cole
I knew the words were wrong before I even said them. But I didn’t care.
Being in bed with Avery last night, feeling her body close to mine, having her hands on my skin – it was too much temptation. And I didn’t do well with temptation.
Temptation, to me, was a wasted emotion. I had enough money and good looks to get whatever I wanted. What was the point of staying away from something that would give me pleasure?
It’s wrong, Cole. She’s your stepsister.
So? I argued with myself. Step wasn’t real sister.
You can’t expect her to strip for you. You can’t make that kind of demand -- that you get access to her body if she wants to live with you. She’s in trouble, Cole. It’s sick and twisted and fucked up.
The voice in my head was making sense, but I gave about this many fucks. And that’s to say, zero. I didn’t care.
Avery was in front of me, dressed in a tight little pair of jeans that showed off her round ass and full hips. Her hair fell in curls around her shoulders, and her tits were shoved into a t-shirt so tight I was afraid she was going to come busting out of it.
I ran my finger over the top of her skin where her shirt met her bra, letting my finger dip down just a tiny bit.
She shivered.
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “Cole, I can’t… that’s ridiculous.” She took a step back from me and laughed nervously. I knew what she was trying to do. She was trying to pretend I was joking.
But I wasn’t joking. I was dead serious.
I moved toward her until her back was up against my office door. “I’m not joking, Avery,” I said. “If you want to stay with me, I get to see you naked. Now strip.”
She bit her lip, and a look that was half excitement, half panic filled her eyes. It was wrong on so many levels, the fact that she was my sister, the fact that what I was doing could be considered sexual harassment, the fact that I was getting off on telling her what to do.
But I didn’t care.
I wanted her.
My desire for her knew no bounds, or limits, had no interest in what was right or wrong.
I ran my index finger over her bottom lip.
“Avery,” I said, my voice calm. “Take off your clothes.”
Avery
I hated him.
I hated him because he was gorgeous and sexy and rich and most of all, because he left me when he was the only thing I had.
But right now, standing here in his office, I hated him because I wanted him.
I loved the way he was talking to me, loved that he was being forceful and demanding with me. The tone of his voice, the look in his eyes, the way he was acting like he knew he was going to end up getting what he wanted – all of it swirled together into an ache that permeated my whole body.
“I’m not taking off my clothes for you,” I said, but my voice was weak.
He seemed amused, his eyes raking up my body before he turned away and walked back over to his desk. He was wearing a dark suit that was perfectly tailored to his muscular frame, and I remembered how amazing his body had felt last night when he came into my room. My panties got wet as I remembered him sliding into bed next to me, how warm his body had felt, how he’d taken my hand and traced it over his tattoo, the one he’d gotten of my initials.
I waited now, my knees weak, as Cole stood by his desk, looking out the floor-to-ceiling windows of his office. For a moment, I thought maybe he was going to call the whole thing off, that he was going to come to his senses and realize what he’d just asked of me was a horrible idea.
But instead, he reached up and began shutting the blinds. One by one, he moved slowly from window to window, until the office was completely shut off to the outside world. Then he walked back over to his desk and removed his suit coat, throwing it over the back of his chair before sitting down.
He sat there, just looking at me, for what felt like an excruciatingly long time.
The electricity in the air crackled and sparked, almost like it was alive.
“I’m not… Cole, I don’t….” I gathered my voice and looked at him. “I’m not going to take off my clothes for you.”
“Then you’re not going to stay with me.”
“Fine,” I said. “Then I’ll go stay somewhere else.”
He shrugged, like he could care less. Either that or he was calling my bluff. And it was a bluff. Because the truth was, the thought of Cole seeing me naked was a turn-on. And it was sick and fucked up, but it wasn’t just taking my clothes off for him that was getting me hot.
It was him making me do it.
I licked my lip, thinking about it. “How naked do I have to get?”
“As naked as I say.”
“And what do you say?”
“Why don’t you start with your shirt?”
I took a deep breath and reached down, grabbing the bottom of my tight t-shirt and pulling it over my head. The bra I was wearing underneath was black and lacy, and the cups were almost see-through.
“God, you are beautiful,” Cole said, inhaling. “Come closer.”
I walked over to him, almost trembling as his eyes moved over my body. He reached out and brushed his hand across my bare stomach, his fingers dipping into the top of my jeans and sliding against the top of my panties.
I shivered, and the side of his mouth twitched into a grin, like he was enjoying the effect he was having on me. His fingertips slid up over my stomach, moving up my torso until he got to the bottom of my bra. He kept going, like he was going to reach up and over my breasts, but I grabbed his hand. “No touching.”
His eyes narrowed and flashed with anger. He was mad that I was contradicting him.
“You said you get to see my body, not touch it,” I said.
He paused before nodding, and I let out a sigh of relief. If he was determined to touch me, he could have -- and he knew it. I wasn’t sure if he was enjoying the torture of being able to look but not touch, or if he was just enjoying torturing me. Because as soon as his hands moved from my skin, I wished they were back on my body.
“Take off your jeans,” Cole said, leaning back in his chair.
I unbuttoned my pants, bending over and pulling them off.
“Turn around,” he growled. “Show me your ass.”
I turned around as I pulled my pants down, letting him get a full view of my ass in the tiny little thong I was wearing. The cool air hit my ass cheeks, an intense contrast to the heat that was pulsing through my body. I shivered again, as much from the air as the realization that I was standing here, in front of my stepbrother, in just my bra and panties.
I turned back around and stood in front of him, my nipples hardening and poking against the thin material of my bra.
“You are so fucking sexy. Just looking at you is getting my cock hard.” I looked down at he bulge in his pants, remembering how he felt last night, his dick hard against my ass. I remembered how I’d imagined what it would be like to feel him fucking me, his shaft pounding my pussy, how I’d lain there in the dark, unable to sleep until I’d touched myself, releasing the deep ache that permeated my being every time I was around him.
From out in the hallway came the sound of muted voices, and I tensed, realizing there were actual people out there, Cole’s employees, people who might come in and catch us. The voices got louder and then began to fade away, and I let out the breath I was holding.
“Nervous we’re going to get caught?” Cole asked.
“No,” I lied.
“Liar. Come closer.”
I walked back over to him.
“Sit on my desk.”
I backed up against the desk, gripped the sides with my hands and hoisted myself up, being careful not to put too much weight on my bad wrist. Cole reached over and grabbed my knees, forcing them apart until I was sitting spread eagle.
He took his time, his hands sliding down my legs, his fingertips grazing the inside of my thighs. I inhaled sharply at his touch, trying not to let him see how turned on I was.
“Take off your bra, Avery,” he said. “Show me your tits.”
