14. Santiago
SANTIAGO
Thanks to that hijo de puta, my meeting with my parole officer went like shit.
After I showed up with a beaten-up face, he wasn’t happy, to say the least, and only dropped the matter after I convinced him I got those bruises sparring with my brother.
Now he insisted we met every other week, warning me to behave, or he’d have to report it.
Pulling the baseball cap I wore lower on my head, I increased my pace, rage steaming through me. On top of all that crap, my head felt like it was being pounded by hammers, making it hard to stay focused.
“Hey, Santi!” someone called as I passed through the main patio.
Not about to slow down, I continued walking, head bowed and my mind set on one thing, and that was beating the shit out of Ariyan.
“Hey, I was talking to you,” Imani said as she grabbed my arm, pulling me back.
A jolt of anger shot through me at this interruption, and I forced a breath before acknowledging her.
“What’s up?”
“What’s up?” She sounded annoyed. “I’ve been calling you all morning.”
“Sorry, my phone’s dead.”
She huffed. “Well, that’s a shame. I have tons to tell you. You totally missed out last night—it was epic.”
I stayed quiet when she nudged closer.
“Hey, is something wrong?”
“No,” I grunted, still with my back to her.
Sensing my bullshit, she circled to look at me. I tried avoiding her gaze, but she was too fast.
“Fuck.” She gaped, brows going up. “What the hell happened to your face?”
I lowered my hat. “Got into a fight.”
“With who?” She frowned. “Didn’t you stay home last night?”
Her questions didn’t help to ease my mind and instead had the opposite effect.
“Come on, Santi, I’m your friend.”
I took a long breath before glancing at her. She seemed genuinely concerned, which I guess was nice.
“It’s a long story,” I muttered, eyes pinned to the floor, before she gently grabbed my jaw.
“Jesus, babe. This looks bad…” She turned my face to look at the injuries. “Well, you’d better come up with a decent story, ’cause Ariyan won’t like this. Like, at all.”
My gut twisted at the mention of his name, and I quickly shoved her hand away. She seemed hurt, as shown in her eyes, but I didn’t care. At least, not now.
“I’ll see you later,” I hissed, already moving to find him.
Last night, not only did he beat me up, but he fucking humiliated me. Just remembering the way he looked down on me with those vicious eyes made my stomach flip, and I swore under my breath, dying to make him pay.
Reaching his office, I didn’t bother to knock; instead, I barged in, slamming the door behind me. As a result, Ariyan looked up, a shocked expression on his face.
Son of a bitch—
“Mr. Rivas,” he gasped, slowly getting up. “What happened to your face?”
The fuck?
Stunned, I kept by the door, not sure what was going on.
“What do you mean?” I hissed, eyes narrowed.
Slowly rounding his desk, he came toward me, one hand covering his mouth. “My gosh, your handsome face…”
My brows pulled inward, a deep crease forming between them at his odd behavior.
He stopped right before me, his golden eyes looking like they usually did—and by that, I mean gorgeous and not at all insane like they were last night. Forcing down my confusion, I cleared my throat.
“You don’t remember?” I asked, voice low as he got even closer.
“Remember what, exactly?”
My eyes dipped to his lips, and I recalled how good they tasted. An uncomfortable heat spread through me, making me shift in my place.
“Do you have a split personality or something?”
His head jerked back, eyes narrowing. “What?”
Swallowing hard, I grabbed both his arms.
“Mr. Rivas—”
“Last night, you were acting all crazy, tying me to the bed and shit.” I pulled him closer. “You mean to say you don’t remember anything?”
His breath caught as fear took over his pretty face.
“You mean to say I-I did this to you?” His bottom lip quivered, and somehow, it made me feel relief.
Looking down, I took a deep breath and tried thinking it through.
Maybe the drug made him trip? I mean, it wasn’t unlikely, and it definitely explained that wild shift in his personality.
Fuck. I came here ready to kill him, but seeing how vulnerable and clueless he was made me let go of that anger in a heartbeat.
“You really are an idiot, aren’t you?” he snarled.
I glanced up. “What?”
His lips curled into a sick, twisted smile.
“All I need to do is pout my lips, shed a tear, and you turn into this pathetic excuse of a man—”
Before he could finish his words, I fisted his shirt and walked him backward until his hips bucked against his desk. The table rattled at the impact, shit falling off it as I pushed him harder into it.
“You fucking snake. You were messing with me?”
His smile grew wider, making him look insane.
“Clearly.”
My vision turned red, and I gripped him tighter, nearly ripping his damn shirt.
“The fuck is your problem?”
He looked back at me, unimpressed.
“You, obviously—”
I slammed his back on the desk and hovered above him.
“Ouch?” he said, a shit-eating grin on his face.
My heart thrummed in my ears, and sickened by his mockery, I grabbed him by the throat, fingers digging into his jugular in a powerful grip. I would have snapped his neck in half if not for the sharp stab to my side. Looking between us, I saw he was holding a knife to my rib cage.
“I’ll puncture your lungs before you can even spell fuck. So, I’d be careful if I were you.”
I gritted my teeth but didn’t remove my hand from his throat.
“You’re sick in the head,” I hissed when he smirked.
“Says the guy who came after being beaten to a pulp. A bit of a masochist, aren’t you?”
Heat rushed to my face, and instinctively, I tightened my grip. In return, he applied more pressure to the knife, until the sharp edge jabbed my skin.
