by Kylie Parker
Lawrence dragged Selena to her room, tied her to the headboard with a collection of scarves he found hanging on Selena’s accessory tree and slowly released his passion covering her mouth with his hand when she tried to scream out his name. She stayed with him all that night and into the morning. He woke her early the next morning and made pancakes in her kitchen, wearing her pink flannel robe and looking scrumptious. His hair all muddled up from their adventures. Watching him, she wanted to say screw the pancakes and take him back to bed.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Reading the message from Beth, Selena laughed. You better do whatever you have to, to keep him. Well, he definitely impressed her friend, though that didn’t take much. The pancakes in the morning put her over the edge, for sure. And Selena agreed. He was pretty amazing. After spending the night at her apartment and making them all breakfast, he had driven her to work for half the day but not before he sent her for a pedicure and massage.
Kissing her goodbye, he reminded her he would have a car for her after work, and then he was taking her away for the weekend. Away where she wondered. Finally at work, pampered and content, she was texting Beth instead of doing the work she should be finishing. Oh well, it made her look busy, and she was tired of smiling at a picture of her and Lawrence from the event a few days earlier. Everyone wanted details, and yet the whole thing was filmed live. They could go through it piece by piece, and they did, stopping by to ask Selena something about someone she met. So, she kept her head down and focused on work, or really, chatting with Beth.
Her phone rang instead and Beth spoke quickly. “Sorry for calling do you have a minute.”
“Yes but I am going to respond like I am interviewing you for a story,” Selena replied.
“Okay. I needed you to know how amazing last night was. I have Ted wrapped around my little finger now. What an amazing meal and well, we both love Lawrence.” Beth gushed.
“As do I. Now can you expand on that a little bit more?” Selena said. Pretending to make notes she doodled as she spoke.
“I hope we get to see more of your gorgeous boyfriend. You should see the picture of the two of you; you look fabulous. Even if he is staring at your tits.” Beth gushed.
“Well send it over and I will review it,” Selena spoke slowly, wanting to get off the phone and talk to Lawrence. She was getting excited to know where he was going to take her, and she wanted to go now, to do anything he wanted and to play some more.
“Okay, I am sending it. And now I have to go. I am getting a glare for being on the phone. Talk to you later.”
Selena said goodbye and then took a breath and followed everyone else into the coffee room. She had been absent a fair bit and was definitely avoiding coworkers. Though she didn’t want to be pegged as a lone star or worse, be accused of not being a team player. Yep, sometimes she just had to suck it up, smile and drink coffee while everyone gossips about who is not there. She hadn’t been there for a while so even sitting there, at least in some regards, to the attention away from her.
Thankfully Laura was sitting beside an empty chair and saw her as soon as she came in. Smiling she waved her over and patted the seat next to her.
“Yay you! We have missed you around here and wow have you been busy. You working tomorrow?” Laura asked.
“No. What’s new with you?” Selena replied, preferring to talk about her friend, noticing that the rest of the staff was waiting for some juicy story.
“Come on. We saw the pictures. Lifestyle department said it was amazing. There had got to be something good you want to spill.” Laura prodded, gesturing to the staff that covered the story to back her up.
Jumping in before they could interject, Selena spoke with a light tone, “Well they saw the whole thing. They had the place covered. What more could I report?”
“Where did you get that dress?” A woman, Shelly, burst out from across the room.
“And how does he kiss.” Her friend nervously added. The room erupted in laughter yet broke off suddenly as all eyes were on Selena.
“Like a man,” Selena spoke after no one was letting her off the hook. She blushed.
Everyone laughed again. And then Laura finally helped her out. “Okay, okay. Everything in here is off the record.”
“No, it's not.” Another employee responded, to more laughter.
“What I want to know is what the spin is going to be for next month’s article. How is the story coming?” Selena changed the subject, only slightly, diverting the attention away from her.
“It is going to be awesome,” Shelly spoke up again.
From the entryway, Selena hadn’t even seen him come in; Jeb spoke up. “I was hoping for answers about another story I am working on.”
He looked at Selena, square in the eye as if formulating a plan of attack. “You told me before you didn’t know anything about Scriva Industries but now it seems you are fraternizing with the CEO.”
Pressing her lips together, she waited for Jeb to continue. He was looking at her, waiting for her to volunteer information (typical reporter tactic) but she wasn’t saying a word as he hadn’t asked a question.
After some silence, he spoke again. “My sources are telling me something serious is happening at Scriva; there is a hot story there, and I will find it, mark my words. And I would appreciate your involvement.”
“Yeah you could go undercover,” Laura added, getting carried away in Jeb’s rhetoric.
“That would be entirely inappropriate.” Selena insisted, looking down to see a message from Lawrence. It said that he was going to give her a hint about where he was taking her, it would be somewhere they would be naked most of the time. Somewhere hot and private.
