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A Game Of Temptation 08
LAURAIt had been exactly a week since Balery got married. Exactly a week into their honeymoon. A week since I had sex with Alex. That last bit wasn’t important. I don’t know why I added it. I mean, it sort of was because it was the best sex I’d ever had in my entire life. Plus, it was the truth—it had been exactly a week and even though it killed me to admit it, I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him since.Sometimes, I still thought about the things he did to my body and got wet. It didn’t matter if I was in public or alone on my bed. The reaction was always the same.It was insane. Like now, I was at work, sitting in my office chair, holding a pen and staring blankly at the sketchbook in front of me. Thirty minutes ago, a really great idea for a two piece had popped into my head and in a hurry to put it down, I dove for my sketchbook. I’d sketched it halfway but now, I couldn’t focus well enough to complete the drawing. And it was all because of him. My phone rang, lou
A Game Of Temptation 09
LAURA I dragged my bag behind me as I walked towards the jet waiting on the terrace. Could it even be called a bag? With how huge and heavy it was, one would think I had stuffed a dead body in there. When Balery told me that the vacation was going to last a month, I’d been left with no choice but to roll out my biggest box and shove in as much clothes as I could. Suffice to say, I was regretting that decision now that my hand was starting to feel like it was two seconds away from pulling out of my body. As I drew closer to the jet, two men dressed in uniform spotted me and hastily dove for the two bags I carried. One of them carried the heavy bag—even though he tried to hide it well, I could see that he was definitely surprised by the weight—and the other reached for the bag containing my cosmetics that was slung over my shoulder but I stepped back before he could swipe it. “I’m good with this one. Thanks.” I beamed at them. I wasn’t going to allow the extra time I had spent arra
A Game Of Temptation 10
LAURA“Sit.” He said when I just continued to stand there. “Don’t tell me what to do.” I snapped. I was having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that this man—Alex—was Jack’s close friend which didn’t bode well for me at all. For one, I was Balery’s best friend. We were bound to have dinners or hang-outs where mutual friends would be invited and it was a given that Alex would be invited along too. I would have to be seeing him from time to time and would have to endure the heat from the memories that would bombard me every damn time he opened that sinful mouth. Then there was the vacation. I had planned on having the best time of my life on this trip. There was no way I could do that with him here now. Or was there? We would have to see each other everyday, but I could pretend that I didn’t think about what happened between us anymore. I could pretend that I wasn’t attracted to him. In fact, I would make it hard for me. Suddenly, I was glad for the way that I had packed
A Game Of Temptation 11
LAURABalery’s eyes were wide as saucers by the time I was done. “Oh my God.”“Yeah,” I sighed, leaning back on the sink.“I’m so sorry.” She whispered, her eyes sad and filled with remorse. I frowned, confused. “Why would you be?”—because seriously, why would she be?—“It’s not like I told you. You had absolutely no way of knowing what happened and even if you did, stopping Jack’s friend from coming just because of me wouldn’t be fair.”Her shoulders dropped and she puffed out a breath, causing a tendril of hair that had fallen out of her ponytail to float around. “So what are you going to do now?”“I don’t even know.”Honestly, the situation was kind of funny. How could I not have guessed that he’d attended the party? I mean, there had been so many clues. For one, he’d been dressed in a tux, which hinted that he’d just attended a formal event. Then, he’d gotten a room at the exact same hotel. Really, how could I not have known? Maybe because all I’d been thinking about at the time
A Game Of Temptation 12
LAURA My eyes bounced between his face and his hand on mine. Honestly, I wasn’t even mad that he was putting his hands on me. I was just surprised that he’d taken such a bold move especially considering the fact that we didn’t know each other. Well, we did know each other—just not in the ways that mattered. And maybe I was a little bit alarmed that he was holding my arm right there in the hallway where everyone could see and speculate about all the ways we knew each other. I mean, I didn’t particularly give a fuck if they found out that I’d slept with him—even though it still didn’t mean that I was going to put it out there—I just didn’t want them to think we were something more. And with the way he sat beside me on the jet, stared at me and was now holding my hand, anyone that came up here was going to start thinking that we did know each other far more than on that level. Which wasn’t true. And I didn’t want them getting the wrong idea. He must have seen the alarmed expressio
A Game Of Temptation 13
