by Emma Vikes
The corner of my mouth lifted up into a small, thankful smile. “Why’d you move to America?”
Lily shrugged and then tucked her legs closer to her body. “Because I wanted to start a new life. I know that sounds cliché. But back in Australia, everyone expected me to follow after my family’s footsteps. There was a life people expected me to live and I wasn't going to give them that satisfaction.”
“
Seems like you’re a strong, independent woman.”
Her eyebrows raised and I could see the playful glint in her eyes again. “Who knows, just the right thing to make you spontaneously combust.”
I knew she was referring to the first night we’d met when she left me all hot and bothered in my apartment, leaving me to finish the work she had started. I chuckled and rolled my eyes. “You caught me off-guard at that time.”
She rolled her eyes. “You might be better at the words, Waters, but we’ve already proven who’s better at teasing if you get what I mean?”
I inched closer to her and placed a finger on her face, gently tracing her smooth skin until I had her undivided attention. My other hand crept across her thigh, smoothly palming the exposed skin as I closed the distance between our lips.
Lily responded to the kiss, which came as a surprise for me. I didn’t expect that she would. After stripping her off the creative staff, I expected her to be pissed at me. But I guessed our desires would eventually get the better of us and that was what had happened.
I pushed her against the couch and then hitched up her shirt so I could kiss her stomach. I didn’t give her breasts any attention. Instead, I pulled down her shorts. Lily was breathing heavily beneath me and I was waiting for her to tell me to stop but she didn’t. She wanted it as much as I did.
But there was a score I needed to settle.
I spread her legs apart and grinned at the sight of her wet pussy. I peeked at her and smirked. “Looks like you’re ready for me.”
“Shut up, Waters,” she groaned and then gasped when I blew a hot breath on her pussy. She squirmed above me but I didn’t allow her response to faze me. I had a mission that needed my attention. I licked the lips of her pussy and she moaned, her back arching. I chuckled to myself, inserting two fingers inside of her and slowly pushing them back and forth.
“Oh fuck, don’t tease me like that, Waters.” I loved how responsive she was with this whole thing. I quickened the pace of my hand while my mouth sucked on her clit, knowing that the sensitive organ would only heighten her reaction. “Fuck, yes, more. I’m nearly there. Don’t stop.”
I stopped and stood up.
It took her a moment to realize and she quickly sat up, glaring at me. The corners of my mouth twitched into a smirk. “I guess we’ve settled our score, Miss Stone.”
She was still glaring at me when I left, but I could see the amusement behind her eyes too. I didn’t care, I was satisfied with what I’d done, even if my dick was straining against my jeans and it was a problem that I needed to address the moment I arrived back at my apartment.
I was making my way to my place when I realized that someone was following me. It was still dark out and the sun was slowly rising but I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was right behind me. I turned around a corner and waited to see if someone was following me but there was no one but me in the alley. I looked around for a moment and then decided that maybe I was just too tired and my mind was playing tricks on me.
It was when I arrived at my apartment building that I noticed someone behind me. I stopped and turned to look at the person but he seemed to be minding his own business. But there was something eerily familiar about him and, when he looked up and met my eyes, I froze.
He was the guy from the cemetery during Julian’s burial, the one that looked familiar to me but I couldn’t place who he was.
I wanted to approach him but he turned around a corner and disappeared. I couldn’t shake the shock I felt but maybe it was just a crazy coincidence. Maybe he just happened to be in this area and I just happened to see him. There were a number of things that were likely to happen and I should have stopped dwelling on it. I’d had a good early morning with Lily. I didn’t want to ruin it.
When I got back, everything was in place and in the exact order I left it in. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting but, then again, that place was heavily guarded so I was sure that no one could break in. It was only when I was in my room that I saw a letter neatly placed on my bed and I felt like I was suddenly drowning in cold water.
After a closer look, I could see the scrawny handwriting.
I have a surprise for you, Artie. You’re gonna love it.
I wasn’t sure how long I was staring at the note or how long I tried to figure out how he’d managed to slip into my apartment unnoticed or if he’d been there when I’d woken up - perhaps the figure I’d seen before I’d turned on my light had been real and not merely a figment of my imagination.
Momentarily, I was brought back to the thought of the guy I saw earlier outside of the building. The cemetery caretaker, the one that looked eerily familiar to me. But then, if he was behind all of this, why would he have allowed me to see him? Wouldn’t that ruin everything for him and make catching him easier for me?
No. That didn’t add up but I didn’t have any more time to dwell on it because I had to head to the office. If what was written on the note was true, then whatever surprise this person had for me would be waiting for me at Interzone.
I wasn’t wrong.
“Mr. Waters, there is a package waiting for you,” Lily said the moment that I came out of the elevator. She had a small smile on her face, a secretive one as if we both shared something that no one else in the universe knew. It was cute to see her like that, that there was this shyness beneath her confident exterior. It made her look even sexier to me.
“Mr. Waters?”
I snapped back into reality and then met her smug smile. She must’ve noticed me checking her out. “Well, bring it to my office.”
