Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
J ames
I hadn’t heard a single word from Cecilia since I last left her three days ago. Not that I expected to. She would ignore this thing brewing between us until we were ready to explode. I was almost at that point myself.
I wanted to reach out to her but didn’t know what to say because she was right. We come from two completely different worlds, which would probably never work. But it doesn’t make me stop wanting her in my world any less. In fact, I want her to take over my world and make it entirely hers. I didn’t realize I wasn’t living in mine until she came along and gave it life. Now, I couldn’t let her leave.
I just needed to figure out a way to go about it.
My intercom from my secretary goes off, and I hit the button to answer it. “Mr. Kingston, Mayor Fireux is in the lobby to see you.”
Fucking hell. “Let me guess. This wasn’t on the schedule either?”
“No, sir,” my secretary answers.
“Send him in.” I stood from my seat and walked around the front of my desk, leaning into it. I wasn’t in the mood for games today, and I wasn’t feeling particularly friendly.
My door opens, and Chuck walks inside, his expression as smug as ever. “James,” he greets me with a goading grin.
“Chuck. To what do I owe the displeasure?”
His grin drops to an instant scowl. He walks further inside, falling into the seat in front of me. “I think you want to take a nicer tone with me today, James.”
I huff a laugh. “Why’s that?”
He tips his head up, looking up like he’s in deep thought. “I took a little day trip yesterday.” He pulls a card out of his pocket inside his suit and holds it out to me. I look down at it momentarily, then take it from his hands to read it. It only takes me a second to read Stone Corridor, and I’m lunging for him, the collar of his shirt gripped tightly in my fists as I bare my teeth inches from his face.
“If you fucking ever touch her,” My voice comes out beast-like, unlike I’ve ever heard before. It was deep and filled with vengeance.
He barely chokes out a laugh. “You sure picked a pretty one. When I saw her up close, I wanted to do more than just touch her.”
I release my grip on his shirt just before swinging my fist, punching him square in the nose. He falls backward in the chair, sliding onto the floor. I walk over to him, picking him up by the collar again as he lies in shock beneath me.
“I’m not above killing public figures, Chuck. I’m also not above getting away with murder. Fucking try me and touch her. It will be the last thing you ever do.”
He spits blood at me, and I take pleasure in feeling the splatter of it against my chin. “Look at you. The cold king of the rich actually cares about someone.”
I drop him back onto the floor, kicking his leg as he grunts in pain. “Get the fuck out of my office before I kill you now. Do not ever come back.”
He hurries to his feet, holding his nose as he looks back at me from the door. “This is my last warning to you, James. Give up control, and I won’t do something we’ll both regret.”
I charge at him once more, and he finally makes the smart move and runs straight out of my office. Once he’s gone, I don’t know what to do with myself. I almost wish he had stayed just to have someone to take my rage out on.
Just the idea of him taking the time to see her in Boston and being near her. It made me want to kill him. Painfully and slowly.
I grab my jacket and head to my door, ready to see her now. I needed to check on her and make sure she was alright, but my door flew open as soon as I got close to it, and Tobias walked through, his face pale and lifeless as I’d ever seen before. My stomach dropped, feeling like something terrible had already happened to her.
“What is it?” I rush out, my voice barely audible.
“I need to leave. My…My dad was found dead this morning.”
I shut my eyes, a weight dropping in my stomach. I wanted to go to Cecilia even more now. “How?”
He nods like he expected it to happen. “Overdose.”
“Does your sister know yet?”
His eyes become redder by the second as if he is using all his strength to hold back his emotions. “No. I have to identify the body, and then I have to tell her.”
She was going to be devastated. All the girl cared about was having her family back together, especially after already losing her mother, and now—Damn it.
“What do you need?” I ask him, feeling the weight of his emotions coming off him in suffocating waves.
“Time. I need some time.”
“You have it.” He nods and turns back toward the door, but I stop him, placing my hand on his shoulder. “Tobias,” I murmur. He looks over his shoulder, meeting my gaze, and I squeeze his shoulder. “I’m sorry.” He swallows hard and nods once more, leaving.
I hang my jacket up and drop back into my chair, feeling utterly helpless. I wanted to go to her more than anything, but I couldn’t now. Not when her brother would be with her and give her the news. Part of me wanted to say fuck it and go to her anyways, screw what her brother thinks of it, but I couldn’t be selfish. Not now. Not when they both had lost someone dear to them.
I would just have to wait.
I pull my phone out, bring up Cecilia’s text thread, and write a text.
The office isn’t the same without your temper tantrums. Perhaps you take pity on me and come back and boss me around some.
I send the text, hoping she finds some amusement in it. If I could make her day just a little bit better before it all comes crashing down around her, I would try.
