And the last thing that I wanted him to know was that I was looking forward to seeing him again.
No, Greyson Fitzgerald was the kind of man who chewed people up and spit them out. That was exactly who he was. And to see him standing there, in front of me, brooding only made me angry.
“I don’t know, Jo. Can you help me?” he asked as he stepped into the room, occupying the space that I’d used to buffer myself from the rest of the world. He was right up against me, staring at me, his eyes bloodshot.
He looked tired and angry and desperate. And that was scary.
“What do you need?” I asked. His eyes lingered over my body for a long time then flicked back up to my face. He turned away from me and looked around the little studio apartment. I had a feeling he wasn’t going to answer that one.
My father put me in an apartment when I got into Graduate school, saying that he wanted me to have my own independence. I knew the truth; he wanted to have his own independence. No one to look over him while he made his mistakes.
So he had my uncle put me up in this little apartment, and honestly? I went happily. Because I wanted to be independent. Live my own life. I wanted to be able to come and go as I pleased and not answer to anyone.
That was my part in his downward spiral. I stepped back, and I let it happen. All for my own happiness. The happiness which I wasn’t willing to give up.
So being here, staring at a man who stood in my sacred space, it was making me edgy. I put a hand on my hip and looked at him.
“What are all these books?” he asked.
“I study the history of the American industrial age,” I said as he leafed through it. “Particularly the role of women in it.”
“Do you? So you go to school for, what, history?” he asked.
I crossed my arms, “I’m working on my Ph.D. at the University of Baltimore Maryland.”
“Oh, fancy girl?”
“Not really.” It wasn’t easy. I commuted into classes, and they were overwhelming. When I wasn’t working I was studying and writing, paper after paper. I didn’t need a teacher’s assistantship, but I still never had enough time.
“What are you doing today?” he asked suddenly as he turned and looked at me. I had no idea what this had to do with my original question.
“I have a paper I need to write,” I tried to give him an excuse. Any excuse to get him out of my apartment. He was making my breath hitch and my palms sweat with every second he was around.
I didn’t want to be attracted to a man like this, didn’t want him here, so if I willed him away I could get back to my life.
“Can you do it later?” he asked. I knew it wasn’t going to be that easy.
I thought for a moment, and then I nodded. “Yes, why?”
“I want to take you out,” his eyes flashed. “I have some errands to run in your neck of the woods and I wanted to see you. Come with me.”
“What?” I asked, stunned. I hadn’t expected him to come here for anything other than a booty call. That I could resist, at least temporarily. I could turn him away. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”
I didn’t know if I could control myself around him. I was fighting the urge to relive the other night as it was.
“Get your coat. I want to take you out.” He grinned, the tension gone from his face.
I grabbed my coat and followed him out of the apartment. “Where?”
“Nowhere special, not really.” He put his hand on the small of my back and guided me through the hallway. “Just a few errands.”
With just a touch, he was able to force my mind to think of nothing but him. The way he touched me, the way he made me feel two nights ago. It all came rushing back to me with just his touch.
I would’ve followed him anywhere at that moment just to keep him touching me. This was what I was hoping to avoid. We walked out the doors and down to a very sleek looking black sedan.
“This yours?” I asked. I shouldn’t have been surprised when I saw just how nice the luxury vehicle was. It suited him.
“Get in,” he said as he opened the door for me. I slid into the passenger’s side and let out a sigh. It was the most comfortable thing I’d ever sat in.
He got in wordlessly and drove until we were at Marley Station Mall, a broken down mall that was a living relic of the nineties. It still had the chrome on the signs and the neon light that highlighted Glen Burnie’s industry.
I hadn’t been in the mall since I was a teen. There were nicer malls just a twenty-minute drive away, and this one smelled of stale smoke and old walls.
“The old mall?” I asked.
