Ink

by Michaela Scott

  “I knew this was going to happen,” she says.

  “That doesn’t mean shit, Haley. If anyone asks, I’ll say I fired her because she got too drunk and represented the company in a negative light, which is true, and no one’s going to believe her story.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” says Haley, “Once Amber stats telling people about us, everyone’s going to be watching. I won’t be able join the company, and I can’t be around you.”

  I try to grab Haley’s hand, but she pulls away, walking towards the stairs.

  Now, I’m a little nervous about this whole Amber thing, too, but I’m not going to let anyone come between Haley and me. I pick my blazer up off the roof and run after her, grabbing her before she can make it to the stairs.

  “Haley, I’d rather lose all of this than lose you. I don’t care if it’s dangerous, or reckless, or whatever. I don’t care what people think. I just want to be with you.”

  “You’re saying that now, but if Laura takes your company, you’re going to hate me.”

  “No I’m not. Honestly, nothing could be worse than feeling like I can’t be with you, like I have to keep us a secret, like we need to get this out of our system and then stop doing it forever.”

  Haley wipes the tears off her cheeks and wraps her arms around me.

  “You’re right,” she says, “It’s the worst feeling in the world.”

  I hug Haley to my body, feel her sobbing against my shoulder… and start laughing my ass off.

  “Are you laughing?” she asks.

  “Yeah,” I say, “Why are we sad when we’re a hundred percent on the same page? Fuck Amber, right?”

  “Yeah,” Haley says, “Fuck Amber.”

  “And fuck Laura.”

  “And fuck Laura.”

  “And fuck our competition, and fuck that reporter from Rolling Stone, and fuck this entire city.”

  Haley laughs, and I grab her face, wiping away the last couple of tears around her eyes.

  “Let’s go,” I say, taking her hand and leading her down the roof access stairs.

  “Go where?” she asks.

  “If we’re going to lose this building, we might as well enjoy it while we can.”

  Chapter 28: Haley

  I stand at the edge of the pool, looking over my shoulder every couple seconds to make sure no one’s coming in and looking for us.

  “How are you going to have fun if you keep looking at the door?” Jace asks, “It’s locked, nobody’s going to come in.”

  “Wasn’t the roof supposed to be locked?”

  “Haley, I guarantee you’re going to forget all your problems five seconds after you hit the water.”

  I highly doubt that. We just ditched an important public event and got caught kissing on the roof. We’re totally fucked, and the only thing keeping me from totally freaking out is the sight of Jace stripping down to his boxer briefs and jumping in the pool.

  At this point, this whole thing feels so ridiculous that I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

  “Come on in Haley, the water’s perfect.”

  “Can I at least get my panties back before I take off my dress?”

  “Definitely not. Those panties are going straight to my personal collection.”

  “Jace!”

  “Alright,” says Jace, “I’ll tell you what. If you can swim across this pool in thirty seconds, I’ll give you your panties back.”

  “Fine,” I say, “Watch me,”

  Jace grins and backstrokes across the pool while I pull my dress over my head and stand at the edge of the water in nothing but a bra. When he reaches the other side, he pulls himself out of the water and makes eyes contact with me.

  “Ready?” he asks.

  I nod.

  “Go!”

  I leap into the water, swimming as hard as I can to the other side of the pool. Jace was right…it’s hard to worry about what’s going to happen to our company when I’m swimming as hard as I can, trying to win my panties back.

  When I feel myself approaching the other side, I leap into Jace’s lap, knocking him onto his back.

  “Twenty-nine seconds,” he says, looking genuinely surprised, “You did it. Go ahead and get your panties.”

  “Not yet,” I say, straddling Jace and running my hands over his wet, tattooed muscles, “I don’t need them for what we’re about to do.”

  Is part of me still nervous about what Amber saw? Definitely. For all I know, Laura could be downstairs, convincing my Dad to sell her the company right now. Glenn could overhear the news and rewrite the story into something seriously embarrassing. And Jace and I would be celebrities in a very, very different kind of way.

  Part of me is still nervous about all of that, but who cares? I’ve got everything I really need right here.

  Chapter 29: Haley

  It was fun at first, but hanging out in my old house is starting to feel like house arrest.

  Jace and I had a long talk after Amber caught us on the roof. Mostly, we talked about how we were going to protect the business, even though what I wanted to talk about was us, and we decided that we should hold off on formally adding me to the company until we saw whether or not Amber’s story was going to catch on in the press.

  Going back to Connecticut to lay low was my idea, and Jace suggested that I avoid researching the rumors while he did damage control so I wouldn’t stress out over something I can’t control.

  It seemed like a good plan at the time, but after four and a half days of sitting around my house reading books, I’m starting to get seriously stir-crazy. The last time I texted Jace for information, he told me that Amber was shopping the story to every press outlet she could find, that Laura knows about it and is trying to buy RentNation, and that he has everything under control.

  At this point, I’m just trying not to think about it too much.

  I wonder what Jace is doing for damage control. Is her going around telling everyone that I’m just his stepsister, and that there was never anything romantic between us? Are we going to have to stand four feet apart in public from now on? That’s going to be the only way to beat the rumors, right? Either break it off, or keep it secret in a way that I don’t think either of us is capable of doing.

