Ink

by Michaela Scott

  “Jesus, Haley,” he says, and I shut him up with my tongue.

  Once we’re both naked, though, it’s clear that Jace wants to be the one in control this time. He pulls away from my kiss, smirks, and flips me over, pinning me to the bed with the weight of his body. Then, he reaches over to the nightstand, pulling a foil packet out of the top drawer and sheathing himself as my body rocks back and forth underneath him.

  Jace’s hands wrap around my wrists and move them up above my head. He’s using all of his strength to pin me down now, and all I can do is push back against him and wait for him to take care of that burning little problem in between my legs.

  In the month that passed since the last time we had sex, I must have forgotten how big he really was, because when he penetrates me, it feels like he’s about to split me in half. Up on the observation deck, I was riding Jace, going more or less at my own pace. Now, I’m totally smothered beneath him, with every muscle in his ripped body pressing down into me as he holds me down and fucks me.

  It’s just too much. In a matter of minutes, I’m up over the edge, muscles clenching around Jace’s monster cock as the two of us come together and collapse into a sweaty heap.

  I stare up at the bedroom ceiling, unsure whether to kiss Jace or yell at him for seducing me again. The only thing I am sure of is that I was wrong about what happened in the observation deck last month.

  This isn’t something that we just need to get out of our systems.

  And it isn’t something we can just ignore.

  And I have no idea how to deal with that.

  With my thoughts racing, I roll over to Jace and lay my head on his chest, tracing my fingers through the maze of his abs.

  “I told you signing the contract was going to be fun, Haley.”

  “Doing dirty things that put our entire company at risk is stupid, no matter how fun it might be.”

  “Okay, but you loved that, didn’t you?”

  “I mean…”

  “Haley,” Jace says, pulling me up on top of him and wrapping his arms around me, “Don’t lie to me.”

  “Yeah,” I say, “I loved it.”

  “Thank you,” Jace says, “I wish you’d admitted that a month ago. Then, we could have actually had some fun with the contract.”

  “It runs out in two weeks, doesn’t it?”

  “Yeah, at the end of the month.”

  “Maybe we can still have fun with it,” I say.

  Jace’s eyes light up like a kid’s on Christmas morning.

  “As long as we’re extremely careful, discrete, and responsible,” I warn, hitting Jace on the arm.

  “Yeah, yeah, sure.”

  “And then, once the contract ends and we open the building…we’ll see what happens.”

  “Shit,” Jace says, “Did you not get the email?”

  “What email?”

  “We, uh…moved the building opening date up to this weekend.”

  “What!? Why?”

  “It’s the only way your dad can make it to the opening ceremony. And since he’s the one with the investment money…”

  “Jace, I have to be ready for that!”

  “I know,” he says, “I should have known he’d forget to pass it on to you.”

  “Typical…” I say.

  “Hey, don’t worry about it, it’ll be fine. Let’s go back to talking about how much you love the contract.”

  Beneath me, I feel Jace getting hard again. I run my hand up his cock and get the urge to take it into my mouth.

  “Why tell you when I can show you?” I say, sliding down Jace’s body and wrapping my lips around the head of his cock. I pull as much of it as I can into my mouth, making a long, greedy noise as I start to suck it.

  Then, somebody knocks on the door.

  “Shit,” I say, pulling my mouth off Jace and sitting up on the bed, “Is that your mom?”

  “It better not be,” says Jace, jumping to his feet and throwing on his clothes as he walks over to the suite door and looks through the peephole.

  “It’s Glenn.” Jace whispers as I put my shirt back on.

  “Glenn? Did you invite him?” I whisper back.

  “No…”

  “Well, can we just not answer it? I look like I just got fucked.”

  “You look fine,” Jace says.

  Over on the nightstand, Jace’s phone gets a text. Jace picks it up and reads it out.

  “Are you home? Laura told me that you and Haley would be at the Fisher Building today.”

  “I’m going to kill your mom,” I say.

  Jace sighs.

  “I mean, we’re both dressed. I could lie to him and say we’re not home, but he’s right out there. He might be able to hear us walking around.”

  “Alright, let’s just act normal.”

  I sit and open up a laptop, pretending to be extremely interested in the blank spreadsheet I’ve just pulled up. Jace rolls his eyes and laughs.

  “That looks really natural,” he says, before turning and opening the door.

  “I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” Glenn asks as he walks into the apartment.

  “No, I just had no idea you were coming by.”

  “Interesting,” Glenn says, “For some reason, Laura keeps wanting me to surprise you. She says I’ll learn more by doing that than I will by setting up interviews with you the conventional way.”

  “She used to want to be a journalist. That’s probably just her idea of how to get a story.”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I see Glenn shoot me a quizzical look. In response, I start typing a little faster.

  “What’s she working on?” Glenn asks Jace.

  “Oh, her? She’s…uh…using our data from our New York operations and determining which major city is the best candidate for expansion.”

  “Oh, so RentNation is expanding?” asks Glenn.

