by V. Hunter
"Hey, Sofia," I said, drawing her attention back to me. "We can clean it all up when we're done. And if anybody does find out I promise I'll take all the blame, okay?"
She sighed heavily and pointed at something behind me.
I pivoted, a noise of disgust fighting its way out of me as I took in the obvious camera positioned in the upper corner of the room. I wasn't sure how I missed that before.
If Sofia had one in her room, then I could almost guarantee the house was probably crawling with more of them. It was no wonder then that Jairo let me wander his house so freely. Goosebumps broke out over my arms as I pictured myself being watched.
With a gentle cough to clear my throat, I turned and grinned at Sofia like everything was fine. She didn't need to know just how gross I felt at knowing my privacy ceased to exist the moment I entered Jairo Pomar's creepy middle-of-nowhere mansion. It certainly didn't negate the fact that at the moment the only thing I felt in control of was my ability to give Sofia a bit of unrestricted fun.
"Can I borrow your hair-tie?" I asked, pointing at her ponytail.
She eyed my wild hair and obliged, probably thinking I needed it worse than she did. It wasn't for my hair though. I grabbed the desk chair from by the window and dragged it across the room to the corner with the camera. Sofia watched me curiously but kept her distance. That was fine with me because I really didn't want her to get in trouble if things went south. I would willingly take the blame if Jairo—or whoever else might be around—ended up mad.
I stripped a sparkly pink pillowcase from one of her pillows and climbed the chair with it. Careful not to lose my balance, I quickly rigged a cover for the camera lens out of the pillowcase and then used the hair-tie to secure it around the base of the camera. I leaned over to check either side, making sure I fulled covered it, before I stepped down and turned to Sofia.
Jokingly, I took a bow.
A half-smile broke out over her face, which I figured was probably about as good as I was gonna get at the moment. The thing that really made my heart soar with joy, though, was that she turned and with both hands grabbed the frilly white canopy hanging over her bed. She glanced at me as if checking if it was really okay, so I nodded and gave her a thumbs up.
She jerked with all her might and managed to yank the whole thing right out of her ceiling. She cackled as the material swirled to the floor and I knew then that I'd created a monster.
And I was pretty darn proud of that.
Whatever reservations she had before were suddenly long gone as she began to wreak havoc on her own bedroom. Saying she didn't like the decor was probably an understatement I realized after seeing how gleeful she was to tear it all apart. The one thing she noticeably didn't touch were the books. Despite me walking in on her literally dumping them on the floor, they were in great shape, and she didn't seem interested in destroying them.
I joined it, ripping clothes off the hangers from the closet and dumping them to the floor in a much less methodical way than she did with her books. When I finished there, I took the time to peel the fake pink crystals off the lampshade sitting on her desk. I left the bigger things to Sofia, wanting her to get as much out of the experience as she could while it lasted.
Even after covering the camera—and probably especially because I did that—I knew our time was limited.
Sofia alternated between nearly hysterical laughter and gasping in big breaths of air because she got so out-of-breath from all the destruction. She moved with an impressive amount of energy once she realized I really wouldn't treat anything as off-limits. She didn't go so far as to permanently destroy anything major... though she did manage to rip that canopy thing to shreds.
It wasn't something a kid needed to be doing regularly, but I could tell the destruction was something she needed. Her eyes stopped looking so lifeless and lit up with excitement instead.
Regardless of what else happened while I was trapped in Jairo Pomar's house, I knew this was one thing I'd done right.
I hoped she would remember that feeling of freedom long after I was gone.
I didn't know how long we continued like that until I suddenly got a chill like someone was watching me. I turned towards the door and went still as Jairo filled the doorway and his eyes scanned over me and then over the mess we made. When his eyes found me again, I couldn't miss the hard stare he leveled in my direction.
Sofia realized I wasn't participating in the demolition anymore and turned to see why. When she saw Jairo, her whole body went stiff and she ducked behind me as if I was her own personal human shield.
"I'll clean everything up," I immediately rushed to defend both myself and the little girl who’d only just started to enjoy herself. "We were just—"
He raised his hand to cut me off and I let him.
"Dinner will be ready in thirty minutes. The three of us will eat together," he announced with the same tone I would expect him to use when inviting someone to a business meeting.
"Okay," I said. I waited, expecting him to say something about the mess.
Instead, he pointed up at the corner of the room, "Uncover that camera now."
"Okay," I repeated.
The corner of his mouth inched up just long enough that I almost missed it. It looked like he wanted to laugh, which made it really hard for me to not laugh. I knew it must look bizarre, me—a stranger—standing in his niece's deconstructed bedroom with my arms crossed to let him know I wasn't the least bit apologetic about it.
"Okay," he said, too, and then disappeared back into the hallway.
Sofia tugged on my sleeve once he was gone.
"Told you I wouldn't let you get in trouble." I grinned.
She frowned in return. "But why does Uncle Jairo want to eat with us?"
"What do you mean?" I asked. "Does he not usually eat dinner with you?"
"No. I always eat alone." Her eyes were sad again, and I found my heart absolutely breaking for the poor girl.
