Break Me Slowly(38)

“I see you have a weak spot.” He smiled.

I begged for mercy and he relented. He eased himself down on me, his face a few inches from mine, and brushed a lock of hair from my brow.

“You’re so beautiful.” He trailed his finger along my jaw and the scars that marred it. “All of you.” He kissed my neck. “Especially when you laugh.”

I smiled up at him. “You realize how unfair this is, right? You’ve found my tickling weakness. I have yet to find a single weakness of yours.”

He looked at my face as though he was staring at Utopia. “You’re closer to my weakness than you think.”

He kissed me and I melted for him. Lifting my shirt up and exposing my bare thighs, he shoved his bottoms down and was inside me instantly. There, surrounded by Adam Kinkade in every possible way, I let myself fall even further into the abyss.

~

“Thanks for coming to get Simon today,” Tim said as he rummaged through the papers on his desk. “I need to close this sale and Grace is out shopping. She’ll pick him up in about an hour.”

“It’s no problem.” I ruffled Simon’s hair and tried to keep the distaste out of my voice. I loved spending time with Simon, but hated conversing with the man in front of me.

“Simon, go see if Sue has some candy.” Tim motioned to his secretary and Simon went running.

My uncle’s dark gaze landed on me. I balled my fingers into fists at my sides and focused on keeping the anxiety from rising. I wasn’t surprised he’d figured out a way to get me alone. He knew I’d come. All he had to do was say, “Simon,” and I’d be there.

“What is the situation with you and Adam Kinkade?”

I almost choked on my own spit. “I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”

His desk was between us. He leaned forward, teeth clenched. “It is when our companies are competing.”

Ah. Now it made sense. Adam did have a lot of real estate in Chicago and his reach, wealth, and power far exceeded my uncle Tim’s.

“Well?” He glared at me.

“Well, what? You guys do what you do. I’m not a part of your business dealings.”

“What the hell are you doing with him, anyway? You realize he dates models, right?” I tried not to let that sting as much as it did. “What does a guy like that want with you?”

I clenched my teeth. It wasn’t my anxiety I was worried about anymore, it was my rage.

“Obviously this guy has other motives.”

“You think Adam is using me to get to you somehow?” Adam didn’t need to hide behind anyone. I scoffed and turned to leave.

“Hey,” Tim called after me. “Do you even know anything about him? The guy is unstable. He has big fucking issues.”

I faced him fully and crossed my arms over my chest. “We all have issues.”

“Does he know about yours?”

I gritted my teeth. This was negative reinforcement at its finest. My aunt and Tim had always treated me as if I were my mother. Except when he wasn’t busy eyeing me and using every excuse to either grope or degrade me. Once I had thought the same thing about myself, too. Thought maybe I was just like my mother. But little by little, that fear was fading.

“I’m fine. He’s fine. There’s no need to concern yourself,” I snapped.

“Adam Kinkade is not fine. He’s dangerous.”

“No, he’s not.”

“Oh? Did you know that his own stepfather kicked him to the curb because Adam almost killed him?”

I recalled the article I had read. It had said that after Adam’s mother died, his stepfather had raised him for a couple of years, but then he went into foster care for “unknown reasons.”

No. No way would Adam try to kill someone. I have stared white rage in the face. I knew what it looked like, what it felt like, to be in the hands of someone who wanted to kill you. Adam wasn’t that way.

I didn’t dignify Tim’s accusation with a response. I walked out, picked up Simon at reception, and took him with me. These days, the only thing I liked about my aunt and uncle was that little boy…and that was about it.

~

Grace had just picked up Simon. I hung his latest drawing of a kangaroo on my refrigerator and grabbed an apple. Biting into my late snack, I powered up my laptop and went to work on my thesis. About an hour into it, my phone rang.

Kink.

“Well, hello there.”

“Katelyn.” His tone was dry and quick and made me feel like I was in trouble. “I’d like to see you in my office immediately.”

“Ah…why?”

“We need to have a discussion.”

“O-okay. I’ll be there in about twenty minutes.”