Cheater

32. Derek

I casually stroll beside Alannah to the elevator, amused at how she’s consciously keeping pace so she’s not ahead of me, unable to see if I’m up to anything behind her.

When we’re inside and the doors shut, I press stop.

Her eyes fire with alarm.

“Don’t worry. I just want a second to talk to you.”

“A flair for the drama, indeed,” she murmurs, pulling her phone from her pocket, readying it in case she needs to call for help. As if I can’t move faster than she can to get it out of her hands. She’s acting confident, but I’ve clocked the slight tremble in her hands.

“I’m a wildcard,” I tell her. “Nobody knows how I’ll react in any given situation, so yes like you said, even most of my family is wary of me. But hear me out, please.” I pause.

“You have my attention.”

“I understand your concern with the way my and Chloe’s relationship has developed, but I want to reassure you. In fact, I’ll harm anyone who tries to hurt her. The only reason Adam Hallman is being treated to opportunities instead of my anger is because she’d find it difficult to forgive me if I lashed out physically. I’m focused on giving her everything she wants and now she won’t have to worry about him; she’ll know he’s doing just fine. Soon, he’ll be a distant memory and she can focus on herself. It won’t take long for her to realize the ends justify the means.”

“What happens to Adam then?” she asks.

I shrug. “If he leaves us alone, nothing that’s down to my actions.”

“Surprisingly, I believe that you think you’re doing the right thing here. I believe you want to do what you think is the right thing by my bestie. But I’m also being honest here when I say I will go to the ends of the earth for that girl. If you hurt her, you’ll be sorry. You’re clearly mentally ill, but then again a lot of people are.” She lifts one shoulder in a shrug. “It just manifests in different ways, I guess. Part of me was thinking maybe if you got on medication, it’d solve things. But maybe not. Maybe you’re exactly who you’re supposed to be and maybe Chloe will reap the rewards. I’m not your enemy as long as you take care of her like you’ve promised to do. But if you decide to turn your energy elsewhere and don’t end things amicably where my friend walks away unscathed, you’re the one who won’t like what happens.”

“I can be a good ally to have,” I say. “A very good ally. You’d much rather have me as an ally than a foe.”

She gives me a shrewd look.

“You’ll see. It’s gonna work out great.” I press the button for the journey to resume.

After I watch her drive away, I go back in, fully aware she’s placating me. I also believe she will watch and see what happens. Because I saw in her eyes the thing I’ve seen in Chloe’s when I’ve spoken about what I want.

I see the desire to believe what I’m saying. It’s there in Chloe’s eyes and it’s there in Alannah’s, too. Alannah wants her friend to have everything I’m promising.

My sister bombarded me with questions on the short walk to her apartment about how this all came about and about what I’ve done so far to make that poor girl look so shellshocked. I walked her home to tell her to mind her own business and to keep her mouth shut about the details she’s picked up today.

Grace isn’t a blabbermouth, but she also doesn’t know how to mind her own business. It’s gotten her into trouble often. She’s the sibling that makes a relentless effort with me that I both loathe and tolerate for some reason, so I’ve always given her leeway.

Grace’s meddling tendencies might be a good thing this time because she can become a friend to Chloe and that’ll help her navigate some of the Steele family shit that’s inevitable, like fundraisers, family brunches, holidays. Bullshit our mother tries to pull every so often when she has a whim to make us seem like a normal family. Bullshit she will undoubtedly instigate when she finds out there’s a new daughter-in-law.

Speaking of which, I should call my personal shopper and get her to outfit Chloe for tomorrow’s family thing as well as send a message to my parents’ estate manager that I’m bringing a guest with me tomorrow.

That’s how it goes with them. Carson facilitates their relationship with me. He’s essentially a concierge for everyone in the family, making things happen, managing communications, handling day to day Steele family details.

Back from seeing Alannah out, I find Chloe washing dishes. She’s already cleared the table.

“You’re not the maid,” I tell her, closing the door and locking it. “You don’t need to clean up around here.”

“Do you have a maid?” she asks.

