17. Laura
laura
. . .
I s this the moment I’ll get to see a glimpse of the monster again?
The dichotomy between the mask Harley wore for the world and her killer persona was enough to give me whiplash.
Half the time she was in my presence, I had to remind myself of her blood-covered face and sadistic smile as she turned to me in the alley that night.
It seemed so different from the person she was with me that it felt almost as if it was just some silly nightmare I concocted out of my own fucked-up mind.
I’d seen the tension rising in her from the moment she opened the door to the hotel room. I didn’t know what to say. Was that message for her? For me? For both of us?
She stayed quiet as she looked over the mess, and I knew she was assessing what our next steps would be. I knew it because I was doing that too.
I stayed behind her, watching, waiting for the explosion, but it never came. She just calmly guided me to the door, her hand on the small of my back, and closed it before we took the elevator back down to the lobby.
“Give me a moment, my love,” she said before going straight to the reception.
It only took a second for the same receptionist that had given us the key to jump into action at the sight of her, and never in my entire life had I seen someone's face drain of blood so quickly.
There had been quite a few times when the prosecutors had gotten a surprise slap in the face with a judge’s verdict, but usually that went from shock to anger.
Not this girl. This girl was scared.
It wasn’t every day that a celebrity like Harley would come into this hotel. They’d probably been warned about it and told they’d have to bend over backwards for her. So the poor girl probably thought it was her lucky break. Maybe a promotion was riding on her doing things right.
And then Harley had to come and break the news to her that someone had snuck into her hotel room and trashed it.
Needless to say, the girl’s boss showed up fast to do damage control before calling the police, who showed up in record time.
And I watched. I watched as Harley stood in front of them with a serious face and a calm demeanor as she explained the state of the room. I watched as they nodded, not interrupting her even once, and wrote down her every single word.
The monster wasn’t showing. At least not very obviously—I mean, how else could she have gotten away so easily with all of it?
But it was there in the way she carried herself. In the way she looked at people. Somehow people knew she was dangerous and that she was not to be crossed, even though she looked all prim and proper.
Watching her caused something to peek inside me. A sort of thrilling curiosity.
Thoughts of work washed away. Suddenly, I no longer cared about what was happening in New York. I didn’t want to be there. I wanted to watch this unfold.
I wanted to watch her .
A thrill ran up my spine when I first saw her in the alley that night. Something similar to what I experienced early in my career as I watched some of the most ruthless lawyers out there stand up in front of a judge and fight for someone the entire world knew was in the wrong.
It wasn't only about winning.
Winning had always been a bonus. Not that I expected to lose, with the amount of preparation and dedication I put in. But when I saw those lawyers stand up there and make up arguments to defend the vilest people in this world, I knew no other job would do.
So many others would make me an obscene amount of money, but I was a lawyer for the moments when I knew that I had crafted such a perfect argument that both judge and jury would be able to look my client in the eye and say that they were not guilty.
Which made me not that much different from the Harley in front of me in that hotel. I put on a mask and twisted things to match what I wanted. I made sure people saw the version of things I wanted them to see. And I was good at it.
In a way, we were two sides of the same coin. Hers was the craziest, more unhinged side, of course, and mine was the more calculated one. The more curious one.
So I watched as she played everyone in the reception area. And damn, she was fucking good at it.
I was lost in thought when she finally approached me.
“Let's go get something to eat while they prepare a new room for us,” Harley said, reaching for my arm.
I should have turned her down. I should have just demanded she give me a different room and be done with it. After all, the anger from being forced into a contract with her was still there… But curiosity was taking over.
The more I watched her, the more I wanted to see into that fucked-up brain of hers.
“Is this the part where you try to convince me that signing the contract was worth it?” I asked, letting my tone drop.
Something flashed across her eyes in that moment, but it was gone before I even had a chance to analyze it .
“So playful tonight, my darling.” She smirked as she took my hand in hers.
“Well, I do have some questions,” I said.
She let out a chuckle as she led us out of the hotel into the awaiting car.
“I’ll get us something more private, then.”
Private or an insane show of wealth?
The restaurant was completely empty, except for the two of us. The large windows were open, giving us a beautiful view of the sea. Between the time it took to talk to the police and figure out the stuff with our room, the sun had started setting. And now it was almost completely dark outside.
But the candles on the table and the lights outside were enough to give us a perfect view of the scenery.
The air was warmer than I expected, but the light breeze cooled my skin. The smell of the sea was all around us, and this might not be a date, but I couldn't stop wanting to know more about the person in front of me.