  I bite my lip and start typing the names of major American cities into the far left column of my spreadsheet. San Francisco, Dallas, Seattle…

  “Yeah, we’re expanding, as long as this building is a success, and considering that it’s already fully booked, I’d call it a success. Is that not public knowledge yet? You can go ahead and report it if you want to use that in your piece.”

  “Yeah, that’s quite a scoop…”

  “So, what’s up? Do you want to see the building right before it gets opened to the public? Do you want an invite to the opening on Saturday?”

  “Both of those would be great, but they’re not why I came by. My deadline for the story is next week, and I’ve gotten a lot of great material from you……but this story is supposed to be about both of you. The stepbrother and stepsister behind America’s biggest startup. That’s why I was hoping I could have a few minutes of Haley’s time for a quick interview.”

  “Oh…” says Jace.

  “Yeah, that’s fine,” I say, closing the laptop and setting it down on the couch.

  “Great,” says Glenn, “Want to do it here?”

  “You know what?” Jace asks, trying to suppress a laugh, “Why don’t you do it on the observation deck? Haley loves it up there, right, Haley?”

  I subtly glare at Jace. This is not the time to be making sexual innuendos. When Jace sees that he’s gotten under my skin, he doubles down.

  “You interviewed me last month, so you know how it is. Private, peaceful. You could do whatever you want up there and no one would know—”

  “Sounds good,” I say, cutting Jace off before he gets any more obvious and heading for the door.

  “I’ll say,” says Glenn, taking my hand and leading me out of the room.

  As Jace closes the door behind us, his eyes dart down to my hand, which is still intertwined with Glenn’s. He looks a little jealous.

  “Your stepbrother’s very protective of you,” Glenn says, squeezing my hand, “He’s been keeping me away from you for weeks.”

  I pull Glenn’s hand out of mine and push the up button on the elevator. />
  “He’s always been that way,” I say, “He thinks everyone’s out to get me.”

  “He thinks I’m out to get you?”

  “Well…probably not, but he’s nervous about me giving an interview with a journalist because I’m pretty new to the public eye. I’m not really even in the public eye yet, because I’m not technically part of the company until after this building opens.”

  I look over at Glenn, who has a warm, inviting look on his face. I didn’t get a chance to actually see him last time he showed up at our apartment, but he’s not bad looking: he has curly brown hair, a short beard, and intelligent blue eyes that are currently staring into mine like they want to kiss me, not interview me.

  Hopefully, that’ll make him more likely to talk me up in his piece.

  The elevator doors open, and the two of us step out onto the observation deck. I haven’t been up here since last month with Jace, and as soon as I see it again, memories of our first time come flooding back.

  I get a text from Jace.

  You’d better not be sitting on our couch.

  I smile, and then text him back.

  I’ll sit wherever I want while I help save our company.

  “Is that Jace texting you?” Glenn asks.

  “Oh,” I say, putting my phone away casually and trying to play it cool, “Yeah, just wishing me good luck.”

  “Is he always like that? Texting you ten seconds after you leave?”

  “Well, for the past few months I’ve kind of been…his apprentice. He’s kind of a business genius, so he’s been teaching me how to run a company, how to deal with being in the public eye, and stuff like that. So these past two months he’s been like that, but it’s been helping me a lot.”

  “I’d imagine. You just graduated college, right?”

  Without realizing what I was doing, I’d walked over to one of the black leather armchairs on the other side of the room from where Jace and I were last month and sat down in it. Almost immediately afterwards, Glenn sits across from me.

  Looks like the interview’s officially begun.

  “Yeah, in San Diego.”

  “What were you studying?”

  “Well…I started out majoring in English Lit, but I didn’t really like the classes as much as I liked the books, so I switched to Business……just because, I guess.”

  “And what were you doing right after you graduated?”

  “Um…working, hanging out with friends…trying to live a normal life.”

  Glenn smiles.

  “And that’s when your stepbrother shows up, takes you to his private jet, and flies you here.”

  Yikes. How much does this guy know?

  “Right…” I say, “I knew he’d started a company, but I didn’t know how successful it was. Then he takes me out into the desert and shows me his private jet…and I was like ‘I’m listening.’ He tells me all about it, and then he asks if I’d be interested in working for RentNation. Obviously, it was the best job offer I’ve ever gotten.”

  “Of course,” says Glenn, “You’re going from the bottom to the ladder to the top in less than a year. Are you concerned that there’s going to be a perception of you as unqualified that’s going to hurt you once you join RentNation?”

  “No,” I say, “Because I know how good the app is, and it’s gotten even better thanks to my early feedback. People can call me a product of nepotism all they want, because I know it’s not going to stop people from renting our apartments.”

  “Good answer,” says Glenn, pulling out a spiral notebook and writing something down in it.

  “Describe your relationship with your stepbrother in one word.”

  I bite my tongue as a bunch of unprintably dirty words run through my head.

  “Partners,” I say.

  “Has there ever been a time you wanted to just punch him in the face?” he asks.

  Again, a million answers come to mind and I can’t say any of them out loud.

  “Um…well, we met when we were eighteen, and I’m sure there were a couple moments that summer when he got under my skin……”

  Glenn’s eyes are searching mine. He knows I’m dodging the question.