“I need to make a stop first. You can wait, or come with me.” He looked at me, and I blushed. I felt like he saw underneath my clothes every time he cast his eyes on me. Each peek my way turned me bright red. It was because he saw it all. My entire body had been bare to him, and he devoured it.
What was worse was that I wanted him again. I spent the entire ride uncomfortable, squirming in my seat, my body hot with him so close to me.
My mind flashed to the way he moaned as he slid his cock into me. The look on his face, it was like he was getting a hit of a really good drug.
“I’ll come in,” I said as I got out. The muggy heat of late summer hit me hard as we walked in the building. The Bay area was known to be humid, but this was insane.
“Warm today,” I said.
“Yeah, I had to let the workers go home early, couldn’t keep the factory cool enough.”
“You do that?” I asked.
“What? Show mercy? Yeah, I do that. It’s not safe, don’t want the union coming after me, and if I let them out when it’s like that, they appreciate me.”
I nodded. It made good business sense. He seemed to know what he was about like he actually cared about it. I took it all in.
“So what are we doing here? I’m pretty sure you shop down at the fine establishments at Marley's Station.” This mall was delightfully blue collar, and I relished that about it, but he looked like he only shopped in places that served the absolute best. This place certainly didn’t have the kind of shops he wanted. “Do you need socks?” I asked, smiling.
“What? No, seeing a friend about some rent. I own the mall.” I bit my lip and eyed him. He just laughed.
“Well, I don’t own it, my father owns it. I just manage it, and I take care of the business around it. You know, a part of the family business.”
I shirked away from him a little, remembering exactly who he was and what he was a part of. I couldn’t forget that. I couldn’t ever forget that. It wasn’t safe. He wasn’t just some guy that I could get to know. He was dangerous.
But the way he was looking at me now just made me sad. His eyes narrowed, and he realized what he said, what it meant.
“Is my family a problem for you?” he asked.
I thought about it for a minute; then I shook my head. His family was as much of a problem as mine was, so why should it matter what he was, what he did? Chances were, no matter what he did, no matter who he was, my family had done or was the same thing.
“I don’t think so.”
“You work for my family; you know how it is.”
I nodded.
“Why do you work for us anyway?”
He didn’t know? Didn't he know who I was? I bit my lip and looked away from him. “My dad gambled. He owed you all. I’m paying it back in service.”
“That’s very generous of my father. He usually doesn’t do that.”
I nodded, “Michael Mactavish worked it out.”
It was the truth, but I didn’t tell him why. He didn’t need to know who I was. Who I was connected to. At least not yet.
I didn’t want the knowledge of who I was to change the way he treated me.
We stopped at the top floor where an old store had been converted into a gym. Its open doors exposed everyone who was working out to the shoppers and window-watchers. It wasn’t a gym for bored homemakers or busy professionals, no, this was a boxing gym. The kind that had bags in the back and a ring right in the center of the old converted store.
“What is this place?” I asked as we walked in.
“A friend’s,” he said as he walked up to the counter. “Vinny here?” he asked a young man who nodded.
“I’ll get him, he’s in the back.” The kid practically sprinted to the end of the store down to a small door that must’ve led to an office. After a moment a large man emerged, his eyes hard as he looked around from one boxer to another.
“Greyson, thanks so much for the meeting at the store.” The two of them clasped hands and Greyson grinned. “Oh, you brought a lady friend, to what do I owe this pleasure?” his eyes sparkled.
“Jo,” I said as I shook his hand.
“Jo, we have women kickboxers and MMA artists if you ever want to come by. I’ll set you up real good.”
I smiled. “I might just do that.”
I’d always wanted to learn how to defend myself.
“Been treating you well?” Greyson asked.
Vinny nodded. “Working me hard. Been doing well, though. Here is your rent. And a little bit extra to put towards that start up loan.”
“I told you; that was a gift.” Greyson frowned.
“I know you did, but I pay my debts. No gifts when we are in business together, huh?” I liked Vinny. He seemed completely respectable.