“A service comes in Monday and Thursday when one or more of us are staying here.”

“Well, I’m not exactly gonna leave dirty dishes here to fester for two days.”

“I can’t stand a mess, Chloe. I also can’t stand having staff around all the time so I only have a cleaner come in once a week at my place in Cleveland, so I wouldn’t have left them. How about you rinse, I load?” I extend my hand.

She gives me a strange look, but then passes me a dripping plate.

I put it into the dishwasher.

“Then we can move on to other, more… interesting things,” I tack on.

“Interesting breakfast,” she says conversationally, glossing over what I’ve just said.

“Yeah.”

“Fucking weird,” she mutters, passing me a handful of cutlery. “Do you not see how wonky all this is?”

“Unconventional, sure. Grace is curious. Not surprised she showed up. It’s good I could tell Alannah where I’m coming from. Now she knows. Now she doesn’t need to worry.”

Chloe says nothing, though her eyes are saying it all. She knows her friend will continue to worry. And I think she’s worried her friend will do something that will have me retaliating.

And she’s been forced to be here, but nobody has forced her to wash the dishes. It’s just who she is. She’ll soon figure out that this is just who I am. And that she’ll get to reap the rewards. That I’m a man who won’t take her for granted, a man who will think about her needs in addition to my own, unlike that selfish prick I just saved her from.

“Did Alannah message that she’s safely in her car?”

“Yes,” she says.

I load another two plates. “So…” I broach, “What do you wanna do the rest of the day?”

“I need to open my laptop and do some work. I got nothing done yesterday thanks to you.”

She rinses more dishes and I continue stacking them.

After a few moments of working in silence, I say, “You can change fields. Do something else if you don’t like that job. Do nothing if you like. Take a breather.”

“I like my job,” she says. “They’ve been good to me.”

“You didn’t eat much?” I state.

“I ate a slice of bacon and a bite of a croissant.”

“You didn’t eat my pancakes?”

“I ate one.”

I regard her. She says nothing; she looks irritated with me.

“That’s not enough food, Chloe.”

“I can’t eat when I’m stressed. I saved it for later.”

She reaches for the bacon pan, then dumps the grease into the trashcan. I take it from her. “Leave this for now.” I set it down and gather her into my arms. “I want you. Naked. Now.”

She shakes her head. “No way.”

“Why not?” I ask.

“If you need to ask, you’re even more delusional than I thought.” She throws the cloth into the sink and pushes my chest until I release her. She storms toward the bedrooms.

I follow.

“Leave me alone,” she clips over her shoulder. “I don’t want to deal with you right now.”

“Too bad,” I tell her. “I wanna deal with you right now.”

“Fuck off,” she mutters, but I catch her before she gets into the bathroom by wrapping one arm around her waist, pulling her back against my front. I lean down and suckle her earlobe before telling her, “I’m gonna fuck you, little bunny.”

I feel her body react. She doesn’t seize up in fear. Instead, whether she realizes it or not, she’s leaned into me.

“I should edge you for a little bit, though, punish you for being a bad girl with what you said.” I lick the ridge of her ear, then add, “Some things are better left between the two of us.”

“Let me go,” she orders, but her body is melting further into me.

“Though, then you were my good girl by telling your friend to go, so you should also get a reward as well as a spanking. How many times you want me to make you come?”

She doesn’t answer.

“Three? Four?” I turn her so she’s facing me.

Those blue eyes gaze into mine, searching. And I wonder for a moment what she’s searching for, but she makes it clear with what she says next.

“You’re even crazier than I thought if you think I want anything to do with you.”

“Yet you didn’t try to leave with your friend.” I kiss her neck, just below her ear.

“Because I’m afraid of you hurting her,” she explains.

“So, you’re gonna be my good girl then?” I ask, holding her jaw in my palm. I lean in and rub the tip of my nose along the side of hers.

She says nothing. She’s biting on her bottom lip. Her pupils are huge right now. She swallows with some difficulty.

“You wet, Chloe?” I ask.

She shakes her head sharply.

“I bet you are,” I tell her.

