by Z. Stefani
“You know exactly what’s going on. We both got what we wanted; now the game is over, now it’s time for me to leave.”
She yanked her arm away. She refused to let him see her cry; she would walk away from this with as much pride as she could muster. She’d made the stupid mistake of falling for him but she would never let him know that now.
“What did you just say to me?” he stepped towards her.
“You heard me.”
“What the fuck happened in the short time that I stepped out of the room?”
“Nothing happened.”
“Then what is this about?”
“We made a deal. I held up my part of the bargain so I see no need to stay.”
She squared her shoulders; she’d be damned if she was played by Dean Blake. She would not be like her mother; she would not allow a man break her.
“You’re joking.” He looked at her for a moment, obviously confused, but she would not enlighten him.
“No.”
She turned to walk away, but he grabbed her arm again and held her tight.
“Why are you doing this?”
“You know why.” She yanked her arm back.
“Tell me,” he felt his temper begin to spark.
“Because it’s over, the deal is done. You said sex and we had sex; now the building belongs to me,” she lied so convincingly, he believed her.
“You’re not going anywhere,” he growled.
“You can’t keep me here!” She yelled, starting to really lose her cool.
“Yes I can,” he said threateningly.
“Why would you want to? The deal is done; it’s time for me to go.”
He was taken aback, completely caught off guard. Normally, this would be a good thing for him, but this was not what he wanted from Lux. It was crazy to him, he’d finally felt something for a woman and now he learned that it was all a trick.
“You’re not going anywhere.”
“Why? Is that part of the wounded-ego healing process? Do you have to be the one to tell me to leave after?” she scoffed.
“Do you really still believe that? After all this? Do you think that I really wanted you to fulfill a fucking conquest?” he beseeched her. “Or is that just the excuse you use to deny your own feelings?”
“What else do you want from me, Dean? You got what you wanted, there’s nothing else that would interest you. You hate relationships, and you don’t date. All you wanted was sex, you made that perfectly clear. So why do you want me to stay?”
“I don’t know, but you’re not leaving my side until I figure it out.” He shrugged his wide shoulders.
“There’s nothing to figure out; I am not going to be anyone’s whore. I am not the open relationship type of female. You could never give me what I want, and I do not see the point of continuing.”
“That just makes things harder for you because nothing, not even you, will stop me from figuring this out. I may not want monogamy, but I still want you.”
“That’s too bad,” she yanked her arm away from him and turned to leave.
“If you leave, you can forget that building,” he barked and immediately regretted it.
“No!” she turned around and took a step towards him. “That’s not fair, I held up my end of the bargain. I had sex with you!”
Like a bull, he charged towards her and backed her against the wall. He put his hand over her mouth.
“Don’t you fucking say that! You didn’t fuck me for that building; you fucked me because you wanted to. Admit it!” he pulled his hand from her mouth to allow her to answer.
“I did it for the building,” she lied with a straight face.
He felt his rage pop but instead of retaliating, he let go of her and stepped back.
“Then by all means, leave.”
She eyed him warily as she grabbed her duffel bag and stepped away from him. She was headed out the door when she stopped and turned back to stare at him for a moment. Her heart felt heavy enough to fall from her chest.
“I expect the deed to the house soon,” she said.
“Sooner than you think.”
“Goodbye,” she turned and walked out.
He watched her leave, but it wasn’t until he heard the door slam that he headed after her.
“Lux,” he yelled, but she was already out of the house and rushing towards her car. He stood there for a moment, conflicted with his own feelings. Half of him wanted to run after her and demand that she stay with him, but the other half refused to let him. He had too much respect for her to start something he would never be able to finish.
“Could you finish it?” he asked himself as he walked outside to the limo. He got into the driver’s side, started the car, and looked at himself in the mirror.
Suddenly monogamy didn’t seem like such a terrifying thing. It seemed a lot less harmful to his psyche than not being with Lux. He honestly could not imagine her not being a part his life.
***
Lux parked in front of her house and headed inside with her head hung low. She wanted to go straight to her room, curl up under her covers, and cry. She didn’t want to see anyone or talk to anyone, and she definitely didn’t want to think right now. She just wanted to sleep.
Lux opened the front door and was immediately bombarded by her family and friends.
“Lux!” Pixie squealed and ran towards her.
