Chapter 7 #2
Grief. That’s what’s had me deluded. I’ve done anything and everything to avoid thinking about my father.
I’ve pushed forward so hard, so blinded to stop the grief from swallowing me whole.
I’ve tried every distraction to avoid acknowledging the pain that comes with losing someone so close to you.
That someone was my hero, my best friend, my dad.
But I needed to be the strong one. I had to step up and look after my family, because who else was going to do it?
Who else would have kept this place running?
So now I’ve done that, and will continue to do that.
But Arianna has shown me that I need to let someone take care of me too.
That it’s okay to feel, because if you don’t, it’s an empty existence.
When Amy’s hand wanders from my stomach down to my crotch, I’m snapped out of my thoughts, and my patience with her finally gives way.
I grab her wrist hard and turn her around fast before she has time to put up a fight.
I shove her forward so she’s bent at the waist, and face down on my desk with her arm restrained behind her back.
“You know I love it when you’re rough,” she manages to say through strained breaths.
“Don’t fucking touch what’s not yours. Got it?
” I growl in warning. “How much to get you out of my life, and off my books?” I push her hand up her back just a little so she feels the strain and it’s taking everything for her not to cry out.
I’m not taking any pleasure in this whatsoever, and I’m holding so damn tight on the reins of my temper.
“I told you. You can’t buy me out,” she says through gritted teeth, realizing that I’m not playing some sick kind of sexual game.
I tighten my grip on her wrist, and push it harder into her back, but she yelps this time, which makes me release her instantly.
It wasn’t my intention to hurt her, fuck, she gets off on being hurt, but I would never want to be the one to cause her actual pain that wasn’t pleasurable.
I turn and slam my hand flat against the filing cabinet behind me, which makes her jump.
Fucking woman. I can’t believe she pushed me that far.
I feel like an asshole. If Arianna had seen what I just did, she would run away and not look back.
I’ve never felt like this toward a woman.
Amy is bringing out the worst in me, pushing all the buttons that make me want to smash the fucking place up around her.
Not once has she made me feel warm, or happy.
Not once has she listened when I thought I needed to talk.
Then I think of Arianna. My grounding. The girl whose smile melts my heart and it makes me realize what I’ve been missing out on all these years.
So it’s time to move on. For everyone’s sake. Before we destroy each other.
“Right,” I say, blowing out a deep breath, and taking a seat in my desk chair hoping that having the hard wood between us will help us negotiate.
“It can’t go on like this, Amy. You and I know that whatever you and I had, is over …
it’s not healthy and it’s not fun anymore …
” I watch for her reaction as she straightens out her skirt and smooths her hands through her hair, but there isn’t one.
She’s her usual cold self, unaffected by my reaction to her, and the sneer she wears so well, is placed back on her face.
“So, I’m going to make you an offer, and you are going to take it, understood?
” I say, my voice determined so she knows there’s no negotiations here.
“King. I think it’s you that has misunderstood me. You can’t buy me out.” She walks forward with controlled movements and leans over, placing both palms flat on my desk in front of me. “I already sold my share.”
What the actual fuck did she just say?
“Did you just say … you sold your share?” My low voice sounds dangerous even to my own ears, and I’m seriously starting to boil from the inside.
“You heard correctly, Mr. King. You fucked with me. I fucked with you,” she says nonchalantly with a shrug of her shoulders. “I hope you and your new partner will be very happy.”
She throws her head back and laughs, and I grip the arms of my chair so hard, I think my fingers are going to go through it.
“Who?” I grate out through clenched teeth.
She turns on her impossibly high heels, and struts to the door.
She stops and turns to me when she gets to the doorway, placing her hand on her cocked hip “Call me when you get bored of the little whore, you’re a fuck worth coming back for.”
“Amy, tell me WHO?” I yell. She closes the door behind her, shutting out my question and I’m torn between calming myself down and going after her, which right now, is a very bad idea.
“Get out!” I yell at the two security guards still standing on either side of the door. “Get the fuck out, and make sure she leaves the fucking building,” I order harshly. They scurry after Amy, and once they’re gone the rage rips through me.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck,” I bellow, the sound bouncing off the walls.
I swipe at the desk and everything flies off in all directions.
Glasses smash, and paperwork is strewn around the room in a whirl of anger.
I’ve worked myself into the ground over the last three years to keep this place afloat.
I couldn’t have done it without Amy’s investment, and she knew she had me over a barrel.
But to fucking sell her share on to someone else.
Fuck. I don’t even know who now owns a share in The Kingdom.
My pride and joy. She knows how much this place means to me.
She knows what it means to my family and now, now that I’m not sleeping with her, she’s turned into the woman scorned and tried to hurt me in the way she knows will go straight to my heart.