  “He should have gotten me this interview sooner,” I say, “So that you would have had more than a week to work me into your piece. But I don’t think I want to punch him in the face for that. Maybe just in the arm.”

  “Fair enough,” says Glenn, “Are you ready for the opening on Saturday?”

  Nice, a question not about Jace.

  “I’m so excited,” I say, “I’ve been looking forward to the opening ever since I got here.”

  “But are you ready?” he asks.

  “Yes,” I say, looking him straight in the eye and replying with confidence.

  “Good,” says Glenn, putting his spiral notebook away.

  “I appreciate your concern about me not having enough material for my piece, but trust me, I’ve written profiles of people with much less to go off of. I think what I’m going to do is attend the opening, and write it up as the ending to the piece.”

  “Sounds like a good idea,” I say.

  “Do you have a date?” Glenn asks.

  “A what?”

  “A date. To the opening. If not, being your date would give me all the material I need.”

  Is he asking to shadow me or asking me out?

  Judging by the look in his eye, I’m guessing it’s both.

  “Um…well…if you go as my date, you’re going to become the story. It’s probably best that I keep a low profile until I’m officially announced as part of the company, you know?”

  “Alright, that makes sense. Well, I look forward to seeing you Saturday.”

  I shake Glenn’s hand, and he steps into the elevator.

  As soon as Glenn’s gone, I pull out my phone and find another text from Jace.

  Let me guess, he wants you to come back to his place for a more intimate interview?

  I’m definitely keeping these texts for the next time Jace accuses me of being jealous.

  He’s gone, but he’s coming to the opening on Saturday to finish his piece. We HAVE to be careful.

  Are you implying that I won’t be careful? I’ll be so careful you won’t even know what hit you.

  Chapter 26: Haley

  “I have your panties in my pocket right now.”

  I elbow Jace in the ribs, and he cracks up.

  “Do you think I’m lying? Feel for yourself.”

  “Jace, Laura’s looking right at us.”

  This is the first time I’ve set foot in the Fisher Building’s ballroom, but it’s still surreal seeing all these other people in a building that’s pretty much belonged to Jace and I for the past few months.

  “Is there anyone here I should know about?” I ask Jace, as he scans the crowd.

  “We invited all the tenants, but it doesn’t look like many of them showed up. This crowd looks like a bunch of high society types who just want to be seen somewhere important.”

  Jace is right. I recognize a few Fortune 500s in the crowd, and there are photographers everywhere, snapping photos of basically every square inch of the room. As Jace and I make our way to the center of the crowd, an elderly man with a camera strapped around his neck walks up to us.

  “Can I get a picture of you two?”

  “Sure,” Jace says, wrapping his arm around me and pulling me into his side. As the camera goes off, Jace grins, and I smile nervously.

  “That picture’s going to make us look like two horny teenagers at prom,” I say, after the photographer is out of earshot.

  “Probably,” says Jace, “I know that’s what I feel like right now.”

  All around the room, people were turning their heads to look at us. Maybe I’m just being paranoid, but I feel like a lot of them are looking at me.

  “Jace, how many of these people know I’m going to be joining the company?”

  “Everyone who’s in business with us already
knows,” says Jace, “But I’m pretty sure at least half of them are wondering who my date is.”

  “Yeah, but they keep looking at us. Aren’t you supposed to address the crowd?”

  “Shit, yeah, I forgot about that.”

  Jace pulls some cue cards out of his pocket, hopefully not the same pocket where he’s keeping my panties, and steps up to a podium at the far end of the room.

  “Hope everyone’s having a good night tonight,” he says, his mic-amplified voice bouncing off the ballroom walls, “For those of you who don’t know, I’m Jace Fisher, the founder of RentNation, and as of midnight tonight, the Fisher Building will officially be open.”

  The room breaks out into applause, and then, Jace launches into what seems like a totally improvised speech about where RentNation is going. It’s rough around the edges, but he definitely has the crowd laughing. I spot my dad on the other side of the crowd, so I weave through men in suits and women in dresses until I get to him.

  “Long time no see,” I say.

  “I’ll say. How are you?”

  “Um…”

  I definitely can’t answer that question in very much detail.

  “Great! Excited to get to work. How was North Dakota?”

  Dad rolls his eyes.

  “Don’t ever negotiate with an oil company if you can avoid it. They bought out the natural gas company I was working with, and now I’m trying to buy their land for solar panels.”

  “That’s like what I’ve been doing. We’re trying to get other businesses to partner with RentNation without signing exclusivity contracts, and they usually freak out and try to double cross us.”

  “Welcome to the business world,” he says.

  All around us, the crowd breaks out into applause. Apparently, Jace just finished his speech.

  “So…how’s Laura?” I ask.

  Dad smiles and nods.

  “Invaluable. She’s been holding down the home front while I’ve been in North Dakota.”

  Part of me wants to tell Dad what Laura said to us at The Green Dragon, but I decide that this isn’t a good time.

  Dad, being Dad, can see that something’s on my mind.

  “Is something wrong?” he asks.

  Then, like clockwork, Laura joins us, clutching a glass of champagne in her thin fingers.