1
Luke
My head rings like a bell at the end of a long round, but there’s no relief.
“Fucking hell, Luke. You smell like a distillery,” Kevin chortles as I get in. If the room wasn’t spinning I’d push him out of the way. I’m in no mood for my younger cousin’s bullshit right now.
I stumble forward, pressing the crumpled paper into his hands. It’s pro ball player’s Jason Mandinguez’s signature. I bet my new Dodge Hellcat against a contract to represent us as a brand ambassador, and he couldn’t back down in front of his team. It took 22 shots of Patrón before he passed out, barely managing to scribble his name on the line. This isn’t like old-school advertising, where you pick up one star and they make your shoes sell. This is a numbers game to monetize social media, and I bring in the numbers.
“Where’s Tina,” I growl at the empty desk in front of my office.
“You fired her yesterday before you went out. Don’t you remember? Jesus, Luke, even for you, you better cut back. Dad said if you fire another, you’re done, and he doesn’t care what star you bring in. You’ve been through four this year!”
I stumble, grabbing the wall to steady myself. The thirty employees on this floor of the office stare at me but I don’t care. I’m used to eyes on me. I’m just trying not to throw up in the potted plant. “Alright. That’s it for me.” I’ve got to sleep this off before I wake up and do it all again.
“Luke, the five-minute man,” cackles Kevin, enjoying seeing me in this state.
“I do more in five minutes than you do in your whole fucking life. Who’d you sign—” I have to stop. Words make my head hurt more, that mix of drunk and hungover from a long spree. I turn, and my world freezes. It’s her. I must be imagining it.
I must be.
I haven’t thought of that…that snake since four years ago when I left Greenshore and never looked back.
My eyes lock in on her. Those lips, full and pouty, like you’ve just given her bad news and she’s going to throw a fit. Those eyes, so deep, the ones that always batted up at me like they were on the verge of filling up with tears.
All fake.
She’s a fucking devil.
She’s in a pencil dress that hugs her legs and a pink top that can’t hide her perfect body, so small compared to me, the curves of her being etched in my mind. And she’s in my building. My city. I don’t know what the fuck she’s thinking but I’m going to chase her back to Greenshore with her tail between her legs.
Just like she chased you out?
I home in on her. Nothing else exists. Her eyes find mine, the spark of recognition lighting them. Those eyes that stared up at me while we talked about a future.
I stumble towards her, not caring who sees.
“What the fuck are you doing here?”
2
Nat
Oh shit. Luke.
I haven’t seen him in… God, it must have been four years. He hasn’t changed a bit. Only…
He has.
His eyes aren’t soft like they were when he was pretending to love me. That’s gone, leaving the hardness behind. His suit is tailored to show off his athletic physique, his white Oxford lazily unbuttoned and showing his broad chest. He was always smooth-cheeked in high school, but now there’s a day’s worth of delicious stubble grown on the hard lines of his jaw. A man once broke his fist on that jaw. Even sloppy, the women in the office are staring at him like he’s Superman, just like back in high school. He was the hero. The guy everyone wanted to be. The man every girl wanted to be with, and he played with their hearts like toys.
Until me.
Now his eyes are full of hate. They’re red, and he rushes towards me, unsteady. The wave of the tequila hits me before he’s close—then his hand is wrapped around my arm near my shoulder, pressing me against the wall. I forgot how fucking big he was, but now that he’s on me he towers above me, his grip firm and daring me to try and get away. I can’t help but realize how much stronger he is. How easy it would be for him to toss me around.
“Let me go! What are you doing?” I hiss it out, low enough so only he can hear, hoping he’ll tone down his voice.
“No. You don’t tell me what to do. I don’t know what sick joke this is, but you’re going to turn around and go. Now.” His breath reeks of booze. His face would be so handsome if it wasn’t contorted in anger. How could he still be mad, after all these years?
He deserved what I did to him.
Looks like he didn’t learn from it. He’s still the same asshole.
I try to break my arm free, but his grip is strong and if I pull any harder I’ll just embarrass myself. He’s not going to let go of me until he wants to. “Luke, my temp agency told me last-minute to get my ass here for a secretary job. They’ll blacklist me if I quit.”
His fingers tighten around my arm, and I hold back a gasp. I’m not going to be weak in front of him. “Where’d they tell you to go?” He rasps out the words like he’s an animal. I don’t remember him being like this. There was always pain in him, but it’s 10 a.m. on a Thursday and he’s piss drunk in the same clothes as last night.
“They told me to knock on the office without a girl in front,” I answer. I got a frantic call this morning when I was halfway through an assignment. You better believe I picked up on the first ring. Rent was due last fucking week and the pay was decent. They told me to get there in an hour or they’d find someone else. I put down my textbooks, rushed into my closet to pick out something suitable, and hailed a cab. I thought there couldn’t be any job worse than having to serve drunk assholes at Rosé. Once again, life finds a way to screw me over.
His hand moves so quick I can’t believe, sliding down my arm and grabbing my wrist. He’s still got his boxer reflexes. Before I can process, he pulls me forward, and I can follow or be dragged. “You’re hurting me,” I hiss out, and when he ignores me, I realize how stupid I sound. This is Luke, and he never cared about me. The office is watching and my cheeks turn red as he forces me down the hallway.
There’s a corner office with an empty secretary’s desk in front. He drags me to it, and I almost fall as he stumbles drunkenly. When I see the name on the door, my heart sinks.
It’s his.
He opens the door, pushes me in, and slams it shut behind him.
His breath is hoarse and he’s losing control.
3
Luke
My cock throbs. Pulling her, forcing her to follow me, digging my hands into her wrist…it shouldn’t feel good, but it does. She fucking hurt me like I swore no one ever would. She made me feel when the world was in black and white. Her hair is in disarray. I like it. I want to change her. Put my mark on her.
“What agency?
“Just a temp agency.”
I put my hand above her head, blocking her in against the wall. The smell…her smell…it’s the same, that light scent like spring bringing me back to another time. She looks up at me, and there’s a tremor of fear in her eyes. I drink that fear in. She’s so fucking small compared to me, but when she looks up, there’s something else in her eyes. Defiance.