Chapter 24
HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE
Rory.
By the time he found me, I had been sitting in my chair for almost an hour straight.
“I haven’t seen you all day, Bunny. What are you doing?”
I didn’t look up right away, double-checking a column before answering.
“Working, fool.” I corrected a mistake I typed. “We got a launch today. Remember? I’m looking over the report and making sure the numbers make sense.”
He stepped further into my office and closed my door.
“Really now?”
That made me glance up.
“Yes. Really. You should come look at them too. Let me know what makes sense.”
He started unbuckling his pants. “I’m coming.”
“Dude,” I paused. “I’m being deadass.”
“So am I. I wanna help, so lemme see.”
I thought he meant he’d look over my shoulder. You know, like a normal person.
But I was wrong.
He walked around my desk and before I could process what he was doing, his hand wrapped around my arm and pulled me out of my chair.
“What are you doing?”
I stumbled slightly, catching myself as he slid right into my seat and pulled his fucking dick out.
“Marlon!” I whisper-yelled. “We gotta work!”
He leaned back in the chair, one hand reaching for his erection and started stroking it. “I’m about to work right now.”
I stared at him. “Seriously?”
“Have a seat, Bunny.” He patted his lap.
“Marlon…”
“I won’t ask again.”
That tone. Ever since we said I love you to each other, he’s been so… possessive. Even more than before. And the clinginess he used to find bothersome in me, was increased by ten in him.
Sometimes we couldn’t even get through the day without him slipping into my office between meetings.
The sneaking around was so hot to me though. I liked having a secret only we knew about. And that kinda summed up our entire relationship.
So, I hiked up my skirt and I sat. And the second I settled on his lap, I melted.
“Fuck,” I moaned as my nails dig into his thighs. My head went back into his chest and my eyes squeezed close.
His arm came around my waist automatically, pulling me in as if no space was allowed between us.
And as soon as his tip hit the spot I needed it to hit, all the tension I had been holding onto all day cracked.
“I…we…have..to…” I tried to finish the sentence, I really did. But my thoughts weren’t lining up the way they were five minutes ago.
“Work,” I managed after the first thrust. “We gotta work.”
“We’re working baby,” he thrusted again. “Read me the report.”
I let out a shaky breath.
“I can’t.”
Another thrust. “Yes, you can. Focus.”
Then his hand tightened slightly at my waist, pulling me further into him as his dick buried deeper.
I swallowed the moan crawling at my throat and fought like hell to force my eyes back to the screen.
Numbers. Columns. Data.
Fuck! Start somewhere!
“…okay,” I muttered, dragging the report back into view.
“Projected turnout is sitting at… mmm…eighty percent capacity based on confirmations,” I started, forcing the words out. “We should expect a…higher walk-in rate depending on how the early slots perform.”
He hit the spot again and whispered in my ear. “Mhm.”
“Inventory flow is balanced,” I continued. “We accounted for a… fifteen percent surplus in case of overconsumption.”
“Mm,” he hummed softly behind me.
That sound alone made it harder to concentrate. But I kept going.
“Staff rotation is set up in three shifts so nobody burns out too early. We also added floaters in case we need to adjust—”
“Good girl,” he said quietly.
If he kept this up, I’m gonna cum.
I shifted slightly in his lap, trying to create some space but he didn’t let me. His arm tightened to keep me right where I was.
“Keep going,” he murmured. “Almost there.”
I exhaled slowly when my legs started shaking.
Focus again.
Because if I didn’t I wasn’t making it through this report.
“…we also added floaters in case…we need to adjust in real time without slowing service,” I finished, forcing my voice to stay steady even though my body wasn’t cooperating.
It didn’t matter though, he put my legs on the table. His hands moved from my waist to one on my clit and the other over my mouth.
I bucked against him, because now every stroke was hitting the spot, like he was just teasing me before and this was the real deal. He released before me with a deep groan only I could hear. I followed immediately after… but he wasn’t pleased with that.
“Did I say you can cum?”
I squirmed and squirmed until he let my mouth go.
“I don’t know if you’re aware of this but if you hit a certain spot in my cervix, it’s gonna happen.”
“I’ll let that slick ass remark go on account of how good you feel right now.”
“Appreciate it.”
He nodded toward the monitor. “Is that all?”
“Almost,” I scrolled down. “Bar flow should be smooth if the timing holds and the smoke room rotation is staggered so it doesn’t bottleneck the main space.”
I felt his chest rise behind me.
“Good,” he said while shifting in me, even though he already came.
“What is your obsession with making me do something while we fuck? You keep making me read or count or something. Is it a fetish thing?”
“Don’t question me.”
