by KB Winters
“What the fuck are you doing here?” he demanded, turning to block my way into the apartment.
I threw back my answer, “I think I could ask you the same question,” and turned to Jessibelle. “I’m sorry to barge in on you like this.”
“No, really, you’re not interrupting anything,” she replied, her voice loud and directed at the other man standing there. I had looked up his name, but had forgotten it since. Not that it mattered, I wanted this dickhead gone.
The guy got right up into my face. “You didn’t answer my question.” I didn’t move an inch. As if I gave a shit about his question. Did he think we were in court? I could tell this threw him, because he instantly took a step back and away from me as though on instinct, possibly worried my unmoving stance was an indicator I was going to lash out at him. Which I would have, if he gave me a reason to.
“I’m here to talk to Jessi,” I said through gritted teeth, but my temper began rising at an unhealthy rate. “And I think you’re violating the terms of the case you’re working on by being here.”
“I quit the case, asshole,” he replied, almost sounding proud of himself. “And what excuse do you have for being here?”
“I’m here to talk to Jessibelle,” I repeated myself, but that didn’t seem to satisfy this guy. “Not that it’s any of your damn business.”
“Not my business? What would you be doing at her apartment?” he sneered. “She’s your lawyer, isn’t she? Maybe you should take a step back and realize you’re the one acting unprofessional, storming in here and—”
I cut him off. “And what?” Now I moved into his face. “Fighting with her in front of all of her neighbors?”
Jessibelle looked at me and then at fuckface. She didn’t seem happy with either of us. Rather, she seemed to be dumbstruck, struggling to hold herself together in the face of what was happening. Part of me wanted to grab this asshole and drag him out on to the street, but I knew getting aggressive would only make me seem like the loser. Yet, he was the one acting like an asshole.
He took another step toward me, and I could tell he was all too pleased with himself. There was a big-ass grin on his face, one that didn’t reach his eyes, and it was all I could do not to reach over and punch it straight off his face. He needed to back the hell off, but I could tell he was enjoying the way I clenched my fists at my sides to keep from knocking him the fuck out. He wasn’t going to get that reaction out of me, no matter how damn satisfying it would have been to bust him in the mouth and watch his smile disappear.
“I might not be working on your case anymore,” he murmured slowly, making sure I could hear every single word that came out of his mouth. “But I’m pretty sure I could bring a new case against you. Harassment? Sexual harassment? Of an employee? Just out of law school?”
“You have no idea what you’re talking about.” I fought to keep my voice steady in the face of what he was suggesting.
“So, you’d be fine if I called up your offices right now and told them about you turning up here at this apartment at this hour just to talk to her?” he shot back, raising his eyebrows. I could see the roses he’d brought with him, a streak of red in the corner of my vision, and felt my blood boil in my veins. That anyone could think this was wrong, had been bad in any way—I wasn’t sure I could keep myself in check much longer. I gritted my teeth, wondering if swinging a punch in his direction would be the worst thing in the world.
Jessibelle pushed between us, glaring up at the other dude. “You need to get out of here, Aston. Right now.”
He looked down at her, his sneer still firmly present on his face. I wasn’t sure what was coming next, but she placed her hands on his chest and pushed him back toward the door. I watched with satisfaction as she marched him out of her place once and for all. Before he was gone, she grabbed the flowers he’d brought with him and shoved them at him, slamming the door behind him before turning her anger on me.
“You know you can’t just barge in here like this.” Her words were like spears, shooting into my heart. Her eyes darkened and she had that power stance with her hands planted on her hips.
“It got rid of that guy, didn’t it?” I pleaded. But she wasn’t having it. She continued to scold me.
“I only got him out of here because I was worried you were going to punch him like some crazy man. What kind of a beast are you?”
Without thinking I said, “Well if I’m the beast, Jessi, then you’re the beauty.” She cocked an eyebrow, clearly amused before she wiped the expression from her face and continued to chew me out. It wasn’t that I didn’t think I deserved it, but the adrenaline was still pulsing in my veins from the confrontation I’d just had with the jack-off. She ignored my compliment and like the crack lawyer she was, she stayed on topic.
“You don’t own me.” Her unwavering gaze met mine. “You don’t get to come in here and tell people off and act like you’ve got some kind of say over how I live my life. Especially after you dumped me.”
“Dumped you? What do you think happened with Alana?” I held my hand up, stopping her. That made her so angry her brow furrowed into canyons across her forehead.
“You guys got back together, didn’t you?” She frowned at me. “When she came by the house?”
“You really think I’d have given up everything we have for her?” I asked, taking a step toward her. She stood her ground.
“Well, you let me leave and didn’t bother calling me afterward,” she pointed out, clearly pissed. “Any particular reason for that?”
“I was an idiot,” I admitted, and I could feel the heat rising between us again, or maybe it was just the tension that had been building ever since I’d walked into the apartment. But there was something clouding my brain, something messing me up, and I wasn’t certain what it was. But I knew what I wanted to do about it.