I took a sip of my red wine as I studied Harley. She nonchalantly took a bite of her pasta dish and sent me a smile. She wasn't pushing for any of my questions; she seemed content for us to be in silence, enjoying the music and the sound of the waves crashing against the sand.
I had so many questions that I wanted to ask her, but none that I felt I could articulate correctly at that moment.
“Did your parents support you when you wanted to become an actor? Or were they as disappointed as mine were with your career choice?” I asked.
I hadn’t planned for my voice to sound so… sad, but she heard it, and it made her pause and place her fork down on the table.
“I don't think anyone could ever be disappointed in you, Laura. ”
Wrong .
My parents might not have been disappointed with my law career per se, but they certainly were that they could not be involved and take advantage of my position in the world or any of my money.
To be honest, I had been disappointed in myself a number of times.
When I lost. When the payout wasn’t as great as I expected.
But even so, her words caused something to expand in my chest. An emotion that I didn’t think I was capable of.
I didn’t let it show on my face and gave her a deadpan stare before taking another sip instead.
“My parents never supported me in anything,” she replied. “They never thought I was good enough. I was an embarrassment to the family.”
“I’m sure they’ve changed their mind with how famous you have gotten.”
She shook her head.
“Is that what you really wanted to ask me about?”
Oh, touchy. Which told me her parents were linked to some key thing she definitely did not want to talk about. That alone made me want to keep pushing the subject.
“This should look real, no?” I asked and reached out my hand to trail a manicured finger down her inner forearm. “I should know something about you.”
“The file your assistant pulled on me wasn’t enough?” Her tone was playful, but her expression made my heart skip a beat.
“Evidently, no.” I dug my nail into her smooth skin. How the hell did she know that? “So tell me, my love . Just how embarrassed are your parents of you?”
She leaned forward with such quickness my breath caught and I froze. My eyes widened as her lips brushed across my cheek, almost the exact same movement as that night in the alley.
The monster is coming out to play.
And I should be running, not enthralled .
“You already see me too well,” she murmured. “And you still try to fight this? Try to push my buttons in hopes of… what, exactly? No matter how much you try, I’d never hurt you.”
“But you want to,” I whispered.
A smile pulled at her lips.
“Only if you want me to and ask me to, darling. I love you. Others, though? I can’t tell you the rage that ran through me when I saw the state of our room. How some stupid, insignificant person tried to ruin the beautiful stay I planned for us.”
I love you.
The words caused a shot of ice to run down my spine.
When was the last time someone said that to me? I couldn’t remember.
“What if it was one of your fans?” I ventured. “You’d still hurt them?”
Her eyes trailed across my face.
“I don’t care who it was,” she said. “I’ll find them and make them pay for it.”
“Even something as small as?—”
“Anything regarding you is not small. They wanted to upset us. Maybe even had hopes that you would hurt yourself on the millions of glass shards. That is unacceptable to me. How would I be able to just sit there and watch as your skin broke for someone so unworthy?”
I swallowed the knot in my throat, but still no words came to mind. I was pulled in by her brown eyes. The threat in them.
She meant her words.
“Why are you so obsessed with me?”
They were the wrong words to ask a psychopath, or at least that was what my gut told me. But curiosity outweighed all my instincts, including the survival one, apparently.
“Look at you,” she whispered and let her hand trail from my cheek to my neck. Shivers broke out on my skin wherever she touched. “You’re beautiful. Strong. Dedicated. What’s there not to love about you? ”
“Some people find it overbearing. Too much,” I noted, my voice hitching toward the end as her hand trailed the collar of my shirt.
“Like that bastard, Lenard?”
It came out as a question, but I knew there was no point in answering. She spoke about him like she already knew everything there was to know.
She probably does.
“I love seeing you in your element. Love seeing how you control everyone around you, make them bend to your will.”
“Will you?” I asked. The forbidden question sent a thrill through me. “Bend to my will?”
“I’ll give you everything and anything you’ve ever yearned for, my love. I’ll be at your feet, giving you pleasure you never imagined. And one day, you may just relinquish a little bit of that control when you realize just how good it feels to let go with someone who can take care of you.”
Someone who can take care of you.
I was no saint. I wasn’t shy. I had experienced sex clubs, one-night stands, hookups, sex in many ways with many different people.
But for some reason, the rawness of her voice caused my face to heat.
There was a fearlessness to her words. Like she was finally letting me glimpse the beast she was holding back.
She talked about what I yearned for… But what about her?
The answer was clear in her hungry eyes.
Me. She yearns for me.
And it felt pretty damn good to be wanted that badly.