by B. B. Hamel
I’m by her side in an instant. “Come on,” I say softly. “Let’s get out of here.”
She lets me lift her up from her chair. We walk together, back out onto the street. She’s leaning against me, barely walking on her own.
We move away from the shop. I take her into the park, and we snag a bench on the corner of one path. She leans up against me and I hold her tight.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper to her. “I only caught the end, but I know it isn’t your fault.”
“He thinks I love him,” she says, suppressing a sob. “He thinks… he called me a liar. He says I lead him on.”
“I don’t believe that,” I say. “I don’t think you ever did that.”
“But didn’t I?” She looks up at me, tears in her eyes. “That’s what I did. I made them feel loved. Even if I didn’t feel it.”
I hold her tight against me as she cries. I don’t know what I can say or do to make it better.
Probably nothing can, at least not right now.
13
Aria
Brady is surprisingly tender as I slowly tell him about what Louis said to me.
I can’t get the look on Louis’s face from my mind. He looked wrecked, absolutely broken, destroyed.
He just kept asking me why, why, why didn’t I love him.
“I do love you, just not that way,” I said gently.
That only made him angrier.
Brady takes me back to his apartment. He sits me down on his couch and gets me a glass of wine. Normally, I’d turn it down, but I could use it right now. I take a sip as he drapes a blanket over me.
“You don’t have to be so nice,” I say to him.
“I know that.” He frowns, cocking his head. “I’m worried about you.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine at all.” He sighs. “What happened back there… it got to you.”
“You aren’t part of this, okay?” I snap at him. “You don’t owe me anything.”
He’s quiet after that. I feel like shit for saying it to him, but I’m angry and upset and he’s the only person I can lash out at right now.
After a little bit, though, he speaks up.
“You’re right. I don’t owe you anything. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to give you whatever you need.”
I groan a little bit. He seems to know just what to say to make me feel even more guilty. I take a big sip of wine, unable to even look at him.
“Was he always like this?” Brady asks after a bit.
“No,” I say. “When I first met him, things were good in his marriage, he just felt… dissatisfied.”
“When did things turn for him?”
“I don’t know,” I admit. “Sometime in the last year. He went from a little dissatisfied to straight up hating his life. I guess it finally caught up with him.” I bite my lip. “And I guess getting caught didn’t help.”
Brady’s silent for a second. “Getting caught?”
“His wife found out about me. I don’t know how, but he said… he said she found some receipts. Thought he was cheating. Had him followed.”
“Oh, shit,” Brady whispers.
“That’s what really did it, right there. I was trying to keep Louis and his wife together, but instead I screwed it all up. I made things worse, and he can’t even see it.”
“Because he thinks he loves you,” Brady finishes for me.
“Right.” I sigh and put the wine down. “So I don’t know what to do.”
Brady leans back in his chair. “For now, you’ll stay here. You can’t go back to your apartment.”
“Which one?” I ask.
He laughs softly. “Either of them. How much does Louis know about your real life?”
I stretch my legs out. “I try to keep them separate,” I say. “I take a long route back to my real place, I’m careful about what I say, they don’t have my real phone number. The only real thing they get is my name.”
“That might be enough,” he says, looking concerned. “You’d be surprised how much information there is floating around online about us.”
I stiffen a little bit as the thought of Zoe alone in that apartment suddenly hits me like a train.
I lean toward Brady, a little bit of a panic in my eyes. “My roommate,” I say.
“You have a roommate?”
I nod. “She knows what I do. Anyway, she’s there, all alone. What if… what if he tries to hurt her? What if he knows where I live?”
Panic starts to set in. I throw the blanket off me, jump to my feet, and start to pace the floor.
“Can you call her?” he asks.
“I don’t know. I mean, I can, but she doesn’t answer. She’s studying for exams, and…” I grab my phone and dial. Sure enough Zoe doesn’t answer.
“This is Zoe! Leave a message. Actually, text me, bitch. Bye!”
I hang up without leaving a message. I text her real quick, just to check in. “How’s it going?” I say, hitting send.
“I have to go check on her.” I look at Brady, eyes hard and serious. “I have to make sure she’s okay.”
“You’re not going alone.”
“And you’re not coming with me.”
He laughs softly. “I guess we’re at an impasse, then.”
I glare at him, “I don’t bring people back to my real apartment.”
He stares back at me, a sad little smile on his face. “Aren’t we past that now, little Aria?” He stands up and steps toward me. “I own you this week. I’m your Daddy. And I told you I’d take care of you. If you won’t let me come with you then I won’t let you go.”
“You can’t keep me here.”
“Oh, I absolutely can.”
I step toward the door, suddenly walking fast. He catches me in three easy strides, grabbing me around my waist and lifting me up into the air.
I kick and try to swat at him. “Put me down, asshole!”
“No,” he says, holding me tighter, his muscular body pressed against mine. “Not until you promise you’re not going to try and run away.”
“Fine, just put me down!”
He drops me onto my face. I whirl around and glare daggers at him.