I reached around and undid the hook on my bra, then hesitated, holding it in place over my breasts. Suddenly, I was scared. It was like everything up until this point had been a joke. Cole seeing me in my bra and panties was one thing – he’d seen me in a bathing suit at the strip club, and even though we were alone here in his office now and it was completely different, it had still somehow felt safe.
Taking off my bra, letting him see my bare breasts, felt like we were crossing some kind of invisible line, the kind of line that shouldn’t be crossed. Ever. Things would be different, and there’d be no way to ever change that.
“Cole…” I said, my arms still on my chest. “I don’t think we should be doing this.”
“Why not?” he said.
“Because you’re my stepbrother. And because it’s wrong.”
“And because you’re afraid what might happen?” he breathed. He stood up from his chair then, grabbed my ass and pulled me close against his body so that I was straddling him. I was still holding my arms across my chest, which provided a slight barrier, but only for my upper body.
His pelvis pressed into my panties, and I could feel his hardness against me, protected only by his pants and the thin layer of fabric of my underwear. He brushed my hair off my face, his eyes locked on mine.
“Are you afraid what might happen, Avery?” he whispered into my ear. The warmth of his breath made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Goosebumps broke out on my body and I almost gasped, that’s how magnetic he was.
“No,” I lied. “I’m not afraid what might happen.”
“You’re not afraid we might not be able to stop?” He began slowly grinding himself against me, and I could feel his cock pushed up against me, hard and big in his pants.
“Stop what?” I asked.
“Do you think I could stop myself from fucking you?” He pushed against me even harder, and a soft moan escaped my lips.
He pulled back just a tiny bit, reached out and grabbed my hands, which were still clutching my bra, the lacy material the only thing keeping him from seeing my bare breasts.
“Cole,” I repeated, but my voice sounded weak. “I don’t think we should be doing this.”
“It doesn’t matter what you think,” he said, his grip on my arms tightening.
“I don’t… I think I should go.” Even as I was saying the words, though, I could feel how wet he was making me. I was turned on not just at the thought of showing Cole my naked body, but of him forcing me to do it, of him being in control of me, of making me doing things just to please him. The realization was upsetting and shocking.
He leaned in close to me and his breath tickled my neck. “I would never do anything to hurt you, Avery. If you want me to stop, say it.”
He pulled back and looked at me, his face softening for a slight moment. He waited for me to say I wanted him to stop, and I could see he was telling the truth – if I told him to stop, he would. But I didn’t want him to stop. I didn’t want him to stop any of it. I wanted him to tell me what to do, I wanted him to make me do things that were wrong and pushed my limits and made me uncomfortable. I wanted him to control me.
So I stayed quiet.
And after a long moment that same cocky grin returned to his face and his grip on me tightened.
He moved in close so his lips were just millimeters from mine. His lips grazed the side of my neck, softly, slowly, the roughness of his stubble brushing over my skin.
He pulled back and looked at me, then took my hands and pulled them down roughly. Then he reached up and pulled the straps of my bra down and off until I was in front of him, my breasts exposed, completely topless.
“God, Avery,” he growled, pushing his dick against my panties. His hands found my tits, his thumbs grazing the nipples as he fondled me. “Your tits drive me insane. When I saw you up there in that tiny little bikini, I wanted to fuck you right there.”
“I want you to,” I said, completely losing my mind. “I want you to fuck me. Please, Cole, I want you to fuck me.”
“You want me to fuck you, Avery? You want me to fuck that tight little pussy with my dick?”
“Yes,” I said. “Please, I need you to.”
His hand slid from my nipple, moving down my stomach until he was at the top of my panties. His hand slid even lower, dipping into my panties until his palm was on my mound and his fingers were on my slit. He parted my lips slightly, his middle finger starting to slide inside of me.
Immediately, my body felt like it was going to explode.
His finger wasn’t even completely inside of me, and I was going to come.
He pushed a little more inside, my center stretching out around his finger, and I felt myself on the edge of an orgasm.
“Oh my god,” I moaned as his thumb swirled around my clit at the same time his finger moved deeper. “Cole, I’m going to come.”
I hadn’t meant to say the words out loud – it was embarrassing, coming so quickly after being touched by him. But I couldn’t help it. What he was doing to me felt so good, the culmination of years of secretly wanting him and the demanding way he had made me strip and how he was taking me like he owned me, like I belonged to him even though he hadn’t seen me in years.
“Please,” I gasped. “Don’t stop, I’m going to come.”
But he didn’t keep going.
In fact, something about me saying that I was going to come made him stop. He pulled away from me, taking his hands from my body, leaving me there, naked and on the edge.
He turned and picked up the suit coat he’d placed on the back of his chair and slid his arms through it.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“We’re done.”
“What?” I asked, jumping off the desk and holding my hands over my breasts. I picked up my bra and started putting it on. “What do you mean, we’re done?”
“I mean we’re done doing what we’re doing. You can leave now.” His back was toward me, and he began opening the blinds.
Strips of sunlight flooded the room, and I raced to gather my clothes off the floor.
“I can leave now?”
“Yes,” Cole said. He wouldn’t look at me, instead moving methodically from window to window, snapping each set of blinds open as he went. By the time he got to the final window, I’d managed to get my clothes back on, so when he turned around, I was completely dressed.
“You’re an asshole, you know that?” I said.
“Avery,” he said. “Please. Don’t do this.”
His voice was controlled, devoid of emotion, and I couldn’t believe I’d been so stupid. This was why I had vowed to never talk to him again, why I should have known better than to ever get involved with him. I didn’t care if I was going to be homeless, I’d rather be in some shelter somewhere or go back and beg Gordon to let me come home than to be with Cole.
“Don’t do what, Cole?” I asked. I was yelling now, and I felt completely out of control. “Tell the truth? That you’re a dick, that this is all a game to you? That you said you’d never hurt me, and yet that’s all you do, over and over again?”
He didn’t say anything, just stood there, staring at me, and it was infuriating.
“Fuck you, Cole,” I said.
I picked up my shoes and headed for his office door.
I flung it open just as someone on the other side of it was about to knock.
A blond girl, tall and thin, stood in the hallway, her hair in shiny waves around her shoulders. She was dressed in a short black skirt and a black blazer that hugged her lithe body.
“Oh,” she said when she saw me. Her eyes took me in, and I realized I must have looked crazy and disheveled, standing there with my clothes all askew, holding my shoes in my hand. “Sorry, I just… I heard yelling. Is everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine, Kalia.” Cole’s voice came from behind him, firm and in control.
I turned around and glared at him, wanting to tell him that no, everything wasn’t fine.
“This is my stepsister, Avery,” Cole said. “Avery, this is Kalia, my assistant.”
