The Seduction 2(20)

This could be me soon. Not that I’d ever spend two hundred bucks on a pair of yoga pants, I decide. But the rest of it: the freedom, the security...

I’ve never had a safety net like that, and ever since my parents died, it’s all been on my shoulders. Rent, expenses, my job, loans. Juggling it all, just trying to get by. In one stroke of his pen, Ashcroft could have lifted all the weight from my shoulders.

And I still don’t know the reason why.

Except there’s one thing that could ruin it all. Vaughn.

I feel my body tense up at his memory, already alert, remembering the other night and how he drove me crazy. My fingers sliding frantically against my own slick nub. The steel in his tone when he ordered me to my knees with a single word. And the feel of his massive cock plunging deep into my throat, so big, I could barely breathe, sobbing over the relentless spear as his mouth devoured my pussy.

Sweet Jesus, that man makes me scream. But something was off -- after the scene back at my apartment, he took off, barely saying a word. And now it’s been almost twenty-four hours, and I still haven’t heard from him.

Usually, he’s not a man to ever back down. He still wants to possess me completely, and after the way he’s chased me, I half-expected him to be calling every five minutes. Texting, sending flowers. Doing anything it took until I surrender it all.

I check my phone. No messages.

My thumb moves to the ‘call’ button. I feel an overwhelming urge to be the one to reach out to him this time. I tell myself it’s because I need to check about Brent and the Ashcroft situation: make sure they haven’t tracked down Vaughn and learned the truth. After all, it’s not just about my job at the law firm anymore. This is the whole inheritance on the line.

But deep down, I know the truth. I can’t wait to see him again. Whatever it is that man has that sends me into such a spin, I crave more of it. I need another fix.

Suddenly reckless, I dial his number. It rings and rings, and then, voicemail.

“You’ve reached Vaughn.” His voice is sexy, even on the other end of a phone line. “You know how this shit works.”

Beep.

“Hi,” I start, feeling weirdly nervous. “It’s me. Keely.” I pull it together and make my voice calm, “It would be great to see you again. Maybe dinner--” I stop, remembering what happened the last time I made him sit through dinner. “Or not,” I add, laughing. “Unless we want to get arrested for public indecency. Either way, give me a call.”

I hang up, wondering why he hasn’t called. This isn’t like other relationships I’ve had with guys, when I’ve tried to seem like I’m in control, like I could take it or leave it whenever I like.

We both know that’s a lie.

So where are you, Vaughn? Why won’t you pick up the phone?





15

VAUGHN

“Either way, give me a call.”

Keely’s voice is teasing and flirty on my voicemail -- just the thing I can’t deal with right now.

I toss my phone down, and turn back to the computer screen. Twenty-four hours of research and strong coffee, and I wish I’d never started this damn chase again. Down the rabbit hole, with nothing but bad memories to drive me on.

New company with its sights set on success...

Ashcroft and Partners forge new path for industry...

Takeovers by Ashcroft and Partners tip them for the top..

The newspaper print-outs litter the room. Headlines that track the history of the multinational corporation back forty years, to when it was just two guys in an office in Queens, with dreams of making their mark on the world.

I stare at the photo of Ashcroft taken way back then, when he was still a young man. He’s proudly posing in front of his first new office with his arm clasped around his business partner. His friend.

My father.

Fury burns in my chest, or maybe that’s just the whiskey. Looking at that photo, you could never guess what would happen to them. How my dad would lose it all, betrayed by the one man he trusted.

How Ashcroft would destroy him, take everything from us and never look back.

I force myself to keep reading, filling in the blanks of what I already know. They started out together. College buddies, setting up shop on their own. They brought in a third partner with the cash, and soon, they expanded. Cargo, shipping -- if you had it, they’d move it.

I was just a kid when Ashcroft cut him out. I don’t know what happened, hell, even my dad couldn’t figure it out, but I remember shit getting bad at work. He’d come home late, stressed, drinking too much. They were on the verge of some big deal, that’s what he said, and he got paranoid that Ashcroft was going behind his back. Plotting to remove him from the partnership before the deal went through.