The Private Serials Box Set(33)

"I've been lost for so long, Preston. It's scary to all of a sudden be  front and center, experiencing things for the first time with someone  new." I inhaled, trying to find my next words. "And I did like what you  did to me, after I got over the initial shock of it all. I'm sorry if I  insinuated it was forced, it wasn't. Highly discouraged, perhaps," I  said, a smile tilting the corner of my mouth upward.

"I'm not going to hurt you."

"That's not a promise you can make to me."

"Perhaps not. But I can make it to myself. All I've ever asked you for was your trust."

"And my panties," I giggled, finally feeling the pressure of our argument falling away.

"Lena, I'm serious." His other hand came up and both were now on my  face. "If I know you trust me, and you know I'll always protect you,  then there's nothing else to discuss."

I looked him deep in his eyes, which always reminded me of chocolate,  trying for the life of me to make the right decision. Trying to decide  the course of my life in a parking garage, pushed up against a man's  car, who had my panties tucked in his front pocket.

I leaned my forehead against his again and brought my hands to his chest. "Don't make me regret this."

"Regret what?" he said, his voice full of hope.

"This. Us. Moving forward, together."

His eyes lit up and his mouth found mine. He wasted no time taking the  kiss deep, his tongue taking wide and delicious sweeps through my mouth.  He growled as his hands moved down to wrap around my neck and his hips  pressed into mine. I was reminded, again, that I wasn't wearing panties.

"Not here," I whispered against his lips, having met my limit on  exhibitionism for one night. He kissed me again, softer this time, less  needy. When he pulled away, there was a handsome smile on his face that  made him look younger somehow, as if my agreeing to living with him had  altered him.

"Let's go home, then." His smile only grew with his words.

"Let's," I agreed.





Chapter Eight



The next morning, I was awoken by the vibration of my cell phone from  across the room. It was still in my purse, which had been flung to the  floor before I had been flung on the bed. I hadn't been allowed to leave  the bed for hours after, as Preston made it his mission to make me come  as many times as possible in just as many positions.

I was surprised the phone wasn't dead, but ambled slowly to my purse to  see who had the nerve to bother me so early. It was a text from Derrek.

**Meet me at the house at eight am. Come alone and tell no one. Your future hangs in the balance. Make the right choice.**



When I walked into the house, I knew Derrek was there. I could feel his  smarmy presence making the air in the house dark and dank. I placed my  purse on the hall tree by the door and took my jacket off, laying it  over my purse.

"Lena, is that you?" Derrek's voice echoed through the house as if it  were empty. It wasn't, of course, all our belongings were still there,  but the house was empty. There was no family living there any longer, no  warm feelings, and no life. It was just a very expensive storage locker  for all the physical representations of a life we were both desperately  trying to leave behind.

I didn't answer him but I did follow his voice. I wasn't surprised at  all when it led me to his office. When I saw him sitting at his desk,  for the slightest moment I was struck with how handsome he looked. He'd  always appeared powerful to me, always seemed as if he was in charge,  and I knew that had attracted me to him. But just as quickly as my mind  noticed the things about him I found appealing, it was remembering all  the things I'd learned in the last few weeks that made my stomach roil.  On the outside, he looked like the perfect package, but on the inside, I  knew he was rotten.

"Lena, I'm glad you got my message and decided to meet with me." He  steepled his fingers in front of his face, his eyes roaming up and down  my body, taking me in. I held back a disgusted shiver; his lingering  glare making me nauseous.

"What do you want, Derrek?" I asked, not trying to hide my annoyance at being beckoned by him.

"Take a seat. I think it's time we had a real discussion." I held his  glare for a moment, not sure I wanted to follow any instruction he threw  at me. I decided, however, that I wanted this ‘discussion' over as soon  as possible, so I moved to sit in the club chair opposite his desk.  Once I was seated I laced my fingers together and set my hands in my  lap.

"Lena," he started, leaning back in his chair. "I've had a lot of fun  over the last couple of weeks playing this game with you, but I think  it's time it came to an end. Although, now, I wish it weren't the truth,  I married a smart woman and I am tiring of watching you play dumb. The  game was entertaining in the beginning, but it's becoming a burden, so I  suggest we end it. Now."

I blinked at him, not letting my face give anything away.

"I'm not really sure what you're referring to, Derrek."

"Really? You're still going to play dumb? I would have pegged you  differently. Surely you want to tell me off, give me what-for. I know  you have things you want to say to me."

I still kept quiet.

"Fine. Have it your way, although my way would have been much more fun."  He pulled a sheet of paper from a folder sitting on his desk, flipped  it around, and slid it toward me with a pen. "This is a contract  explaining that you agree to a divorce, leaving me everything, and you  will not contest the divorce proceedings or file any further suit to  gain any monetary or physical belongings gained during our silly,  pathetic excuse for a marriage."

I took a deep breath in and held it. If I let it out, so many words and insults would come with it.

"Furthermore, it states you still agree to the hundred-thousand-dollar  penalty for the adultery you committed many, many times over the course  of our marriage."

"You're more delusional than I previously thought if you, even for one  moment, think I'm going to pay you a hundred grand. You cheated, Derrek.  You have a whole other family waiting in the wings. You strung me along  for years."

"Where's your proof, darling?"

"Fuck you."

"No, thanks. We've tried that and it was lacking, terribly."

"You're crazy. You've got just as much proof as I do. Call your lawyer.  We'll deal with this in court." I stood up and moved to the door, my  hands shaking with anger.

"Lena, you don't want this to go to court, trust me. You might not have proof, but I do. Damn good proof, too."

I turned back to him sharply, my hair whipping around my shoulder, and  saw him slide another paper across his desk toward me. I walked to the  edge of the desk and picked up the paper, flipping it over.

My eyes focused on the photograph and my heart stopped. It stopped, then  it leapt back into action, thundering in my chest, aching and pounding.  My hand came to my mouth as it fell open, and I collapsed back into the  chair. My hand shook and the picture trembled. My lungs burned, begging  me to breathe again.

I was looking at a photo of Preston and me on the first night I'd spent  at his house, after the gala. It was a black and white photo, grainy but  still visible, and it was outstandingly damning. I was on his bed, on  my knees, my hands grasping the slats of his headboard. Preston's hand  was curled around my shoulder, his other hand rested at my waist, and  his eyes were looking down, watching his cock slam into me. His mouth  was open and he had what looked like wonder painted across his face as  he looked at our bodies joined together. My head was tilted back, mouth  gaping, and I knew the instant this picture was taken, I was crying out  in complete ecstasy. Derrek had a picture of me mid-orgasm, with another  man. In another circumstance, in another life, I would look at this  picture and think it beautiful. But in this instant, it was ugly. It  represented something ugly.         

     



 

"What do you want?" I gasped, my eyes still not leaving the photo.

"I want you to leave, with nothing, and I want you to struggle for the  rest of your life trying to pay me what you agreed to. I want you to  think of me every day and obsess over the fact that I ruined your life."

He'd reached a new level of crazy.

"Or what?"

"This picture goes viral and if you think this is the only one I have,  you're even more stupid than I could have ever imagined. I have hundreds  of pictures of you being a filthy whore, and no judge would ever look  at these pictures and believe you to be some jilted wife."

"And if I sign your paper, if I give you what you want, then what?"

"I forget you ever existed."

I thought about my life, thought about everything I'd been fighting for  in the last weeks, and everything I'd put Preston through. Suddenly, I  understood what he'd been saying all along. It wasn't worth it.  Certainly now, when not only was I on the chopping block, but Preston  too, the only sane thing I could think to do was to give it all up. To  surrender.