Her eyes drifted down to my mouth, and she swallowed heavily and then forced herself to look away again. She let out a sharp breath, as though trying to expel something from her body.
“You don’t own me, and you don’t have any stake in me.” She lifted her chin and met my gaze, her eyes blazing with something I recognized.
“That’s not true.” I caught her chin between my thumb and forefinger and tilted it up. And then, in one swift motion, I leaned in and kissed her.
Chapter 24
Jessibelle
As soon as our lips met, the heat and anger that was pulsing through me morphed into something else. It didn’t disappear, but changed into something different. Into passion. Into desire.
I wrapped my arms around him, pulling him close, feeling his body against mine and savoring every second of it. I should’ve shoved him away, shouldn’t have fallen for his shtick so completely, but I wanted him so badly. His kiss ignited something deep in my soul I couldn’t argue with.
He backed me up to my table in the center of my living room and hitched me up on top of it. I wrapped my legs around him, not breaking the kiss as his tongue penetrated my mouth. I pressed against him, and his hand traced the arch of my back to draw me in closer. Moaning against my lips, the sounds that came from him seemed to carry a kind of urgency I hadn’t heard from him before.
“God, I need to fuck you,” he growled in my ear, and I reached down between his legs to find him already rock hard. The feeling of his cock brought back memories of him inside me. I couldn’t wait any longer.
“Then fuck me,” I hissed, biting his ear between my front teeth. He didn’t need any more encouragement. He tore t-shirt off and helped me struggle out of my jeans, quickly sliding his hand up my thigh. I damn near came at just his touch, letting out a gasp as he touched my pussy for the first time. This was not the time to take things slow. No, if I didn’t feel his cock inside me in the next two seconds, I’d explode from pent-up desire.
He fumbled in his pocket for a condom and unfastened his pants quickly. He pulled me to the side of the table, and plunged into me with a purposeful moan. I leaned back and threw my
leg around him to allow him to get deep inside of me. He took my invitation, grabbing my hips and pounded me right on the table.
“Fuck!” I cried out, the curse bursting from my mouth before I could stop myself. I didn’t care if the neighbors heard, didn’t care if Aston was to walk back in right there and then and see us fucking on my table. I just wanted to feel him in me, to confirm I was the one he wanted. I clenched my teeth and gripped the table as best I could, letting him rail me hard and fast and deep.
“Jesus, Jessi,” he panted, his fingertips digging into my thighs. “Fuck.”
I tipped my head back, my fingers digging in to the table, my mouth opening. I thought we’d had some wild sex before this, but none of it came close to this. All the pent-up frustration and anger and fear and desire that had built up in me over the last few days suddenly burst forth in a wave of pleasure that tore through me like a wildfire. It was so intense, my body felt as if it would explode out from underneath me, my legs bucking and trembling, but I grabbed the table and opened my mouth wide and let out a cry of pleasure that seemed to tear up the space around us. He continued thrusting into my pussy, the walls tensing around him, milking him out. He came, letting out a long, animalistic groan that matched my cries of pleasure as we both reached our climax.
He slowly slid out of me. Now that the intensity of our encounter was over and the real world was starting to seep back in, I felt something I couldn’t quite give a name to. Something that wasn’t good.
He disposed of the condom and buckled himself back up, and I grabbed my shirt and put it on. My heart beat fast, perhaps faster than it had when we’d been lost in each other. His eyes met mine.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, scanning my face for some kind of explanation. “I just—” I sighed. There were so many questions dancing around my head and I was having trouble figuring out which one I wanted to ask first. Suddenly, a tear edged down my cheek. I pushed it away angrily and thought back to Alana in his arms in tears on the kitchen floor. Thinking about her was enough to remind me exactly why he hadn’t been in touch the last few days, and I knew I couldn’t let him get away with it any longer.
He reached out to touch my arm. “Please, just tell me?”
I jerked it away before he could pull me into an embrace because it seemed his physical touch was enough to make me forget everything I needed to keep at the front of my mind.
“You’re not going to stay,” I replied, swallowing heavily to fight the tears rising dangerously. I didn’t want to sit here and sob my eyes out in front of him. In fact, I couldn’t think of anything more humiliating than letting him see how much he’d gotten to me, how much and how badly I wanted him. If I could peel back time, I’d make him get out of here alongside Aston, because having to explain myself, my doubts, my fears, my feelings for him, after what had happened was proving harder than I thought. Could I just go back to bed? And ignore every single one of these stupid, overwhelming thoughts that seemed intent on pressing through to the front of my brain?
“Of course, I am.” He reached out for me, but I brushed his fingers away from my arm before he could get a grip. I didn’t want him to comfort me. I wanted him to tell me the truth.
“You’re going to go back to her,” I continued, nodding as though to confirm it to myself. There was no chance he was going to choose me over Alana. She was beautiful and proper and rich.
“That isn’t going to happen,” he said softly, almost as a prayer. He pushed his hands into his long beautiful hair and raised his eyebrows at me. “I’m here, aren’t I? With you?”