“I think you know something.” Said Jeb.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Selena was exhausted after an aggressive interrogation by her coworkers. She tried to reach out to Lawrence, but he was busy and not answering. Sighing she flopped on her couch replaying what Jeb said. He was digging for a story, and she had to make sure he didn’t uncover the truth about Lawrence. She would protect him and Scriva industries so the truth would not be revealed. But how?
She was still staring at a blank television screen when Beth walked in, out of breath.
“Oh! I thought you would be with Lawrence tonight. Well, I won’t get in your way. I am on my way out for a special date.” She winked at Selena and walked by without noticing anything amiss.
A scream came seconds later, and Selena jumped up and ran to see if Beth was okay. She met Beth at the doorway of Selena’s bedroom and looked where Beth was staring, wide-eyed with terror. On her bed was something bloody with words smeared on the wall seeming to be written in the same blood. Gagging, Selena took a step forward and peeked in. They were eyeballs, bloody eyeballs from some animal. On the wall, it said, “I am watching you Selena.” The words were circled, and the blood dripped down the wall. Beth started sobbing.
“We better call the police.” She said between sobs.
Selena was angrily thinking about who would play such a sick joke. She thought about Jeb and all his questions, could he really go so far as to threaten her? Whatever this was, she definitely didn’t want the police there.
“No.” She said, and Beth looked at her in surprise. Forcing herself to look non-shaken, Selena swallowed hard and pushed out a smile. “It was a joke; sorry I didn’t warn you. I will have it cleaned when you get home.”
Beth looked at her strangely and walked away mumbling something about it being a disgusting joke. She left, and Selena let out a sigh. She wanted to scream. Pacing back and forth she didn’t know what to do. She didn’t want to get rid of it yet; she wanted the evidence. But the police couldn’t be involved; she knew that much. She tried Lawrence a few more time silently urging him to answer. She messaged him that it was an emergency then deleted. It wasn’t an emergency, but what was it? Suddenly she remembered contact information on the contract, she found it and took a look, and there was a phone num
ber, no name just for questions or concerns please contact and the phone number. Well, she definitely had questions & concerns.
A man answered after the first ring. It wasn’t Lawrence. “Yes.”
“Oh. Hi. I am looking for Lawrence.” She said, unsure of herself.
“Is this Selena and are you alright?” the man responded, taking command.
“Yes. When I couldn’t reach Lawrence, I didn’t know what to do. I have a…situation here.” As usual, Selena didn’t know what she should or should not say.
“What kind of situation. I have someone on their way up now.” The man spoke in the same flat tone.
“What do you mean? How do you know where I am? How do I know I can trust you?” Selena was scared. Everything seemed to be crumbling around her, and she had no clue how or why.
“I work for Lawrence. Check the contract. Guava is your safe word, and the man who is about to knock on your door is there for your safety. Now tell me about the situation so I can inform Lawrence.”
“Ok but you better not be lying to me.” Selena almost laughed at her empty threat. “Someone has been in my apartment and left me a message.”
“Don’t touch it and do what your bodyguard says.” The call ended.
At the same time, there was a knock on the door. Nervously Selena peeked out having no idea what to expect. What she didn’t expect was the driver who had picked her up in multiple vehicles and driven her to and from Lawrence’s many times. She sighed with relief and pulled him into her apartment. Even though he had never spoken to her, she wanted to hug him. At least he was someone she recognized.
“How did you get here so fast? She asked.
“Where is the message?” he answered her question with a question.
“This way.” She said happy to remain silent, just glad to have his physical presence.
After looking around the room for a moment, he turned to her. “Was anything else touched?”
“I don’t know it doesn’t look like it.” She said.
“The room is secure. Take a close look and tell me if anything is moved or missing. Take your time; I will wait in the kitchen.” He turned and walked away before she could reply.
Looking over and over again, trying to waste time so she wouldn’t have to feel awkward about her no talking bodyguard she stayed in her room extra-long. She noticed the dripping blood had splattered onto her carpet and wondered how she would ever get it clean again. It couldn’t be blood for real, though; it had to be there to scare her. Maybe Jeb had a mean streak and was trying to intimidate her. She had become awfully unpopular at work among the other interns and even some full-time staff. People were threatened and surprised by her quick success. And those two traits are a bad mix in anyone. Maybe she had overreacted, and this was a prank gone wrong. Feeling a bit sheepish for panicking she walked out of the room, planning to send her bodyguard on his way and get cleaning.
He was on the phone when she stepped into the kitchen. She stood, feeling out of place in her own place and waited.
“Yes, sir. You can send them. It looks like we are done here.” Ending the call, he briefly looked at Selena, for once making eye contact before he spoke. “Come with me.”
“Okay. Where are you taking me? Can I grab a few things?” She asked close to tears.
“I am taking you where I always take you and everything you need is already there. We go now.” This time, he took her arm and guided her to the door. It was not a threatening gesture and in a weird way Selena had come to trust this man, but she could also tell that he could get violent if it came to that. So, silently she followed his lead and was placed in the back of a black SUV. When the doors locked, Selena cringed, though it was better than a trunk by a long shot.