“Nice to meet you,” Kalia said politely, but her tone was cold and reserved. I hated the way she was looking at me, like she was instantly dismissing me as someone who could rival her for Cole’s affection. I wanted to tell her what he’d just been doing to me on his desk, just to see the look on her face.
“Nice to meet you, too,” I said tightly. “I was just leaving.”
Kalia’s eyes traveled down to my bare feet, and I felt my face flame red. I really doubted she knew what Cole and I had been doing – I saw the look on her face when she’d heard I was Cole’s stepsister– but this was the way it always was whenever I ran into someone who seemed to remotely have their shit together.
Here she was, dressed perfectly, with a great job as the assistant to one of the most powerful men in New York City, her hair expensively highlighted, her body obviously the product of a clean diet and daily gym visits.
And here I was, with no place to live, a mother who didn’t care about me, letting myself get fingered on my stepbrother’s desk while basically begging him to do it. I was a mess. And she wasn’t.
I dropped my shoes onto the floor and slid my feet into them.
“Did you like the clothes I chose for you?” she asked.
“Oh,” I said, realizing she was the girl who’d come to Cole’s apartment last night. What was it she’d said? Asked if she could spend the night? I imagined him fucking her, saying the exact same things he’d said to me just moments before.
“Yes,” I said. “They were fine.”
“Fine?” She laughed, a tinny little laugh that echoed through the hallway. “They were Michael Kors and Marc Jacobs and … ” She trailed off and then pursed her lips and shook her head sadly, like there was no way I could understand the importance of such expensive clothes. “How long will you be in the city?” Kalia asked.
I opened my mouth to say I was just leaving, but before I could, Cole said, “Avery’s staying. She’s going to be working here.” He came up behind me and put his hands on my shoulders.. “She’s going to be my second assistant.”
Kalia’s mouth dropped open, and as much as I hated Cole in that moment, I had to admit that I liked seeing her get flustered, since she’d seemed so put together and in control just a moment ago.
“Your second assistant?” she asked.
“Yes. The company is growing, and with the upcoming IPO, you’re going to be needing some help. So Avery’s going to be helping you.”
“That’s wonderful news,” Kalia said. She pasted a big fake smile on her face. Her teeth were white and straight, the kind of teeth you either bought or inherited because of perfect genes. I was willing to bet it was a combination of both. “I’ll be happy to show you the ropes.”
“If you’ll excuse us, Kalia, Avery and I were just about to finish going over her job responsibilities.”
“Okay,” Kalia said. “Let me know if you need anything else.”
She turned and walked away, obviously not used to Cole dismissing her. The sound of her stilettos on the marble hallway echoed through the office.
I tried to move past Cole, but he stepped in front of me and closed the door. “What the fuck was that?” I demanded. Why’d you tell her I was working for you?”
“Because you are,” he said. “You’ll be my second assistant.”
He said it smoothly and confidently, like he hadn’t just been fingering me on his desk a second earlier before pulling away and tossing me aside like I was some kind of toy he’d grown bored with.
“Oh, hell no, I’m not,” I said. “Are you insane?”
“Are you?” He looked at me, his eyes blazing. “You can’t go back to that hellhole, Avery. Especially not now.”
“I’m not going back there,” I said, raising my chin and daring him to contradict me. “I’ll find an apartment.”
“Oh, yeah?’ he countered. “You will? With what money?”
“I’ll use my money from my job at the drugstore.”
“Get real,” he said. “That’s not going to be enough money to support yourself, not if you don’t want to be living in the ghetto.”
“What’s wrong with the ghetto?” I asked. “And you don’t need millions to support yourself, Cole. A lot of people get by on much less, in case you’ve forgotten.”
“Right. Is that what you were doing at that strip club, Avery? Getting by?” He shook his head. “No. You’re not going back to Jersey. You can’t live in that house, and I don’t trust you to be able to take care of yourself without getting into trouble.”
I laughed. “Oh, now you’re worried about me? After you left me in that house, all alone, not even a goodbye, not even a ‘hey, Avery, maybe you can come visit sometime’, not a phone call or an email or a text? Just a big fuck you to all of us. To me.”
He crossed the room then in two long strides, pushing his body back up against mine. “I told you that’s not how it happened.”
“It is how it happened, Cole,” I said. My voice broke, and I hated that I was showing him how upset I was. “You just…you left me.”
I couldn’t help it. I started crying then, and he pulled me toward him, enveloping me in his arms. I hated that I liked it, hated how safe and protected I felt now that he was holding me. I hated that I suddenly felt like I needed him, after I’d spent years trying to prove to myself that I didn’t.
“Avery,” he whispered, stroking my hair. “I had to leave. It had to be that way. I’m not good for you.”
“You’re not good for me?” I asked. “What is that supposed to mean?”
He shook his head slightly, like he didn’t want to go there. But that was too bad. He was going to have to. “What does that mean, Cole?” I pressed. “What does that mean, you’re not good for me?”
“There are certain things about me that I couldn’t subject you to.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I said. “And honestly, it sounds like a load of bullshit, one of those things people say when they’re trying to justify some shitty thing they did. If there’s something about you that you don’t like, Cole, can’t you just change it?”
“No.” He shook his head. “No, I can’t change it, Avery. Trust me.”
“I don’t trust you,” I said, and I could feel myself starting to get emotional again, could feel the tears filling my eyes.
“Good.”
“Good?” I repeated. “Good? You know, Cole, you’re really –”
The phone on his desk buzzed, and Kalia’s voice buzzed through the speaker. “Mr. Buchanan?” she asked briskly.
Cole walked over to his desk, pushed the button on his phone. “Yes?”
“There are two policemen here to see you.”
Cole frowned. “Policemen?”
“Yes, sir. They said they have some questions for you.”
“Questions about what?” Cole demanded.
“They didn’t say.”
“Well, find out.”
“One moment.”
Cole and I sat there in silence, the tension filling the room. We’d been through the police coming to our house enough growing up, answering the door to find them lugging Gordon’s drunk ass up the stairs, or telling us to keep it down because of a noise complaint.
But this was different.
We were kids then, and the police were coming to talk to our parents.
Now we were adults, and the police were coming to talk to Cole.
The phone buzzed again and Kalia’s voice came over the line. “They’d like to ask you some questions about Avery Buchanan.”
My heart sank. They were here to ask about me. Which meant Gordon was behind whatever the police were here to talk to Cole about.
“Thank you, Kalia,” Cole said. “I’ll be right out.” He pushed the button again and ended the connection.
“Lie, “ I said.
“What?”