“Because you’re still too busy rebounding,” I pointed out. “I know you guys split up. And I know she wants you back, and I know you were engaged. You can’t tell me you don’t have feelings for her, for fuck’s sake.”
“I can tell you that,” he insisted, his voice rising a little bit. I hopped down from the table. I had to get away from him. Away from his wickedly sexy smile, his smell. His eyes. I took a few steps away from him. I didn’t want to bear the brunt of his emotions again, and I refused to let him intimidate me. I knew that wasn’t what he was trying to do, that he was just trying to get across how strongly he felt. But I couldn’t trust him.
“Then why did you drop me like that?” I pointed out. “After what happened at the place in Atherton?”
He looked at me intently, and I knew he was searching his mind to come up with an answer that would explain his choice. I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear it. Because if it wasn’t this excuse, then there would be another and another and another for why I had to come second. And eventually, one of those excuses wouldn’t work for me, and I’d have to admit I didn’t come first to him. That someone else always would. Right now, it was Alana, but who knew who it would be next time? I had no interest in finding out.
“You need to go.” I shook my head. “Please. Just leave. I need some time to myself.”
“I’ll give you as much time as you need,” he murmured. “But I want you to know the last thing I want right now is to be apart from you.”
“I’m not so sure you get to make that choice,” I said, looking down. When I finally had the courage to face him he had closed his eyes, as though what I was saying was physically hurting him. Then he let his shoulders slump and he turned away. I watched him go, and wondered if I hadn’t just made the biggest mistake of my life.
Once he was gone, I returned to my bedroom and pulled the covers up over my head. How could we swing between making love like that to tearing ourselves apart again? It didn’t make sense.
I needed to get out of the city for a while, because if he knew where I was, there was a chance he would come back. I could work on the case, keep focused on trial documents, and take things from there. Who could I go to? And then, of course, it struck me. My mother. She lived far enough out of the city that no one would find me. I could finally get some time to myself.
I pulled myself out of bed after a few minutes, or maybe it was a few hours, because when I felt like this, time seemed to move in some kind of odd double-time. I started to pack, picking up clothes and grabbing for my laptop. Even the thought of being that far from Zach made my stomach twist up with fear, I knew I couldn’t sit around waiting for him. I had to get on with my life, and right now, getting out of town was the only way I knew how to do that.
Chapter 25
Zach
“What do you mean, she went out of town?”
I glared at the woman on the other side of the desk, knowing it wasn’t her fault Jessibelle had skipped town and left me in the lurch. Nonetheless, I aimed all my anger at her. I raised my eyebrows, tapping my fingers on the desk in front of me, waiting for a response.
“She said she was going out of town with a PI,” the woman behind the desk, who couldn’t have been older than twenty, replied. She looked terrified at the onslaught of my questions, and I couldn’t say I blamed her. If I was her age and my boss came crashing into my work demanding answers I didn’t have, I’d be cowering too.
“And you can’t tell me where she is?”
“They said it’s the sensitive nature of what she’s investigating right now,” the woman replied.
I glanced around the office to see I was being watched by at least a half dozen of the people around me who were meant to be working. A wave of irritation rose and fell in my chest. Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to speak slowly and carefully. Jessi’s comment about the beast in me hit home. Maybe I did need some anger management. But now was not the time.
“They? Who the hell is they? I want you to find out the name of the investigator,” I demanded, hoping she knew I was deadly serious by the tone of my voice. “He should be on my payroll. Can you do that for me?”
“I think so,” she nodded and turned to her computer, obviously glad for an excuse to look away from me. I stood up straight, casting my gaze around the office, and noted with satisfaction the way most of the people at their desks dove back into their work when they saw me loo
king at them. Yeah, it was my time and money they were wasting.
“Jacob Betterson.” The woman finally came up with a name, glancing at me with something close to triumph. “He works at 77 Arnold Street.”
“Thanks.” I gave her a curt nod and turned for the door. Wasn’t much of a PI if it was that easy to get hold of his information, but I’d take it, if it meant I could figure out where the hell Jessibelle had gone.
It had been a week and a half since the scene in her apartment. I’d decided to hold back for a little bit, to give her the space she needed. But then, days passed, and I didn’t hear so much as a word from her. I’d sent flowers to her apartment, but found them rejected. When I went to drop them off myself, it was clear there was no one was home. A pile-up of letters jammed into the mail slot must have been a few days old. Was all of this just so she could escape me?
I gave it a few more days, pacing up and down the floors of my mansion outside of town, and wondered what in the hell I was meant to do now. I wanted to see her. I needed to see her. And I had no idea where she was. She wanted to keep me at arm’s length. I got that much, but after the encounter we’d shared at her apartment, it was clear there was something more going on between us, something that needed addressing. And that’s how I found myself heading to the PI’s office late on a Thursday morning, brain whirling with thoughts of how I could clear up this mess as I attempted to track down the woman I loved. I felt like I was the private investigator, the one on the hunt.