“Down, boy. Didn’t we agree to play nice?”
“We agreed nothing,” I hissed through gritted teeth. “And I ain’t your dog.”
“You’re sure about that?” His lips curled up. “Last night, you were beyond eager to be.”
Catching movement to my side, I quickly reached forward and grabbed his free hand, pinning it to the desk and forcing him to let go of the pencil he'd picked up.
The crazy fucker probably wanted to stick it in my eye.
“If you wanted to hold hands, you could have just said so,” he teased, tilting his head aside to meet my eyes. “Now tell me, how did your little meeting go? Did you get there on time?”
The muscle in my jaw tensed at his words, because did it mean—
“You son of a bitch. You planned it all?”
His brows rose before he huffed a laugh. “Are you serious? Of course I did.”
My nostrils flared, and I wrapped my fingers tighter around his neck until the skin began to turn red. “The fuck do you want from me? Why are you doing this?”
He dropped his smile.
“I told you why.”
“Huh?”
Rolling his eyes, he tsked. “You truly are the dumbest person I’ve ever met.”
“Fuck off!” I roared, gripping him harder when he stabbed me. “Fuck—” I gasped, releasing him at once and stepping back. Looking down, I saw that it was a superficial cut, yet it was enough to hurt like a bitch.
“I warned you to behave, didn’t I?” he said while straightening up.
That venomous little shit.
Vibrating with fury, I glared at him. “When did you tell me anything?” I hissed, unable to come up with something.
“Last night.”
“Well, fuck, Sherlock. I was high as a kite and can’t remember shit.”
He shrugged, playing with that damn knife. “How’s that my problem?”
“You’re the one who drugged me,” I shouted, my words echoing around us.
“Did I?” He tapped his lips. “Because if I recall correctly, you took that pill willingly. In fact—” Putting the knife in his pocket, he pulled out his phone and typed in it before showing me something. A video. “—I have proof of that.”
My brows narrowed because what the hell? There on his phone was a video playing of the two of us dancing in the club, zooming in on the part where he showed me the pill a moment before I kissed him, clearly taking it from him.
Smiling, Ariyan then looked back at his screen. “I also have a video of you drinking like a pig. Wanna see?”
My chest tightened, coldness spreading through me. “W-what?”
“You sound so scared all of a sudden. Could it be because you broke your parole?” His eyes locked on to me. “Yeah, that’s probably it. Isn’t it?”
This asshole… did he just threaten me?
My pulse quickened, muscles going rigid, but mostly, why was he doing this? I’d never met him before starting to work here, so why was he so keen on ruining my fucking life?
Averting my eyes from him, I clenched my fists. “Why are you doing this?”
“I already told you—”
“I can’t remember!” I shouted, looking up. “Just tell me again.”
“Mhmm… no.”
My jaw went slack. “Why not?”
“I don’t want to.” He pouted.
A second away from having a stroke, I stepped toward him. “The fuck you mean?”
Sitting on his desk, he leaned back on one hand. “You see, I really hate repeating myself. And while I do understand your incredibly small brain is only capable of retaining so much information, I still don’t intend to bend my rules for you.”
Did he just call me stupid again?
“But—” He jumped back down and strolled toward me. “—I will give you time to remember. That sounds fair enough, doesn’t it?” he asked while waving his phone in front of me.
This bastard…
Not about to back down, I reached for the phone and snapped it from his hand.
Before he could try and take it back by stabbing me or something, I tossed it on the floor and stepped on it, ruining any evidence it held.
Done, I glanced back at him, satisfied. But Ariyan’s blank face made me drop the smile.
“Well, that was pointless,” he said, checking his nails.
“Huh?”
“You honestly think I don’t have backups?”
My jaw twitched. “You son of a—”
“Hey now.” Placing his finger on my lips, he moved closer, basically pressing against me. “Let’s not bring our mothers into it, shall we?”
I hated that my body still reacted to his scent, enough to make my insides coil, even more so when I remembered how hot his hand felt on my cock last night. A shudder ran through me, and I stifled a groan.
What the hell is wrong with me?
Something flickered in his eyes before he finally moved back and picked up his broken phone from the floor. “This is going to be taken out of your paycheck, by the way.”
I huffed. “You’re insane if you think I’m gonna still work for you after this.”
He glanced at me over his shoulder. “I thought we made that part clear, didn’t we?”
“The fuck you on about, asshole?”
“You know, with the whole me having you by the balls thing?” Fully turning to face me, he rested one hand on his waist. “God, I keep forgetting how slow you are, so let me be clear. From now on, you’re my bitch.”
Heat flared in my chest at his words.
“And you will stay my bitch until you remember how you got into this position. Needless to say that if you open your mouth to even one person, not only will those videos reach your parole officer, but I’ll also have you arrested for breaking and entering.
” Pursing his lips, he shook his head. “Pissing on my couch? You dirty little thing.”
Of course he had a video of that, too.
I hate him.
I hate him so fucking much.
“Having said that, you’ll have to learn to behave better from now on.” His eyes darted down my body before going up. “I can’t have you dragging my name into the mud.”
“You’re crazy.”
His eyes sparkled with cruel amusement.
“Like I told you yesterday, you don’t know the start of it.” He turned around and began walking back to his desk, only to stop. “And one more thing.” He glanced at me, lips pursed. “Do remember your name tag tomorrow. I’d hate to punish you. Again.”