“Shut up,” my mother said, coming through the doors. The entire room turned in her direction, myself included. She looked beautiful and mad, her eyes pinned on the man that had lied to her, cheated on her and played her for the fool that she wasn’t.
“Excuse me?” Jon squeaked out. If it were any other time, I would have laughed at how cowardly he sounded.
“You heard me,” she breathed, coming to stand face to face with him. “It seems to me that my son is the only one that hasn’t been playing games,” she finished. There was a dare in her words.
She was challenging him to rebuke her, to force her to shed light on his after hour’s life. Jeanine wasn’t someone to test. My father may have been the business tycoon, but my mother had to play the game just as well to deal with him for so many years.
The entire room was dead silent, a sense of waiting to see who made the next move. Jon stared down at her, the woman standing a good foot less than him.
“Get on with it,” he finally gritted out.
I smiled. I couldn’t help it. I knew right then that she would be okay. A bit wiser for the wear, but she would move on and hopefully find someone that would love her for her and not what she could provide.
She nodded and came up to my side, taking my free hand in hers.
“I love you, son. He knew what he was doing,” she said through a smile of her own.
I knew what she meant. Somehow my father had predicted this very moment. Whether I believed that or not didn’t matter. The people I loved most in the world were here in this room, our relationships on the mend.
“For the first time in a long time, I’m not in the mood to play. I am doing what needs to be done for this company,” I said, looking toward Rod. “He is a better man for the job,” I told him and him alone. It didn’t matter that the entire room could hear it.
“I agree,” Declan said. Though I didn’t need anyone’s approval, everyone else in the space either nodded or voiced their agreement. When everyone had spoken their mind, Jon was no longer angry but shocked. Every plan he had derived to take this company from the Steele family had gone up in flames.
“A pen, please,” I said without giving Jon an ounce more of my attention.
Rod stood with me at the head of the table. Once this paper was signed, he would take his place at the head. For the first time in the company’s history, it wouldn’t be a Steele who sat in this spot, but the next best thing.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
I had made it a point to never bring anyone here that I didn’t want to still be here in the morning. It had left my life much emptier than any other. It was a caged solitude that I would have never wished on my worst enemy, yet I forced myself to endure.
It had been a way of closing myself off from things that couldn’t be. I never had the strength to put myself out there, to break someone as much as I was broken.
Now, laying here with Rod’s chest rising and falling against my back, I couldn’t remember why I had put up so many walls. I knew that soon his deep breathing would be replaced with soft snores. I uncurled myself from his warm body and climbed out of bed, side-stepping a box and slipping on pair of pajama pants that were strewn across the floor.
Rod let out a soft, sexy noise, curling himself up into the blankets. I smiled to myself and headed toward the balcony, making sure I side-stepped the clutter, the city lights tossing yellowing strips across the cardboard boxes that now decorated the space. Moving had always been the plan, but where I was going had never even been a dream.
I thrust my fingers through my hair, scanning the various sky rises that dotted the cityscape. Though it was two a.m., buildings were still glowing with activity. Deadlines that needed to be met, parties being thrown by billionaires, taxis still idling in the streets below.
A familiar balcony caught my attention. Directly across from me was the apartment that had kept me up at night. I flicked my gaze to the patio furniture, thinking back to the many nights I had fucked myself to the man that lived there. Even still the memories gave me a hard-on.
His light was on and the curtains were open as usual. I sighed, feeling my dick twitch with the memories that he provoked. Memories that he would never know had been made. I closed my eyes, remembering each stroke that his nightly workouts provided. Every moan that had pierced the darkened sky that laid between us.
I shook those traitorous thoughts away, that wasn’t who I was anymore, and opened my eyes just in time to see the man come out of his bedroom. I wanted to turn away, but I couldn’t. I felt compelled to see what happened next. He wore nothing but tight boxer briefs, accentuating his ample package.
I licked my lips, my eyes narrowing on the way his entire body moved as he made his way to the window that I had watched him through so many times. He stood there for a moment looking outward. Surely he wasn’t looking at me. I held my breath, waiting, though I had no clue what I was waiting for. He couldn’t see me. I hadn’t turned on one light in the apartment, not wanting to wake the man that was currently snoring in my bed.
Moments passed as we stood watching the city’s night life. I reached out and grabbed the handle, my palms slick with sweat. My breath came faster and harder. My dick screamed at me for release. He was just standing there giving himself to me. My heart raced. This was my drug.
Just before I grew enough nerve to slide it open, a figure emerged from his bedroom. A woman. In nothing but an oversized t-shirt, she headed in the same direction as he had. It was the woman that had ended my nightly observations, her hair a disheveled mess.
She rubbed at her eyes as she entered the same room where he stood still looking outward. By all accounts, he hadn’t heard her come in until she was right behind him. He startled, but not by much. I could tell by her shy smile and the slight way she ducked her head she found his surprise amusing.
As I watched, my hand slid from the door’s handle. I turned to the man that lay in my bed. I needed him. He didn’t need me. He had chosen me, but I needed him. I wasn’t sure if I could keep his heart intact or mine, for that matter, but I had to try.
I smiled, not knowing if this would be a happily ever after. We had too many obstacles that I would no doubt create, but for now I was his and he was mine. I turned back to the apartment across the way just as he was closing the blinds. For the first time since he moved in, I wouldn’t be able to watch him.
I grabbed hold of the pole that hung from my own blinds and pulled, stopping when he did, hesitating just as he did.
“Goodbye,” I whispered and as if it were choreographed, we shut our blinds in unison.
I wasn’t just talking to the man across the way, but to the man I used to be. I took a deep breath and let it out in one shuddering gust.
“Jacks?” Rod’s sleepy voice calmed my rattled nerves.
I stared at him for a moment. I needed a helmet. Hell, now I needed two.
“Just had to take a leak,” I said as I laid back down. I pulled his warm arm around my body and sighed. For now I was content, happy, and possibly head over heels in love.
About the Author
I am the author of The Elektita series and the Beyond Blood series. Each fall on a spectrum ranging from Happily Ever After to Burned and Broken. Writing has been a dream since I was a child and only now am I getting to fulfill it.
I am a married mother to four spectacular hoodlums. They are my inspiration. Each and every day I take things that they say or do and weave it into each of my stories. They are the reason I have unpaid side jobs as a chauffeur, chef, boo-boo kisser and referee. They make life interesting to say the least.
My husband and I currently live in Missouri where I was born and raised. We spend our time working the ball field or sitting through swim classes. I on the other hand am allergic to exercise and have an unhealthy addiction to chocolate and Dr. Pepper. They end up by my side during sleepless nights of writing.
You can visit my website www.authorcalvarez.com to keep up to date with any news or n
ew releases.
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