Chapter 19 - LEO #2
“I’m not. Go read it again. You agreed to exclusivity with me, Leo.”
“Exclusivity? For how long?”
He moves over to me and whispers into my ear.
“Eternity.”
I start laughing, because I can’t take this guy seriously.
“Good one, you nearly got me there, Ethan.”
My back touches the desk as he pushes closer toward me, his face serious and focused.
“It’s true.”
“You better be lying, Ethan. Why the fuck would I sign my life over to you? Who does such a thing? Is that even legal in a contract?”
“It is in my world. You want this, Leo. You know you do.”
“No, I really don’t,” I say and I mean it. Kind of.
“You were seeking me out tonight.”
“I wasn’t,” I say unconvincingly.
“You knew you would see me,” he says.
“I didn’t.”
“You knew.”
His voice does not rise. It sinks to that lowly sex level he used on me when he fucked me into oblivion.
“You wanted me to see her touch you.”
My breath stutters, my dick weeps for him to touch it. What the hell is happening, why am I now programmed differently?
“That’s not true.”
“You wanted me to see you belong to someone else.”
“I do belong to someone else,” I say, knowing what a shit liar I am. The words leave my mouth before I can stop them as his expression changes. Something dark flickers behind his eyes. A bruised ego.
“Is that what you think?” he asks.
“I’m married.”
“You’re contained in a loveless marriage,” he corrects.
“That’s not true, stop trying to distort my life.”
My pulse is thunder in my ears as he stays close. I can’t stop the shake in my body.
“This is inappropriate,” I say weakly.
He smiles and it’s not a kind smile. It’s full of bad intent.
“You don’t get to decide that.”
I push away from the desk, trying to put distance between us.
“Did she dress you?” he asks suddenly.
“What?”
“The suit. Did she choose it?”
“Yes.”
His jaw tightens again.
“Do you let her choose everything for you?”
“No.”
“She doesn’t know you.”
“You don’t know me either,” I say hesitantly, questioning if Ethan does really know me.
“I know what you want.”
“You don’t.”
“I know what you are.”
He steps closer again until we’re inches apart.
“You’re starving,” he says huskily. “You mistake passive affection for nourishment.”
“I don’t…that’s not how it is.”
“You make yourself small so other people feel secure.”
I look away, not liking him holding up the mirror of truth in front of my face. He catches my chin with a firm and rough grip, forcing me to look at him.
“Do not try to make me jealous again,” he says.
“I wasn’t, Ethan.”
“You were.”
“I didn’t plan anything.”
“Your instincts did.”
His thumb presses lightly under my jaw, tilting my face up. The contact of his skin on mine burns.
“I don’t like to share what I’m investing in.”
“I’m not something you own. Stop talking about me like that.”
His gaze darkens as he leans in and buries his face in my neck, inhaling deeply, igniting millions of goosebumps to pop up and say hi down my neck.
“You are something I’m building. To keep for the future. I own you.”
I want to groan out loud when he says shit like that, which is fucked up. Nobody owns another person. But the more he talks like this, the more I feel wanted and to fall into this vat of toxic lust.
“This is wrong,” I whisper.
“No, it’s your destiny, Leo.”
He releases me abruptly and steps back, where he straightens his sleeves, composing himself like nothing happened.
“You should return to the party,” he says. “Your wife will notice your absence.”
The word wife sounds like a stain in his mouth.
I stand there, shaking, completely off balance at his sudden change in demeanor.
The way he can so quickly move from a dirty talking lover to a soulless robot is worrying, and should be taken as a red flag, but like everything else in my life at the moment, I ignore all my instincts and ask questions.
“Ethan, is that true what you said about the contract?”
“Yes.”
“But why? Why does it matter to you so much?”
For a moment, I think he won’t answer, but he does in his usual direct way.
“Because I don’t lose. I always get what I want and I wanted you from when I first saw you. It will happen, Leo. One way or another you will be mine.”
“You’re fucking crazy,” I say as I walk toward the door.
“And you live in a fantasy. But don’t worry, I’m here to wake you up to your future, Leo.”
The office feels ice cold when I leave, shuddering at his words. He’s totally crossed the line into delusion. How the hell can someone think like that? And what do I do to get out of that damn contract? I need to read it again tonight. There is no way this can continue.
I want his attention away from me. I swear, I do.
When I rejoin Sarah, she’s laughing too loudly, glassy-eyed from champagne and enjoying being the center of attention.
“There you are,” she says. “I was starting to think you got kidnapped by billionaires.”
I force a smile and I look across the room to where Ethan watches us. As he takes a sip from the glass flute, I suddenly understand something with terrifying clarity:
This was never a business proposal. It was a claim.
I’m the prize.