Chapter 23 Onyx
I didn’t ask why Cooper was pissed off when he sat down, and I didn’t ask why she was standing outside my office looking pissed off. They had a weird hate/hate relationship, and it had nothing to do with me.
“You good?” I asked him instead as I watched some tape.
“Mm-hmm.”
Well, that wasn’t good. “You find what you were looking for on your trip to Kentucky the other day for that other job?”
“I did,” he said as he perked up. “Left a paper trail,” he added with contempt.
“You going to take care of it?” I asked as I skipped back a few frames.
“Yeah, check it out again and then hand it all over to the cops,” he told me, and I could hear his derision.
“You can’t win them all, Coop.”
“I know, but that fuck makes me want to personally remove him from the earth,” he told me.
Looking over at him, I nodded. “I know, bro, fuck do I know.”
His foot was tapping off the floor, and I waited patiently. Cooper was like me — he didn’t hold back on the things that pissed him off. “She just asked me if I’m her stalker,” he told me flatly.
“Are you?”
“No.”
I shrugged. “Didn’t think so,” I said as I leaned back and waited for him to continue.
“You thought it could be?” He was watching me carefully.
“Honestly? Of course. I’ve been through the list of everyone.”
“Including you?”
“Even I was my number one prospect,” I said with a grin.
He laughed as he kicked his legs out in front of him.
“So, prime suspect, it’s not you. And it’s not me.
Who the fuck is it? For all her shit, I have no idea who she could have pissed off so much.
” He thought about it. “Or even who would be that attracted to her, that she doesn’t know.
She’s a bitch, but she isn’t stupid. Or blind. ”
“That’s what we’re going to find out,” I told him grimly. “Any luck on that Dallas lead I asked you to look at?”
“No, it’s a strange one though. I need to fly out, which is what I came here to tell you.” He sighed. “But then she walked out of the building, alone, with no cares, and I had to go with her to get her lunch.”
“She was alone?”
“Yes, because she lives in fantasy land where she thinks she’s untouchable.”
“We check all of the assholes from that night we met her?” I asked him quietly.
“I did them all, Onyx, nothing. She either has someone close to her who hates her,” he grinned, “who isn’t you or me, or maybe less you, who knows anymore?
” He gave me a smug smirk, and I ignored him.
“Or she has pissed off more people than even I thought possible . . . which just doesn’t feel right. ”
“I don’t think they’re close to her,” I said as I sat back. “She’s a loner, her family are in Florida, she has no close friends. She works, she eats, she sleeps, repeat.”
“Maybe they felt sorry for her,” Cooper quipped, and I laughed. “Recognized she needs a life.”
“Self-help stalker?” I asked, and he chuckled. “It was pretty mundane until the knife and the pictures,” I said quietly. “He’s escalated so quickly. Do we push him or wait?”
“I say wait.”
I nodded as I looked out of the glass wall to the corridor. “I say we push.”
“Of course you do,” he said dryly. “Why? You eager for it to be over?”
“Yes.” I looked at him in surprise. “Aren’t you?”
“If it’s over, she won’t need you.”
“That’s the plan,” I reminded him.
“Sure it is.” Cooper stood and stretched. “Like you’re complaining she fell into your bed again.” He grinned at me, and I kept my expression stoic. “I’m going to Dallas. Keep me updated. All the feeds are linked to your tablet.”
“Let me know what you find.”
“Nah, really, that how this shit works?” he mocked me as he left my office.
Prick.
So she asked him if it was him. Interesting.
My finger tapped on my desk as I thought about it.
She had thought it was me. I didn’t care that she denied it.
We both knew she had. It made sense that she suspected Cooper.
I still didn’t know why they detested each other. I also knew I didn’t really care.
Their shit was their shit.
My phone rang and I answered, not recognizing the number. “Onyx speaking.”
“Hey, Onyx, it’s Amar Jones.”
My thoughts raced as I tried to place the name. “Big Cat?”
“That’s me,” he said with pleasure that I would know who he was.
“What can I do for you?” I asked him curiously.
“My buddy just got signed by you,” he said nervously. “He says you’re good,” he added.
“I am.”
“Yeah, he says he had a deal with Ms. Balan, but your deal you got for him was better.”
“It was. Who’s your buddy?”
“Prez.”
Ahh. Yeah, I fucked her over good on that one. “And you want the same?” I guessed. “Angel Balan already spoken to you?” I asked him.