“It’s already there. But I do have to warn you it smells really bad. We wanted to see what it was but security told me that you hated people going through your stuff,” Lily said, her nose wrinkling in disgust as we entered my office. I instantly smelled what she meant and had to cover my nose to block the foul odor.
The box was thankfully not settled on my desk but on a different table. The two of us walked over to where it was and I carefully opened it. Behind me, Lily gasped when she saw what was inside and I had to stop myself from pushing it off the table and running away. One of the things I hated most was a dead animal and, at that moment, I had one in my office.
“Oh my god,” Lily said behind me, and I didn’t have to look at her to see the shock on her face because it was evident in her voice. “I should call security.”
I turned around and grabbed her wrist before she could. “No. Don’t tell anyone what you saw, Lily. This has to stay between the two of us.”
But Lily wasn’t listening to me. Instead, she took a step forward and picked something out from the box. The note was bloodied and the writing almost indistinguishable, but the scrawny handwriting resembled that which was on the note in my house earlier.
I clenched my jaw, the gears in my head turning.
That familiar handwriting.
The person calling me - and calling me Artie.
The dead animal stuffed inside a box.
Suddenly, everything made sense to me. The one behind all of this, it wasn’t a business rival of mine or Julian’s. They knew me more than anyone and knew how I ticked. They were taking things slow and must’ve realized that they couldn’t scare me with the calls, that I wasn’t the same person that used to be easily frightened over those silly threats.
They knew they had to step up their game and they just had.
I took a step back, the memories crashing in a whirlwind, intent on destroying the barriers I’d created to forget. My hands clenched into fists. Julian told m
e that he had made an agreement with them so why had they suddenly come back?
“Art?” Lily whispered, her blue eyes looking at me, the concern evident in them. “You’re shaking.”
I hadn’t even realized that I was trembling. I tried to force myself to calm down, the same way I did whenever I had a nightmare. But it wasn’t working the way I wished it would and Lily noticed it too. She took a cautious step forward and placed both of her hands in front of me.
“Art, look at me,” her voice was soft and kind, nurturing and loving, “hey, you’re in Interzone right now. You’re safe here. No one’s here to get you. You’re protected.”
I closed my eyes and leaned into her touch, allowing the gentle caress of her thumbs to soothe me until I stopped trembling and the memories became but a faraway thought. When I opened my eyes, I met her deep blue ones that looked at me worriedly.
“Lily,” I said, trying my best to take control of myself again. I didn’t want to succumb to the pain of my past. I didn’t want to unravel in such a public place. “We need to get out of here.”
Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “You’re safe here.”
I shook my head. Nowhere was safe if they were behind this. “We need to get out of here. Please.”
“I could call your driver?”
“No. I want you to come with me.”
Lily stared at me in surprise. “Why?”
I reached for her hand and wrapped it in mine, tightly. “Because I need you, Lily.”
CHAPTER 4
Lily
I wasn’t sure which bar Art Waters took me to but it just so happened that the bar opened just for him. I wasn’t even surprised when I figured out he owned it. He was an incredibly wealthy and successful man. Interzone Productions sure as hell wasn’t the only company he owned.
But he took me there, stating he needed me and he’d not shed light on the issue since he was busy drinking himself into oblivion. I wanted to ask him questions but I didn’t know how to begin to ask them when he was in that kind of state. It was like the well-manicured CEO of Interzone Productions had disappeared in the span of 30 minutes and had been replaced by someone lost and confused.
And scared. Art Waters was very much afraid and it was clear by the way he carried himself at the moment.
We’d been in the bar for fifteen minutes and I think he’d already downed five bottles of beer and was now working his way through a bottle of scotch. It was when he poured himself another glass that I knew I had to stop him. I reached out and took the glass from him and he turned to face me, the realization clear in his eyes as he remembered that he’d brought me along with him.
I downed the glass in one drink and winced as I felt it go down my throat. The bitter taste of the alcohol was overwhelming but I needed something to boost my confidence. Despite my self-assurance, I didn’t have the guts to stop Art Waters from drinking or demand answers from him.
“That was kind of hot.” My eyebrows rose in surprise at his comment and he closed his eyes and sighed. “Ignore that comment. I just said the first thing that came to my mind which wasn’t anything related to the threat.”
He grabbed the bottle, finished it and almost slammed it onto the counter as he waved the bartender for another one. “I’m not gonna get any answers from you if you’re going to drink the day away.”
“What questions did you have in mind?”
“Ones that would shed some light on what’s going on,” I replied.
“Liquid courage,” Art commented, taking off the lid of the whiskey. He poured it into the new glass the bartender had provided for him. “Whatever questions you’re going to ask me, I have a feeling that they’re going to be personal so I’ll do you a favor and share my life story with you instead but I need to be more drunk to do it.”
I waited for him for another five minutes. I was losing my patience and I was ready to leave if he wasn't going to say anything. Finally, with a sigh, he set his glass down and turned to face me. "Have you Googled me after your first day of work?”