“You’d be wrong,” she states, looking away. “Let me go. I’m gonna go take a shower.”

“After,” I correct, dip and put my shoulder to her belly, then straighten to standing.

“Don’t,” she mutters, annoyed, but she’s grabbed ahold of my shirt as she dangles over my shoulder, and I suspect it’s not just for stability. I’m sure she’s looking forward to the release she’s about to get. That she might not realize how much she needs. I sit on the bed and adjust her in my hold until she’s on my lap.

“Got ‘cha,” I say. “Now, what am I gonna do with you?”

“How about if you let go of me?” she suggests.

“Do you really want me to?”

“Yes!”

I tighten my grip. “Not a chance. I think you need a release. Some stress relief. I can help with that.”

“What if Alannah has left and is calling the cops right now?” she asks. “What if the cops show up here and arrest you for forcible confinement? Have you already thought of a way to spin it?”

“First, you haven’t tried to leave so you don’t actually know if I’d confine you. Right?”

She frowns.

“I don’t advise testing me,” I warn, then continue with, “Second, she’s not calling the cops.” I shake my head. “She wants this for you. She wants what I’m saying to be legit. She’s not entirely convinced, but she’s doing a watch ‘n see.”

“Because she’s afraid you’ll ruin her life,” she mutters.

“Hopefully I won’t have to do that,” I say.

She frowns. “Would you really?”

“Don’t call my bluff, Chloe,” I warn.

“Did your deceased brother’s wives get killed?” she asks.

I tip my head. “One, yes. Both? Maybe.”

She winces. “By your brother?”

I tip it the other way. “One of them, maybe.”

I feel her trembling in my arms, so I lean in and look straight into her eyes. “I’m not Thaddeus.”

“Maybe you’re worse.”

“I am worse. But not in the same way. Thad was impulsive. Sloppy. I’m much more calculated.”

“Your oldest brother is in the middle of an ugly divorce. It’s in the papers.”

“Eli’s wife isn’t going to go missing without a trace. She’s putting him through the ringer because she believes he was unfaithful to her.”

“Was he?” she asks, and I find that curious. Why would she care?

“Don’t know; don’t care. They won’t get divorced. Steele family members don’t get divorced. He’s just about ready to pull the plug on all that.”

“Meaning?”

“Again, don’t know; don’t care. I’m not my brothers. I’m not my father. I’m a whole other problem. And the solution… little bunny,” I flash a smile, “is to marry me, be my good girl, and let me make all your dreams come true like I wanna do. That’s what you can do. What you should do. Let me do what I want. That’ll make me happy and that’ll mean the fewest casualties.”

“So, you were kidnapped when you were a child?” she asks. “Did you get therapy for it?”

Is she just stalling? She’s probably trying to figure me out while stalling.

“Therapy was the biggest part of that problem.”

“Huh?”

“I don’t want to talk about that. I want to fuck you. I want to make you squirm and whimper for me.”

“I don’t want to have sex with you, Derek.”

“But there’s nothing stopping you now. No hall pass.” I kiss her jaw. “No sad fiancé who’d rather play videogames on his computer all day than play with you. If I had nothing to do all day and night but play with you? Mm.” I kiss her again. “Watching this hot little body bend to my will? Oh wait… that’s exactly what I’ve got.”

“Stop,” she mutters unconvincingly.

“You have a new fiancé who can’t get enough of you, who knows what to do with you. Don’t you?”

“I haven’t agreed to marry you,” she advises.

“That’s fair. I guess I haven’t technically asked yet,” I reason.

“You declared it would happen,” she mutters. “I don’t understand any of this, Derek. None of this makes any sense to me.”

“I recognized something in you. Something that fascinated me.” I move up the bed, bringing her with me. I put her on her back, pin her arms over her head and kiss her neck again. Goosebumps erupt on her warm flesh. “It occurred to me how you must have yearned.” I lick the shell of her ear and then whisper, “Hearing your story, thinking about you doing all that yearning, it woke something up in me.”