Riding in silence, Selena eventually picked up the familiar trail to Scriva Industries. She sighed in relief and hoped Lawrence would be waiting for her although she still had not heard from him.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Comfortable captive, Selena knew she was safe. She had also convinced Beth to stay away with a wild story of finding bed bugs while cleaning. Apparently, it was being fumigated for the next week. In reality, Lawrence was taking precautions while they figured out if they were safe. Selena was safe now, though she had lost her phone (too traceable if her work was related) and she was confined to Lawrence’s suite. Locked in for her safety. She hadn’t seen much of Lawrence. He came home briefly a few hours after she arrived but couldn’t stay the night or explain what was going on. Acting vaguely suspicious, he left while she was sleeping.
By the time Lawrence arrived back, twelve hours later Selena had worked herself almost into a frenzy. She was so angry with herself for the mistakes she made at work. She felt as though the small mistakes erased all the progress she had made and that didn’t seem fair. This was not what she envisioned, and she needed to change, to find somewhere she fit. She thought that somewhere was Lawrence, but now she wasn’t so sure.
“Hello, gorgeous,” Lawrence said smiling when he unlocked the door. “I hope you have recovered from your scare.”
She ran to him, trying to hide her distraught face. He held her tight, feeling her tension, knowing she was still upset. He sat down with her on his lap and kissed her hair.
“I missed you.” She whispered, not trusting her wavering voice to say much else.
“Oh, now I am here. We got that little mess cleaned up; you are safe.” He spoke softly.
“Maybe. But I feel like I deserve it. No matter how hard I try, I always mess up. Everyone only remembers my mistakes.” Selena took a deep breath holding back the self-loathing rant she was feeling.
“No, no my girl. This is not about you. We all make mistakes in life, and they lead you to exactly where you need to be. And this is so much bigger than you. If anything it is my fault for getting you involved.” He kissed her hair again and breathed her in.
“Oh, Lawrence I want to be involved.” She turned and kissed him, holding him tight, tasting him hard.
He pulled back a minute and smiled, “Well if you are feeling better, you better get ready. We are going out.”
“Where are we going?” Selena asked, more excited to get naked with him than anything.
“We have reservations at Chez Louis. Your family is meeting us there.” Lawrence had a mysterious glint in his eye.
“That is the fanciest place in town. How did you make that work? That is a big reservation!” Selena was shocked and confused, he hadn’t talked to her all day but had managed to make reservations.
“I have a standing reservation there. I pay to make sure I can have a table whenever I want. Sorry, I wasn’t here for you today; I know it has been stressful. So let’s go enjoy a delicious meal with your family and then we can come back here for some alone time. In fact, I think I am going to keep you here permanently.” Lawrence licked his lips. The intercom sounded with a voice telling them they had to leave in fifteen minutes.
“Oh gosh, I better get ready. What should I wear?” Selena started to strip heading for the shower. She would have to towel dry and do an up-do; there wasn’t time for anything else.
“You are so sexy when you are stressed. There is a new blue dress in your closet. It matches your eyes perfectly. I cannot wait to see it.” Lawrence watched her undress and she slowed, giving him a little show before giggling and running into the shower. There was something about that man that always made her feel better.
Dressed and in the car, Selena felt nervous again. Lawrence was on his phone finishing up some business so he could enjoy the meal. Selena was not sure she could hide from her family all the crazy stuff that had happened. Her mom could always read her right away. So she was going to have to act like everything was happy.
Hanging up the phone, Lawrence turned right into her kissing her hard and groping under her short dress. Teasing her inner thigh, he kissed her neck and tugged at her dress.
“It doesn’t show enough cleavage; I don’t like this one.” He said w
ith a moan. “I need to be closer to you. To touch your skin.”
Spreading her legs into his touch, she purred with pleasure. “Well, you do have access down here, and all will be covered under the table.”
She winked at him.
Kissing her lips again he pulled her across his seat and onto his full erection.
“Lift up that dress; we have time for a quickie.” He said, undoing his belt buckle. Remaining clothed he slid inside her with a groan.
Selena began rocking into him, feeling constricted by the clothing between them. Moaning she kissed his neck and pulled at his suit jacket.
“Oh, you naughty girl making my suit all rumpled, when I get you home I am going to tie those arms down,” Lawrence whispered in her ear and then continued talking dirty to her, her seeping wetness testament to how much it turned her on.
“Maestro. Yes!” She screamed and then covered her mouth. Building intensity brought them together as they matched rhythm and wound themselves around each other. Finally, a second before the vehicle stopped they came together, eyes locked on each other in passionate awareness of how connected they had become.
Hopping off of him, she straightened and smoothed her dress and Lawrence did the same to his suit, the driver (her new bodyguard) opened the door for them, and they stepped out. Walking past the lineup to get in, Lawrence smiled and walked past the bouncer.