Page 311 of Filthy Elites

“It’s not like I didn’t already know that, but…” I shake my head, looking up at him. He’s still holding my face. “Please don’t be fucking with me, Dare. Don’t jerk me around and make a fucking fool of me.”

“I am not jerking you around,” he promises. “I am on your side, regardless of how it might feel sometimes. I do not want to fuck anyone else. You’re the only person I want to be with.”

I want to believe him, but I’m not sure I do. “You liked her video today.”

“Yes, I did.”

I blink, a little surprised he doesn’t even act annoyed or guilty in any way about being called out on it. “So, you hardly ever engage with her content and now, after last night, you’re liking her video of you guys hanging out together and her calling you her boyfriend? What am I supposed to think of that?”

“That if I’m doing something I ordinarily don’t, I must have a reason.”

That knocks a bit of the wind out of my sails. “Well, I did figure you had a reason,” I mutter, dropping his gaze because I already know he won’t be impressed with my crazy girl rationale. “I thought you had a guilty conscience and wanted to show her some attention after spending the night with me.”

He shakes his head very slightly. “I don’t get those, and I’ve never cared to protect her feelings. Anae posting that picture of you went off-script. I have her under control again, but now I’m aware that she has started perceiving you as a big enough threat that she’s acting on it, so I have to move carefully. She’s more impulsive than I am, so there’s a very good possibility she will veer off course again if she feels provoked. I have to offer small reassurances right now to make her think I’m not going anywhere. Nothing overboard that would alarm her because it’s out of character for me, but I have to keep up appearances to keep you safe. I cannot dump her. I understand I could be lying about all this just to keep you on the side, but I’m not. That’s why I’ve asked you to trust me implicitly. I know it’s not the easiest thing to do, but it’s the only way this works.”

He’s asking a lot and I’m not sure I’ll be able to do it. There’s a lot already on my plate, and what he wants me to do is effectively ignore the reality I’m seeing with my own two eyes and trust whatever he tells me instead.

That seems crazy.

“Aubrey.” He flexes his hand on my jaw, forcing me to look back up at him. “Listen to me. Anae will try to get under your skin. She’ll do whatever she has to do to accomplish that end. She’ll make posts that hurt. She’ll lie to you. She wants to scare you off without doing something to alienate me, and as long as that’s where we have her, we’re fine. If she begins to sense she’s losing control, that’s what will drive her to go off-script. Let her see a reaction if that’s what she wants, but don’t let it truly get to you. I’m asking you to effectively stop thinking for yourself when it comes to this, stop trying to make sense of it. You won’t be able to. You’re not like her. You don’t think the way we do. Trust that I am looking out for your best interests, and let me handle this.”

I smile faintly at the absurdity of it all. “’Ignore the reality in front of your eyeballs, don’t question itorme, and let me do all the thinking for you.’ Anything else, master?”

He smirks, backing me up against the wall. He keeps space between our bodies so our clothes don’t touch, but he leans in to kiss me. Playfully, he says, “Exactly. Now, is that so hard?”

“Do you want a girlfriend or a robot?” I mutter against his intoxicating mouth.

“I want you,” he states, making my tummy flutter. “If there’s no imminent threat, you’re free to notice all the reality you want, but in a scenario like this, I need you to stay out of the way. I need you to trust me and let me handle it. Let me protect you.”

I sigh. “For a girl whose father dipped out amid the worst time of her life, you’re asking for a lot.”

“I know,” he says gently, caressing my cheek and leaving a soft, tender kiss at the corner of my mouth. “I’m not him. I’ll never abandon you the way he did.”

He may be the least trustworthy human I’ve ever encountered, but that promise is like a salve over a wound I didn’t even know I had. Gazing up at him, vulnerability in my eyes, I ask, “Promise?”

He nods and leans in to give me another kiss. “I promise.”

TWENTY-SEVEN

Aubrey

My mood improves markedlyafter our encounter in the bathroom.

Firstly, because Dare said all the right things.

Secondly, because he followed it up by covering my mouth, sliding his hand down the front of my jeans, and fingering me until I could scarcely remember my own name.

The post-orgasm buzz gets me through his shower, and when he comes out in fresh, clean clothes, he comes into the kitchen where I’m getting our dinner ingredients together and wraps his arms around my waist from behind. He’s so much taller he towers over me, but I’ve never felt safer than I do in his tight embrace.

I didn’t intend on all the PDA in front of my mom since I didn’t even know what to call him, but Dare isn’t shy. He bends to kiss my cheek and the side of my face as I move the sourdough bread across the counter. He kisses the corner of my mouth and I giggle—actually giggle.

I’m smitten again, and maybe the forecast is foggy, but I like not being able to see the danger. If he’s intent on killing it before it gets to me, do I really need to?

It’s nice to be light and happy again.

It’s nice to feel confident that he has my back.

“So, Chef Aubrey, what are we making for dinner tonight?”

---