by Alyssa Clark
“The guy that runs the anger management group,” she snapped at me. “If another incident happens like this again we’re gonna have a problem.”
“Wait,” Matt started to speak up. “You can’t just make—“
“And who are you?” She tilted her head and turned her glare to him. “Who are you to tell me what I can or cannot do?”
I heard him swallow from here, Suzanne had that effect. I wonder if she’d had the opportunity to meet Angela, yet. “I’m his attorney,” he stood and offered a hand to her. “Matt Clarke.”
She sniffed and ignored the offered hand. “They’re not charging you with anything. Don’t leave the state and make sure you follow the orders of your parole to the letter.” She released a breath. “Boy if you have me get out of bed for something like this again, I swear to everything holy jail will be the least of your worries.”
Matt’s mouth had dropped open, and I couldn’t figure out what part of it had surprised him the most. He nodded. “Thanks and nice to meet you, Mrs. …?” he trailed off while he waited for her to supply him with a name.
She only gave him a short look, “Cawfield, Suzanne. This is the first time he’s given me a lick of trouble, and as long as he doesn’t give me any more problems, there’s no need for you and me to get friendly.”
“O-okay.” At least he was smart enough to not argue with her.
“I am going back home, and to bed. I had an appointment with your boss tomorrow,” she spoke to me in the same clipped tone of voice as before. “This place better be on the up and up, or I’m taking you out to the yard.”
The only smart thing to say was, “Yes ma’am.”
She gave me an irritated noise as a means for a goodbye before she walked out of the room. “I have to wonder,” Matt sounded a little nervous, “if the reason they agreed to let you go without a fuss is because of that woman.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Probably.”
“Angela gets to talking to her too much, and she’ll end up being a coworker, too,” he said. That was enough shut me up.
I was so relieved about the fact that nothing was really coming from this that I left the interview room in something of a daze. As soon as we got to the lobby, I felt exhaustion hit me. It was to the point that when I saw Tabitha, I felt all the more better.
I shouldn’t have felt better though. I should have questioned everything. But all I saw was her bright green eyes center on me, and her face break out in a smile that lit up her entire face. I was surprised to see Angela there. She looked expectantly between us. “Are they done wasting our time?”
“His parole officer seems to think nothing will come of it,” Matt spoke to her. “But after they finish fixing his arm, he might try something. Honestly, assholes are like that even when they are in the wrong.”
Angela eyed me for a hot minute, and I thought with this trouble she’d see my stupidity for what it was. “Take tomorrow off,” she said after a beat. “It’s been a longer than usual night, and I’d like to make sure you’re okay before you come back to work. If you feel like going to the clinic to get checked out, then I will reimburse you.”
I shook my head. “I’m good.”
“Your jaw is starting to bruise,” Tabitha pointed out.
I didn’t like being looked at so closely. “I can take a punch don’t worry.”
“Alright,” she relented though I found her still worrying over me despite what I said. “Let’s go home.” She wrapped her fingers around my arm and gave it a tug, so I went with her.
I let her lead me out of the station, out to the lot. Despite everything, despite all the questions and the worries, I went with her. I didn’t argue, I just followed the woman.
Call it relief or instinct, I didn’t know which, but when I got into her car I felt like everything that had been tearing through me since the night began with her finding me in the club went at ease. I hadn’t been looking for a relationship. I didn’t want a girl. But for all intents and purposes, I wasn’t going back away from her now.
She said she wanted to take care of me. What could hurt letting her do that?
I was near asleep when she parked the car. I didn’t even notice until the interior lights clicked on overhead. I shook the doze off and noticed the parking lot didn’t look as it was supposed to. It wasn’t even a parking lot, but it was a garage.
“Where the hell are we?” I rubbed one eye, and I opened the door to the car to get a better look. “I thought you were taking me home.” I hadn’t bothered to get out of the car just yet. I looked back at her, and I could see indecision.
Like she knew she was in trouble.
“I brought you to my apartment,” she admitted after a heartbeat.
“That’s not where I wanted you to take me.” I didn’t know what to do with this. Any other type of thing, attitude, I could figure out. Her taking charge like this, it left me off kilter.
“I figured you wouldn’t want me to,” she said carefully. “But I also figured after the night you’ve had and all that you’ve done for me… that you could use a night of being taken care of.”
“All I want is to go home and go to sleep,” I grumbled at her. That much should be obvious.
“All I want to do is give you a nice hot shower and a bed to sleep in.” She had been speaking to the steering wheel in front of her for the most part. But now she turned those big green eyes on me, and I felt struck. “You can punish me later however you want for making this assumption. But just come inside with me. Let me make sure you’re okay.”
“My word not enough?”
“Sometimes wounds don’t show on the outside.” Her response damn near got me.