  I throw a pillow across the room in frustration. I should probably just get out of bed and find something to distract myself with until Jace comes back.

  After a quick shower, I wander into the kitchen, looking for something to eat. I laugh when I see that I have all the ingredients for a tuna and cucumber sandwich like the one I was making when I first met Jace. I was making myself lunch in the kitchen and he scared the shit out of me by walking up behind me and putting his hand on my shoulder. Thinking he was some kind of home invader, I flipped around and pointed my tuna-covered butter knife at him. He just laughed, of course. He took the knife out of my hand, grabbed my sandwich, and thanked me for making him lunch as he sat down at the counter to eat it. At the time, I thought he was the biggest asshole in the world, but now, the memory makes me smile.

  I never got to eat that sandwich. Why not make another one?

  I spread the tuna across the bread, then cut up a cucumber and pile slices of it on top. When I’m done, I cut it diagonally, sit down at the kitchen counter, and take a bite.

  “Are you trying to summon me?” Jace asks, walking into the living room.

  “Jace!” I say, running across the room and giving him a huge hug. I want to kiss him, but I don’t dare.

  “Sorry for leaving you hanging,” he says, “The past couple days have been crazy.”

  “What happened?”

  “Well…I’ve been running around the city talking to people…and I think we’re safe.”

  “So your mom’s not going to try and buy RentNation.”

  “I’m not sure,” says Jace, “But if she does try, we’ll be ready.”

  “What about Amber?”

  “She doesn’t really have much of a story. Only tabloids are reall
y interested in what she’s saying. Even then, it’s not, like, a cover story or anything. The problem is, after she realized that the press wasn’t going to pick this up, she went to my mom and got a really nice job as her personal assistant.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  “That’s not going to last,” Jace says, “As soon as she stops being useful, my mom’s going to fire her. My mom definitely doesn’t need a personal assistant.”

  “So…what now?” I ask.

  “Well, we probably shouldn’t go back to New York just yet. Here’s the thing, though: Laura can only buy the company if our stock prices tank. So far, they’re doing great, so what I think we should do is hang out here for a couple days, wait for the rumors to go away, and plan for our next building. Then, once we have a plan, we’ll announce it early, like in the next couple days, and hopefully our stock will rise so much that Laura can’t buy anything.”

  “That’s a good idea,” I say, “But what about us?”

  “I thought you’d never ask,” says Jace, “While we sit back and wait for those dirty little rumors to die down, we’re going to be all alone for the next week or so.”

  Jace takes a couple steps forward, resting his hands on my hips and wrapping his fingers around the small of my back.

  “And after what you did to me by the swimming pool, I’m going to have a hard time keeping my hands off you.”

  Jace’s touch feels electric against my skin, but I make myself pull away from him.

  “It’s too dangerous,” I say, “Even here.”

  Jace smirks, and then walks over to the front windows of the living room, pulling down the blinds one by one, and I take a deep breath, trying to suppress the growing wetness between my legs.

  “So you’re telling me I shouldn’t pull those tight little sweatpants off, sit you on my lap, and let you ride my cock, because it’s too dangerous?”

  “Exactly,” I say, my voice coming out all breath.

  “Alright,” says Jace, pulling down the last set of blinds and locking the front door, “Well, if it’s too dangerous for that, it’d also probably be too dangerous for me to bend you over right where you’re standing, make you touch your toes, and then slide into you from behind.”

  “Definitely,” I say, face starting to feel flushed, “Definitely too dangerous to do that.”

  “Hmm…” Jace says, “You might be right, but don’t tell me you don’t want to anyway.”

  I whimper a little, and Jace smirks. He knows he has me right where he wants me.

  “Do you know why I picked today to come over here, Haley?”

  “Why?”

  “Today’s the last day of our contract.”

  Shit. I’d forgotten all about the contract.

  “Wasn’t it over a week ago when the building opened?”

  “We moved the opening up, remember? Besides, it took you a couple of days to finally work up the courage to sign it. Trust me, Haley, I’ve been keeping track of exactly how long you’re signed for, and until midnight tonight, you still have to follow my orders.”

  Jace walks past me, running his fingers across my stomach as he passes. Then, he sits on the couch behind me, and I can feel him staring at my ass.

  “So here’s the deal: I’m going to tell you to do the things I know you want to do, and you can justify it by saying you’re just following the contract. Okay?”

  “Well, at this point, I know I’m not going to convince you to be responsible,” I say.

  “Are you talking back to me, Haley? You’d better be careful unless you want another spanking, young lady.”

  I bite my lip, shutting my eyes tight as arousal wracks my body.

  “Are you ready for your first order?” asks Jace.

  “Yes,” I say.

  “Good. Quit standing in the middle of the room like that and have a seat on my lap.”

  Ignoring the paranoid little voice in my head telling me that this is a bad idea, I give in to the heat between my legs and start walking towards Jace. God, even just him giving me orders is enough to get me wet.