“You have to lie. I’ll back you up. Say you never punched him, say you weren’t even –”
“I’ll do no such thing,” Cole said. “If my father wants to get me arrested for assault, by all means, let him try.” He shook his head. “But trust me, he doesn’t care about me. Not enough to try and get me arrested.”
“He doesn’t?” I asked, puzzled.
“No.”
“Then what does he care about?”
“Money. And you.”
He turned and walked through his office door, and I stood there for a moment, trying to connect my bearings. And then, after a moment, I followed him.
***
There were two policemen waiting in the lobby, both of them on the younger side, probably in their early 30s. They were NYPD, not cops from my little town in New Jersey, and the sight of the NYPD logo that was embossed on their baseball hats filled me with trepidation.
“Mr. Buchanan,” the first cop said, holding his hand out to shake Cole’s hand. “I’m Officer Freidman, and this is Officer Marks.”
Cole nodded his head and took the officer’s outstretched hand, but he didn’t give them a smile or greeting.
“Mr. Buchanan, we got a report about your sister, Avery Buchanan,” Officer Friedman said. “We were told that you caused a disturbance at her residence and she took off under some duress.”
“What?” I blurted, before I realized none of them had been talking to me. “That’s ridiculous. I’m Avery Buchanan, and I’m not in any duress.” What were they talking about? Did they think Cole had forced me to leave with him, that he’d kidnapped me or something?
“Avery,” Cole said, his voice even. He shot me a warning look, and I could tell what he meant. Shut up. The first rule of dealing with law enforcement – anything you said could and would be used against you. So you never gave the cops anything, because you couldn’t be sure what information they actually knew, and what information they were hoping to trick you into giving them.
“You’re Avery Buchanan?” Officer Marks asked, speaking for the first time. He had blue eyes and a full head of dark curls.
“Yes,” I said. “And as you can see, I’m fine.”
I watched as his eyes took me in, his gaze lingering on the splint on my wrist, the fact that I was dressed in casual clothes that were too tight instead of the professional attire everyone else here was wearing.
“Can I speak with you for a minute, Avery?” Officer Marks asked, giving me a friendly smile. “Is there a place I can speak with Avery alone?” he asked Cole.
“Of course,” Cole said smoothly, gesturing to the doors we’d just come through. “There’s a conference room down the hall on the left.”
Once we were in the conference room, Officer Marks turned serious. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” I gave him a smile and hoped my face didn’t look too puffy from crying.
“What happened to your wrist?”
“Oh,” I said, looking down at it. “I fell.”
“You fell?”
“Yes. Yesterday.”
“How did you fall?” he asked. He took off his NYPD hat, and his tone was now casual and light. It was obvious he was trying to make me feel like I could trust him, that I could tell him if Cole was holding me against my will or hurting me.
“I slipped on some water.”
He nodded, seemingly accepting this, but I could see the doubt in his eyes. He was still looking at my wrist, and his gaze traveled up my arm to where there were red marks from the way Cole had been grabbing me earlier.
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Did my stepfather say Cole hurt me or something?” I asked. “Because it’s not true.”
“Your stepfather was very concerned about you,” he said. “He was confused as to why you would take off for New York, leave your life and your job back home.”
I almost laughed out loud. This guy had been snowed. Of course, I couldn’t really blame him. Gordon had probably made a call to the police in New York, police who had no idea who he was. Back in Jersey, he wouldn’t have been able to act like he was so worried about me, because the cops would have seen right through it. They knew he didn’t give a shit about me or my mom or Cole.
“Is that what he said? That I left my life and job back home?”
“Yes. And with your brother’s past record, we –”
“Stepbrother,” I interrupted him. “And what record?”
“Your brother’s criminal record. The breaking and entering, the burglary…” He trailed off. “You did know about that, didn’t you?”
“Of course,” I lied. Cole had a criminal record? Since when? And why hadn’t he told me about it? “But I can assure you I’m fine.” As much as I wanted to ask more questions about Cole’s record, I knew it would just bring more problems. I didn’t owe the police anything. They were here trying to make it seem like Cole had done something nefarious to me, when in reality, he’d saved me.
“Okay,” Officer Marks said, shrugging like it was nothing to him. But I could see right through his casual attitude. I’d dealt with enough social workers and authority figures to know they sometimes acted like they didn’t care if you told them something in an effort to get you to tell them something.
Officer Marks reached into his pocket and pulled out his card, handed it to me. “Here’s my card,” he said. “Call me if anything changes.”
“Thanks,” I said, taking it. “But it won’t.”
He opened the door to the conference room and I followed him back through and down the hallway. When we got back to the lobby, Cole was talking to the other officer in a low voice. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but I could tell from his tone he was annoyed.
“All set?” Cole asked when he saw us.
“Yes,” I said, making sure to keep my voice firm just in case the cops got any ideas about hanging around and asking more questions.
But fortunately, they didn’t. Instead, hey thanked us for our time and then left.
As soon as they were gone, Cole turned to the receptionist, who had been standing there pretending not to be eavesdropping as she answered calls.
“Hold my calls, Jacinda,” Cole said.
“Even – ”
“Yes, Jacinda.”
Cole disappeared back through the heavy oak doors into the hallway, and I followed him. But before we could get to his office, he turned around.
“Go home, Avery.”
I swallowed. “Home?”
“Back to my apartment.”
Relief flooded through me at the idea that he still wanted me to stay with him. But I tamped it down. I needed to stay away from him, especially after what had just happened – not only had we hooked up in his office, but now cops had been sniffing around. Things were getting out of control. “I don’t think that’s a good –”
“Jesus, Avery!” he said. “Knock off your shit. My father is obviously planning something, and you need to stay safe until we figure out what it is.”
“And you think I’m safe with you?”
“And you think you’re not?” He gave me an expectant look, daring me to contradict him. And the thing was, I couldn’t. I didn’t think Cole was going to hurt me. I wasn’t sure why, since he’d obviously just been screwing with me back in his office, but still, deep down, I knew he wouldn’t hurt me.
“I’m not sure.”
“Avery. Go. Back. To. My. Apartment.”
And then he turned around and walked down the hall, leaving me staring after him.
***
I did what he said. I didn’t want to, but I had no choice.
You do have a choice. You always have a choice. You could have left home a while ago if you’d really wanted to, but you stayed because of your mom. You don’t have to go to Cole’s, you could find a job and an apartment and a roommate. You could go to a homeless shelter if you really needed to.
The thoughts swirled around my head, forming a cloud of confusion that kept leading me back to the same conclusion – that I wanted to be here with Cole. It made no sense, but it was the truth.
The doorman in the lobby of Cole’s building was expecting me, and I used the key Cole had left with him to let myself in. The apartment felt different now, quieter, and I dropped my purse onto the leather ottoman in the foyer and made my way to the kitchen.
