Cadeon looked up and stared at her.
“Violet.”
Olivia turned to see who he was talking to. Violet felt frozen in place. Cadeon wasn’t her man. She was just the woman he made sleep with him, in his bed. Whom he touched at night and during the day.
“I should go,” Violet said. She moved down the last flight of stairs, shocked as Cadeon moved away from the woman. He was not giving her the courtesy of his time; he was brushing her off as if she were nothing, not a woman with feelings.
“Cadeon, let the girl go.”
“For fuck’s sake, woman, get the fuck out of my life,” he shouted.
Violet opened his front door which he closed immediately. “Let me go.”
“No. I told you. You’re mine, and I’m not letting you go.” His hands rested either side of her, trapping her.
He took her arm and led her back. Grabbing Olivia by the arm, Violet watched the scuffle which took place. Cadeon got the upper hand and threw the woman out of his house, slamming the door. Violet stared at the spot where she’d been begging for his attention. Her thoughts upstairs as she faced herself in the mirror came back to haunt her. Giving herself to him could be the biggest mistake of her life. He walked back into the room, his face red with anger.
“I’m sorry you had to witness that.”
“Who was she?” she asked, frowning at how calm she sounded. While staring in the mirror she’d thought about giving her body to him, only to witness the bitter way he treated his ex-lovers.
“An old friend.”
“By old friend you mean girlfriend?”
“No. I wouldn’t go that far.”
“But you slept with her?”
“Not the way I do with you.”
Her anger rose with his evasion of her questions. “Did you sleep with her?”
He stared at her. “I fucked her.”
Anne walked inside the room. Violet turned away from him, struggling to breathe.
“Not now, Anne,” Cadeon said.
“I hope you’re not taking your problems out on the girl.”
“You can take the rest of the day off.”
Violet kept her back to them. She wanted nothing to do with the way he was speaking to Anne. Closing her eyes, she tried to fight the pain in her chest. Cadeon was older than she. He had a past, a much longer past than hers.
“Olivia was a long time ago. I never slept with her. It was purely physical.”
“You must have made an impression to have her begging like that.”
“I take pride in making love to a woman, Violet. I’m no monk, and I’m not going to insult you and pretend that I was.”
“I’m very much aware of how skilled you are. I mean, take a look at me. I was in your office for two minutes, and now I’m all but living with you. I can’t go back to my house, and every time you put your hands on me I give in. I’m nothing but a slut.”
He took a step toward her, and she moved back a step. “Don’t ever call yourself that.”
“How can I not when a woman you’ve been intimate with was here begging and you throw her out? What makes me any different?”
“Listen to me, Violet. She meant nothing to me. None of the women before you meant anything.”
She stared at him in shock. For the past two weeks she’d been sharing his bed, allowing him to touch her as she touched him.
“Once you’re done with me you’ll just throw me away. Is that it? I’m only good while I present you with a challenge?” she asked as tears fell from her eyes.
Cadeon didn’t have the best business reputation, but she’d never seen him be cruel. They way he dealt with that woman, an ex-lover, had been nothing but cruel.
“No, you’re different.”
“How?” she screamed. The words he kept repeating going off inside her head like a large red flashing light. “Why am I different? What makes me so special? I’ve done nothing in my life. I’ve been nowhere. Whereas you’ve known women who’ve lived their life and yet you want me to believe I’ve got something they don’t?”
“I don’t know how to explain it to you,” he said.
“What’s to explain? You sleep with women – no, forgive me – you fuck women, and when you’re bored you get rid of them as if they mean nothing. I’m not staying around to become a hopeless fool who falls at your feet.” Violet went to move past him, but he caught her before she could get to far away from him.
“I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life, but I refuse to add you to the list. I’m not letting you go.”
“I don’t want to stay here.” She lied. In the short time of being with him there was nowhere else in the world she wanted to be.