“Yes, sir,” he admitted.
Fuck.
Rolling my head from side to side, I stretched my neck. She’d kill me.
“You signed anything?” I asked him, disgusted with myself that I asked, hoping he would say yes.
“Not yet.”
Fuck.
“Send me the contract. I’ll take a look. It may be that I can’t do any better,” I told him bluntly. Which was bullshit.
“Thanks, man, I’ll email it now.”
So fucking eager to ditch her. Word of mouth was good, but not when it came at my agency’s expense. But if he wasn’t happy with what she was offering, and I didn’t take him, someone else, somewhere else would.
And that was not okay.
He sent the contract, and I spent fifteen minutes looking it over. I marked the obvious changes. And then I sat back and looked at my screen, because for the first time in the longest time, I had a dilemma.
I just fucked her. If I took her client, she would take it more personally than ever. I rubbed my temples at the thought of her outrage.
I shouldn’t have fucked her. Again.
I didn’t need this client.
I did want to take him from her so she could realize why they kept coming to me.
I looked up his stats and considered him analytically. He was good. Could be better. A DE like him would only be used three or four times in a game. But he would be used.
Fuck.
Why did I have to have sex with her? A week ago, this would be a no-brainer.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
“Fuck!” Shoving my chair back, I stood up and strode to her office. She was on a call, and her eyes widened when I walked in and closed the door behind me. Turning, I closed her blinds, and as an afterthought, I locked the door.
Angel kept talking, and I knew she was in the middle of a negotiation.
She had on one of her skirt suits today.
The skirt was knee-length. She was always dressed well.
Her blouse was white, buttoned to the neck, and I could see where the faint orange from her foundation had rubbed onto her shirt, from where she’d tried to cover the cut to her neck from last night.
Angel shooed me away with her hand when I stepped closer.
Looking down at her, I smirked when she closed her screen, not wanting me to see who she was talking to, but she kept talking. She didn’t trust me, and that was fine. I didn’t trust her either.
Bending over her, I flicked her top button open, and although she swatted my hand away, she didn’t halt her call. Undeterred, I opened the next two, and when she stood abruptly to walk out of my reach, I hooked my arm around her waist and pulled her into me.
Her hair was in its low ponytail, and I wrapped it around my fist, tugging her head back. This had not been my intention when I came in here, but seeing her at her desk, her head in the game, her mouth running stats, she was sexy.
I wanted her. Deftly, I unbuttoned her shirt, and she never moved away. Instead, her ass pressed into me, and when she next spoke, her voice was a little raspier than before. My thumb brushed over her nipple, and I heard her suppress her moan.
“Um, guys, I’m really sorry, I need to go,” Angel suddenly said as I pushed her bra up.
“I know, it’s unexpected, I’ll rearrange.
” She tried to wriggle away from me as I rolled her nipple, but I merely jerked my fist that was still wrapped in her hair, warning her to stay where she was. “Yes, I will. Sorry again.”
The ear pods were ripped out as she struggled and then turned to me furiously. “What the hell?” she demanded.
“Get on your knees,” I told her.
“Fuck you, you get on your knees,” Angel snapped angrily. Which wasn’t a bad idea. Pushing her back onto her seat, I spread her legs and pushed her skirt up. “Are you crazy?” Angel demanded in a tense whisper. “We can’t do this here.”
Pulling her hips closer to me, I lifted her ass and pulled at her panties. They resisted. I didn’t have patience for resistance. So I tugged harder and heard the rip as Angel bit out a sharp cry.
“Quiet,” I warned her as I tossed the ruined panties to the side. “Keep real quiet,” I said as I leaned in and took a taste of her pussy. She could protest all she wanted, but she was wet and ready.
Licking through her wetness, I stroked my tongue over her clit while I slipped two fingers inside her. I felt her move lower in the seat as she moved into my mouth, chasing the feeling.
“This is madness,” she protested as her fingers sank into my hair. “God, you do that so well,” she murmured in appreciation.
Sucking on her clit, I added another finger, and Angel’s hips started moving in synchronization with my fingers pumping in and out of her.
“Onyx,” she mewled above me. “God, you bastard, what are you doing to me?” she groaned as her hips moved off the seat, pressing her pussy to my mouth.
Angel’s scream was muffled when she bit into her arm as I started to tongue-fuck her.
My thumb rubbed circles over her clit, and my tongue and fingers dipped in and out of her.