I opened the refrigerator, suddenly starving.It was stocked with freshly cut fruits and vegetables, organic deli meats, fresh-pressed juices, and plastic containers of salad. I wrinkled my nose. Since when had Cole become such a healthy eater?
I abandoned the fridge and headed for the panty, where I was able to rustle up a box of organic chocolate cookies. They definitely weren’t Oreos, but they’d have to do. I poured myself a glass of almond milk and settled myself onto the couch.
I was halfway through the box of cookies and an episode of some mindless reality show when Cole came walking into the apartment.
“Oh,” I said when I saw him. I stood up and brushed the crumbs off of my shirt, suddenly self-conscious about the fact that he was here. “Shouldn’t you be at work?”
“This is my apartment, Avery,” he said. “And I work for myself. So I can be wherever I want.”
“Oh,” I said. “No, I didn’t mean that you couldn’t be here. I just wasn’t expecting you to be home so quickly.”
“I left early.”
“Because of me?”
“No. Because I have an event to attend tonight.” He didn’t elaborate, and I didn’t push him on it. He looked at the open box of cookies in my hand. “Is that what you’re having for lunch?”
“No. I mean, yes, I was eating cookies. But it was just a snack. I wasn’t having them for lunch.”
“You need to eat something more substantial than that,” he says, crossing over to the refrigerator. He opened the crisper and started pulling things out, piling them onto the marble countertop.
I shrugged. “Since when did you become such an expert in nutrition?” I asked. Cole and I grew up on a steady diet of macaroni and cheese, tater tots, and whatever generic brand chips were on sale. We washed it all down with glasses of Kool-Aid made with double the recommended amount of sugar. It was a miracle we didn’t both have diabetes.
“Since I realized you need to keep your body healthy to have a healthy mind.”
I frowned. “That sounds like a bunch of new age bullshit to me.”
He grinned. “Hey, do you remember when your mom went through her spiritual phase?”
“Oh, please,” I said, sitting down at the small table in the kitchen. “How could I forget? I got sick with strep throat and she tried to do a healing spell on me instead of taking me to the doctor. Jenny Finch’s mom had to slip me some amoxicillin when no on was looking. She put it in my milk at school.”
“Are you serious?” Cole asked.
“Yes. She worked as a lunch lady.”
He shook his head and got to work chopping up chicken breasts, then pulled out a wok and set it on top of his gas stove. He turned the burner on and poured some oil into the pan. “That is insane,” Cole said. “It’s a wonder we’re not both dead.”
“What are you making?” I asked.
“Chicken stir fry.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Sounds boring.”
“Not the way I do it.” He turned and glanced at me. The remark was laced with innuendo. I couldn’t tell if he’d intended it to be that way, or if I was just overreacting because of what had happened in his office.
I remembered it, his hands in my hair, his lips on my neck, his fingers inside of me. Each scene flashed in my head, almost like it was from a movie. Him telling me I had to do what he wanted. My hands shaking as I unhooked my bra. His hands on my breasts, him grabbing at my ass as he pulled me toward him. The feel of his cock against the thin material of my panties.
My knee started jittering up and down.
The silence in the kitchen was almost deafening, the only sound the sizzle of the chicken as it hit the hot pan.
“How do you make stir fry?” I asked, because I had to say something. The silence was excruciating.
“Come here,” Cole said. “I’ll show you.”
I stood up, but then I hesitated. We were alone. Again. Except this time, there were no employees on the other side of the door to stop us from doing whatever we wanted. And even though Cole had fucked with me earlier, even though he’d brought me right to the brink and then stopped, it somehow made me want him more.
I was wound up good and tight, and I needed a release.
Find some random guy to fuck you then, Avery, I told myself. Or take care of yourself later in the shower. And stop thinking about Cole.
“The trick is to use the right spices.” Cole reached over and grabbed a few bottles of seasoning off the rack on the counter. He handed one to me, and our hands brushed.
“Go ahead,” he said.
“Go ahead?” I repeated.
“Go ahead and add it.”
He was looking at me like I was crazy, so I turned toward the wok and began sprinkling the spice in slowly.
“Don’t be afraid,” he breathed, and suddenly he was behind me, his chest against my back, his arms encircling my waist. “Just go for it.”
His voice was again laced with double entendre and my breath hitched as he reached out and took my hand, helping me as I shook the spices into the pan. When I was done, he went to grab another spice, but I turned around and ducked away from him and scooted over.
“Where you going?” he asked playfully. But I could see the lust burning in his eyes.
“I don’t think I’m much of a cook.”
“You’re a great cook.”
He moved over to me, putting an arm on either side of my body and resting his hands behind me on the counter, effectively pinning me in.
“Avery,” he breathed. He reached up and pushed my hair back from my face, his fingertips tracing a searing line over my cheek, down my jaw, over my neck and onto my collarbone.
He moved his face closer to mine, and closed his eyes. I could see his lashes brushing against the top of his cheeks, and I could tell he was going to kiss me.
I closed my eyes and waited. I wanted his mouth on mine, loved the way it felt for him to have me pinned against the counter like this, unable to move, powerless to resist him.
But a second later, his phone rang, breaking the spell.
He reached into his pocket and pulled it out.
“Cole Buchanan,” he barked into the phone. He took a couple of steps away from me, listening to whoever was on the line. His face darkened. “ When?” He shook his head. “Is he looking for money?”
When he said this last part, my blood ran cold. If someone was looking for money, it must have been Gordon.
“Thank you, Charles,” Cole said.
He hung up the phone and stared at it for a moment.
“Who was that?” I asked.
He didn’t answer me, instead crossing the kitchen to the stove and picking up the pan of stir fry that was still sitting on the burner. He picked it up and tossed the whole thing into the trash.
“What are you doing?” I asked. “Why’d you throw that out?”
“We’re going out,” he said. “Get dressed.”
“What?” I shook my head, confused. “Who was that on the phone?”
He leaned down, bracing himself on the counter, his face filled with fury. I watched as he took in a deep breath, then picked up a glass that was sitting on the table and threw it on the floor. It broke into a million pieces, and I jumped.
“Cole,” I said, crossing the kitchen to him. I put my hand on his upper arm, but he shrugged me off. “Cole, what’s wrong? Who was that?”
“That was my manager. Apparently my father is now shopping a story around to the tabloids claiming I trashed his house, and that I have you brainwashed and am holding you against your will.”
“What? But that’s insane. No one’s going to believe it. Besides, we already talked to the police.”
“They’ll believe it,” he said. “Trust me, they’ll believe it. And it’s not good. My company’s about to go public, and any kind of bad publicity could hurt my IPO.”
