’t have any desire to do so. It was odd, complicated, and dysfunctional, which was probably the reason he enjoyed his rules so much.
“Is there more you need to know, Ella?”
“Do you still have feelings for your ex-wife?”
“Of course. She was my wife, and at one time I loved her.” He paused for a long time. “But I don’t think I ever liked her.”
My tongue slid across my lips, moistening them, and his eyes focused on that. He leaned in to try to kiss me, and I moved back.
“Do you have more questions?” he asked in a breezy tone, indifferent. I wasn’t sure if he was agitated, but he definitely didn’t enjoy the questions. I was going to continue until he stopped answering them.
“Did you always know the baby was your father’s?”
“Ask the question you really want to ask, Ella,” he commanded in a low, raspy tone as his head rested against mine. His fingers ran along my lips, waiting for me to answer. “Go ahead, Ella, ask. It’s not the time to be coy now.”
I’m not sure why the question didn’t ease out as easily as it had come to my mind when I saw them together. But he waited patiently for me to ask the question, and perhaps it took me so long because I didn’t want to know the answer.
“At any time, did you suspect it was yours?”
He nodded once, barely moving his head into it. “Yes, we’ve slept together—often, since the divorce.” He assessed me for a long time. “Ella.” I closed my eyes, allowing the gentle way he said my name to wash over me, but wanting more of an explanation than “My family’s screwed up and so is my relationship with my ex-wife.” As if he sensed the need, he continued to speak. “My father is the way he is. I’ve never expected him to change. He’s an opportunist. Period. If he sees an opportunity, he goes after it. Elizabeth was one of those opportunities. He saw an opportunity with you—and he was wrong.”
He kissed me softly, grazing his teeth over my bottom lip. It tingled. “He didn’t force her. She went willingly. I didn’t think that was the woman I married, but it was. She wasn’t happy being with me.” He shrugged it off, and if it bothered him, I couldn’t tell. It was so matter-of-fact, as if he was telling me about a business deal that had failed.
Bane dropped us off, and Aiden continued to talk. “The affair happened, but she wasn’t innocent in it either. They both had an agenda, and I suspect her pregnancy is part of it.”
Once we stepped into the elevator, he inched closer to me until I was nestled in the corner of it. His body pressed against mine, his cock hard against me. His hands stroked my face before roving over my body, his sensual touch making focusing hard. But I had questions, because she reminded me of Jason, who had committed one of the most reprehensible acts imaginable and then thought he could just apologize and everything would return to normal. And when he was ready, he’d do to his wife what he had done to me—leave her.
I knew Jason only wanted me because I was an opportunity. Aiden’s father also saw me as an opportunity. I opened my mouth to speak but Aiden kissed me, hard. I was panting when he pulled away.
Refusing to be distracted, I pulled away and opened my mouth to speak. He pressed his fingers lightly against my lips. “Have I not answered enough of your questions?”
He moved his hand, stroking my inner thigh, teasing me as his fingers glided over my erogenous area. Distracting me.
When he removed his hand, he kissed me again. When the elevator opened, I followed him into the house, and by the time we were in the living room, he only had on his shirt and slacks.
“Has she apologized?”
“Of course.” He sighed. “And all was forgiven. I do know how to have amicable relationships with people I don’t like,” he offered.
He’d moved behind me and started unzipping my dress. He slid it down my body and stepped back, and standing there in my strapless bra and thong, I felt like I was on display, like the human art at Kieran’s showing.
He walked around me in silence, and I followed him with my eyes as much as I could without turning.
My bra was next to go. He dragged his fingers over the peaks of my nipples; they hardened, and then he took them into his mouth, each in turn.
“Have I satisfied your curiosity?” he asked as he took hold of my breasts.
I nodded.
“Good. No more questions, Ella,” he commanded. Once we were in the bedroom, he directed me to the bed. “Panties off.”
I tugged the thin strap of fabric and tossed it aside and then lay on the bed. He moved his finger in a circle, directing me to turn around. I did, rolling over onto my stomach. A drawer opened, and I turned to see what he was doing. “Back around, Ella,” he said, firmly. I rolled over. “While you’re at it, close your eyes.”
I closed them, becoming hyperaware of the sounds around me: drawers opening, something swooshing in the air, Aiden’s footsteps coming closer. The heat of his body, which clung to me and wrapped around me as he moved over me.
“I love this about you,” he whispered against my ear. “You are absolutely sinfully delicious.”
A feather touch moved along my body. I wasn’t sure what it was, but it was slight, tickling my skin as he moved it over me. He spread my legs, and it danced lightly over me. Aroused, I could feel myself getting wet. He continued, teasing me, giving me more, only to retreat. His fingers slipped inside of me, and he made a noise.
“I’m glad you are enjoying this.” I was enjoying it too much. I reared back against him, craving more. He chuckled, bringing me close to the height of pleasure only to deny me it. I moaned. He said my name over and over, as light and silky smooth as the sheet. Again, he moved over my throbbing clit, making tantalizing strokes over it as I ripped at the sheets, burying my face in the bed, needing more.
“Aiden, please.”
The weight of his body lay over me, his lips traveling along my neck and back, and I could feel his cock just at my entrance, resting there, refusing to enter.
“Aiden,” I whimpered and he made a sound of pleasure as I writhed under him.
“I really enjoy you, Ella.” But he didn’t move. His hips rested against me, taunting me but never giving me what I wanted. After moments of teasing me, he plunged into me, his
hips grinding against my ass. At first a gentle, winding thrust that became increasingly frenetic. I moved back against him, our bodies crashing into each other, the sensation of him taking me heightened by the sheets rubbing against my sensitive nipples. He pounded harder into me, the orgasm blooming. He crashed into me harder, turbulent movements that caused warmth to tingle and roil over me. I came. Hard. Melting into the sheets with Aiden’s body resting over mine. His fingers slid down my arm until they met mine and then he intertwined our hands together, where they stayed for several minutes. He rolled to his side, taking me with him, my body cupped around him, and I felt his cock against me, rising, ready for another round.
“See what you do to me?” he teased.
“I don’t think it’s me. It’s a guy thing.”
“No, it’s you.” He said, his tone even, with a hint of regret, sorrow.
I turned to face him, lifting my eyes to meet him. “There’s nothing wrong with that, is it?”
He tightened his hold on me, and I buried my head in his neck, waiting for an answer that never came.
The next morning I woke up alone in Aiden’s bed. I went to the room that I had been relegated to since our vacation at the cabin. The same room I stayed in when I’d first arrived. As I made my way up the stairs to get my things and shower, it seemed like more than twenty-days. Tomorrow it was over, and I didn’t want to accept that things were probably going back to normal. Aiden was in the room, his pajama bottoms hanging off the crest of his hips. Muscles contracted and relaxed as he took a drink from his mug, staring out the window. I paused to admire him.
“Good morning.”
“You left.”
“Yes, that’s what you wanted, remember? To keep the lines from blurring.”
“So what if the lines get blurred and this ends up being more than what we both signed up for? Big deal.”
“But it is. This is fun. I enjoy every moment with you, but I didn’t sign up for anything more, nor am I prepared to give any more,” he said, his tone cool and indifferent. I just stared at his back as he turned around, staring out the window again.