“Woke up what?” she whispers back. “Psycho stalker tendencies? What? How many times has this happened before with you? And what happens when you’re over it?”

I lean back enough so our eyes meet, and I see something in her eyes that’s new. Genuine curiosity?

I stare at her for a minute.

“Seriously, Derek. Why me?” she asks.

“I don’t feel much. Coping mechanism, I guess. When I do, I get focused. Women haven’t ever made me feel much. Beyond sexual release. Never connected with a woman before.”

“We haven’t connected.”

“Don’t lie,” I whisper. “You felt chemistry immediately. So did I. I’ve felt sexual attraction before but with you it was more. Probably because I knew some of your secrets at that point. I felt something new when I listened to you and Alannah talking, and mostly it was you I was listening to. That yearning in your voice. It woke something new up. I wanted to fix your problems for you. Wanted to satisfy you. And I did, didn’t I?”

Her cheeks pinken despite that she looks a little annoyed.

“Sexually at least. I also wanted to know what it might feel like to yearn for something as much as you. And I started feeling that way about you. Yearned to be the one who made you feel wanted. I wanted to know what it’d take to make your dam finally break. Your dam of giving so much of yourself. The yearning for connection would have to break past your filter of doing the thing that was expected of you. I was hearing so much longing. Once I dug in and found out a bit about you, I yearned even more. For more than just to satisfy you. I wanted all your good intentions, your loyalty… aimed at me.”

She grimaces.

“Wanted you to want me. To be mine. Wanted you to wear things for me. To do things for me. And to never feel like a slave again. To feel noticed. Appreciated. Seen. To spend time learning more and more about you, what makes you tick, how to excite you, how to make you feel wanted and appreciated.”

I lick my lips and examine her face, which is rapt with attention.

“I knew I could get your attention, make you envision using that hall pass on me. But I also knew you probably wouldn’t allow yourself the luxury. Because it’s not who you are. Which is an attractive quality. And I knew you weren’t going after what you yearned for because you were being that good girl again. Doing what was expected of you. Staying loyal to him because of that treat others the way you want to be treated adage. You want unconditional love, so you’ve chosen to love that way. And it’s what you’ve probably done all along in life. And pondering that… I wanted to make things better for you and I wanted to become the one you realized was the key to having what you want. If you’ve got to be a good girl and do the right thing, maybe you need someone to watch out for you, to make sure that being a good girl doesn’t mean getting the shitty end of the stick; I want it to mean getting everything you want. Every single thing, Chloe. I want to earn your loyalty.”

Her chin trembles, but she shrugs it off and tries to get bitchy.

“Marriage? Makes no sense. You barely know me. You’re just infatuated with an idea, the things you overheard, solving my problems. You’re pissing on the importance of marriage.”

“It doesn’t have to make sense to you in order to make sense to me. This will be a marriage of convenience, Chloe. It’ll be convenient to me to be the only man in the world with access to this body whenever, wherever, and however I want it. For me to have the official job of making you happy. I would never piss on that. I like the sound of that. Maybe deep down, you do, too.” I flex my hips so she can feel what’s about to be inside her. “You said yes to the wrong man. Say yes to the right man, Chloe. And get everything your heart desires.”

“Maybe I need to heal and learn how to make myself happy before I can look to someone else to help with my happiness.”

“You won’t. You’d go onto the next guy either one of two ways. Either you’d never let anybody fully in there again because you felt so burnt and hurt by the relationship with Hallman. Or you’d do the exact same thing, trying to make things work out better this time. Better than they did with Hallman. Better than the relationship you had with your parents.”

She goes rigid. “What do you know about my relationship with my parents?”

“Not a lot. Based on my assessment, I’ve filled in some gaps. You don’t spend a lot of time with them. Very little, in fact. I know you were adopted. I also know your brother, who was their biological child, died in your teens and he was their bio kid, so my guess is that you tried to be the perfect daughter, to be everything they’d dreamt of, making them proud and trying not to cause them any further angst. But my guess is that they mourned him in such a way that you became invisible.”