“This isn’t a game,” I say in a harsh whisper.
“I know. That’s why you’re not going alone.”
We stare at each other. He’s such an arrogant asshole. Why does he think he gets to come to my apartment, my personal space, the one place I have left that’s separate from this whole world?
But he’s right. I know he’s right. If Louis is there, I’ll need Brady’s help. Louis may be an older man, but he’s still bigger and stronger than I am, and much more dangerous.
Fucking hell. Brady took my virginity. He showed me his life, opened up about his past. I’ve been trying to keep my distance, thinking about what happens after this, but…
Things aren’t so simple anymore. It’s not black and white, it’s not clear-cut. I wish it were, but things are complicated and messy and wild. It’s time I accept that I’m not in control.
“Okay,” I say, letting out a breath and deflating a bit. “But let’s go right now, okay?”
“Okay,” he says.
I follow him to the door. He stops to grab his keys before we head down beneath the building into a parking garage.
We park outside my place and, for the first time since I started this, I bring a client with me up to my real apartment.
I unlock the main door and we head inside. He follows close, and I can feel the tension in his body as we move through the hallway. I stop outside my door and hesitate a second before opening it up.
It’s quiet in the apartment.
“Zoe?” I call out.
No answer. I glance at Brady and he nods at me.
I step inside, moving cautiously. I keep expecting Louis to jump out of a closet with a gun or something like that. Maybe I’ll find Zoe tied up in the back room, or maybe he did something worse, maybe—
“Zoe?” I cal
l out again.
“What?!”
I feel so relieved to hear her annoyed response. “Are you okay? Where are you?”
“Fine. Bedroom.”
I glance at Brady and he nods again. I hurry back to her room, knocking once before entering.
Zoe is lying on her bed on her back, shoulders dangling over the edge, a book in her hands. It looks like she’s reading upside down.
“Hey,” I say to her. “Are you okay?”
She drops the book and sighs. “No, I’m not okay. I’ve been studying all day again and I swear to god I don’t know a thing at all, and—” She stops and rolls over onto her stomach, her eyes a little wide. “Who’s this?”
I glance back at Brady. “This is a friend.”
“Uh huh.” Zoe’s smile is knowing. “What’s his name?”
“Brady,” he says. “And you’re Zoe.”
“Nice to meet you.” She stands up and walks over to shake his hand. He grins at her. “How do you know Aria here?”
“Well—” Brady begins, but I jump in immediately.
“He’s just a friend.” I glare at Zoe. I know she knows about him already, she’s just doing this to torture me.
“You have friends I don’t know about?”
“Of course I do.”
She looks skeptical. “Doubtful.”
“Well, I do.”
“You don’t do anything.”
“I do plenty of stuff.”
“You basically just work,” she says.
“And you basically just study.”
“I’m not the one with the surprise guy friend.”
I roll my eyes at her. “I’m glad you’re all right.”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” She grins a little. “Worried I was going to…. Catch you?”
I snort and leave the room, brushing past Brady. “You’re the worst.”
“Nice to meet you,” Brady says to her.
I hear him shut her door and follow me back into the living room.
“She seems nice,” he says.
“She’s an asshole.”
“But not in danger,” he points out.
I hesitate and sigh, feeling a bit of tension leave my body. “Yeah. You’re right.”
“What do you think?” he asks softly. “Should we hang around?”
I hesitate. I’m not sure how I feel staying here with Brady, even for a little while. But he’s right, we should probably stay and make sure that Zoe is okay.
He walks over and sits on the couch with a grin. I hesitate but join him.
“This is weird,” I admit.
“Why?”
“I don’t bring clients here.”
He winces at that word client.
“Well, I guess things change.”
“They sure do.” I chew my lip and he watches me. I want to get up and pace again, get some of this energy out, but I feel trapped.
“Show me your room,” he says suddenly.
“My room?”
“Yeah. You’ve seen mine. Show me yours.”
I sigh. “It’s boring.”
“Come on. Show me anyway. I bet you at least have a yearbook in there somewhere.”
“Looking for embarrassing pictures?” I ask, standing up.
“Ideally.”
“Hate to break it to you, but I’ve always been this perfect and cool.”
He chuckles at that, following me. “I bet that’s true.”
I toss him a grin over my shoulder and lead him back to my bedroom. We step inside and he shuts the door behind him before he starts to look around.
I feel a little self-conscious and I don’t know why. I guess it’s because he’s inspecting the place like he’s looking for some kind of flaw.
My room isn’t all that interesting though. I have some paintings on the wall, just cheesy thrift store things I’ve liked. I have a few plants, some pictures from college, but that’s mostly it.
“Very nice,” he says finally. “Bedrooms are strange. When you’re young and you have a roommate, they’re the most private and personal space you have.”
“What about when you’re older?” I ask him.
He grins and shrugs. “You just spread out more, I guess.”
“Yeah, well. I’m used to living like this.”
“I’m surprised you have a roommate,” he says absently. “I mean, your job is so odd.”
“She’s cool about it. Kind of jealous, actually.”