“It’s not questioning you. I’m asking a question. There’s a difference.”
“Aurora—”
“Ms. Rodriguez!” Hartland called from the other side of the door. “Ms. Rodriguez—uh—your dad on the line!”
I straightened immediately, shifting in Marlon’s lap. His hand didn’t move.
“Now?” I called back.
“Yeah,” Hartland said. “Sounds like he been trying to reach you.”
Fuck.
I reached for my landline, glancing once at Marlon before answering.
“Hey, Daddy.”
I tapped the screen, putting him on speaker without thinking about it.
Marlon stayed quiet behind me, listening in with his nosey ass.
“Rory,” my dad’s voice came through, smooth but… off. “You busy?”
“Always,” I said lightly, trying to keep it normal. “Launch day, remember?”
“I remember,” he said. “You sound… distracted.”
I felt Marlon’s arm tighten around my waist.
“I’m working,” I said. “Going over reports.”
“Mm.” Then he paused. “You alone?”
My eyes flicked down to Marlon’s arm for a second before I answered.
“I’m in my office,” I said carefully.
Technically it’s not a lie. But It ain’t the full truth either.
“Right,” he said slowly. “Your office.”
Yeah. Something was off.
“I’ll be there later today,” he continued. “As planned. I wanna see everything for myself.”
“Of course,” I said. “Everything’s ready.”
“I’m sure it is,” he replied. “You’ve been… very busy.”
“I have,” I said. “That’s kind of the point.”
He hummed softly on the other end.
“So we’ll talk about everything,” he added. “You and me.”
My grip tightened slightly on the table.
“About what?”
“We’ll talk when I get there.”
The tone meant it was not optional.
“Okay,” I said, keeping my voice even.
Another pause. Then—
“And Rory?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t make me regret trusting you out there.”
Yikes.
“I won’t,” I said.
“Good,” he replied. “I’ll see you soon.”
The line clicked dead.
I stared at the phone for a second before hanging it up slowly.
The room felt quieter than before.
“He knows,” Marlon declared.
I turned toward him immediately. “What? Are you sure?”
He didn’t hesitate. “I ain’t asking, Bunny. I’m telling you.”
The certainty in his tone made my stomach drop.
“But… how?”
“I don’t know,” he said, watching me closely. “But by the sound of it, he’s playing it cool until he can confirm.”
I shook my head immediately. “No.”
“Yes.”
“No, he doesn’t know.”
But even as I said it, the conviction wasn’t there.
You alone?
We’ll talk when I get there.
Don’t make me regret trusting you out there.
What the fuck was all that about?
“He can’t know,” I said again, quieter this time. “Nobody knows.”
Marlon didn’t respond immediately so I turned in his lap to face him.
“And if he did know,” I continued, trying to reason through it, “he would have said something.”
“Not if he wants you to say it first.”
“So you think he’s testing me?”
“I know he is.”
I dragged a hand through my hair, exhaling sharply as the realization settled deeper.
“Okay… okay,” I muttered, trying to steady myself. “So what do we do?”
Marlon leaned back slightly in the chair, his eyes never leaving me.
“We don’t panic. We go and enjoy ourselves at this launch party you worked so hard for. And when your dad comes, you politely let him know that your event is not the place for this conversation.”
“I don’t know, Marley. I’m scared.”
Instead of reprimanding me, he sat up. From around his neck, he took the chain he kept tucked away from the world. Then, he pushed my hair back, exposed my neck and clasped it into place. It was a lot looser on me but it wasn’t unflattering.
“Look. We been through a lot of shit to get here. You been through a lot. I don’t want you to worry about anything else, okay?”
My fingers tangled in the cool gold, thinking about what this means. “Is this your way of claiming me?”
He grinned faintly. “You wanted to have my collar right?”
I scoffed and looked at him. “And what should I do to claim you?”
“Nothing,” he brushed some hair from my collarbone to give himself a better view of his chain on my neck. “You ain’t gotta do nothing. You exist, and I’m yours.”
I pouted slightly at that cute ass declaration of affection and he kissed it away, leaving me blushing.
“Let’s get through today, Bunny. Then worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.”
Marlon’s calm demeanor was a welcomed change. Because I took a deep breath and relaxed my shoulders.
“…okay.”
By the time the first wave of guests settled in, I was already overstimulated.
Music from the live band was low but present. The staff moved the way me and Patch trained them. Nobody looked lost or overwhelmed.
It was working.
But I couldn’t even enjoy it because my dad was here, burning holes into my head with that damn glare. Besides the very awkward greeting at the start of the event, we did not cross paths. Intentionally. But he was watching.