"That’s enough," I snapped.
"Is it though? Now that I’m not a stranger, you suddenly don’t want to tell me your secrets. Does it scare you that I’m human? That I can hear all the filthy shit you’ve got in your soul?"
"Fuck off," I growled at him. This wasn’t the William that treated me to spa days and spilled poetry at my feet. This was an angry version of my silent stranger. A hurt man who was jealous. The man who had to compete for space in this family every day of his life. William was a man with something to prove, and right now I was his victim.
Feeling alive for the first time in days, I challenged him. "What pisses you off more, knowing that I fucked your brother or knowing that I enjoyed it?"
William grinned. "You can fuck whoever you want, Miss Cross. But with you, I don’t share. I’ll let them have the dirty, damaged pieces of your soul, but I get your heart."
I heaved, my breasts rising and falling with every breath. "You think I gave Malice my heart?" I scoffed.
"I think he stole it," William snapped back before leaning in to scrape his teeth along my neck. "Just like every other damn thing in my life."
William quickly pulled away and circled his desk. I watched with hooded eyes as he bent down under his chair and pulled out a large black velvet box. "I was saving this, you know. For a special moment." William walked back to me and opened the box, revealing the longest string of pearls I’d ever seen. "Three hundred thousand dollars’ worth of pearls. Like a rope," he said, his voice raspy as he pulled them out of the box. I eyed the collection. It was beautiful. Stunning. I’d never even seen three hundred thousand dollars, let alone in jewelry.
"Take off your shorts and spread your legs, Miss Cross," he whispered.
I was so desperate to feel something, to connect with my secret stranger despite the pain shared between us, that I instantly obeyed. It was rushed and clumsy. I slid the denim down my legs and then stood with both legs spread as wide as I could make them. William stared at me for a moment before dropping to his knees and looping the pearls around my ankles, loosely tying me to the leg of his desk.
The pearls were cool to the touch and felt delicate wrapped around my trembling legs. The string was so long that he was able to carefully tie it around both legs, then stand up with more slack. "Hands in front of you," he demanded.
I obeyed.
He wrapped them around my wrist twice. I breathed heavily as he then looped the remaining slack between my legs, pulling so that there was tight tension in the string of pearls against my cunt. My thin lace panties provided zero barrier. I gasped, suddenly feeling sensitive.
"Miss Cross," he said while wrapping both arms around me, hugging me close while pulling the string. He worked the bead of pearls back and forth. Back and forth. Faster. "I want you thinking only of me." I tilted my head back and moaned. "I want your eyes on me. I want your hands on me. I want all of you. Everywhere. Always."
He kissed my neck and moved faster. I arched my back, closer, closer, closer. "Yes," I hissed.
"Tell me you belong to me." I went still, despite the building pleasure. My eyes widened, and against William’s wishes, I thought of Malice’s mouth on my breast and Anthony holding me. William rubbed me faster, the sweet tantric rhythm coaxing pleasure from my body with every ribbed roll of the pearls. He kissed my mouth. Licked my tongue. Bit my bottom lip with his sharp teeth. "Tell me you’re mine."
I couldn’t say it. I didn’t know what the future would bring, but I knew that it was too late to belong to one man.
"Say it, Miss Cross."
I bit my lip. The silence was deafening. I was so close to coming all over his desk, all over these expensive pearls. I was nothing but a collection of blooming pleasure, harsh breaths, and guilt.
Building, building, building.
And then, nothing.
William tore himself away from me. I suddenly felt cold as ice. He reached down and grabbed the rope of pearls and ripped it from my body. The pearls scattered everywhere around his room. They bounced and fled from my body. Everywhere I looked, pearls covered his wood floors, sliding under his cabinets and desks.
William glared at me, anger burning through his brown eyes. "We won’t finish this until you can tell me you’re mine and only mine, Miss Cross."
I tipped my chin up and glared at him. I was embarrassed, ashamed, horny, and sexually frustrated. "Then we’ll never finish, Stranger."
24
"Boss is looking for you," a bald man with arms crossed over his chest said. I stared at him through the crack in my front door. I hadn't been to work in three days and was back at Grams’s house. I simply refused. William humiliated me. I had never been so turned on and so denied. It was cruel, and I had met my threshold for bullshit. My job was done. We'd already found out that Hale was the leak. The money was great but at what cost? I felt so fucking cheap and used up. I was just a toy to these men.
"Which boss?" I asked.
"The one that matters."
"They all matter," I replied flippantly. "Tell Malice I quit. Job's done."
The man looked like he wasn't amused by my defiance. "That's not an option."
I glared at him. "What's your name?"
"Garret."
"Garret. You tell Mr. Civella that he can choke on my massive dick. And if he wants me so bad, he can stop hiding like a little pussy and come talk to me himself."
I slammed the door in Garret's face and locked it. Fuck the Civella men. Fuck Eden's Place. Fuck all the nasty things I'd done. I couldn't do it anymore. I wanted a normal afternoon to do normal shit.
I sat down at my old laptop, a trusty steed that had survived years of updates and large podcast audio files. It was slow, but it was mine. I needed to start looking at online colleges in my budget and apply for federal aid. Boring, normal, tedious shit. I loved it.
Except, I didn't love it. I didn't dare look at the application for Texas A&M University, though I already had their admission requirements memorized. They had one of the best forensic science programs in the country. Some of their graduates left to work on elite teams in larger cities. It was a pipe dream, something I'd always wanted but knew wasn't a possibility for me. Grams might be doing well now, but she was on a depressing inevitable road. I refused to abandon her.
There was a community college locally that offered online basics in my budget. I could find a job with more consistent hours and—
A loud knock on my door made me stop in my tracks. Nope. I wasn't opening it. I didn't know many people who could be recognized by the way they knock on a door, but that booming insistent bam, bam, bam was all Malice.
I continued to type on my computer as he banged. I straightened my spine. He couldn't control me. I was done.
The living room window glass shattered, and I jumped out of my seat with a yelp. Sure enough, Garret was breaking through our window. He looked completely annoyed with me as he pushed shards out of the way and climbed into our living room. With my mouth agape, I stared in silent shock as he brushed glass off of his suit jacket and rolled his neck.
He looked at me and smiled. He fucking smiled! As if he knew something I didn't. "You're going to pay to fix that," I said, but naturally, he ignored me. Instead, Garret walked to the front door, unbolted the lock, and twisted the handle.