“I have to go home,” I said.
He turned to me. “What?”
“I can’t stay here.” I walked out of the kitchen and headed for the hallway, moving toward the guestroom. I heard Cole’s footsteps behind me as he started following me.
“Avery, stop.”
“No,” I said. “I have to go home, Cole. If I don’t, Gordon’s going to just keep telling lies.” I hated that I’d put Cole in this position, hated that I’d forced him to take care of me. I was old enough to be able to take care of myself. Cole had made his choice – he’d left home, he’d gotten away from our family. Why should he have to pay because I’d chosen to stay?
He was behind me in a second, his long strides able to keep up with me easily. He grabbed me around the waist, swung me around so I was facing him. “You’re staying with me,” he said.
“No.” I shook my head. “I won’t. I can’t.”
“You will.”
“Cole, I can’t. Your dad won’t stop harassing you. You finally got free of him and he…”
“No.” Cole shook his head. “You’re not safe there, Avery. If you go home now, he’s going to be really angry. He was trying to punish you by having your mom tell you not to come home, even though he obviously wants you there. If you go home, he’s going to make you pay.”
“But Cole –”
“No.” He shook his head. “You can’t. Besides, it’s better if you stay here.”
“What do you mean?”
“Now that Gordon’s saying these things, we have to show that his story has no merit.”
“And how do we do that?”
“By being seen together. We need to show everyone that you’re not brainwashed, that you just came to the city to work as my new assistant.”
“Okay…” I said, dubiously. My heat was pounding. I was going to have to stay here. Work for Cole. Do what he wanted. It was thrilling and terrifying at the same time.
“Get dressed. We have a party to go to.”
***
An hour later, I was freshly showered, my hair blown dry and smooth around my shoulders. My wrist was feeling better, and I’d thankfully been able to handle showering by myself. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what would have happened if Cole had had to help me.
The clothes Kalia had bought for me had been hung up in the guestroom closet, probably by some housekeeper who’d been here while we were gone. It was weird, knowing people had been touching my things while I was at Cole’s office, but then I realized it was bizarre to even think of them as my things. They were just clothes that had been given to me, clothes I hadn’t even worn before.
I’d chosen a black cocktail dress and black stilettos. I’d had makeup in my purse, and I’d kept it simple, choosing a neutral smoky eye and a pale red lip. The dress felt foreign on my body – not just because it wasn’t mine, but because it was expensive. The fabric was beautifully constructed, the lining silky and smooth against my skin, the cut and stitching of the highest quality. Like everything else Kalia had brought, it was a little too small for me, but it made my stomach look flat and hugged my curves in all the right places.
There had been a tiny plastic bag of earrings attached to the hanger of the dress – simple and elegant silver hoops. The fact that they’d come with the outfit made me think Kalia hadn’t picked everything out herself – there was no way she could have done all that so quickly. More likely she’d gone to some department store and ordered up pre-put-together outfits from a personal shopper. I couldn’t even imagine what something like that had cost.
I took one final look at myself in the mirror, smoothed my dress over my hips, and walked to the living room where Cole was waiting.
He looked effortlessly put-together and in control, his jaw chiseled, his shoulders broad. I remembered how close he’d come to kissing me in the kitchen, and I tried to push the thought out of my head. But I couldn’t. It was all I could think about.
And then he turned around, and his eyes took me in, his gaze starting at my feet and sliding up my body.
“Oh my God,” he breathed.
“What?” I asked. “Is it too much? I’m sorry, but there isn’t really anything else that –”
“You look beautiful,” he said, and I flushed.
“Thank you,” I said. “You look nice, too.”
He crossed the room to me, and I took a step back.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“It’s…” I cleared my throat. “Cole, if I’m going to stay here, what happened in your office earlier…that can’t happen again.”
“I know.”
“You do?”
“Yes.” He nodded, his face serious. “I’m sorry, Avery, I shouldn’t have done that. It was wrong.”
“Yes,” I said, “it was.” I was agreeing with him, but inside I was disappointed. I wanted him to tell me he wasn’t sorry it happened, wanted him to pull me toward him, to run his hands over my body, pull my dress down and kiss me until I was breathless.
“But I want you to know,” he said, “that it’s going to be very hard for me to keep my hands off you.” He took another step toward me. “Especially when you’re wearing dresses like this.” He reached out and grazed my hip with his hand, and I moved back.
“We can’t.” I shook my head. “It’s not good. If your dad ever found out, he’d have a field day selling that story to the tabloids. And besides, it’s…”
“It’s all kinds of fucked up.”
“Yes.”
“Because you’re my stepsister.”
“Yes.” I hesitated, wondering if I should say the other part out loud, the part that I’d been secretly thinking ever since he’d made me strip for him in his office. That the reason it was so hard to stay away from him was because he was gorgeous yes, but also because I got off on the fact that he was so demanding with me. And he liked telling me what to do, dominating me. It was twisted.
But before I could say anything, his face turned back to stone, and he moved away from me, grabbing his suit jacket and sliding it on.
“The car should be here in a couple of minutes.”
“The car?”
“Yes, our town car. It will take us to the party so we don’t have to walk or take the subway.”
I nodded, like I was used to riding in a town car, even though I obviously wasn’t. I don’t think I’d ever been in a town car my life. “What about your car?” I asked.
“Too much of a pain in the ass to drive it,” he said, and I marveled once again at the kind of money he had, the kind of money that allowed you to have a beautiful, expensive car that you just parked in a garage, choosing not to drive it just because it would be an inconvenience. In my world, cars were the kind of thing you spent months saving up for, just so you could buy a junker and wind up having to spend hundreds of dollars to get it fixed when it inevitably broke down a couple weeks later.
We took the elevator downstairs, nodding to the doorman before stepping out onto the street.
There was a shiny black car waiting for us, and a driver in a black hat opened the back door.
We slid inside.
Cole sat next to me, his leg pushed up against mine. Heat radiated from within me, and I tried my best to calm the butterflies in my stomach.
“So you’ll be attending this party as my assistant,” he said.
“Of course.” I nodded. Obviously I wasn’t going to the party as Cole’s date. That would be incredibly strange and inappropriate. “Whose party is this anyway?”
“Connor Raskin. He’s an investor who owns a huge share of stock in my company. Every so often he throws parties for no reason other than to rent out a huge ballroom and splash his money around. Everything starts out extravagantly, but by the end of the night, people are doing blow in the bathroom, and everyone’s drunk.” He glanced over at me. “We’ll be gone before then.”
“Of course.”
“There’s always a few photographers there, so hopefully someone will get a picture of you looking happy and normal.”
I nodded.
“If anyone asks what you’re doing there, tell them you just got hired, and that you’re looking forward to the networking opportunities.”
