by Allen, Sara
Bertha watched her boss talk about this woman with a fire in his eyes she hadn’t seen in a very long time. She was just as shocked by his behavior as he was. Bertha knew a lot about his marriage to the one woman Andrew believed was his lifeline. When he lost her suddenly, he lost himself too. He claimed he would never be the same again but as she sat before him, that clearly wasn’t true.
Bertha asked, “Do you believe she had no idea Robert was married?
Without hesitation, Andrew nodded. “I do. You don’t know her, Bertha. I can see Robert taking advantage of her completely, making her think she was special and only using her for shit only knows what.”
Bertha rolled her eyes. “Oh, I know what, and if you’d like, I can tell you so you’ll know too.”
Andrew put his hands up. “Ah, no thank you. It was a figure of speech.”
Bertha smiled and shook her head. “You know this is going to be a fight, right?”
Andrew nodded, bringing his steeple fingers to his chin, “Yes, I know it is. It’s nothing I can’t handle.”
“Yes, but will she be able to?” Bertha said pointedly, and he paused a bit. He knew he could protect her and knew he would do anything it took to do it.
“I’ll protect her. She won’t be a casualty here and neither will her daughter. I can handle this.”
Bertha scoffed. “You can handle this? Please. You couldn’t handle lame ass Spencer telling you the shit that he heard about her without you choking him out. If this ever went to
court-”
“This wouldn’t make it to court.”
“Yeah, but think about it. What would happen on the off chance it did? There would be bodies left in your wake all because someone implicated something about her that you didn’t like.”
Bertha could see the rage fueling within him, threatening to come out that very moment. His eyes suddenly took on a different form and quickly changed colors before they went back to their natural state.
Bertha wasn’t afraid of Andrew; she was more afraid of what he may do if he ever lost control.
“Andrew, I know you know what you’re doing. My concern is the fact that you have deeper feelings for this woman, more than you clearly had with Mikaliah, I really think you need to take a pause here.”
Andrew frowned. “What do you mean by that?”
She sighed. “Just hear me out, okay? You almost lost it three times because of this woman. Two times you almost killed three people in cold blood, and even though they all probably would have deserved it, no one would understand. She has a hold on you. You haven’t let the darkness consume you in a very long time. If you even saw someone bump into her by accident, you’d probably lose your damn mind. That’s emotionally involved, Andrew. You’re too close to this. You need to step back and give this to someone that you trust.”
Andrew tried his best to remain calm. Bertha was only telling him what he knew deep down to be true.
“And who do think I should illicit help from?” he asked.
Bertha smiled and folded her arms over her chest. “Baby, the fact that you’ve asked that question tells me you are not playing with a full deck.” She stood. “Look, you are the best at this very thing. Playing dirty is your specialty, so I know you can make sure Downs doesn’t hurt your girl or put his greedy little hands on that precious baby. I also know you will make Michaels eat shit and die. But you could do even more damage by getting the help of a certain woman that you know to make sure Michaels and Downs get exactly what they deserve.”
Andrew couldn’t help the shit-eating grin that suddenly appeared as he understood exactly what Bertha was implying.
“Yeah, I think you have a point. Get her on the line will you?”
Bertha smiled. “With pleasure.”
Chapter 6
“Lori, I’m not in the fucking mood,” Andrew barked as he removed Lori’s hand from unzipping his pants.
They were sitting on the couch in his office. He was nursing a scotch, and Lori was trying her best to get Andrew aroused.
Lori would typically wait until after work hours, and after his cock-blocking assistant left for the day, to see him. Andrew worked late the majority of the time. Other than meeting him at the diner in the mornings, this was the only other time she got to see him. If she wanted to get to him, get some from him, she had to go to him.
She knew A.P. never minded her unexpected, late night visits to his office. It didn’t matter what he was doing, the minute she walked into his office, he was on her, ripping at her clothes, trying to get to her. She loved his hunger and insatiable nature. He was a fantastic lover. She did want more from him besides sex, but she would also take whatever she could get. He was just that good.