“What?” she snapped as Pixie hugged her.
“He did it!” Kiki smiled as she hugged Pixie and Lux.
“We didn’t even have to abduct him,” Graves said as she threw her arms around her friends.
“He must really like you,” Lolo smiled.
“Wait! What are you talking about?” Lux belted out as she pulled away from them.
“Dean signed the building over to you,” Pixie informed her.
“How do you know that?” she snapped in horror, afraid that somehow they knew what she’d done.
“His attorney delivered the deed while we were busy abducting him,” Kiki explained.
“Mom said it came minutes after we left,” Pixie added.
“We tried to call and tell you, but your phone was off.” Kiki told her.
“We didn’t even have to abduct him in the first place,” Graves smiled.
“He was lying when he said he’d called it off for 24 hours. He’d already signed it over,” Pixie finished.
“He signed it way before that,” Kiki added.
“How do you know that?” Lux asked.
“Look at the date on the deed. He actually signed it over to you days ago.”
Lux took the paper and felt her stomach drop. Her head began to swirl and her legs almost gave out from underneath her. Pixie and Kiki grabbed her when she swayed to the side
“Whoa, are you alright?” Pixie asked
“Yeah, yes…I’m fine. I have to go,” Lux said with an odd gleam in her eye.
“Where are you going? It’s time to celebrate!” Pixie said in a cheerful voice.
“I’m going to sleep,” Lux frowned.
She rushed upstairs and headed straight for her stereo. She turned it up to full volume, covered her mouth, and screamed into her hand. She pinched her thigh hard, trying to make her mind slow down. Her scream turned into a deep sob that she could no longer hold back. She cried for a moment before she turned around and headed to her bed. She dropped down on it and pulled the covers over her head.
She was confused, overwhelmed, and unreasonably exhausted.
She wanted to sleep off the brunt of it in the hopes that it would take the edge off. She wanted to sleep until she forgot. She wanted to sleep until her heart and mind healed enough to decipher the new information and the night’s events.
***
Dean walked into his house to find his father in the living room.
“To what do I owe this pleasure?” Dean said with a straight face, despite his sarcasm.
“Your brother says that you gave up that property for a woman.
I called him a liar; I said there is no way that Dean would do something foolish like that. My younger sons’ maybe... but never my eldest.” His father stared at him with a look of disgust.
Dean just looked at his father for a moment before he answered, “I did.”
“You cancelled a million dollar deal for some pussy?” he growled.
“I damn sure did.” Dean refused to back down.
“Such a sad day. I never thought that I would see you fall. Not you Dean.”
“I’ll never fall,” he said with enough confidence to rattle his dad’s cage.
“You’re a fool if you think she really cares about you. She did it for the property and only the property.”
“No, she didn’t.”
“I would bet my last dollar that she did! She is no different than the others of her sex. Women would do anything to get what they want. They wear those masks and trick the poor fools dumb enough to fall for it. I never thought that you’d be one of those fools, Son.”
“I gave her the opportunity to fuck me for the building. She refused. I gave her several opportunities to show her true colors.”
“I can guarantee that it was all an act, every bit of it.”
“Trust me, it was not an act,” Dean said with certainty.
“She tricked you into thinking that she wouldn’t prostitute herself to save her property but in the end she did just that. She sounds a lot like your mother.”
“She’s nothing like her.”
“But your mom wasn’t like that in the beginning, either. Your mother was as sweet as pie, the most amazing woman. You saw how she turned out. You saw all of the men she brought in here while I was away. Women are tricky.”
“She’s dead now; she’s paid her dues.” He could see his father’s anger rising, and he knew it would take weeks to calm him down.
“No, there’s a part of her that lives on in every woman. They are all the same in the end. You’ll be deceived, tricked, manipulated, and bled dry by the time that woman is through.”
“I don’t think so.” Dean shook his head. “You don’t know Lux.”
“As hard as I fought to make sure it never happened, in the end you became as big of a fool as I once was.”
“I am nothing like you, and I never will be.” He stood up and headed towards the door.
“I’m not done talking to you Dean.”
“You’re done, old man,” Dean finished as he left the room.
