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Suddenly, a powerful arm grabs my arm and whirls me around. The power of it is so strong it jerks me off balance and I almost fall, but I right myself and look at him with furious eyes.“You knew he was there,” I rage breathlessly. “You set it up.” “Yes,” he admits calmly.“Why?” I cry.“There was no other way to get through to you. When it comes to him you’re blind.”I lift my hand and strike him across the face. He doesn’t move. I watch my handprint leave a white mark that fills quickly with red.We stand there staring at each other. I’m panting hard and feeling hurt and shocked while he looks down at me, his eyes expressionless, a muscle in his jaw throbbing madly.“You tricked me. How could you do that? We were supposed to celebrate my first ever success. I thought we were going to have a lovely dinner together.” My voice trembles with emotion.He closes his eyes and exhales. “I’m sorry, Star.”“If you just wanted to humiliate me why did you get me to dress up? So I could look lik
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‘‘Sit down, Smirnov,” Vasily says, nodding to the chair in front of his table.I don’t sit. There is no love lost between us. He considers me a trouble maker and I despise him. As the second in command he looks the other way while the Director presides over an institution run on brutality and cruelty.Right now, though, I feel nothing except pure fear. I watch him as he leans his heavy frame on the table and feigns emotion.‘ I’m afraid I have some bad news. Your brother died this morning.’In my soul, I already knew what he was going to say, but it doesn’t lessen the impact of his words. I feel as if I am falling into a black bottomless hole. I try to grab hold of anything I can. My head feels light. I clutch onto the table edge in front of me.‘ I’m sorry, Nikolai. He fell over the banister.”“No,” I gasp. “That’s impossible. Someone must have pushed him.” He shakes his head slowly. “He didn’t just fall. He jumped.” “That’s a fucking lie,” I snarl.“We do not condone the use of such
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STARMy heart is beating so hard and fast I have to take deep breaths to calm myself. The car comes to a stop and I quickly open the door and rush towards the club. The bouncers lift the ropes to allow me in.“Where is Nikolai?” I ask one of the stunningly beautiful girls at the reception. “In his office. Let me call him for you.”“Please don’t call him. Just take me there.”She looks at me blankly. “I’m sorry, but I have to call him first.” “All right.”She calls him. “Er … Star is here to see you.” Her eyebrows rise. “Okay. I’ll tell her.” She looks at me, embarrassed. “He doesn’t want to see you. He says go home.”“Please, just take me to his office. He doesn’t mean it. We just had an argument. I want to sort it out. Please help me,” I cry. I know I sound like some obsessed stalker but I just can’t let go. I have to make it right. I was so stupid and blind.“I can’t do that. I’ll lose my job.”“Fine. Then let me just go into the club. I need to use the toilet. Did he say I couldn’t
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Star“Can I return the dress to you now, Rosa?” I ask as soon as Rosa answers her phone.For a couple of seconds Rosa is too surprised to answer. “As in right now?” I sniff. “Yes.”Her response is immediate. “Of course. Fortunately for you I’m just vegetating in front of the TV with a tub of ice cream and a whole box of tissues.”“Thank you,” I say and hang up.When we get to Rosa’s apartment building I thank Andrei and tell him I won’t need him again. He is a true gentleman and waits until I enter the building before he gets back into the car.I get into the lift sniffing and blubbering. By the time the lift doors open I’m sobbing. Rosa opens her door and I walk into her arms. “I’ve been such a fool,” I repeat again and again.She helps me out of the dress and gives me a comfortable pair of sweats to get into. The whole time I am blubbering and sniffing and spluttering.We sit on the sofa. She pours me a humongous glass of wine. I take it and start gulping it down. “Whoa. Slow down.