My phone dings only a second later, and I see a text from her.
Cecilia
You poor baby. As much as bossing you around sounds fun, we both know I’m not really in charge when you ask for it.
At least I got you to admit you think it’s fun being with me.
Go do some work.
I can happily return to work now that I have your validation.
You’re a strange man.
But you like it.
I don’t entirely hate it.
I smile, put my phone back into my pocket, and start the process of waiting it out until I can finally go to her.
Two days passed, and it took every ounce of my reserve not to barge into Cecilia’s home. But finally, after camping out outside her apartment complex in my car like a stalker, I see Tobias leave at around midnight. I assume he’s going for the night since it’s so late, and I wait for only one more hour to be sure before I finally make my move.
I went inside her building and picked the lock on her door, quietly walking inside and shutting it behind me. The entire apartment was dark and empty of her usual life. I went straight to her bedroom, cracking open the door that wasn’t closed.
I see the form of her body lying in her bed, covered in a mountain of blankets. But despite being completely covered, I can still hear her muffled cries coming from beneath them.
My feet are moving again without a second thought, and I kneel on her bed, slipping in beside her. She jumps, yanking the blanket down from her face, her watery blue eyes connecting with mine.
“James?” She gasps.
I brush the hair out of her face, wiping her damp cheek with the caress of my thumb. “My Cecilia.”
I feel another river of tears run down and wipe them away again. “What are you doing here?” she asks.
“You know why.”
A whimper of a laugh escapes her. “You always come.”
“I always will,” I assure her. She curls her body into mine, and I wrap my arms around her, letting her soft cries empty into all the strength that I’m trying to push back into her. I’d never done anything like this before. Held someone like this or been there for them like this, but with her, it’s all I know how to do. I do it without a second thought as if her needs were my first instinct.
“We were supposed to be a family again,” she sobs. “I…I had Tobias back, and we would get our dad back.” Her words are mangled beneath her sobs, and I do what I can, rubbing her shoulders as she releases her pain. “I was supposed to get my dad back.”
“I’m sorry, babe. I’m so sorry.”
“I don’t want to feel anymore,” she says, looking up at me. “I don’t want to feel this pain anymore. It’s too much.”
“What can I do?”
Her hands run up my chest, wrapping around my neck and tangling her fingers into the ends of my hair. It’s like my nerves dance in pleasure with every touch she traces on me. She tilts her head, her lips softly pressing into mine.
I shut my eyes, savoring the way her lips felt against mine. They felt full and plush. I’d been craving to kiss her again since the first time, which felt so long ago now. I lose myself in her, kissing her back with more pressure. She moans, her arms tightening around my neck, and she climbs over top of me, forcing me to roll onto my back as I hold her to me.
Kissing her was like lighting a candle in my chest and letting the hot wax drip and ignite my insides. It was addictive and better than my wildest dreams. She was my wildest dream… which is exactly why we had to stop.
“Let’s slow down,” I murmured, tearing my lips from hers. She shakes her head, kissing me once again, and I have to fight my eyes from rolling back into my head at the taste of her.
“No. I don’t want to slow down,” she argues.
“Cecilia,” I say sternly, gently pushing her away. She sits back in bed, her eyes watching me in shock as I follow suit. “I’m sorry, but we can’t.”
“Are you serious?” she blurts. She looked hurt and angry, and that was the last thing I wanted, but I couldn’t go through with having sex with her either, so I guess this is where we’re at.
“I am,” I tell her. “When I have you, Cecilia, it will be because you want me. Because it’s all you can think about. Not because you want to numb your pain.”
She laughs incredulously and whips the blankets off the bed, standing now. “When you have me? What makes you so sure you will?”
“Please. Let’s not do this tonight.”
“I think you should leave.”
“Cecilia..”
“Leave James.”
I stand up from the bed, facing her. “You’re taking this as a rejection, and that’s not what it is. I want you, just not right now. Not like this.”
“It doesn’t matter. It was a mistake anyway. I wasn’t thinking clearly, so you should go.”
“I’ll go, only because I don’t want to upset you anymore, but if you think this is over, Cecilia, you’re mistaken.”
She rolls her eyes. I swear nothing could keep her from doing that. “Whatever.”
“If you need me?—”
“I won’t.”
“If you need me,” I repeat assertively. “You know I’ll be here.” She looks down at the floor, keeping her arms crossed in front of her, not saying anything else, so I finally leave despite not wanting her to be alone.
I leave her apartment and head back to my car, but I don’t start it. I don’t have any plans to. I recline my seat so I can lay back but still have a direct line of sight to her building and the side where I can see her living room windows. I stay here all night, should she need me.