However, tonight he wasn’t biting. She’d arrived at his office wearing a trench coat, heels and nothing else, and yet he hadn’t touched her.
Lori frowned and leaned away from him. She knew something was going on with him. No matter the man’s mood, he was always put together. His blonde hair was always neatly in place. He kept his suit jacket on while he worked in his office most of the time. If he did take off his jacket, or his tie, his shirt would remain neatly tucked into his pants. However, when she walked into his office, Andrew’s jacket was strewn across one of his chairs facing his desk. His tie was gone, and his shirt was hanging loosely around his hips, completely unbuttoned. His hair was tousled from the continuous raking of his hands through his locks, which made him walking sex and had her dripping with need.
Yes, something just wasn’t right. A.P was the epitome of control, but right at this very moment, she noticed, for the first time, that control was nonexistent. He was tense and distracted. He needed to relax and get refocused. This was her chance. She would prove to him that she could be the woman he’d been looking for. She would do whatever it took to make him see. Whatever it took, she was willing to do it to make him hers.
She slowly caressed him with her eyes, admiring the sheer perfection that was his body. Lori raked her nails down the ridges of his t-shirt, feeling the deep valleys between his chest muscles and the eight-pack abs that she marveled at every time they made love.
She also felt a deep rumble underneath her hand right before a vice-style grip encircled her wrist.
“What did I just say?” Andrew quipped.
She snatched her wrist away. “A.P., what’s going on with you? Why are you like this? Why don’t you let me help you? We haven’t fucked in days.” Lori purred and smiled, opening her coat to him, “Let me give you what you need.”
Andrew looked over at her but didn’t reply. Damn, it’s been that long?
“I told you,” he replied tersely. “I’m not in the mood.”
And he wasn’t. No, he’d been going out of his mind thinking about someone else entirely.
Now that he’d taken on Nyla’s case, he’d been working nonstop. He hadn’t been to the diner in a few days and he’d missed her the afternoon that he told her to come to his office. He was pulled away for an emergency meeting for one of his cases and had to let Bertha take care of her. He was pissed as hell but tried to convince himself that it was no big deal that he hadn’t seen her, but he knew it was a lie.
He was going out of his mind. He hadn’t been able to concentrate fully for days. He’d been extra aggressive, cold and heartless to everyone around him, coworkers and clients alike. And, even though his clients and bosses loved how he was behaving, he didn’t.
For the past few hours, he’d tried to focus on work. He needed to prepare for court in the morning, and he was having a hell of a time completing his tasks. He needed a distraction, and as if on cue, he saw his office door open and Lori glided in wearing nothing but her coat and red heels.
Lori was hot as hell, and she was right; any other time, his cock would’ve been massaging her pussy right this very moment. But he lied when he told her he wasn’t in the mood. He was, he just wasn’t in the mood for her. He wanted to be in between a woman’s thighs, feeding his sex
ual urges and tension. Sex had always been his way of relaxing, and since he was always tense, he had sex a lot. Andrew didn’t ease into any woman’s pussy, though. He was selective, and most times, Lori was who he went to when he wanted meaningless sex. But since that day at the diner, since he touched her, all he wanted was Nyla’s sweetness glistening all over his dick and no one else’s.
Frustrated, Lori stood, wrapping her coat around her naked body. “This is bullshit. I could be doing better things with my time than wasting it on you.”
Andrew rested his head against the couch and closed his eyes. “Then go do it.”
Pissed, Lori crossed her arms in front of her. “Are you serious?”
“Oh, as a heart attack.”
“If I leave, I’m not coming back.”
“Have a good night,” he countered before he brought his glass to his lips.
“As a matter of fact, I’ve been asked to go to the Caribbean for the week,” she told him, trying her best to get the response from him she desired.