“I didn’t ask for any sort of relationship.” I narrowed my eyes at her. “I didn’t ask to be your master, I didn’t ask for this chore.” With that said more felt like it had to come tumbling out without my control, “All I wanted from you is just to fuck you. This… this isn’t just fucking you. Everything isn’t just sex. The longer and longer it goes on the deeper I get.” I didn’t feel angry, maybe I should have been mad at her. But I could feel it. “Are you trying to trap me?”
Her brows went up, and she looked away. “I’m not trying to trap you.”
I brushed my hands through my hair. “Why am I feeling this way then?”
“Feeling what way?” She looked confused. “I can’t make you feel anything you don’t want to feel.” She turned towards me, looking slightly afraid but determined. “I came to you because you made it obvious that you’re a strong person. You have an air of command about you that you don’t even realize like you command respect without an effort. Why do you think Angela keeps you around? Aside from the fact that you look damn good in a suit.”
I just looked at her, not paying her compliments any mind. “Not a woman. That shit doesn’t get you anywhere.” I didn’t give a fuck about why Angela kept me around, as long as I got paid.
“I’m not trying to get anything out of you.” She looked to be at war with her need to say how she felt and it buckled under the pressure of the lifestyle she had been leading. “I’m drawn to you like a moth is to a flame. I tried to get you out of my head, but I couldn’t. Not after you pulled me from the cage and seemed so damn concerned for me.” She went quiet and looked back to the steering wheel. “I don’t think I’ve ever had anyone actually care about me. Even in a fleeting moment.”
It was uncomfortable, and it didn’t clear up shit for me. But I had a better idea why she stuck around. “I need a bed before I pass out,” I grunted, and I stood, getting out of the car.
I took notice of the fact that I seemed to be surrounded by newer model cars; she lived in an upscale area. I closed the car door, and I waited for her to get a clue. She got out and locked up her car. “This way.” From there she led me to a door that, I could only conclude, led into the next building. There wasn’t much to see but a stairwell, so I followed her up a flight before she opened the door to a hallway
full of doors.
Her's was the third one down on the left. But I had no idea what floor we were on. Everything about the hallway from the plush carpet, to the lights on the walls that managed to make it look like they belonged on the outside of a house, to the flower arrangement that I could see at the end of the hallway screamed money. I was so out of place.
“Why the fuck do you want me?”
She was unlocking the door, and she hadn’t bothered to stop to answer my question. She opened the door and looked at me. “Why wouldn’t I?” Her expression was serious as she stepped aside so I could go in. “If you can’t see what I do, maybe you should consider what you have to offer. I don’t mean money.”
I scoffed, but I went into her apartment there wasn’t any point in trying to derail her from this. I couldn’t see her point, and I doubted that I would.
Her apartment was double the size of mine. And that was just the main room. It was open in the same concept as mine was, but her kitchen took up the west wall of the room while the living room took up the east. The east wall now was mostly windows, the furniture wasn’t as upscale as I’d expected, it looked comfortable.
“Chef’s make a lot of money?”
“I make just enough to struggle to live here,” she assured me as she closed the door. “Come on, how about we get you a bath before you lay down.”
It seemed like a nice suggestion, so I followed her into one of the doors that proved to be a bathroom. It was all neutral tones and contemporary lines. Nothing like the cracked olive tiles of the shower at my place. I undressed, and she helped, taking my jacket to hang on a hook behind the door. “Don’t worry about this. I’ll get it taken care of.”
“Not gonna do like you do that last time you gave me a bath,” I grumbled. “Runnin’ on fumes.”
“I’ll behave.” There was a little bit of a smirk on her lips as she started took up the task of the buttons. I didn’t fight her, I let her undress me.
There was something relaxing about it that I didn’t get. I wasn’t used to being waited on, I hadn’t been taken care of since I jumped ship when I hit eighteen. But this didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would.
“Kick off your shoes,” she instructed in a soft voice. She stepped away to turn on the shower then moved back to me with a confident smile on her face. “This is why I struggle to keep this place.” She loosened my belt with ease and had my slacks around my ankles without an effort. I could see with the look she’s giving me if it weren’t for my earlier warning there’d be something to this, she eased my briefs off my ass and slid her hands down my hips and thighs.
She got my dick’s attention, but then again it's never really hard to get his attention. Especially when she was around it seemed.
“Ignore that,” I rubbed a hand over my face.
“I could take care of it,” she offered as she helped me step out of the pile of clothes around my feet. She directed me into the shower then paused to undress, I assumed, to not get her clothes wet.
“I bet you could.” I leaned back against the tile wall, the cold tile seemed to soothe away the aches that decided to crop up in my exhausted state. “But if you want anything from me you’re probably gonna wanna wait until I get enough sleep.”
