Scandal:The Complete Series(29)

“What are you waiting for?” he says with sparkling, yet cruel eyes.

“You’re not nice,” I say.

“Are you here for nice?”

He has a point. I walk to the dining table, looking at him defiantly. My fingers undo the button on my jeans, pulling the zipper down. I take my t-shirt off and then my hands go for the clasp on my bra.

Two long strides and he wraps his arms around me from behind.

“Listen to me,” he whispers in my ear. “When I fucked you with my fingers at the park, I controlled myself. I made sure I gave you pleasure without fear. Yesterday, when I fucked you from behind, I held back again. I didn’t spank you, I didn’t shove my whole length up into you while tugging at your hair. Today I’ll take you like I want, do you understand?”

I get a bit lightheaded as his words arouse me and irritate me at the same time. I linger between two conflicting desires: slap him hard or beg him to take me like he wants. Jaxson Cole has awakened the primitive in me and I’m not sure I can ever lock it away again.

“Are you going to fuck me or talk all day?” I say with a slap of his groin area. Two can play at this game.

“Spread,” he says in a low commanding voice.

I do as he says, spreading my legs apart, waiting for his hand to dive inside my jeans. Instead, he turns me around to face him, resting his forehead against mine. “Don’t let me play games with you,” he says. “Not unless you’re really in the mood for one. I’m spoiled this way but you can always tell me no.”

This man confuses me so much sometimes, I really want to smack him across the face. “Once you figure out what you want, Jax, just take it.”

“I want to break you down bit by bit until all you can think about is my cock deep inside of you.”

I want to tell him it’s not going to happen even though it already has.

“You don’t know what I am but you will,” he says.

“Oh, I know what you are, Jaxson Cole. You’re the candy that every girl wants, the kind with too much sugar that’s bad for the heart.”

“Your words won’t save you,” he says, leaning in for a kiss.

A loud banging on the door interrupts our embrace. “What the fuck?” Jaxson says as there’s immediately a second banging, louder and more persistent than the first.

“Police, open the door.” The unmistakable timbre of Rick Esposito’s slightly nasal voice throws me into a new state of confusion. Is he here for me? Does he know I lied to him? Did he have me followed? But why would he do that? No, it doesn’t make sense.

I look up at Jaxson’s pale face, his features hardened and stiff like he has just seen a ghost.

“Get out the back door,” he says. “Through the kitchen.”

I shake my head. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Jaxson pats down his hair as I quickly put my shirt back on. By the time he opens the door, he has regained his usual composure. It’s almost as if he put on a mask.

“How can I help you?” he says.

I barely have a moment to catch a glimpse of Rick Esposito and two more police officers when Rick produces a pair of handcuffs.

“Jaxson Cole you’re under…”

He stops when his eyes fall on me as I stand quietly in the back of the room. For a moment, he remains silent, a shocked expression on his face. I walk to the door and Esposito’s eyes follow my every move.

“What’s going on?” I say.

Rick seems to be at a loss for words, searching within his head for a way to recover his ability to speak.

He does eventually and redirects his attention at Jax. “Jaxson Cole, you are under arrest for the murder of Madison Starr.” He grabs Jax, turning him around to get his hands handcuffed behind his back. “Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney…”

“What the hell?” I yell, feeling the fury growing in my chest. Is Esposito fucking joking?

“Please, stay out of the way, Miss Wade,” Esposito says coldly.

“The hell I am.” I take two steps, standing so close to him that I literally get in his face, forcing him to hear what I have to say. “Are you out of your mind? Jaxson has an alibi and you know it. He’s totally innocent. Why are you doing this?”

“Ella, stop,” Jaxson says. “It will all be cleared up soon enough.”

Jaxson is trying to calm me but all I can hear is the sound of the furious blood in my ears. I shove Esposito’s shoulders. Not once, twice. He barely feels it. He remains immobile and distant. “Is it because I turned you down?” The words come out of my mouth without my intending them.