“Oh yeah? Have a safe trip,” he mumbled.
Lori stared at him as confusion, frustration and disbelief filled her. Her frown deepened as she spat, “You are such a fucking asshole!”
He scoffed. “Yeah, so I’ve been told.”
“Argh!” she screamed, taking off one of her shoes and throwing it at him.
Andrew jumped up, dodging the collision, and had to quickly stop himself from ripping her apart.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” he snapped.
She pointed her manicured finger at him. “Is this how you’re going to treat me? Like I’m nothing to you? After everything we’ve been through, after what I put up with, this is how you’re going to treat me. Like I don’t matter?”
She moved closer, nose flaring, eyes but slits underneath her brows. “Do you have any idea what you’re turning down? Do you think you’re the only show in town? That men aren’t knocking at my door?”
“Do you think I give a shit?” Andrew raged, apathetic of subtlety. “Lori, you and I aren’t together. We will never be together. I’ve told you this countless times, and every time you’ve assured me that you understood.”
“Yeah, well, what did you expect? I thought you would change your mind.”
He shook his head. “Oh, please, you know damn well there was no way in hell I was changing my mind. First, we are not compatible. Do you think I want an evil, unemotional woman for a wife? Do you think I want to start a family with someone like that?”
She snorted. “Are you kidding me? As evil and heartless as you are, do you expect me to believe that you want a family? You want kids?” She laughed bitterly. “Get real. You aren’t capable of that shit. Umph.... I don’t see how your wife put up with your shit, but lucky for her, she doesn’t have to anymore since she’d dead.”
Lori folded her arms, satisfied that she was able to dish as much venom as she could, but she quickly started backing up from him as she realized she’d gone too far.
Andrew could feel his entire body convulse with suppressed rage. The tension in his jaw tightened as he saw nothing but red. He knew that he was on the brink of fucking losing it!
“Get the fuck out,” he demanded.
“Andrew…” she started, realizing what she had done.
“Out!” he boomed, sending him spiraling out of control. If she didn’t leave now, she wouldn’t be able to on her own.
Lori jumped clear out of her skin from the sound that permeated from this charged animal. She knew she’d gone too far, but she didn’t expect him to react this way. She thought about trying to apologize again, but the look that suddenly appeared on his face made her skin grow cold.
It was too late; she needed to leave now. Lori hobbled quickly to grab her purse and shoe and made it out of the door just in time to hear a large crash behind her.
Chapter 7
Andrew had to calm down; otherwise, he was going to lose control and rip his entire office to shreds. Lori was being a bitch, he knew, and he also knew it was because of him being an asshole. But, the way she spoke about his wife hit a nerve. Sometimes just talking about his wife or thinking of her took him over the edge.
He closed his eyes trying to relax, trying to get himself together, but he kept hearing her words repeated over and over in his mind. “You want a family? You want kids? Get real with yourself. You aren’t capable of that shit.”
Hell, maybe he wasn’t, and that thought alone was keeping him in his rage-filled state. There were times where he thought he lost his wife because he didn’t deserve her. He didn’t deserve the promise of the life he was going to have with her. The reality that she was taken away from him ate at him every day.
Andrew moved to his desk and placed his hands on the cold wood. He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on something, anything, to calm him. He couldn’t think of shit. Then suddenly it happened. Just before he was about to give into his rage, his mind shifted to her. He took a deep breath as a now familiar feeling took over. Fuck, he wanted to see her. He could sense her presence, which he thought was impossible, but his body reacted as if she was right outside his door. His breathing picked up with anticipation. Her familiar scent consumed him, tempted him.
What was she doing to him?
His chest swelled as the uncontrolled need to dominate came over him. Andrew quickly grabbed his desk phone. He had to see her. Maybe that’s what his body was telling him; he needed her.
Just as he began to dial, he heard a knock on his office door just before it opened.
