22. Green-Eyed Monster #2
Ian abruptly stopped playing the piano and looked to the corridor, where he saw Deja wearing a strapless black dress with a long slit that hugged her body and fell to her feet. Her neck was decorated with white pearls that matched her pearl earrings and white heels.
“For fuck’s sake…” he groaned with desire before shaking his head. “I mean… You look lovely. Are you ready?”
Deja nervously bit her lip with a small nod.
The car ride to the banquet across the state border was long and nerve-wracking. Not just because this would be her first interaction after giving birth, but also because of the tension she sensed from Ian. Usually, he was so relaxed. But everything about him felt… stiff.
Soft opera music from the radio filled the silence in the car. “Ian? Are you okay?” she asked finally.
Ian remained silent before finally responding. “I’m fine, love.”
Deja worried her bottom lip, put off by his unusual demeanor when her phone buzzed. “Hello?” she answered. “Oh! Hi, Professor McIntosh… Yes, I’m headed there now.” Ian kept his hands on the steering wheel as he listened to Deja.
“With all due respect, ma’am, I’m really not a fan of that approach…
I mean, it strays away from the whole purpose of our-…
No, I understand that part, but-… It just doesn’t sit well with me, and I think if they can’t see it from our perspective, we should find someone else…
I know our deadline is tight, but-… Sure… Of course, I’ll handle it…”
Ian’s fingers drummed on the steering wheel as Deja hung up and looked out the window. “Trouble seeing eye-to-eye…?” Ian inquired.
Deja shook her head. “No, it’s just creative differences are bound to happen when two people are passionate about their work.”
Ian hummed. “Of course. But it’s your work.”
Deja looked at him. “I wouldn’t have anything without Susan,” Deja said. “She turned my dreams into reality. Without her resources-”
“Resources mean nothing without the dream,” Ian said casually.
“She mentored me,” Deja added.
“That doesn’t mean she created your dream. Nurtured it, perhaps. But it is still your genius. Not hers,” Ian said, pulling into the parking lot. “But I digress…” He turned to her. “Do you need help tonight? Jax told me you were feeling anxious.”
Deja sighed. “I’m not very good with negotiations. But I’ve learned from Jax, and I think I can handle myself,” she said. “I’d rather you not interfere,” she finished. Ian nodded. “Or kill,” she added quickly.
Ian grinned. “You’re tying my hands, sweetheart. I will not make a promise I cannot keep.”
Deja sighed. “Keith said the same thi- What is wrong with you, Donovans, always resorting to murder for the littlest things?”
“I’m not as barbaric as my brother, darling. I don’t just kill on a whim,” Ian said. “As long as no one causes you harm, there’s nothing to worry about.”
Keith had said the same thing, and Deja was still disturbed by how bloody that turned out. She had to trust that Ian had more self-control. Ian stepped out of the car and walked to the other side to help her out. Giving her his arm, he escorted her to the banquet hall.
Deja felt out of her element.
She knew every economic policy and every applicable legislation by heart.
Her mind was like a bibliography of environmental sustainability, and yet…
Sitting in the private room just outside the banquet hall, she still felt like a fish out of water among a sea of men who eyed her like she didn’t belong.
If not her dark skin color and textured hair, her pudgy, postpartum stomach, and large, swollen breasts painted with stretch marks undoubtedly caught their attention.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Louis. I’m having a hard time seeing the benefit for us in this school project of yours,” one of the site investors noted, garnering several snickers.
Deja tried to smile, ignoring his condescending tone. “You mean other than guaranteeing a future without pollution, water scarcity, and crumbling infrastructure in every country on the planet for your children?” The men at the table snickered again, and it angered Deja something fierce.
“No offense, Ms. Louis. None of that really matters to us. We need you to talk profit. Revenue. Money ,” another added with a sarcastic grin.
Deja licked her dry bottom lip before she grabbed a glass of water.
She sipped it as she tried to think about what Susan had told her over the phone.
It was the same words Carmen had echoed.
It went against everything she stood for.
Sitting across the table from her, Ian tilted his head to the side as he watched the way Deja fixed her posture, pushing her chest out.
She subtly leaned to the side and smiled at her biggest challenge.
“Fine, darling, let’s talk green. And no, I don’t mean the trees,” she teased, eliciting friendly laughter from the men around her.
Ian’s eyes lowered as he leaned on his hand, watching Deja chat up the site investors. In seconds, she had transformed from anxious and tight-lipped to warm and sensual.
Ian wasn’t just disappointed. He was furious.
Every time she smiled at these disgusting pigs. Another compromise to her work. Another concession to her dreams.
“You make a hard bargain, Ms. Louis, but it’s hard to say ‘no’ to you,” one of the site investors grinned as his knee brushed up against hers. “What do you say we close this deal?”
Deja swallowed hard as she plastered on a smile. “Would you just give me a moment to use the restroom?” Standing to her feet, she quickly rushed out of the room.
Leaning against the sink, she frowned at the way her stomach protruded from within her dress.
Her pregnancy weight sat on her in such a way that she almost felt disgusted with herself.
And she wondered how she ever thought it was a good idea to leave the house looking like this.
Unzipping the back of her dress, she attempted to push her stomach in, but to no avail.
She groaned in frustration as the zipper got stuck.
“Need help?”
Deja jumped, startled as she looked up at the mirror and saw Ian standing behind her. “Sorry, I didn’t hear you come in,” she sighed. “Could you? My zipper is stuck.”
Ian walked up behind her, staring at the curvature of her ass, teasing the panties just beneath. He sucked in his breath as he held her waist and fiddled with her zipper. “How do you think I’m doing?” she asked, breaking the silence.
