Amelia POV:"Okay, spill. What is wrong? You have been acting weird for days now. You are always weird, but there's an extra layer to it now. I know it has to do with Linc. What's up?" Ashley corners me in the elevator on our ride up. We are alone, but she whispers, holding my eyes with her narrowed ones. It makes me laugh a little."And you are my best friend, so guess what that says about you?" I tease back even though I know what she is talking about, and it makes my heart jump just remembering."Oh, please." Ash snorts, not taking the bait."Well, thank God you waited for us to be alone before you started being all detective on me." I say, rolling my eyes. Tyler said he had some quick errand to run after lunch, so we left him to head back to work.The three of us stick together because we are the only interns at the firm. A number that almost every single employee gawks at because it was new. And untraditional. And all the other adjectives they throw around, throwing their noses
"Amelia. I was just teasing, you don't have to answer, I have got an imagination, you know. Wait, why do you look like you are about to start hyperventilating?...oh shit."Ashley rushes to my side and starts massaging my back with gentle strokes and asking me to take deep breaths.I told my stepfather I loved him. I have been fucking my mother's husband. My mother who is dead. My mother who never once treated me like a daughter because she didn't want to be a mother. He said they were separated before she died but what difference does that make?I told him I loved him! Oh God. This is bad. I shouldn't have agreed to come back. What was I thinking? I don't even remember how he convinced me. I should have stood my ground knowing I had more to lose. I had something precious to protect. Myself. For fuck's sake, I have loved that man since I laid eyes on him.I dismissed it at first as a silly teenage crush. Then it was a rebellion against my mother whom I was never enough for. I felt good
"Hey, Amelia." Tyler stops me before I get in the elevator. I turn around to give him a small smile and he walks up to me, blocking my path. My stomach tightens with an unexplained apprehension as I meet his wild bright blue eyes. I can't believe I used to think they were innocent and gorgeous."Hi, you are back." I say, my smile frozen on my lips. Without Ashley, I can't help the weirdness between us."Yeah." He says, still standing in my way, the elevator light blinks indicating that it is about to close."Oh okay. I better get that." I say gesturing to the elevator that is now closing slowly. Tyler turns to look at it like he is seeing it for the first time."Going up to see your stepdad?"The words hit me like whiplash. I know everyone already knows my connection to Linc at this point, and I no longer worry about it. But the way Tyler says it, the obvious ugly scorn when he phrases the words. I look up at him and my stomach tightens even more at the cold look in his soulless eyes.
Tyler's laugh is something that will haunt me forever. He looks down at the pieces of the phone on the ground and then he looks up at me, his mouth opens slowly as he lets out the ugliest laugh I have ever heard, echoing off the walls of the parking space."You stupid fucking bitch." He cackles more. I step further away from him, feeling reckless that I even followed him down here alone. I have no idea what he is capable of."You really think smashing my phone solves your problem? You have only worsened the situation. You would pay for that. I will make sure of it." He takes a step forward toward me and every single muscle of my body screams for me to run. But I plant my feet down and stay rooted. He can't hurt me fatally. Somehow, his cold calculating eyes assure me of that."I have so many copies of that video across different devices, it would spread across the fucking planet if I want it to. It is actually insulting to think that I would be dumb enough to have it on just one devic
"I want to finish college on full scholarship. I want my already existing college loans settled. I don't care how you get the money from him, but I know you would. And can. If he questions you, you can just offer yourself up to him. That is how things work between you right?"My skin crawls at the ugly scowl on Tyler's face. I don't know what stings more, the fact that he is being unreasonable with these demands and I can't tell him that, or how he has twisted what I had with Linc into some dirty affair. Had. Because obviously, whatever it was is all done now. There is no going back from this.His cold eyes cloud over and he takes a step towards me, I flinch backwards, "I need you to answer when I ask you a fucking question." He says, looking me up and down like he is thinking about which part of my body he can hit without leaving a mark. I feel sick."No, that is not how things work between us." I say through gritted teeth."Oh really? I am curious then. Tell me." His eyes flash and
Linc Dmitri POV::Amelia didn't show up yesterday. I didn't call Marcus to check. I felt she still didn't feel ready to see me yet. And then I got busy. She stayed on my mind all throughout, but I didn't reach out to find her. She needs space, I will give her space."Hello, boss." Marcus's voice comes on the call.There is only so much space I can give her. I miss her. I don't mind brushing that whole situation aside if that is what she wants. It is probably just something she said without meaning to. She was in the throes of an orgasm I gave her, of course she slipped up. I can excuse it."Marcus. I didn't see Amelia yesterday." I say sternly. I know he told her about my request but she refused."Oh! I told her to see you and she left. I thought she left with you. She didn't come back after." Marcus says, sounding as puzzled as I am feeling."She left the firm after coming back from lunch and didn't return?" I ask just to be sure."Yes. All three of them actually. Ashley and Tyler. I
Ameila POV::"Ameila."I fucking freeze on the spot. I was just on my way to the kitchen to check out the breakfast Ashley made before she left because I have gotten dizzy with hunger. She couldn't get me to come out of my room for dinner yesterday. I couldn't manage it. I was a wreck. I stayed holed up in my room all day."Amelia, I know you are in there." Linc's deep baritone at my door makes my knees go weak. My breath rushes out of me at the obvious anger in his tone. What is going on?I ignored his calls when they came in about half an hour ago, but that can't be why he is at my door angry as a bull. I walk up to the door. And then I turn my back against it, resting on the cold metal, and then I am sliding down because my knees are fucking mush, just at the sound of his damn voice. I can't hold my weight up.What the hell is he doing here? What is this about? We haven't seen or talked since I ran out of his office that night after my sleepy confession but so what? We have gone we
There is no room for talking as our mouths fight for dominance over the other, clashing tongue and teeth and lips and moans and I cling to him, wanting more, more in spite of the fact that I can never get over the high he takes me on with each expert swipe of his tongue against mine. It feels like a lifetime has passed since we were last together like this and yet it feels like we never stopped. Like the past few days away from this all consuming fire between us never happened. Was just a second pause.Somehow we find ourselves in my bedroom and I pull away from him for the split second it takes to get rid of my clothes, his dark eyes watch me in the brightly lit space of my bedroom, the high rise windows bathe the room with natural lighting. The naked hunger in his eyes only makes me want him more. I don't want to think. I just want to feel and Linc is more than capable of giving me that.With a finger I push him onto the bed, he falls back without lifting his eyes from mine, his wet