“I can wait,” she cooed and smiled at me. “Turn around and put your hands on the wall. I’ll wash your back first.”
“I don’t want to smell like flowers or some shit like that.” I turned around and put my hands on the wall like she asked.
“Unscented soap,” she assured me before I felt her hands on my back. Her thumbs went down the length of my spine. “I don’t like to smell perfume over the scent of food that I’m cooking, I like to just take in the smell of the spices we use.”
“Good,” I groaned because as she kneaded my back. It felt so good that any ideas my cock got were promptly forgotten. Her hands skirted up to my shoulders and spanned their length. The only real hit I’d taken was to my face, which I pressed against the cold tiles, but I felt aches in me from going so long without sleep. And probably stress.
She worked the knots out of my muscles like she was a masseuse. The only thing that kept me on my feet was the wall.
“I want to take care of you,” she murmured low as her thumbs went up the back of my neck. “Will you let me do that?”
“Not gonna be able to fuck ya now,” I admitted, my eyes closed. “You’re making me feeble.”
“That’s not what I meant.” Her hands came around and skirted through the hair in my pits. “I meant in general.”
I cracked an eye to look at her. “Take me to bed, and we can talk about it in the morning?”
There were no arguments, she dried us both off then walked me to her bed. As soon as I laid back on it, I was surrounded by the smell of her. Her mattress was so much better than mine, not just because it was bigger, it cradled me in all the right places. I didn’t stand a chance, I was out as soon as she pressed into my side.
15
I don’t think I’ve ever slept so good. I don’t know if it was the mattress or just the sheer factor that there was no residual noise from her neighbors. I didn’t even know what woke me or if I’d just had enough sleep. My jaw hurt, maybe it was the throb of it that woke me up. I needed to take something, but I wasn’t about to scrounge through her bathroom.
I could hear her voice in another room in the apartment. Hearing one side of a conversation, I figured she was on the phone.
“I brought him home,” she said then after a beat. “You kept calling, and I didn’t want you to wake him. He had a long night. Can I just take a message and get him to call you back?” There was a brief moment where she was quiet as she listened to whoever he was talking to. “That’s fine. I don’t have a problem facing punishment for making the assumption.”
I stayed laying on her bed, listening patiently. So, she had picked up my phone. From the punishment comment, I knew it wasn’t Suzanne. She wasn’t the type to hound me either if I didn’t pick up, I’d get a message and a countdown to call her back. If I didn’t, I’d better be dying. The only other option was that it was Angela and the fact that Tabitha was talking back amazed me a little.
“I’ll have him call you back as soon as he’s available,” she said, and her tone sounded professional, like something she might use at work. “But he’s not currently available right now, and I refuse to make him available.” From the sound of it, that’s where she decided to end the call, closing my phone and sighing heavily.
I turn my head to glance at the door, there was a sliver of light under it. I could've got up. I could have taken the phone from her and ended the roundabout conversation it sounded like she'd been having. But… I was too comfortable, with the exception of my jaw. So I decided to wait. She’d come back eventually.
I dozed a little, basking in the fact that there was nothing really expected of me right at that moment. If Angela had called, I knew it was likely something superficial. I doubt she’d be telling me to come to work after she just told me I had the day off. Maybe she called to fire me? That was doubtful, though if Suzanne went to visit the club, there was a chance that trouble would brew from that. Would that be serious enough for her to hound my phone?
I yawned and resisted the urge to get up. I could wait another hour to find out. I started to sink deeper into sleep when I heard the pad of feet and the door open. The room lightened, and I grunted as a swath of it cut across my eyes, putting an arm over my face.
“I’m sorry,” she hissed and came to me. Her cool hands cupped my cheeks carefully. I wasn’t bothered too much by it. “I didn’t mean to wake you up.”
“I was awake,” I squinted at her. “Just not prepared for the spotlight blinding me.”
“Oh!” She got up and closed the door. “I’m sorry. It's been about a week since I’d last been here. When I got up, I thought I’d start doing some chores.”
I shook my head. “Don’t need to explain. What’d Angela want?”
/> She stayed by the door, from her stance and the set of her shoulders it was easy to tell she didn’t expect my question. “She didn’t say, though I got the feeling she wanted you to see a doctor.” She glanced at me over a shoulder. “Just to err on the side of caution.”
I shrugged. “Worse case scenario he knocked a tooth loose. I’m not going anywhere today.”
She turned to face me fully, and I could see the slight smile on her face. “Not that I’m against the idea of you staying here, but I have to ask…” She paused for a breath. “Is there a particular reason why you’re okay with staying here now?”
“Right now, you’re gonna have a hard time getting me out of your bed.” I stretched and let out a groan at all the popping noises my back decided to make.