LAURA If there were two things that could make me wake up early, it was work and food. I was on vacation, so it defiantly wasn’t work, which left us with only one option—food. And that was exactly why I found myself in the kitchen at 6am. The kitchen was stocked full and it was quite easy to find my way around it. I fixed myself a cup of coffee and some toast, before parking my ass on one of the stools by the island. Placing my breakfast in front of me, I dove into it. I was so caught up in eating that I didn’t notice when another person walked into the kitchen. It wasn’t until they were pulling a chair out on the other side of the island that I took note of the presence. My head flew up, the piece of toast pausing mid-way to my mouth. When my eyes locked on striking blue ones, I blinked. “Hello.”“Hello,” he parroted, his eyes lighting up even more than they already were—if that was even possible. His blue eyes were so humour filled, one would think I was putting on a show. A c
A Game Of Temptation 14
LAURAI was hanging a gown in the closet when my phone rang from the bed. My mom’s name flashed across the screen when I picked it up and that was when I remembered that I was actually supposed to call her yesterday to let her know that I’d arrived safely. Answering the call, I placed the phone against my ear. “Hey, Mom.”“Hey, munchkin,” Her raspy voice drifted across the speakers, “How are you, love?”I sighed as I dropped down on the foot of my bed, the sound of her voice causing a sense of calm to wash over me. “I’m good. I was so tired yesterday, I forgot to call you like I said I would.” I told her, “I was just unpacking when you called.”She hummed and I heard a steady tap on a table top. I immediately knew that she was drumming with her fingers on the table. Mom had a lot of… habits.“I’m glad to hear that you arrived safe.” She coughed. “How’s Balery?”Pretending that I hadn’t heard her cough, I said, “She’s doing really good. I swear, she and Jack look ten times better th
A Game Of Temptation 15
LAURA“Why wasn’t I invited to this party?”I turned my head and found Jack strolling towards us, a bright smile on his face. He was wearing khaki shorts and a button down shirt, the whole beach look. Balery quickly created space for him and he dropped down on the bench next to her leg. “It’s a girls only party,” I told him. “You’re only getting away with it because you’re the best friend’s husband.”“That, I am.” He grinned, then leaned down and kissed his wife. Letting out a sigh of content, I closed my eyes and laid my head back on the bed. Those two were going to be kissing for a long time. Might as well give them sone privacy by showing them that I wasn’t watching. Balery wasn’t a big fan of PDA, but Jack was. He could barely keep his hands off of her and she, in turn, loved every bit of his affection. She’d probably decided to suck it up when she finally realised that she couldn’t eat her cake and have it. “You lovebirds are going to make us singles start feeling like shit.”
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A Game Of Temptation 62
LAURA One second Derrick had a blade to my face and the next, his body was flying backwards and slamming into the bathroom door. There was an audible thud and a loud pained grunt as he landed on his ass on the ground, the knife skidding on the floor until it stopped a few feet away from him. My breaths sawing in and out of my chest, I almost burst into tears when I saw the person who’d burst into the room.Hunter. Standing in the center of the room, he was big, intimidating, and he looked so royally pissed, even I shrank back against the chair I was sitting on. I’d never appreciated his size more than I did in that moment because seeing Derrick’s slumped form and then Hunter’s, I knew there was no way the former could face off against the latter. Which meant my unborn baby and I were going to get out of here alive. His eyes made one quick sweep of me. After confirming that I was unscathed—at least physically, he tu
A Game Of Temptation 61
ALEXWhen I entered the restaurant, my eyes scanned the tables for the woman I was supposed to be meeting here. I found her sitting at one of the tables to the right, going through the menu. Margaret Keaton was a beautiful woman. With dark brown hair peppered with streaks of silver, a round face bared, thanks to her hair pulled back in a ponytail, lips pulled up in a smile and green eyes bright and happy, she turned the eyes of both men and women. At fifty, she appeared far younger than her age. Had it not been for her rapidly greying hair, she would have been able to pass for mid-thirties. Making my way over to her, I ignored the curious glances thrown at me by a number of people. “Hi, Mom.”Eyes so similar to mine flew up in surprise. “Alex, I didn’t hear you come in!” Rising to her feet, she hugged me. I didn’t even have it in me to fake a smile as I hugged her back, kissing her cheek. As we sat down, mom’s too-knowing eyes coasted over me. “How have you been?”“Good. I’ve
A Game Of Temptation 60
LAURAI opened my mouth to speak but no word came out. I tried again. Nothing. My fingers started trembling and soon, my whole body was shaking. Oh my God. Derrick, the man who lived in my apartment building, who smiled and waved when he saw me, whom I’d given my phone number simply because I thought he was nice, was my stalker. Jesus Christ. Now I could see it. The soft tone of his messages one day then the next, he was being aggressive and forceful, just like how he’d gone from calm to livid right in front of me a while back. No wonder my building cameras hadn’t been able to find anyone strange coming and going. Because there was absolutely nothing strange about a tenant leaving his house and returning at the end of the day. My stalker had been living with me all along. So fucking close, and I’d been none the wiser. My shaking intensified when I remembered the things he’d said in some of his l
A Game Of Temptation 59
