Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
HECTOR
Sitting in my high-rise that overlooked Pittsburgh, I glanced across the table at Heather, who slammed her knife into the steak I’d made her after she finally calmed down back at the office and agreed to be good for me.
Do you need help with that? I asked.
“No,” she growled sharply. “I’m perfectly capable.”
After finally cutting off the first piece, she popped it into her mouth. Then, she wiped her face with a napkin and gazed at the bright city lights dancing in the night sky. “I can’t believe you’re making me go an entire day without coming.”
While a statement like that from any other submissive would ve annoyed me, I liked playing this little game with Heather. I highly doubted that she d actually be able to not touch herself all night, and I couldn t wait to punish her for it tomorrow.
I swished some tequila in my mouth and swallowed it. “Why do you want to be collared?”
I had collared submissives before in the past and had been with them under a contract, but none of them had asked me to collar them as quickly as Heather had, especially after she had been giving me the cold shoulder since last night.
“So I can be the only one that you’re with,” Heather said, as if it were obvious.
My hand tightened around the glass. “That’s a terrible reason.”
Heather snapped her gaze up to mine, then narrowed her eyes. “Excuse me?”
You heard me loud and clear, Heather.
After sending me daggers across the table, she crossed her arms. “It’s not a good enough reason that I want to be the only woman that you’re fucking? Noted. I’ll go find someone else to sleep around with then too. You know there’s this guy in my?—”
I growled at the brattiness coming out of her mouth. She would be with nobody else and would definitely learn not to even have those fucking thoughts, period. Heather was all mine, and I refused to let anyone else have her.
“I’m not going to collar you,” I clarified, “because you haven’t earned it.”
What do you mean, I haven t earned it?! she exclaimed, leaning forward. I let you tie me up in your office while my father was in the other room and watched you come! If that doesn t mean I earned it, then I don t know what you want from me.
“I want you to listen to me.”
“No, you don’t,” she said, leaning back. “You love putting me in my place.”
I pressed my lips together because I couldn’t argue with her. I loved having the power over her, but I wanted her to work for it, to show me—even though she was pissed at me for whatever reason last night—that she wouldn’t abandon me.
As the thought crossed my mind, I stiffened. Out of all the women that I had been with before her, I never had to fear that they’d leave me. They might have not asked to be collared right away, but I had known they wouldn’t leave.
But Heather?
She was much younger, bratty but intelligent, and my best friend’s daughter.
She had a million reasons to leave me at any time. Hell, what would happen when she finally finished college? What about that guy she had asked her father to bring on vacation with us a couple of years ago? I knew nothing about her personal life or who she was involved with.
And it fucking terrified me to commit to an independent woman like her.
Why are you so caught up on Evelyn? I asked, realizing that her jealousy stemmed from her. I already told you that -
“Because she was at Radiant last night!” Heather snapped, then immediately turned away from me and crossed her arms over her chest, cheeks reddening. “That’s why I’m so caught up on her, Hector.”
“She was at Radiant last night?” I asked because I didn’t remember seeing her.
Don t play dumb with me, she said through her teeth, though her eyes were glistening under the candlelight. She s the prettiest girl who works in your office, and she was at Radiant last night. I can put two and two together.
“You think I’m sleeping with her?”
“Yes, I think you’re sleeping with her.”
“I already told you that you’re the only woman I’m with right now.”
Bullshit, she said. You re handsome and successful, and I can t even pass a class.
So, that was still weighing on her mind.
I had given her no reason to be jealous of Evelyn—at least I didn’t think I had—and while I might be successful, all my previous relationships hadn’t worked out because I was so deep into my work that I didn’t have much time to devote to my submissive than I would have liked. But that was already different with Heather.
She had made me wait for weeks before meeting because she wanted to study. She didn’t message or call me at every hour of the day, wanting attention, though I would happily give it to her if she did. And she was playing hard to get.
Finally, she glanced over at me with tears trembling in her eyes. “Why was she there?”
I laid out my palm on the table, wanting her to take it. After peering down at it for a moment, she crossed her arms tighter around her body and pressed her lips together, as if she wasn t going to let me touch her.
And no touching for a guy whose love language was physical touch fucking stung.
After sighing, I pulled my hand away and sat up straight to shake off the sting of her rejection. Something about Heather drove me fucking mad, and I needed her acceptance, her touch, her.
“I don’t know,” I said.
“Of course you don’t,” she whispered, turning further away.
Gently cupping her chin, I turned her head toward me. “I’m telling you the truth.”
“How can I trust you?” She pressed her quivering lips together. “My mom trusted my dad, and look at what happened between them.”
Fucking Jacob. He d always been a player.
“Your dad’s a dick sometimes.” I shook my head. “I’ll be the first to admit that.”
As far as I knew, he put a lot more pressure on Heather than his son, but they still had a decent relationship after he broke up their family. Though the more I thought about why Evelyn had been at Radiant last night …
“I think your father and Evelyn are hooking up.”
Heather probably didn’t believe me in the slightest because it sounded like I was trying to make an excuse for myself and for her, but it was the truth. Evelyn had looked so uncomfortable in front of me while that hum was buzzing through the room.
And if Michelle had taught me anything about sex toys from her business, it was that the hum of her most popular vibrator sounded exactly fucking like that.
“What?” Heather asked.
I furrowed my brows, then shook my head to push the thought away. If Jacob was really sleeping with one of our interns and HR found out about it, I didn’t know what was going to happen to the company or to his stake in it.
“Forget it for now,” I said. I’d deal with that tomorrow. “Did you talk to your professor?”
Yes, she said, eyes narrowed, still pissed at me about not letting her come.
“What’d he say?”
She pursed her lips together. “Don’t worry about it.”
“That’s what he told you?”
“No. That’s what I’m telling you because he told me that I can’t do anything about it.”
Somehow, I didn t think she was telling me the truth. She hadn t looked me in my eyes since I d asked about her professor and now sat across from me, twiddling her thumbs way too aggressively to be telling the truth.
She jumped up from the table. “I’m going to use the bathroom.”
“Heather,” I warned, “if you touch yourself?—”
She snickered. “Don’t worry; I won’t.”