She shoves with strength that surprises me. I roll off her and she bolts off my bed, looking furious.

I’ve hit the nail on the head. “They adopted you after trying to conceive for five years. You were given up at two months old when your sixteen-year-old birth mother decided she couldn’t cope. They got pregnant several months later. Bet you’ve felt like they regretted the adoption when they finally conceived.”

She stares at me with shock. “I was a baby. I didn’t know I was adopted until I was twelve.”

“Then when your brother died, it broke them. They didn’t have anything left to give you. Especially your adoptive mother.”

Pain slashes across her features.

“I don’t want to be with you,” she whispers with pain in her voice.

“Yes you do.”

“I do not!” She stomps her foot on the word not.

“You do,” I deny. “You hope I’m the man for you. Because so far I’ve shown you that you’re not invisible to me. I pay attention. I give you what you want without you having to ache and yearn for it and that’s only having a bit of information. Wait until I get to know you, baby. Furthermore, I’ll take what I want from you, making you feel desired, wanted. Craved. Making you feel seen. Because I do see you, Chloe. Vividly. And I can’t get enough of your body. That first night we fucked, you were wild with abandon. You finally got everything sexually you’ve ever wanted. You thought it was for one night only but it’s not. It’s for the rest of our lives. I want you wild like that with me again.” I reach for her and pull her to me again.

“Let go of me,” she demands.

“Never,” I vow, but loosen my hold. “Not only do I want you, crave you, I also want that loyalty you gave him that he didn’t deserve. I want it to be mine. Because I earn that from you.”

She tries to get away. I allow her to move two steps before I catch her and pin her to my bed, wrists held over her head.

She grunts, then breathlessly asks, “You think you can earn anything from me besides my hatred when you’ve done all this to me?”

“After the cameras went in and I saw all the shit you did for him, all the things he took for granted, how you went out of your way to be such a good girlfriend? It ticked me off. He doesn’t deserve all that.”

“Oh, and you would?”

“Damn right. I’ll give you everything you want from a husband. I’ll fuck you daily. Any which way I can think of. Any which way you can think of. I’ll give you babies. Take care of your every want and need. Wanna go somewhere? We’ll go. Wanna do something? Just say the word. I’m young, strong, I’ve got the means, and I want a life of adventure with you.”

She does want to believe me; I see it.

“I wanna give you a release right now. I think you need one,” I say. “Good stress relief after last night.”

“I think you need your head examined,” she fires back angrily.

“Go ahead, get angry with me,” I invite. “But this still ends with you coming hard, Chloe.” I transfer both of her wrists to my left hand and pin them as I walk my fingers down to the waistband of her yoga pants.

She struggles, grunting and writhing, fire in her eyes.

“Got ya,” I tell her, “Right where you need to be.”

My fingers slip through easily and I can’t help but feel triumphant when she turns her head to the side, getting a look of shame because we both know she wants this.

“Wet for me again,” I state, nudging her legs further apart with my knee.

“I hate you,” she snaps and fights against my grip on her wrists.

I tighten up enough she can’t escape, but not enough to leave marks or cause pain.

“That’s okay for now, baby. It won’t be long, and you’ll love me.” I thrust a finger inside, then add a second. I crook them and watch the heat in her eyes blaze brighter.

The look in her eyes is definitely new. She’s angry with me, yes, but there’s something missing that was here the last few times we fucked. Maybe it’s the guilt that’s gone. Because I’ve eliminated it by having the engagement called off. Or maybe my words, my intentions, are penetrating.

I pump my fingers a few times, watching how she reacts, how her chest rises and falls faster, how her sweet lips part. She’s angry, but she’s feeling me. And her sweet inner walls are tightening, fluttering around my fingers.

I let go of her wrists and quickly snatch her shirt up, exposing her bra. Immediately, Chloe shoves at my shoulders, squirming in an effort to get away. But she’s not fast enough and I get one of her arms re-pinned as I bite down gently on her nipple over her bra. She freezes and I take the opportunity to pump my fingers faster, adding my thumb to her clit as I suckle the hardening nipple. Her back arches and then she immediately knees me in the ribcage, which throws me off balance briefly, giving her the opportunity to squirm halfway away from me. But my fingers are still inside her. I roll her and then roll her again, quickly, so I’ve got her diagonally on my bed.