"Well, I promise I won't make you eat alone while I'm here, okay?" Why was she spending so much time on her own? Did no one realize Sofia was at one of the most important ages for social development? No wonder she seemed so sad. It seemed to me that she was ignored at best, and I would venture to say neglected even based on what I'd seen.
I vowed to corner Jairo to have a conversation about that as soon as I could. He wanted someone with psychology experience around? Well, then that's exactly what he was going to get.
11
Jairo
I couldn't believe that woman came into my house and had the nerve to cover one of my cameras. I got distracted briefly with a call and when I searched the cameras again for Brooke, there was no sign of her on the main floor. I lost my fucking mind when I realized the camera in Sofia's room was covered.
All I could think about was that I'd put Sofia's life at risk by bringing a stranger into the house. So imagine my surprise to find the two of them thicker than thieves—and destroying the bedroom I'd worked painstakingly with a designer to redecorate as last year's belated birthday gift to my niece.
It was all I could do not to laugh right in front of the both of them. It was just stuff. All easily replaceable. But the smile on Sofia's face? That was something I wasn't sure I would ever see again after Franco died. If wrecking her bedroom made her smile like that, I would gladly redecorate it over and over again just for her to destroy.
I had a hunch though that it wasn't really the activity but rather the company that made her smile like that. Obviously, a woman's presence was exactly what had been missing from my niece's life.
I may have had selfish reasons for allowing Brooke into our house, but everything seemed to be working out in my favor so far. The only thing left was to convince Brooke to stay, at least for the time being. I wasn't prepared to think about what would happen long-term but I knew I could think of all sorts of things that would keep me from tiring of her too quickly.
And her quick bonding with Sofia definitely didn't hurt.
She could learn to like it there if she would just give it a fucking try. I was sure of it.
"Everything okay?" Tomas asked.
He was waiting for me in my office when I returned from checking on the girls. I knew it drove him crazy not to be the first to respond to a potential situation, but Sofia always seemed a little scared around him and I didn't want to make her nervous if it wasn't warranted. Which, it really wasn't, it turned out.
"Brooke thought it would be a good idea to cover the camera while she and Sofia destroyed the bedroom," I explained as I returned to my desk.
Tomas tensed as if ready to react but I pointed him towards the chair across from me.
"Everything is fine," I reassured him. "I'll have a talk with her later about the security protocols. I'm sure she'll understand."
Un-fucking-likely, but I planned to enjoy watching her get all worked up about it.
"She got real nervous when she saw how far out the drive was. Do you really think she'll stay?" Leave it to Tomas to ask the one question I didn't want to address at the moment. But I never lied to Tomas. Trusting him implicity was the best way to make sure he could keep all of us safe—me, Sofia, and now Brooke, too, for as long as she stayed.
So, "She already tried to leave," I admitted.
His eyebrows shot up comically high on his forehead. "She's still here," he pointed out the obvious.
"I know." I winced because I could tell Tomas already didn't like where my explanation was going. "I told her she couldn't leave. Just through the next few days, not indefinitely. I think she'll want to stay if she gives it a chance."
Tomas let out a deep breath.
"I hate to bring this up but I can't ignore the obvious here... She's a very pretty girl and I know Oscar..." he trailed off.
"Fuck!" I smacked the desk. "I'm not planning to sell her, Tomas. Jesus fucking Christ." The mere thought of it made me absolutely sick. He couldn't possibly believe me really capable of that though admittedly, I'd blurred the lines more than a little by not letting her leave as soon as she expressed that she wanted to.
He raised his hands to gesture no harm meant.
"I'm attracted to her. Really goddamn attracted to her. That's all it is. She asked to leave and I got mad and said no, I couldn't seem to help myself. It's only for a few days. She'll change her mind," I said with enough confidence to try to convince myself I believed it.
"If you say so." Tomas shrugged.
I changed the subject, "I meant to check in with you earlier about it, but what happened with our guy we sent down to meet with Rijad? He have any better luck quieting the old man down?" I could only deal with one unruly rival at a time. Not that I considered that man any kind of competition. His little drug running business barely made a blip on my radar until he started harassing me.
"That man is a real piece of work," Tomas grumbled as an answer.
"I think I'll reach out personally this time. I'm not interested in playing nice anymore and the man needs to realize the answer is a firm no. We've got enough going on with Oscar already. I want to put these smaller problems to bed quicker. I'm not interested in making a trip down there, though. Can you get me a clean call with him?"
I always made sure to be careful that my calls weren't tracked or traced but I didn't trust Rijad. He had a shitty, half-assed way of doing things. I was surprised any of his men stuck around considering how infamous he was for the poor treatment of them. The clueless man probably didn't even think about things like bugged phone calls.
Unfortunately for him, surrounding yourself with a lot of muscled guys was no way to earn respect. Regardless of how many people you killed trying to fight your way to the top.
"I'll take care of it," Tomas reassured me. "I'll let you know once I've got it set up. Probably sometime early afternoon tomorrow, would be my guess."
"Good." I nodded.