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I wake up in Rosa’s guest room with a massive hangover. The events of the night before come hurtling down on me. I tip-toe out of the room. Rosa’s bedroom door is open and she is still asleep in bed. I don’t know why but I go into her bedroom and stand over hersleeping form. In sleep she doesn’t look so tough. Even though my head is throbbing, a rush of pure love fills my heart for her. She has been a good and loyal friend.Without waking her up I go into the bathroom. My hair looks an absolute mess, my eyes are swollen and my face is puffy. I find headache pills in the cabinet and take them before I get into the shower. Feeling slightly better, I go to the kitchen. Closing the door, I make myself a cup of coffee and call my nan.I ask about my dad, and when she says he is fine, I tell her I have something to tell them all and I’ll be around later.“Is it more good news?” she asks.“Yeah, it’s more good news,” I reply. At least it will be for my dad. He’ll be so glad to hear that I’m
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I try to keep myself busy for the next couple of days. I know I have to start a new life for myself. I ignore all Nigel’s calls and eventually I put a block on his number. Rosa tells me I can stay with her until I find my own place and I quickly accept her offer. When she is in it is not so bad. She is funny and warm and I can push Nikolai to the back of my mind, but when she goes to work and I am left alone at the apartment, I find myself bursting into tears for no reason. I’d be peeling a pear and suddenly I’d start sobbing my heart out.I try to write but I find that I can’t concentrate like I used to be able to. Suddenly I would be thrown out of my story and my head would be filled with Nikolai. I miss him so much. At night if I have not had at least two glasses of wine I can’t sleep. Sometimes I think of Miss One Penny and Ray and Celine. I went to the shop and bought a big box of chocolates for Sophia, but then I didn’t know where to sen
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It’s cool in the car as Semyon drives us to Mayfair. I lean back against the leather and try to calm myself down. I have a plan. Well, it’s kind of a plan. Yana comes hurrying into the lofty entrance hallway as Semyon and I enter the house. “He’s in the study,” she says in a hushed voice.I thank her and walk to the study. I think I am even more nervous now than when I went to look for him in the club. Then I just assumed he would take me back. What I got was rejection and humiliation. I knock on the door and nearly die when I hear his voice say what I presume must be enter in Russian.I straighten my shoulders. I can do this. I push open the door. He is not at his desk. He is sitting on the sofa with his feet up on the low table. He turns his face towards me and freezes. The seconds tick away while we stare at each other.“What are you doing here?” His voice is strangely calm. There’s something different about him. He looks tired. Olde
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Nikolai Two Months Later That morning we wake up early. Autumn is in the air and it is still dark outside. Star stretches luxuriously. I pull back the sheets to look at her naked body. I’d punished myself for years but fate sent me Star. Made her so irresistible that it pulled me out ofmy self-imposed hell.In the gloom her pale skin glows. I reach out a hand and caress her smooth hip. She looks precious. Beyond anything I own or could want. I need her to know it. If I die tomorrow, I will only be at peace if she knows it.“I want to show you something,” I say. “What?”“Get dressed in your riding clothes. I want to show you my brother’s grave.”Her face changes. Fear flickers in her eyes. I kept her in a state of insecurity. That flash of fear. That is what I need to destroy.“Are you sure?” she whispers. I smile gently. “Yes. It’s time.”We go downstairs in the silence of the house. A
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ReeseFeeling happy, ridiculously so, I put my key in the door and push it open. It’s been a week since I moved in with Drake and I’m still floating on a cloud of joy. The apartment is quiet. Drake is out visiting with his agent about a sponsorship deal for anew sneakers company. He’s glad to be back training again, even though he comes home every night exhausted. A couple of times he tried to sneak me into the locker rooms again, in the hopes of re- enacting our kinky first-time meeting, but we’ve had no luck so far. There have always been people around. Sometimes I wonder how fate works. How easily I got in and found him alone the first time, but now it’s almost impossible to find a moment when it is quiet.I dump my keys on the side table and kick off my formal shoes. I’ve just returned from an interview at one of the colleges I hope to attend in the new year. I’ve always been wary about pursuing something away from Dad and Morgan, for fear that they would need me, or that somethi
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ReeseAnother morning, another unfamiliar place for me to wake up in, but this time, the fact I’m somewhere new doesn’t throw me. In fact, it sends a shiver of joy down my back. I turn over to see Drake lying next to me, fast asleep and sprawled across the luxurious covers ofhis massive bed.It was last night that I officially moved into his apartment in the city. His place is great because it’s less than an hour’s drive from where Morgan is staying so I can be closer to her. I don’t know how much longer Morgan must stay in the hospital, but I hope she will be discharged soon. Now that we have found out her condition is treatable, I can’t wait for her to start living her life again.Drake drove down to pick up all my stuff, and we took a road trip across the country together. It’s something I will remember forever. It was like a dream. The sun was shining, and the wind was in my hair. We talked, we laughed, we ate, and when we just couldn’t keep our hands off each other anymore, we s
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DrakeT he hospital doors slide open smoothly in front of us. Reese squeezes my hand. I glance down at her, and possessive pride bubbles inside me. This is my woman and only mine. It makes me sad that she must go through this pain. Thank God, I’m here tosupport her through it. She’ll never have to deal with anything like this on her own again. “Are you ready?”“Almost,” I say, and wrapping one arm around her waist and the other in her long hair, I pull her towards me. Caught off guard, she gasps and I claim her open mouth. Her fingers come up and grasp at my shirt trying to pull me closer, closer, and closer still. Her curvy body pushes into mine, molding herself against my hardness. All the passion and fervor I feel for her comes to the fore and all I want to do is pull her into a quiet corner and fuck her so hard she screams, but I don’t. I pull back and look into her eyes. They are glazed and heavy-lidded. Her lips are red, swollen, and slightly parted, as she takes short, quick b