  Jace leans back in his seat and smiles at me as I lower myself onto his lap, feeling his hard cock press against me through my sweatpants.

  “See, Haley? There’s nothing dangerous about this. It’s just you and me sitting down in our old house.”

  Jace’s hand wraps around my waist, reaching for the elastic of my sweatpants and gently pulling it down.

  “Have you been touching yourself here, Haley? Because you know that’s not allowed without my permission.”

  “No…” I say, which is actually pretty strange, because I wasn’t thinking about the contract much over the past four days.

  “Really?” asks Jace, “You must be soaking wet, then. I’m surprised you haven’t been texting me all week, begging me to let you fuck yourself.”

  “Somebody could have gone through your phone,” I say.

  “Poor Haley,” Jace says, rolling the elastic of my panties in between his fingers, “Sitting around the house soaking wet for me with no way of getting relief. You know what? Because you’ve been such a good little girl over the past couple days, I’m going to give you permission to touch yourself right now.”

  Jace grabs my wrist and gently guides it down the front of my sweatpants. Then, he presses my index finger against my throbbing clit over and over again, fingering me with my own hand.

  “That must feel good after all this time,” says Jace, “Keep going.”

  Jace removes his hand from my wrist and I start to finger myself, squirming back and forth on Jace’s lap as I slide the pads of my fingers across my clit.

  Strangely enough, even though this is far from our first sexual encounter, touching myself right in front of Jace is making me nervous. I try to find the right rhythm as I push my body back against his, but it doesn’t quite feel as nice as it did when Jace was guiding my fingers. All this is really doing is making me want Jace’s touch more.

  “I need help,” I say, pulling one of Jace’s thick, strong arms down into the front of my pants and guiding it inside me.

  “I’m always happy to help,” says Jace, picking up where he left off and reducing me to a squirming, moaning mess with one finger on my clit and two sliding deep inside me.

  By now, Jace knows exactly how to touch me to leave me totally breathless, and as he starts to push into me firmer and faster, I wonder if he’s literally going to get me off right here on the couch.

  Right when I’m just about to explode, though, he backs off, letting his fingers go slack as my body begs for more.

  “You know what?” he says, “You’re right; I think this might be a little too dangerous.”

  “Jace!” I whisper, “You have to keep touching me,”

  “I have to keep touching you? I think you’re forgetting who signed the contract here.”

  I moan with need, bouncing up and down on Jace’s lap impatiently as I try to push his fingers back inside me.

  “This is adorable, watching you try to get off like this, but if I have to feel your ass rubbing against me for one more second, I’m going to go completely insane.”

  Jace pulls his hand out from between my legs and guides me to my feet. Then, behind me, I hear the noise of a zipper as Jace takes his pants off, followed by the sound of ripping foil as he sheathes his cock.

  “You should see yourself,” Jace says, “Your knees are shaking you’re so wet.”

  Jace’s hands reach up to the back of my sweatpants and hook into my panties, pulling everything off me in one smooth motion.

  “I was dead serious about taking you for a ride,” Jace says, “I want to feel you bouncing on my cock.”

  Jace leans forward on the couch, and I lower myself onto him, shuddering as his cock pushes against my entrance. Grabbing my hips, Jace pulls me all the way down onto him, and my eyes widen as he starts to thrust up into me.

  “God, I’m such a bad influence on you,” Jace says.

&nb
sp; “Fuck me harder,” I say, a thrill running through my body at how dirty those words sound coming from my mouth.

  “If you keep talking like that, I’m not going to have much of a choice,” Jace says, ramming himself up into me as his hands grip my ass.

  “Harder,” I say, totally out of my mind with lust at this point. As soon as I say it, I regret it, because Jace pulls himself out of me, leaving me desperate for his touch again.

  Jace guides me into a standing position, and then stands up behind me, wrapping his strong arms around my waist.

  “Did you ever have any fantasies about me, lying in your room at night that one summer we had here?”

  “No…”

  “No?”

  “I was too scared of feelings like that. I wouldn’t let myself have fantasies.”

  “Shit, Haley, you missed out, because I had fantasies about you, and they were awesome.”

  “Like what?”

  “Do you remember that red flower skirt you used to wear?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Is it in your room or in the suite?”

  “I think it’s in the room…I haven’t worn it in years.”

  “Good,” says Jace, “Go in and put it on, and I’ll show you what my fantasies were like.”

  “I think it’s in the back of my closet…I might have to tear the whole room apart to find it.”

  “You’re the one who wanted to be fucked harder. If you come out wearing that skirt, you’re definitely going to get fucked harder.”

  With that, Jace smacks my ass, sending me down the hallway towards my old room.

  Luckily, I don’t have to rip apart my closet to find the skirt: it’s in the bottom drawer of my chest of drawers, folded up in the back. I wonder why Jace wants me to wear this skirt…it’s nothing compared to the insanely skimpy clothes he dresses me up in back in New York. I pull it over my naked lower body, smooth it out in the mirror, and come back out into the hallway.

  For some reason, Jace put his pants back on while I was in the room. I can’t help but be a little disappointed. I wanted to see what happened to his cock when he saw me walking out in this skirt.