“You just don’t listen, do you?” he seethed, turning toward the door waiting to see Lori’s face appear.
It wasn’t her.
Nyla jumped slightly from the sound of his voice and explained quickly, “I’m sorry. The door was partly open. Um, if you’re busy I-I can come back.”
Andrew didn’t reply. Instead, he took her in as his heartbeat settled, as the pulse in his neck subsided, and as his breathing finally came under some type of control. He wasn’t completely in control. It’s just something that he’d grown accustomed to feeling when it came to her. What he had noticed, however, was how the predator in him silenced.
Nyla asked hesitantly, as she slowly moved toward him. “Are you okay?”
Andrew rested his behind on his desk and continued tightly gripping the edges of the wooden furniture.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, voice edged with tension, not bothering with answering her initial concern.
She paused and watched him for a moment. “I ….uh ….was in the neighborhood and thought I’d stop by,” she sighed. “You haven’t been to the diner in a few mornings, and I… well, I wanted to check up on you.” She pointed to the door behind her and added. “I saw your girlfriend leave. She seemed upset. Did you two have a fight?”
Andrew started to call her reasoning for coming bullshit. He could sense she was holding back but something else she said registered louder and he frowned. “My what?”
“Your girlfriend. You know the blonde that’s always with you at the diner? I don’t know her name…”
“Lori,” he offered as he watched her nervously watching him. She looked as if she was holding her breath waiting for his reply, which she was.
Nyla smiled, rubbing her clammy hands against her jeans. “Yes, that’s her. I mean, I’m assuming she’s your girlfriend.” She giggled as her eyes darted everywhere around the room, avoiding his heated, steady gaze. “Why wouldn’t she be, right? I mean, you seem like a man that has good taste. And she’s pretty, right? A little too rigid and cold in my opinion, but maybe you like that kind of thing…”
She was babbling. It didn’t matter how much her brain was telling her mouth to shut up, her lips just kept moving. They couldn’t stop.
Andrew’s eyebrows rose in amusement as he fought the grin that was beginning to take form. Nyla went on and on, anxiety covering her, as she talked about his taste in women, how Lori seemed like a lovely girl in a
ll so she saw how he would want to be with her.
It was all bullshit, but he didn’t want to tell her just yet. He enjoyed hearing her fumble around, trying to hide what he undoubtedly knew. She wanted him just as much as he wanted her. He knew that he made her nervous; he noticed it every time she stood next to him to take his order at the diner. He enjoyed watching the nerves fall off her in waves. She was a complete and utter turn on.
He openly raked his eyes over the tan jacket that stopped at her waist, the white form fitted V-neck style t-shirt and dark skinny jeans, all which hugged her generous breasts, hips, and thighs nicely. She dressed up her feet with black high-heeled shoes, adding the sex appeal that was Nyla. Her eyes and lips were dressed too; nothing too overt, but were subtle and warm, with light color above her eyes and shimmery light gloss on her lips.
Now this was the distraction that he needed.
He cleared his throat and brought his eyes back to her bright ones. “Lori isn’t my girlfriend,” he admitted finally.
Nyla paused in mid-babble and stared at him. “W-what? She isn’t?” her voice queried softly.
“No, she isn’t.”
“Oh, I thought because she was always with you…”
Andrew ran his hand through his hair and rested it against the back of his neck. “Yes, well, I can see why you would think that, but no, she isn’t my girlfriend. In fact, I don’t have a girlfriend.”
“You don’t?”
He shook his head. “No, I don’t.”
“Oh,” she answered softly as her mind started going double time to match the rhythm of her heart.
Nyla couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Was it possible that her dreams were actually coming true?
“What about you?” he asked.
“Me?” she blundered, bringing her right hand first to her throat to massage the muscles there, then to her chest, covering her out of control heart.
Andrew grinned slyly and lifted himself from the desk. “Yes, you. Are you single or do you have someone special in your life?”