“Okay. Um, but won’t you be with me?”
“Yes, but not the whole time.”
Panic shot through me at the thought of being at some swanky party without Cole by my side.
“Hey,” he said, obviously noticing my discomfort. “You’ll be fine. There might even be some people there you know.”
“Like who?”
“Shawn Carter and Jake Brooks,” he said. “You remember them from high school, right?”
I nodded. Shawn and Jake were Cole’s friends, and they’d always been nice to me. They were the ones Cole had gone off to New York with when he moved here. “They work with you?”
“Not anymore.” He shook his head. “They sold their shares in the company and used the money to start their own.”
“Oh.” And then I remembered something. Something I’d been trying to forget ever since it happened. “And Jeffrey Adams?” I asked, trying to keep my voice light. “Will Jeffrey Adams be there?”
Cole shook his head. “No. Jeffrey sold his shares too, and no one’s heard from him since.”
I breathed out a sigh of relief. Jeffrey Adams was the one person I never wanted to see again as long as I lived, the one person I never even wanted to think about. He’d gone to New York with Cole, too, but I hadn’t heard much about him since, and I was glad to hear he wouldn’t be there tonight.
The car was slowing, and as it pulled up to the curb, Cole reached over and opened the door, then helped me out onto the sidewalk.
“You ready?” he asked.
I nodded. “Ready.”
We walked into the lobby of the Grand Meridien, and its elegance was almost blinding. Everything was shiny and new and sparkling, from the chandeliers hanging from the ceiling to the black marble of the check-in desk. The party was being held in the Diamante Ballroom, and Cole walked toward it, his strides long, his gait fast.
“We’ll be able to get out of here soon,” he said. “It’s all about making an appearance.”
I nodded, quickening my pace to keep up with him, even though the idea of getting all dressed up and taking a car to a fancy hotel just to stay for a little while seemed like a waste of time to me.
Once we were in the ballroom, Cole headed right to the bar, and I followed him. He ordered me a diet coke, and himself a bourbon.
“I want rum in my diet coke,” I said to the bartender, but Cole shook his head.
“No,” he said. “You’re not having any alcohol.”
“Why not?”
“Because I said so.”
“Because you said so?”
“Yes, Avery, because I said so.” He spotted someone across the room, and turned to me. “I’ll be right back. Stay here and don’t move.”
“Wasn’t planning on it,” I mumbled under my breath as he walked away.
“Ah, go ahead and have some rum,” a voice on the other side of me said, and I turned to see a man standing there. He was about thirty, with sandy blonde hair and sparkling green eyes. “You got to have a little fun, right, sweetheart?”
“Thank you,” I said.
“No problem.” He held his hand out. “Connor Raskin, Raskin Technologies.”
“Oh,” I said, suddenly tongue-tied. It was his party. What had Cole said? That he was some kind of important investor? Shit, Avery, get it together and don’t embarrass yourself. “Mr. Raskin, I didn’t realize…”
“Please, call me Connor,” he said. “You’re here with Cole Buchanan?”
I nodded. “Yes. I’m Avery, his new assistant. Well, second assistant.” I was babbling, and I forced myself to take a breath.
“That can’t be a fun job.” Connor motioned to the bartender. “A little rum for this girl’s diet coke.”
The bartender poured a shot in my glass, and I hesitated.
You’re not having any alcohol.
Because I said so.
But Cole wouldn’t want me to go against Connor Raskin, would he? That would make me look bad, giving the host of the party a hard time. So I took a sip, enjoying the feel of the run as it burned my throat.
“It’s been okay so far,” I said, hoping he wasn’t going to ask me about my duties. “Today’s my first day. I’m his stepsister. So he’s doing me a favor by giving me this job.”
“Still.” Connor shook his head. “Your brother can be one tough SOB.”
“Don’t I know it.”
He laughed, like this was the funniest joke he’d ever heard.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out his card. “I have to go,” he said. “It’s my party, so I’m expected to mingle. But call me sometime.”
I watched as he disappeared into the crowd, admiring the easy way he moved. “What the fuck was that?” Cole asked, suddenly appearing behind me.
“Connor Raskin,” I said, holding up his card.
“He gave you his card?” Cole said.
“Yeah.”
Cole took it from me and ripped it in half, then dropped it on the bar.
“Hey!” I said. “Why’d you do that?”
But he didn’t answer me. Instead, he picked up my drink and took a sip. “I told you no alcohol.”
“He made me.”
“He made you?” This seemed to enrage him, and the next thing I knew, he’d grabbed me by my elbow and was leading me through the party back through the lobby. He pulled me into a side room, then turned around and locked the door. It took me a second to realize we were in some kind of coatroom.
“What he hell are you doing?” I demanded.
“I don’t want you talking to him.”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me. I don’t want you talking to Connor. Or any other guy at this party.”
“That’s ridiculous! There are going to be guys here, Cole, and they’re going to –”
“No.” He shook his head. “Then I won’t leave your side.”
“You can’t do that,” I said. “I’m supposed to be here for a photo op, remember? So maybe someone will see that I’m not brainwashed, that I’m just here as your assistant, that everything’s fine? You’re acting crazy.”
“I am crazy.” He grabbed me then and pushed me up against the door, pushing his body against mine. I tensed as his hands moved up my leg, stopping at the bottom of my dress. “Because you’re driving me crazy.”
“Please, Cole,” I said. “We can’t – ”
“Shut up.” His hands grabbed the bottom of my dress and pushed it up, his fingers sliding up my thighs and into my panties before finding my bare pussy.
I gasped. “What are you doing?”
“Finishing what I started.” His fingers moved inside of me, in and out, making me so wet I couldn’t take it. His thumb swirled against my clit, making me breathless. He grabbed onto my hair from behind, gathering it in his hands and yanking my head back as he finger fucked me.
I moaned. Feeling his fingers inside of me was ecstasy. Back in his office, he’d wanted to tease me, to toy with me, to play with me. Now he wanted to make me his. “Come for me, Avery,” he commanded, his breath hot on my neck. “Come on my fingers, baby.”
A second later, I did, my orgasm ripping through me like a tidal wave.
As soon as I was finished, and he pulled away.
“I’m going to go back to the party now,” he said. “Wait for a couple of minutes, and then follow me.”
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak.
As soon as he was gone, I took in a deep breath, seemingly breathing for the first time. What the fuck had just happened? It had been the best orgasm of my life. With any of my ex-boyfriends, they’d had to touch me just right, using different positions or pressure. And even then it wasn’t always a guarantee that I could get there.
And yet Cole had made me come so fast.
It was all kinds of fucked up.
And the worst part was, I liked it.