I checked the time on my watch, antsy about when Brooke would be in my sights again. Thanks to her earlier discomfort, I never really got the chance to look my fill. With a stunning woman like that under my roof, I damn well wanted to make sure I got a closer look. And hopefully sooner rather than later it would turn into a lot more than just looking.
I could already imagine how good her pale skin and dark hair would look against the backdrop of my dark red bed-sheets. Whatever pleasure she thought she had without dumbass ex of hers, I could magnify it by a hundred. I'd make sure her legs were shaking and her mouth opened on a permanent moan by the time I was done with her.
She would forget her own name—that's how good it would be. She definitely wouldn't be so quick to try to get away from me then. She'd be begging for more, and if she tasted half as good as I expected her to, I'd be happy to oblige.
I needed to fuck her. If I didn't, I wasn't sure I would ever be able to fully concentrate on anything else ever again. It had quickly become an obsession of mine, and no other woman would do until I'd had Brooke Harris every which way I wanted her.
After a second glance at my watch, I decided enough time had reasonably passed that I could go wait downstairs for the girls to join me. I excused myself from the conversation with Tomas and did my best to ignore his knowing eyes as I walked out of the office. He probably wasn't sure to think of my intense interest in Brooke considering how flippant I'd been about women in the past. I never lacked for female company despite having never held a real relationship.
My obsession with Brooke was probably the closest I'd ever gotten to a real relationship.
I wasn't surprised to find myself alone in the dining room when I got downstairs. I took a seat at the head of the table and waited impatiently for Brooke and Sofia. The table was already set, so I busied myself shifting things around aimlessly as the next couple minutes dragged on.
Sofia showed up first.
I frowned at her outfit, a dark gray hoodie that swallowed half of her body, with a yellow dress peeking out just a few inches from underneath. It took me a moment before I realized the logo on the front was the name of the restaurant Brooke worked at while in college. I recalled the name from the thorough background check Tomas did before we invited her to the house.
It wasn't proper dinner attire, but I decided not to comment. It seemed like a good sign that Sofia was continuing to bond with Brooke, which could only work out in my favor.
"Where's Brooke?" Sofia asked.
Her whole face crumpled as she looked around and saw no sign of the woman. I wasn't sure what the appropriate way to comfort her was, so I stayed seated.
"I'm sure she'll be here in just a moment," I reassured her, relieved when that seemed to work well enough.
Sofia sat down to one side of me and cast her eyes on the doorway. She concentrated so hard that it looked like she was trying to force Brooke to appear by sheer willpower.
After several more minutes dragged past, Sofia started to fidget. So did I, for that matter. I never expected that Brooke might not show up to dinner. I just assumed it was enough for me to extend the invitation. I didn't think I needed to track her down and escort her personally to the dining room. I couldn't help but wonder if she was purposely trying to irritate me. She had to know I wouldn't look kindly on her absence.
Just as I started to think I needed to get up and go track her down, she appeared.
I tried to overlook her outfit the way I did Sofia's. At some point between when I told her about dinner to when she arrived she decided to change into a pair of loose cotton pants and a t-shirt that matched the sweatshirt Sofia was wearing. I was relieved to see that at least she hadn't pulled her hair up into another one of those god-awful hairstyles. It still hung loose around her shoulders, wild in a way that made me wonder what it would look like after a romp in the bedroom.
But why did no one besides me seem to understand the etiquette of proper dinner attire?
"Nice of you to join us," I deadpanned.
She tilted her head and raised her eyebrows. Clearly, she had no intention of taki
ng any shit from me. It certainly seemed like she was making quite the statement with her entrance.
As if she needed me to know she would do what she wanted, when she wanted, regardless of what I had to say about it.
Unfortunately for her, her plan backfired for the simple fact that I found her disobedience to be sexy as hell.
I watched as she examined the scene in front of her. Her eyes narrowed in on the empty seat waiting to be filled on my right side and then shifted to look at Sofia sitting on my left. She took a step forward as if to go to Sofia's side even though a place was already set for her next to me. I made a disapproving sound low in my throat.
Brooke hesitated.
Her eyes met mine and a moment later she switched directions. Honestly, I found myself surprised by it. I fully expected her to continue blatantly ignoring my wishes, so it pleased me to no end to watch her willingly slide into the seat on my other side. Sitting by Sofia would have put her further away from me but now she sat so close that our knees brushed.
She was quick to shift away from the touch but I compensated by stretching my legs out so that she couldn't comfortably move in her seat without coming in to some brief contact with me. It was enough to make my cock soar to life, though thankfully the table hid that particular detail.
Pretty quickly, Brooke seemed to accept that she wouldn't win the current power struggle. I felt her settle in her seat—resigning herself to my attention.
12
Brooke
I wished he could just leave me alone instead of so insistently forcing himself to the front of my attention. It wasn't enough for him to keep me there, but now he needed to harass me, too?
And the worst part was how much I liked it. Regardless of the weird hostage situation he’d trapped me in, I couldn't ignore the way my skin tingled every time he brushed against me—even with two layers of clothes between us. I kept imagining how if that little bit of contact felt so good, that any sort of real physical action would surely make me combust.