She loses my fingers as I undo my jeans and fumble to get my cock out while she continues to grunt and fight me.

“Want me to stop?” I ask.

She grunts in frustration, but doesn’t answer.

Once I’m out, I quickly whip her yoga pants down to her knees and drive my hips forward, filling her.

“No, you don’t want me to stop.”

“Grr, stop,” she argues but it’s clear her heart isn’t in it.

I caress her face.

“Nuh uh,” I disagree and grab her hands with both of mine, weaving our fingers together and pinning them again above her head. “Goin’ nowhere now.”

“Rrr,” she complains, still struggling.

“Goin’ nowhere, ever,” I tell her, transferring one of her wrists to my other hand so I can rub her clit while I continue to fuck her. “Eyes on mine, baby. I wanna watch you come undone.”

She grimaces, angry.

“You wanna take your frustrations with your ex out on me?”

“I wanna take my frustrations with you out on you,” she corrects. “But God knows how you’d react, so I can’t do that. Get off me. You’re fucked in the head, and I don’t want anything to do with you.”

“Lies,” I tell her. “You feel alive right now, instead of numb, right? You won’t just go through the motions with me, Chloe. Your heart will race. Your clit will throb. I’ll make you feel as alive as you felt that first night we spent together. I knew I wanted to give you a wild night, a night to remember that night and that was all on me. The deceit. Stalking. Digging. The eavesdropping. But it’s your fault that you made me feel so much that night. That’s why you’re here now. As soon as you jumped my bones when we got into this apartment that night, you sealed your fate.” Holding her tight, my lips descend to meet hers. “You’re perfect for me,” I say against them. “And I’m gonna be everything you want. But no more deceit. Yeah, I’ll still stalk you. Yeah, I’ll continue to obsess about you. You’re front and center in my mind, Chloe.”

She turns her head away, denying me, so my mouth goes to her throat where I tongue it, kiss it, and nibble my way up and down her warm flesh while I continue driving my hips, feeling her milking my dick while my thumb circles her clit. She begins to pant harder, then she’s shuddering hard, coming for me.

Her face looks full of pain, eyes squished tight, lips forming a letter O as she loses it, body convulsing under me, around me.

Yeah, she’s coming hard.

“Let me have your sounds, baby,” I demand, letting go of her hands and putting my palm to her throat, closing around it just a little. “I want your mouth, too.”

Her eyes bolt open and I get to watch as she climbs to another level of sensation.

I’d laugh, revel in it, but I’m too lost to my own sensations, feeling the sweet heat clenching me tight. I lose it, too, lips crashing down on hers as my cock jerks and I spill into her. I spill into her sweet body knowing to my bones that this is the girl I want, knowing I won’t ever let her go. That I’ll do whatever I can to get her where she realizes she doesn’t want me to let her go.

She lets out a squeaky muffled sound as she comes down from the high and our teeth clash briefly before my tongue sweeps in and touches hers.

She whimpers into my mouth. Hard. Musically.

“Fuck, baby,” I groan, letting go of her throat to palm both her tits while kissing her some more.

She feels boneless under me, but also breathless. She came hard. And so did I.

“But no more deceit. I promise, baby.”

I wrap both arms around her and roll to my side, taking her with me. She buries her face in my throat and begins to cry.

“I want you to want me, Chloe,” I say, “To crave me. I want you to want me so much, you ache for me. And guess what? I’m going keep at you until I make it happen. Be my good girl and hold me tight while you cry so I can make you feel better.”

She shudders.

“Now,” I demand.

She grabs my shoulders and buries her face into me.

“That’s it. Just like that. I’ve got you.” Satisfaction rolls through my veins, but she changes her mind and pulls back.

And I’m irritated. I want her. I want her to want me back. I breathe through the frustration. I won’t get angry. I’ll just work harder.