“What’s she studying for?”
“Law school.”
“Ah,” he says, nodding. “That’s what you want to do.”
“Right. I’m just running a little behind.”
“Maybe,” he says, picking up a book from my desk. “Or maybe you’re just working on your own schedule.”
I bite my lip as he puts the book down and turns to me. I feel my heart leap into my throat suddenly as he steps closer to me.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
He smirks. “Isn’t it obvious?”
“Brady, no way.”
“No way, what?”
“No way… we can’t… you know.”
He stops right in front of me, hands on my hips. “Have you ever kissed someone in here, little Aria?”
“No,” I admit. “So what?”
“So, I think it’s time you kissed a boy in your bedroom.”
“You don’t want to just kiss.”
He laughs gently, tilts my chin up toward him. “You sure about that?”
I glare into his eyes. “I’m pretty sure.”
“You don’t know me as well as you think you do, little Aria.”
He kisses me then, deep and slow. I can’t help but kiss him back.
It’s such a strange moment for me, standing in this room, my two worlds colliding. I’ve tried so hard to keep my personal and my professional lives completely separate, but here we are, mixing the two of them so irrevocably. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to peel them apart again.
He pulls me over toward the bed and pushes me down onto it. I arch an eyebrow.
“See, Daddy,” I say to him, “You don’t want to just kiss me.”
He laughs again. “Okay. Maybe you do know me as well as you think.”
I bite my lip as he presses me back onto the bed. My heart’s beating so fast as he kisses me, his hard body on top of mine.
“Zoe might see,” I gasp as he kisses my neck.
“She’s not going to walk into your room.”
“You don’t know Zoe.”
“I think the sound of you moaning will keep her at bay.”
“Brady!”
He laughs gently. “You mean, Daddy.”
“No, we can’t do this.”
“We can’t?” He smirks and kisses my again.
I moan into his kiss. I’m so lost, so broken, so confused, but there’s one thing I know right now, one thing I’m sure about.
Brady can make me feel good. So much better than I ever imagined.
He peels my shirt off in a frenzy. I roll over on top of him and pull his shirt off in turn, kissing his chest and his hard abs. He grunts as he pushes me over again and spins me around onto my stomach, tugging my jeans off over my ass.
He smirks and spanks me. I look at him, glaring.
“Quiet,” I warn.
“You don’t want it quiet, little Aria.”
“Just… quiet.”
He laughs and spanks me again. I groan as his hands tease me between my legs as he slides my panties down over my ass.
I’m practically shaking with anticipation. This is my bed, my bedroom, the place I’ve kept private for so long. And now he’s in here, Brady, this new man, this crazy man. I’m groaning as he spanks me again and spreads my ass to lick me top to bottom.
“Don’t act like you haven’t wanted this for a long time, little Aria,” he says gently. “Maybe you didn’t picture me, but you pictured someone fucking your tight little pussy in your bedroom.”
“Maybe,” I groan, wiggling my hips, as he slides his fingers in and out of me from behind.
“And now that it’s me, you couldn’t be happier. This is what you need, little Aria.”
“Oh, god, Daddy. You’re right.”
“I know I am.” He spanks me again and grabs my hips with both hands.
I feel him plunge his cock deep inside of me. I gasp, surprised at how easily he slips inside. There’s almost no pain at all this time, only pleasure, as he groans his enjoyment.
“Fuck, girl,” he whispers. “Look at this ass.”
I start to move up and down his shaft, pleasure flooding me. I expected it to hurt, at least a little bit, but this…
I’m getting used to him. And that means all I feel is pleasure.
He spanks me, the sting bringing back some of that pain, making the pleasure sweeter.
“Your tight cunt feels so fucking good.” He spanks me again. “Riding my big dick like this, you dirty fucking girl.”
I groan, pushing back, working my ass along his shaft. I didn’t expect to feel like this today, but all my fears, all my pain, it’s all gone, all erased.
Being with Brady does this to me. It drives me wild, pushes my boundaries, makes the hard things seem so easy. He makes me rethink what I ever considered was possible and I can barely control myself around him.
I’m moaning now and I have to bury my face in a pillow to get some control back. I can’t help it, though, his cock feels so good, thrusting deeper and deeper into my tight pussy.
He slaps my ass and grabs my hair. I want him to fuck me rough, to take me however he wants. I push back faster against him and he starts to thrust deeper, rougher, harder, my ass slapping back against his body.
“Fuck, girl,” he groans. “You want this cock hard, don’t you?”
“Please,” I moan. “Fuck me rough, Daddy. Show me how rough you can be.”
He groans and starts thrusting faster, harder, deeper. I gasp as some of the pain returns, but it’s flooded by pleasure, all of it mixing and mingling in my skin, driving me absolutely wild.
I ride him faster as he thrusts into me. I feel him reach around my hips and start to rub my clit, driving me completely insane.
“Oh, shit,” I gasp, biting down onto a pillow.
He grabs my hair, pulling tight, fucking me hard. We’re both sweating with effort and intensity.