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ReeseWhen I open my eyes the next morning, it takes me a couple of seconds to realize where I am. I blink at the watery light streaming in through the bay windows. The chipped paint on the panes remind me.Drake. The cheap hotel.I snap upright in bed and look around, scanning the room for him, but I don’t see him. There is an indentation in the pillow, but the sheets are cold. Memories of last night come tumbling back. Drake couldn’t get enough of my body. Sinking into me again and again. Like he couldn’t get deep enough. Like a beast. Like he hadn’t fucked in years. Surely, he hasn’t run out on me in a crummy hotel in the middle of nowhere?So why do I feel this creeping sense of dread?What if everything he whispered, roared, and growled last night was a lie? A technique to get what he wanted. What if all he ever wanted from me was a night of sex so he could move on already. The sudden sense of loss and hurt is so acute it makes me feel sick to my stomach. Until I hear his voice c
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DrakeI drive fast, faster than I should in someone else’s car, faster than I’ve driven in a long time. I just want to put as much distance as possible between me and my parents’ betrayal. I trusted them completely. Fuck, they didn’t even let me believe Santa Clausexisted because it was wrong to cheat kids! They robbed me of that innocent fantasy and lied about this massive deal!My mind flashes with memories of my childhood. All kinds of images slam into my head. Everything was a lie. I try to figure out if there is some way I could have known this. If I had been more vigilant, could I have put the pieces together before now? Even raging with anger, I know I still love both my parents, and I always will, but what they did to that poor woman.Unforgivable.My heart bleeds for Morgan. All those wasted years pining for me. Carefully cutting out my pictures from newspapers and magazines, and framing them all. Making a shrine for me. Watching every game. She was pale and frail. Like she
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ReeseI''m wearing out the carpet in the living room pacing back and forth when Drake re- emerges. I can’t take my eyes off him. The look on his face is unlike anything I’ve seen on anybody before. He is so livid his eyes are practically shooting sparks. His mouth isclamped tightly with steely determination, and there’s a white ring around his mouth. Uh oh, something big is about to go down. What did we expect, though, when we invited someone as hot- headed as Drake to find out that he’s been lied to his entire life?“Do you have a car?” he asks through clenched teeth.I look at him blankly for a second. A car? Then I nod quickly. “Yes.”He marches over to me, grabs my hand, and starts dragging me along with him.“What are you doing?” I protest, even though a part of me loves the feeling of his hot flesh against mine again.“Come on. I need your help.” “To do what?” I ask.“To take me to my father.”I feel a cold sensation rush up and down my body.“I need to go over there now,” he s
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DrakeI must admit this whole thing has started to give me the creeps. I was certain that it was all a scam. Fuck, I wouldn’t even have come if I didn’t want to mark Reese as my property so damn badly.To start with I’m not good at all this emotional stuff, but worse I’m not so sure anymore that it’s a scam. My bullshit-o-meter has been waiting to spot a crack, a problem in the story so that I can unravel and bring the whole thing down around them, but so far nothing. Could these three really be that good at pretending?I straighten my shoulders. Maybe this will be it. Reese was the honey trap, the Dad is the bit player, but the woman upstairs. She’s the eye of the storm.I get to the landing and find three doors, but only one is slightly ajar. I start walking towards, but before I can even knock, a woman’s voice calls from inside the room, “Drake?”I push open the door and my eyes immediately fall on a woman in a flowery nightgown. She’s sitting up in a double bed and leaning forward
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ReeseWe both stand stock-still and listen to the noises upstairs. Someone is getting out of bed, and I’ll put money on it being Dad. Surely, they can’t have heard us? Even though Dad’s hearing is poor at best and the drugs effectively knock Morgan into such a deepsleep that it is sometimes hard to deliberately wake her up, I can’t be totally sure that they have been oblivious to everything that we’ve been up to down here. All I can hope is that Drake managed to muffle most of my noises by stuffing my panties into my mouth.I have no idea what I look like, but my face feels flushed, and my breath is still coming so fast I’m sure it must be blindingly obvious to anyone who lays eyes on me that I’ve just climaxed. Terrified that I’ll give the game away, I close my eyes and try to calm myself, but it’s hard, especially knowing that he’s right there, looking at me with more lust than I know what to do with.How am I supposed to react normally in front of my parents with a guy like this a
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DrakeI called the number that Reese left, hoping that I’d find some way to get hold of her again, but instead, I found myself talking to the lady claiming to be my real birth mother. My hackles were still up, but she was so incredibly happy to hear from me that I ended uplistening to her with a kind of detached amazement.Was it truly possible for someone to pretend that level of sweet innocence and pure joy?I guess, if you’re pulling this kind of scheme, you should go all in and pick the sweetest, kindest, most adorable little lady you can find.Obviously, I agreed to meet her. The way I figured it, I’ll walk through her door, get to the bottom of the scam, then go find Reese and finish what we started. Any screwing that happens along the way, of course, will be purely incidental.The closest airport to my hometown is a small city about an hour north of it. It is a wet, thickly fogged day, and it sets the tone for the way I feel.It’s been forever since I was back here. Usually, m