I took another deep breath and made myself count to one hundred slowly. It wasted time, giving myself a buffer just in case anyone had seen Cole come out of the closet, and it gave me a chance to think about something other than what had just happened.
I ran my hands over my dress and smoothed my hair, and then opened the door and returned to the party.
I ran my eyes over the smartly dressed men and women, looking for Cole.
But I didn’t see him anywhere.
And then someone stepped into my line of vision.
A ghost from my past. Someone I’d never wanted to see again. Someone who’d shown up in my nightmares, over and over again, causing me sleepless nights for years.
“Hi, Avery,” Jeffrey Adams said, grinning. “I thought I saw you here. How are you?”
He looked exactly the same – same chipped front tooth, same weak chin, same bags under the eyes. He was older now, of course, but his face was the same, his eyes still dark and soulless.
“I’m fine,” I said, struggling to keep my voice even.
I went to move past him, but he followed me. “You here with Cole?”
“Yes.” I was moving through the party now, weaving through the party-goers, looking around wildly for Cole.
“Just visiting?”
“I’m working for him now.”
“Good for you,” he said. “I heard something about that.”
I stopped and turned and looked at him. “How?”
He shrugged. “You know, things get around.”
I gave him a tight smile. “I need to find Cole. We’ll be leaving soon.”
“I don’t think so.”
“You don’t think what?”
“I don’t think you’ll be leaving soon.” He pointed over to the side of the room, and I squinted. I could make out Cole, deep in conversation with Kalia. What the hell was she doing here?
“They’re fucking,” Jeffrey said. “They were fucking from the beginning, when we first hired her, before I left the company.”
My mouth had gone dry, and my body had gone numb. So numb that it took me a second to realize Jeffrey had grabbed my forearm, his nails digging into my flesh. I looked down. His nails were perfectly manicured, immaculately clean and filed.
“I’m sorry,” I said, wrenching out of his grasp. “But I should go.”
“You’re not going anywhere,” he said jovially. He took a sip of the drink he was holding. “Not unless you want me to tell Cole about that summer.”
I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from screaming. That summer. The summer I wanted to forget about, my biggest secret, my biggest shame. I’d rather go back to Gordon, rather have everyone I knew what it was like to grow up in my house, rather have what Cole and I had just done in the coatroom plastered on the front page of every tabloid in the city than have anyone find out about that summer and what had happened.
“Relax,” Jeffrey said. “Don’t look so panicked, Avery. I’m not going to tell him. You just have to do one thing for me.”
“What?” I whispered.
And then he leaned in and began to talk.
“Yes. And with your brother’s past record, we –”
“Stepbrother,” I interrupted him. “And what record?”
“Your brother’s criminal record. The breaking and entering, the burglary…” He trailed off. “You did know about that, didn’t you?”
“Of course,” I lied. Cole had a criminal record? Since when? And why hadn’t he told me about it? “But I can assure you I’m fine.” As much as I wanted to ask more questions about Cole’s record, I knew it would just bring more problems. I didn’t owe the police anything. They were here trying to make it seem like Cole had done something nefarious to me, when in reality, he’d saved me.
“Okay,” Officer Marks said, shrugging like it was nothing to him. But I could see right through his casual attitude. I’d dealt with enough social workers and authority figures to know they sometimes acted like they didn’t care if you told them something in an effort to get you to tell them something.
Officer Marks reached into his pocket and pulled out his card, handed it to me. “Here’s my card,” he said. “Call me if anything changes.”
“Thanks,” I said, taking it. “But it won’t.”
He opened the door to the conference room and I followed him back through and down the hallway. When we got back to the lobby, Cole was talking to the other officer in a low voice. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but I could tell from his tone he was annoyed.
“All set?” Cole asked when he saw us.
“Yes,” I said, making sure to keep my voice firm just in case the cops got any ideas about hanging around and asking more questions.
But fortunately, they didn’t. Instead, hey thanked us for our time and then left.
As soon as they were gone, Cole turned to the receptionist, who had been standing there pretending not to be eavesdropping as she answered calls.
“Hold my calls, Jacinda,” Cole said.
“Even – ”
“Yes, Jacinda.”
Cole disappeared back through the heavy oak doors into the hallway, and I followed him. But before we could get to his office, he turned around.
“Go home, Avery.”
I swallowed. “Home?”
“Back to my apartment.”
Relief flooded through me at the idea that he still wanted me to stay with him. But I tamped it down. I needed to stay away from him, especially after what had just happened – not only had we hooked up in his office, but now cops had been sniffing around. Things were getting out of control. “I don’t think that’s a good –”
“Jesus, Avery!” he said. “Knock off your shit. My father is obviously planning something, and you need to stay safe until we figure out what it is.”
“And you think I’m safe with you?”
“And you think you’re not?” He gave me an expectant look, daring me to contradict him. And the thing was, I couldn’t. I didn’t think Cole was going to hurt me. I wasn’t sure why, since he’d obviously just been screwing with me back in his office, but still, deep down, I knew he wouldn’t hurt me.
“I’m not sure.”
“Avery. Go. Back. To. My. Apartment.”
And then he turned around and walked down the hall, leaving me staring after him.
***
I did what he said. I didn’t want to, but I had no choice.
You do have a choice. You always have a choice. You could have left home a while ago if you’d really wanted to, but you stayed because of your mom. You don’t have to go to Cole’s, you could find a job and an apartment and a roommate. You could go to a homeless shelter if you really needed to.
The thoughts swirled around my head, forming a cloud of confusion that kept leading me back to the same conclusion – that I wanted to be here with Cole. It made no sense, but it was the truth.
The doorman in the lobby of Cole’s building was expecting me, and I used the key Cole had left with him to let myself in. The apartment felt different now, quieter, and I dropped my purse onto the leather ottoman in the foyer and made my way to the kitchen.
I opened the refrigerator, suddenly starving.It was stocked with freshly cut fruits and vegetables, organic deli meats, fresh-pressed juices, and plastic containers of salad. I wrinkled my nose. Since when had Cole become such a healthy eater?
I abandoned the fridge and headed for the panty, where I was able to rustle up a box of organic chocolate cookies. They definitely weren’t Oreos, but they’d have to do. I poured myself a glass of almond milk and settled myself onto the couch.
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Impressum
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 19.01.2016
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Widmung:
, one of the most successful tech firms in the world, Avery vows never to forgive him.
After getting kicked out of the house by her mentally ill mother, Avery has no choice but to ask her stepbrother for help. Cole agrees to let her stay with him, under one condition – that she follow his rules, whatever they are, no questions asked.
Cole is used to getting what he wants – and what he wants is Avery, no matter how wrong it is....