Once upon a time, his father’s words had rung true. He’d raised his sons with his beliefs and his mother’s traitorous behavior over the years had proved his father right. But now Dean saw things differently. Now he’d found a woman who was too blunt to be dishonest. She was too straightforward to manipulate and too full of pride to lower herself to his mother’s standards. She was the one woman he’d found that hadn’t reminded him of his mother in any fashion. If anything, he didn’t think that she would even get along with his mother, since their views were drastically different. When he was a boy, he’d tried to love his mother, but she was never the motherly type. After her death, it seemed easier to think about all of the bad things she’d done.
Even though Lux had sworn she’d had sex with him for the building, he knew the truth. He knew exactly why she’d done it; her body could not deny what her mouth could.
“And what a reckless mouth it is,” he thought. He wasn’t sure why, but she was hurt. He would get to the bottom of it.
He walked out of the house and into the awaiting car. He sat in the passenger’s seat and closed the door harder than he intended. Johann was waiting for him inside of the car.
He frowned and began to speak, “I’m sorry I told dad, but he was on that ‘women are the devil shit’ again. He told me to be heartless like you and him. I was excited to tell him that you weren’t heartless like him, either. I know that you really like Lux.”
“It’s fine.” Dean replied in a low tone.
“You’re not pissed?”
“No.”
“Really?” Johann was shocked.
“No, I’m not mad. He was bound to find out sooner or later,” Dean admitted.
“Are the two of you a thing now?”
“We are.” Just saying the words brought him a thrill of excitement. Monogamy with Lux was very appealing, and he was becoming obsessed with the thought of having her all to himself.
Johann smiled and started the car. “Life is crazy; you just never know how things will turn out.”
***
Lux woke up late the next morning, feeling out of sorts. She’d slept for the entire night and most of the day, but she still felt groggy. The date on the deed kept flashing in her mind, and she quickly got up to get dressed. She could no longer delay the inevitable; she needed to go see Dean.
She got in her car and raced to his office building. She stormed in the building and hurried to the top floor. She sped past the receptionist and down the hall to his office. She walked over to the front of his secretary’s desk and stood.
“Is he busy?” Lux asked.
His secretary looked genuinely surprised that Lux took the time to ask, “No he’s not.”
“Do you want to call him first and make sure he will see me?”
“No, he told me to always send you in, even if he was in a meeting.”
“Really?” She could not stop the slight smile on her face.
“Yes and he just happens to be free at the moment.”
“Thanks Amelia.” Lux’s smile quickly disappeared before she walked over to Dean’s office door.
She froze for a moment, feeling her heart flutter fast enough to fly out of her chest. She took a deep breath and walked into his office.
Dean looked up to see her, and she was momentarily stunned by the sight of him. Although he appeared exactly the same, she saw him through new eyes. Everything he’d done to her the night he took her virginity flashed through her mind at rapid speed. She felt her inside melt.
“Hello Lux,” he said curtly as he stared at her, his face void of any emotion.
“Are you busy?” she asked.
“Since when has that ever stopped you?”
“I received the deed to the building.” She walked over to stand before his desk.
“Good.”
“Funny thing is... it was signed before I abducted you.”
“Yes.”
“What does that mean?”
“What do you think it means?”
“Was it an accident? A typo?”
“No.”
“You were going to give me the building regardless?” she asked.
“Yes,” he said firmly, his back straight. He showed none of his previous concern; he acted as if he were talking to a stranger.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I was planning on telling you that morning, but the abduction derailed it.”
She was quiet for a moment before she spoke, “I had sex with you.”
“For the building, correct?” he raised his brow.
“Why else would I have sex with a womanizer who thinks sex is a sport and women are disposable; a man who would never agree to a relationship?” she shrugged.
“I’ve never considered you disposable.”
“Liar; all you wanted was sex,” she whispered.
“And all you wanted was that building. I was clear about what I wanted from the start; I never lied to you.”
“You only wanted what you couldn’t have.”
“Keep telling yourself that. I’ve had you now; I took your fucking virginity. I’ve been deep inside of you and I still want you, despite the fact that you used me.”
“Used you? How did I use you?” She put her hands on her hips as she stared at him.
“By your own admission, you only fucked me for that property. I consider that being used.”
She looked at him blankly for a moment. She hadn’t thought of it that way.
“You probably like being used for sex.” She
turned her nose up in feigned disgust.
“That’s irrelevant.”
“Why would you care about the circumstances? I thought you’d just be satisfied that you got the sex.”