Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
“Fuck off! How dare you meddle in my personal life? Meddle with my brother when you have no idea what is going on? The drama you are causing me?” I scream at him.
I am at the end of my tether, everyone pushing and pulling at me from every direction. Always taking, always interfering.
“Bella?” Xavier says softly and reaches for me.
“Leave me alone! Don’t fucking touch me, just stay the fuck away, Xavier!” I snap at him before snatching my things off the table and dumping them in my handbag.
“We can help. Why won’t you let us help you?”
“You can’t help. I don’t want your help. Now get out of my way,” I tell him as he blocks the only door in here.
“If you tell us we can, what’s he got over you?”
“Move, please,” I tell him, ignoring his question.
He doesn’t move, and I am on the verge of losing it.
What is it with them? I am not some damsel in distress, and they are not my knights in shining armor.
I’ve done this. This is all because of my actions. One thing and this is my sentence for it. I don’t need anyone else getting hurt because of me. I don’t need anyone trying to save me. God knows I don’t deserve it.
“Xavier, please move out of the way,” I tell him when the door opens and Latham steps in.
“Let her out,” Latham says, and Xavier sighs but steps aside.
How does he even know we are here? I don’t have time to ponder. I need to get a hold of my brother and fix this before he goes on a rampage.
I rushed out, heading for the elevators while texting Addie to tell her I am sick and need to get home.
Stepping into the elevator, I see Xavier walk into our office, the door shutting when Latham steps in, pressing the button to close the doors and blocking me from using the other elevator. The doors close behind him.
“Latham, don’t you start to… Please just leave it,” I tell him, already exhausted and over this day.
“Not until you tell me something,” he says, and I laugh.
This is ridiculous. They barely know me, and all three of them have been relentlessly interfering.
“I don’t have to tell you anything. We are not in a relationship. We are work colleagues. That is all,” I tell him, shaking my head and looking at the ceiling.
“Fine. I will tell you something, then. I pulled your files, I did a background check on you, and something doesn’t add up. Your records are clean, and your brother is a criminal, yet you bow to him every time he calls, so what is he blackmailing you with?” he says, my eyes snapping to him.
“Why would you do a background check on me? You have no right to snoop into my private life.”
“Then, care to explain why you have a gun in your handbag?” Latham asks.
“You went through my bag?”
“Answer the question, Bella. What’s he got on you?” Latham says, stepping toward me, and I take a step back.
“He has nothing on me. You just need to stay out of it, please. Just back off, all of you,” I tell him.
“No, he scares you. I want to know why. I want to know why you are shoving us out, but let him in.”
I shake my head before realizing the elevator isn’t moving. I reach around him to see the stop button glowing. I switch off the stop button before hitting the foyer floor when he snatches my hand away. The anger in him ripples through the air, the elevator smothering me when he presses closer.
“You will tell me,” he says, his voice almost growling the words out as he presses me against the elevator wall.
His entire body crushes mine when his hand snakes into my hair, tugging my hair and tilting my head up.
“I can make you tell me,” he says, his lips hovering off mine.
Why do I believe him when he says that? Why do I have no doubt he can make me tell him? That strange fogginess I get only around them slips over me.
“Tell me your secrets, Bella, and I will tell you all of mine.”
His voice is rough, and the heaviness of the fog clouding my mind makes me want to believe I can trust him, that he won’t think differently of me if he knows. His breath caresses my lips, his scent overwhelming me. He smells so good, like danger and burning embers.
I freeze in place, unable to look away, but the longer he traps me, the more the strange urge to trust him washes over me.
It is ludicrous because he has me pinned against the wall; yet, I want to tell him everything and bleed my soul bare for him.
My lips part to tell him what he wants to know, trusting him with my darkest secret, my biggest sin.
The doors suddenly open, fresh air brushing over me, and Latham steps back, letting me go.
The fog lifts off me, and I shake my head, wondering what the hell’s just come over me.
Latham is breathing heavily, and I can feel eyes on us as those waiting to get in the elevator wait for us to get out.
Latham is staring at me, his eyes burning into me, and I adjust my bag, stalking off toward the exit.