“Onyx!” she hissed at me in desperation.
Her body jerked underneath me as her legs clamped around my head, her back arching as she came hard.
I wasn’t a gentleman. I didn’t wait for her to recover. I pulled her up, turned her, bent her over the desk, and was inside her, fucking her hard as her pussy pulsed around me.
Her ponytail fell over her shoulder, and I grabbed it to wrap it around her neck, and then I pulled.
Her hair was long enough to touch her ass.
She had plenty of hair for me to use and hold onto.
The thought of doing this with a scarf made me harder, and I shoved her down flatter, lifting her ass up as I drove my cock into her.
Her ass bucked against me as we screwed, and I bent over her, my lips tasting hers as she kissed me back.
Dropping her hair, I gripped her hips, and I knew I wouldn’t last long. She was already clenching around my cock.
“You protected?” I grunted.
“Yes.”
“I need to come,” I told her.
“Do it.”
“I’m clean.”
“Me too,” she hissed as another orgasm caused her pussy to grip my cock.
It was game over. Bending quickly, I sank my teeth into her shirt and shoulder to stop my own groan from being heard. She hissed in pain, but it didn’t stop me or move me away. I felt her pussy spasm again as I filled her, and afterward, I lay slumped over her as she panted beneath me.
“What the hell was that?” Angel asked me as she tried to move.
“Fuck knows,” I admitted as I stood up and slipped out. Stooping quickly, I picked up her discarded cotton panties and wiped myself and then her. “You got any spare?”
Angel turned to look at me, and her eyes widened when she saw what I’d used to clean us both. “No, you complete asshole, I don’t walk around with spare fucking panties,” she growled as she straightened her skirt and hastily buttoned her blouse.
“You should,” I said as I dropped them in the trash.
Angel squeaked and dove into the trash after them. “You can’t leave them there! What is wrong with you?”
As I straightened my own clothes, I shrugged. “Who was your call?”
“None of your business,” Angel snapped.
Smoothing my hair back, I watched as she fluttered at her clothes, and I took a moment to appreciate her attitude. “I didn’t come in here for this,” I admitted as I fixed my belt.
“Okay?” Angel paused as she looked up at me. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“Well.” I widened my eyes suggestively, and she laughed as she looked away.
“You’re ridiculous,” she said with a shake of her head. “I can’t believe you did that when I was talking,” she muttered as she picked up her ear pods.
“I hope they disconnected,” I joked, and when she looked at me in alarm, I didn’t hide my smirk. “Calm down, I made sure.”
“Oh.” She was torn between grateful and pissed. Pretty much how she got through life, I felt. “Why are you here again?”
I hesitated. “Amar Jones called me.”
Angel’s movements stilled as she cocked her head at me in question. “Why?”
“Prescott told him I got him a better deal than you offered.” Whether or not my cock was still wet from her, I’d never minced my words before.
“And you offered Amar a better deal?” I could see her anger rising, and I picked up my tablet and handed it to her. “What’s this?”
“Your contract with Amar Jones. That’s what needs to be changed to make it better. I recommend you do that, or you lose him.”
Angel scanned the contract. “This is too much,” she muttered. “And this?” She pointed at a clause. “Is insanity. You get them to sign this?”
“Fuck no. I’d make it more. You need to do this,” I told her.
“I can find my own clients.”
“You can,” I looked her over, “but you can’t keep them.”
“I have eighteen clients right now,” she protested. “I’m a good agent.”
“And I’m better, and I have double your client list, and people ask me to represent them, so swallow your pride and look at the changes I made. Keep your client.”
Angel looked at the tablet again and handed it back to me. “No.”
“No?”
“That’s what I said,” she said as she pulled a compact from her purse and checked her hair before snapping it closed and dropping it back in her purse as she got her wallet.
“He wants to sneak around behind my back and be a shady shit, let him. I don’t work with people I don’t trust.” Dark brown eyes met mine in silent challenge.
“You work with me.”
“I have no expectations from you,” she told me honestly. “My clients, I expect their loyalty and honesty, which is exactly what I give them.”
“Okay.” I waited, and so did she. When I said nothing further, Angel headed to the door. “Where are you going?”
“To clean up and buy panties,” she told me over her shoulder. “If this becomes a habit, buy condoms; I can’t be like this when I’m at work.”
She left me in her office, and for the first time in my life, I felt a shift in control. Had she seriously just owned my ass? I think she had. That wouldn’t do at all.