I scoffed. “You’re sexy as fuck and all but I kind of hated you on the first day so I spent the rest of it detoxifying my mind from all the toxic thoughts you put into it.”
He had the audacity to chuckle as he swirled the bronze liquid in his glass. “If you Google me, you would see pictures of Julian and me. Every picture of me on the internet has Julian in it.”
I’d vaguely heard about Julian. According to everyone, he used to be Art’s mentor before he’d died two years ago. Art had handled Julian’s companies with Benton along with running Interzone, which explained the workload I had. But I didn’t understand how Julian fit into the equation.
"You will never see pictures of my parents and me because Julian helped me emancipate myself when I was seventeen. Even Google doesn’t know that about me.”
I looked at him in surprise. That wasn’t something that I’d expected. Art was trying to avoid my gaze and I could see how hard it was for him to tell me his story. For a moment, I could feel the awkwardness that he felt and how difficult it was for him. Gently, I reached out and placed a hand on his lap and this made him look at me again.
“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, Art.”
A slow smile made its way to my lips and he tugged at my heart. He placed his hand on top of mine, the contact made heat rush through my body and made me squirm. At a distance, I could act unfazed with Art Waters but in close proximity, the attraction was too hard to deny.
“I’ve dragged you all the way here. The least I can do is give you an explanation.”
His words made me pause for a moment. “You mean you know who’s doing this to you?”
Art sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Julian and I met when I was about to end my life. I was perched on a bridge and ready to drown myself when he stopped me. He told me that before I ended my life, I deserved to have my story heard and he told me he was willing to listen.”
My heart ached for the sixteen-year-old boy ready to drown himself. But I couldn’t help but wonder what had made him want to do it. Art downed two more glasses before he continued with the story. His tolerance for alcohol was amazing. With the amount of alcohol in his system, I would have been hammered by now.
“After that, he realized how deep in shit I was with my family.” He paused for a moment and he scrunched up his face. He looked cute when he did that as he thought of what he was going to say. Actually, cute wasn’t even the right definition for Art Waters. In that moment of vulnerability, I couldn’t help but find him incredibly sexy, but that probably wasn’t the right thought to have in that kind of conversation.
“My family dealt drugs, Lily. I used for a while but didn’t really like it as much as the rest of them. I didn’t use drugs as excessively as they did which was why I wasn’t as addicted as them,” Art said, looking at me with intense brown eyes. “My father was a dealer and he had transactions with big people in town. But as I grew older, it wasn’t just about drugs. They started doing dirty work for my father’s big clients. They became murderers and they became good at it too.”
I couldn’t comprehend how someone like Art Waters came from that kind of family. “Drugs and murder, that was the kind of life I was living and it was the kind of life that Julian saved me from.”
He picked up the bottle and I could see his hand trembling as he tried to pour himself a glass. Maybe the alcohol was getting into his system by now because the bottle slipped from his hands and shattered on the ground. He hissed when a piece caught his hand but he didn’t do anything to stop the bleeding. He just watched the blood flow from his hand and I instinctively took my handkerchief rom my bag and wrapped it around his hand.
When my gaze tore off from his hand and transferred to his face, I met his fiery brown eyes. It felt like he was staring straight into my soul and I couldn’t stop a shiver of satisfaction flow through my body. Despite the confession, I couldn’t stop my body’s desire to want him. Slowl
y, his uninjured hand reached to touch my face.
I almost fell apart with his touch. His thumb grazed my jaw. “To answer your question, I think my family is behind all the threats.”
My eyebrows furrowed in confusion and he pulled his hand away and my heart panged at the loss of contact. “But why now? It’s been years since your emancipation.”
Art shrugged and then leaned against the counter, his head slowly dipping towards it until he finally rested it there. “I don’t know. But who knows what drugs had done to their brains?”
I watched as his eyes slowly fluttered to a close and his gentle snores filled the quiet space. I couldn’t believe everything he had just told me because it was hard to imagine that someone like him had to go through that traumatizing childhood.
There was something more to that story but Art was too drunk to continue and answer my questions. “You should take him home.”
I looked up and saw the bartender that served us. “I have his address. You could ask the security from his apartment to help you get him inside. He deserves a rest. I don’t think that guy ever sleeps, to be honest. I’ll help you get him to his car.”
He helped me carry Art to the backseat of his car and it was difficult getting him in because he was such a big and long guy. He gave me the address and I punched it into Art’s GPS. His apartment was near the café, which probably explained why he chose to go there at such an ungodly hour. I asked the security guard to help me take him up and we struggled for longer than the bartender and I had, but we were finally able to get him to his floor.
I had to fish his key card out of his pocket and he was chuckling while I did so. “What are you doing?”
I rolled my eyes until I successfully pulled it out from his pants and then unlocked his door. I had to drag him to his couch because the security guard left me the moment we were at Art’s door. Some help he was.
“Oh thank god,” I breathed out once I’d managed to get him to the couch. But just as I was about to stand upright, his hand wrapped around my wrist and pulled me closer to him and I fell straight onto his chest.