Page 42 of Almost Paradise

I try to twist my wrists from his, but he won’t let me go.

“Let go,” I say. I finally break the stare, unable to bare the intensity of his eyes for another moment. “I hate you,” I say, meaning it with every fiber of my being.

“That’s too bad, isn’t it, baby girl?” he practically whispers. I pull my head back and ram it into his chest. He pushes my back into the wall and cups my face with one of his hands. He tilts me up, and his mouth lands down on mine, kissing me with the same hunger from all those years ago.

For an instant, I kiss him back. I’m transported back to a time when the passion and heat between us was too much to bear. I could never get enough of him back then, or he of me. The kiss is punishing. My mouth is bruised, and his stubble burns my face, but I don’t care. I punish him just as much with my own kiss.

I hate myself for it. For this. For this lust that I can’t control for a man I loathe. I bite his bottom lip hard. He yelps, but he doesn’t break the kiss. He bites me back, just as hard. I moan against his mouth and push against his chest, but he won’t let me go. He grinds into me, and he’s now turned to granite. He’d take me right here against the wall if I let him. Hell, he’s done it before many, many times.

I bite him again so he can stop kissing me. He bites me back.

“Keep biting me. You should remember how much I love that.” He nibbles at my lips. “I’ll bite back and draw blood. And I’ll drink it. That’s how much I want to consume you.”

“Get off me,” I manage to say. He immediately stops the kiss, but he rests his forehead on mine and continues to pant. I manage to push away from him and move to the other side of the room.

Disgusted with myself and my actions, I say, “I will kill you. Do you hear me, Paradise? I will fucking kill you. Gut you from chin to anus after I slice your throat,” I say much calmer than I feel.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. You sound like a crazy, broken record.” He smooths his suit jacket. He sticks his hands down his pants and adjusts himself. Disgusted, I give him my back. “Nothing you haven’t seen or sucked before,” he says.

“Get the hell out of here. You make me sick.”

“Fine, but you should know that I’ve hired a team of attorneys to handle this. The best in the state. I think there are a dozen of them, and I’m paying top dollar. You have Audrey. Good luck with that. She’s been out of law school for five minutes, and she’s not capable of taking this on. I have endless funds. Endless. I’ll bury you both.” He crosses his arms as if he’s got me. I can feel tears in the back of my eyes, but there’s no way in hell I’ll let him see me cry.

“You think I won’t let you take him because I’m being petty? It’s not like that. He’s very attached to me, and he’ll be excited about going with you, but when the time comes, he won’t—"

“He will if you come too,” he finishes for me. I look away from him. The last thing on earth I want to do is start hanging out with Drake and his family. “But you can’t even give me that, can you?”

“I’ve given you as much as I’m willing to give,” I say with a dismissive wave of my hand before I give him my back.

“You think so, baby girl?” He moves quickly and puts his hands on my shoulders. “But you see? What you’re willing to give doesn’t come close to being enough.” He leans in and whispers close to my ear. “So, I’m going to have to take everything.” The low tenor of his voice and his breath against my skin gives me goosebumps.

“I don’t owe you a thing! I know you don’t understand unconditional love, but that’s what I have for my son. I’d never deny him his father. You can see him whenever you want,” I throw in. “You do see him whenever even though you abandoned him before he was born.” I turn and point my finger in his face and yell, “You don’t get to do this. No judge is going to take him from me. I’m the only parent he’s ever known. You think you’re a father now after a few weeks?”

“I know I am. You know how I know? Because it’s the law.”

“Okay. You want a fight? I’ll give you a fight. I will tell everyone what an asshole you are. I’ll tell the entire world you walked away from your unborn child because he’s black. I’ll blast those text messages all over social media and—”

He slams his hand against the wall, jolting me so much, I jump back.

“I did no such thing!” he thunders. I put a hand to my chest and step away from him. “Don’t you ever throw that in my face again!” he yells.

“Fuck you!” I yell back. “You are trying to take my son away from me. I’ll say whatever the hell I want, you entitled, elitist asshole. You’re no better than a thug. Some schoolyard bully.”

“Oh, that honor goes to your father, who assaulted me in my office last week, by the way.” I don’t know how he can go from yelling to whispering, but he does just that.

“My father wouldn’t waste his time and energy on you,” I throw back. That’s a lie. My father would do that as his way of standing up for me, but I think Drake is lying. If my father confronted him, he would have mentioned it.

He takes his phone out of his pocket, swipes a few times, and hands it to me.

“My office has video and audio. My security knows to start recording whenever I have a guest.” My breath hitches while I remember all the things we did in his office. “Don’t worry. That’s a new thing. Those times you let me bend you over my desk or you got on your knees to blow me were never recorded. Or that time you laid on the couch and spread your legs so I could eat your pussy. What did we call it? A working lunch.” He laughs at the memory as if we’re two lovers talking about old times.

I ignore his crass words and stare at the screen. He isn’t lying for once. That’s my dad, and he shoved Drake twice and tried to go after him again. If Wyatt wasn’t there, things could have been much worse. Drake looks like he would have shoved him back if Wyatt didn’t get between them.

“Your father’s a detective, isn’t he? Homicide?” he asks. His voice is so calm that the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

“Burglary,” I correct.

“Now, how do you think it would look if that got out?” He points at the phone while I watch the video again. “A police officer attacking a private citizen in his place of business? This can be all over the local news in a matter of hours.” I hand him back his phone and stare into his eyes. I don’t breathe. I don’t blink. I don’t think my heart beats while I wait to hear what he says next. “Best case, he’ll be fired. Worst case, he’ll be fired, lose his pension, and get sued. By me,” he throws in with a carefree laugh.

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