“...you don’t want my opinion…”
“I do,” she insisted. “I need the feedback.”
Ian paused before speaking. “You’re aggravating.”
Deja blinked at him, startled. “Excuse me?”
“Watching you dumb yourself down from a brilliant scientist to an amateur feeding into the attention of desperate men not worth the air you breathe for a measly few dollars is… the most infuriating thing I’ve ever had the misfortune to witness.”
Deja scoffed in offense. “You sound jealous-”
“I am fucking jealous!” Ian snapped, cutting her off.
“I haven’t touched you in weeks, Deja. I haven’t tasted you for even longer.
Your smell is a goddamn aphrodisiac, and I feel like a madman fiending for his next fix.
But here I am being the good brother, the respectful brother, trying to give you your space as you try to negotiate with animals who want to fuck you and couldn’t give a damn about what you have to say.
So yes, sweetheart, I am violently jealous ! ”
Deja breathed heavily as she felt Ian vibrate with anger behind her until it manifested in the unapologetic erection pressed against her back. Ian sighed in frustration. “I would apologize for that, but you should know by now the effect you have on me. This zipper is more aggravating than you are.”
Deja bit her lip as his hand slipped through the slit in her dress and touched her bare thigh. She trembled as his fingers brushed against her panties. Ian groaned angrily as his forehead fell against her shoulder. “...I loathe you…” he muttered. “Why the fuck do you do this to me…?”
Deja sighed. “I need this to work out, Ian. I’ve lost so many sites already.”
Ian shook his head as he looked at her through the mirror. “They are not worth it.”
“Ian-”
“They are not. Fucking. Worth it,” he said firmly. “And you deserve so much better. Far better than this.”
Deja held his gaze through the mirror. “I know what I’m doing…”
Ian looked at her seriously, his eyes darkening before he looked down her back and pulled the zipper up. “Fine,” he said reluctantly.
Deja felt his hand slide around her stomach and grab her pudge as his lips grazed her neck. “Stop trying to hide this… You’re perfect …”
Deja sat in front of the men with a smile, ready to close the deal.
She glanced at Ian sitting across from her.
His black suit clung to his masculine physique so deliciously.
His head casually leaning on his hand, and his thumb teasing his bottom lip as he looked at her as if she were the only person in the room.
Deja felt her stomach drop as his words echoed in her mind.
“I’m not sure if I can do this,” she said finally.
“I’ve always wanted to create a better world.
But now that I’m a mother, I want to do this the right way.
With people who actually care about this planet, and aren’t just obsessed with turning a profit-”
“You’ve got to be kidding me with this bullshit,” one of them groaned. “I knew this would be a waste of time the moment I found out we’d be meeting with a woman.”
“That explains her desperate plea. If you have a problem with our demands, why don’t you just choose one of those poverty-stricken, ghetto neighborhoods that your people come from?
At least you’ll feel right at home,” another snorted as the rest burst into laughter.
Deja’s nostrils flared as she gripped the table.
But before she could speak, blood splattered the walls.
Deja’s eyes widened at the blade lodged into the man’s throat as blood poured down his neck like a waterfall onto the table. The other men gasped in shock.
“I’m so sorry,” Ian said, standing up as another pair of blades slipped into his hands. “I didn’t want to do this in front of you.”
Deja’s hands flew to her mouth as she watched Ian casually stroll behind two of the site investors and violently slice their throats open.
“But there’s only so much I can take. Deja, darling, why don’t you head into the banquet hall and grab yourself something to eat?
I’ll only be a minute,” Ian said, gripping the top of another man’s head before he could run away and jamming a blade into his eye with a squish.
Deja looked at him in horrified shock. “Ian, please don’t do this-”
“Deja,” Ian said tensely, holding another man by his neck. “... leave . Now .”
Her nostrils quivered before she quickly got up and rushed out of the room, closing the doors behind her.
She closed her eyes as she could hear their screams drowned out by the loud opera music in the banquet hall crowded with people talking and dancing, completely unaware of the massacre going on behind those closed doors.
Holding her stomach, she rushed to find water as she began hyperventilating. She shot back several glasses of water as she frantically searched the crowd of people.
Until she saw him… Casually walking amidst the dancing crowd while wiping his hands on a napkin that he tossed onto the platter of one of the bustling hosts. His eyes locked onto her, and Deja panicked.
She anxiously stepped back, but his hand was already wrapping around her waist as he pulled her flushed against him. “I love this song,” he said, placing her arms around his neck. “May I have this dance?”
Deja looked at Ian, confused, as he held her hips and stared into her eyes.
“Don’t look at me like that. I did you a favor,” Ian kissed her temple.
His fingers gently grazed her spine, feeling the goosebumps that covered her skin.
“Everything has been settled. You won’t have to worry about those negotiations anymore. They’ve all said… ’yes’.”
“You mean you killed them…” Deja muttered.
Ian shrugged. “You have your version. I have mine. Accidents happen, sweetheart…” Ian pulled her closer as he buried his nose in her hair. “You smell divine,” he groaned. “I can’t remember the last time I was this close to you…”
His lips brushed against her temple, and Deja pushed her hand against his chest as she stared up at him. “I need some air,” she told him.
Ian tilted his head. “Are you angry with me, darling-”
“Don’t mask your jealousy with fake concern,” she said, shoving him angrily.
Ian abruptly grabbed her wrist before she could pull away. “There is nothing fake about what I feel for you, or those miserable creatures would still be alive.”
“Ian!” she growled.
“You haven’t the slightest idea how badly I want to ruin you. So instead, I ruined them. Aren’t you proud of my restraint?”
* ? “Look at my beautiful baby!”
* ? Perfect! My boy is perfect!”