LAURAThe next time I opened my eyes, I was in a…room?I was sitting on a chair, which, along with a bed, bedside table and wardrobe, were the only things in the otherwise empty room.One minute I’d been walking at the beach and the next, I was in a room I couldn’t remember ever entering. How the hell had I ended up in this unfamiliar room? Squinting, I struggled to remember. Then I did. The masculine hand that had grabbed me from behind, pressing a cloth to my face, and that foul smell. My God, it had been so bad, I’d passed out from it. Wait. I’d passed out. Heart slamming against my rib-cage, I jerked up from the chair I was sitting on, but was pulled back down by a weight on my hands. I realized that both of my hands were handcuffed to the arms of the chair at the same moment what I assumed was the bathroom door opened and a big form stepped out. The shock that gripped me at the person standing in
A Game Of Temptation 58
LAURAIt was my third day at my mother’s house and she hadn’t smoked a single thing. She’d probably decided that she didn’t want to add any more to my suffering. Maybe she was abstaining simply because I was here, and for all the world, she could go back to smoking soon as I left. I’d take it. A win is a win. Speak of the devil. She appeared in the hallway, looking rather fresh in a bright short sleeved t-shirt paired with black leggings. It might sound like an exaggeration but to be honest, the dark circles under her eyes weren’t as obvious as they used to be. “Why, you’re positively radiant this morning!” She exclaimed, sitting on the arm of the couch I occupied. Rolling my eyes, I grabbed the remote, pausing the show I’d been watching. “Look who’s talking. Have you had a look in the mirror this morning?”“You’re just teasing me.”“Am not.” Just then, Jo walked into the house beaming, and I grinned a
A Game Of Temptation 57
ALEXShe blinked. “You can’t be serious.”I said nothing. The fact that I wanted to call the engagement off shouldn’t surprise her so much because I hadn’t wanted it in the first place. I’d only agreed to this insane idea because it had seemed appealing to my mother. Claire and I had dated for a few months in college before I’d caught her cheating. The thing was, during that short time, she’d somehow managed to worm her way into my family. Imagine my surprise when my mother had sent me a photo of the two shopping in Paris. Together. What my mother saw in her, I didn’t know—and didn’t care to.I admit that part of that was my fault because I hadn’t told my mother that I’d caught her cheating. Instead, I’d lied to her that the relationship simply hadn’t worked out so my mother had made it her life’s mission to make it work. Why didn’t I just tell my mother the truth, one might ask. Thing was, after the death
A Game Of Temptation 56
ALEXDarkness. That was the icy cold, unwelcome blanket that enveloped me when Laura left. I wasn’t sure if that was correct—or even possible—but I couldn’t explain it any better than that. With her gone, it felt like the very ground I walked on had been swept from right under my fucking feet and I’d been plunged into a bottomless, pitch-black pit, one where I’d been falling for the past hour. Still kneeling in the same spot I’d been when she walked out of the room and out of my life, I’d lost track of time. I couldn’t tell how long it had been, only that it had to have been a while because the hard floor was beginning to dig into my knees through the fabric of my pants. Saying that I didn’t have the strength to stand sounded like an exaggeration, but in truth, I had to muster every single atom of strength in my body to push to my feet, staggering to sit on the foot bench, bracing my elbows on my knees and dropping my face into my palms.Fuck. When we’d gone out to the doctor’s o
A Game Of Temptation 55
LAURA “No one dies from a broken heart.”That was my best friend’s attempt at reassuring me that I was, in fact, not going to die from this pain I felt. I doubted it, but I mustered a small smile at her and went back to what I’d been doing for the past hour—staring at the blank wall. I wasn’t sure why I’d even bothered to ask her when I knew the answer was a big fat yes.I firmly believed that I could very well die from the sheer amount of pain I was feeling. Everything on the inside of my body hurt. Every. Single. Thing. Hell, even breathing hurt. And for the first time in forever, I think I finally understood my mother and why she used. There was little I wouldn’t do to stop feeling like this. Balery sighed, placing the food tray she was carrying on the bedside table before sliding onto the bed, right next to me. “You have to eat something.”“I will,” I told her. “Now,” she ordered. “You haven’t eaten anything all day.”Rolling onto my back, I exhaled at the ceiling, regretti
A Game Of Temptation 54
LAURA “Fiancée,” I murmured, monotone, almost five minutes later. It was like an out of body experience when Alex had taken my arm and gently led me inside to sit on the couch. It was a good thing, because a few more seconds standing and my legs would have probably given out from the magnitude of the shock. “Oh dear,” I heard the woman murmur. The one who claimed she was Alex’s fiancée, that is. “Why does she look like she’s seen a ghost?” Alex didn’t respond. He lowered to his haunches in front of me and took my hands in his. “Baby, this isn’t what it looks like—”“What do you mean it’s not what it looks like?” The woman cut in. “Didn’t you tell her you’re engaged?” “When she leaves, I’ll explain everything to you. Please,” Alex continued, ignoring her. My vision was blurry so I couldn’t see the expression on his face clearly but he sounded panicked. Scared even. If this wasn’t what it looked like, then why was he scared? Why did he look so fucking guilty? Why wasn’t he denyin
