Page 13 of Anathema
I sighed deeply, finally having the space to breathe and relax without him looming over me. I hugged my broken laptop tightly in my arms.
“We won’t work, Derek. You know that as well as I do. The sooner you accept that as the truth, the sooner you will get over—” I gestured my hand between us. “Whatever this is.”
He didn’t move from where I had left him. Instead, Derek just crossed his arms and gave me a smug smile.
“That’s where you’re wrong, Lex. And I’m going to prove it to you.” Firm determination burned behind his warm brown eyes.
Derek could chase me all he wanted.
In fact… I welcomed the challenge.
Chapter 5
Derek
Alexisstormedoutofthe office, and I admired the view of her ass as it sashayed its way into the elevator. She flipped me off as the doors closed, and I chuckled, biting my tongue to tame my wide smile. She was already perfect, and I hadn’t even had the opportunity to stick my dick inside her yet. I could only imagine what she would feel like wrapped around my cock.
That was the only line I wouldn’t cross with Alexis. I wanted her desperately, but I would never force her into anything she didn’t want for herself. Granted, deep down, below all the hatred and running, I knew she wanted me; I could see it in her beautiful, ice-blue eyes, but for some reason, she was fighting herself just as much as she was fighting me.
She’d come around, though, eventually, and I would make sure of that.
Waiting would make the reward of her taste that much sweeter on my tongue.
Adjusting myself in my jeans and taking a seat behind my desk, I resumed what I had been working on before I was distracted by her walking through the empty floor.
The office cleared out early today, which was not unusual for a Monday. I decided to stay late to work on the assignment Dean had dropped on my desk this morning. It was nice to have the entire floor to myself, peaceful and quiet, while I dissected the details surrounding Anathema and attempted to devise a plan of execution.
Here was the problem I was facing: Infiltrating an organization, group, or cult—whatever they were calling themselves—was not easy. Not to mention, Anathema earned their namesake in the type of work they performed. And while they were unknown to most, those of us who knew of them knew to stay the fuck out of their business.
Conrad, assigning us a case like this was a death sentence. I didn’t know what he was thinking when he allowed this to become more than a simple write-off, an effortless shrug of the shoulders before tossing it into the trash. But he called the shots here, and this would be a huge mistake on his part. He knew better than this.
Dean had been messaging me non-stop with ideas of how we could potentially infiltrate Anathema for information, but it would be near impossible without a third party’s involvement. We would need someone who was already inside and working for them if we were going to get anywhere.
Anathema was as exclusive as it got when it came to savage mercenaries-for-hire. Attempting to get even a single foot in the door could take years to accomplish, which was time we didn’t have if their plans were already in motion, not to mention, they also performed thorough background checks on their prospective members, and if they ever discovered we worked for the CIA, we were cooked.
Working with someone already on the inside would help us skip the line and give us direct access to the information we needed. The hard part was finding that specific individual.
What could they have planned that was so big it has caught the attention of the CIA and required us to put our lives on the line in an attempt to stop whatever it is?
I scratched the back of my head in thought. They would have to plan something that would affect the entire world, and it could be anything. They had a wide range of talents among their members, allowing them to do everything, including the impossible.
Murder, mayhem, a global shutdown… I had a few ideas to consider, but not one was worth risking Dean’s or my life to prevent.
I growled with frustration, slamming my fist down on the desk.
I needed fresh air; I needed to get the hell out of here.
This case gave me a headache, and I had only been on it for nine hours.
Blowing out a breath, I stood and headed towards the elevator bay. There were better things I could be doing right now instead of being chained to my desk all evening.
AsIexitedontothe street, I pulled out my phone to see where Alexis had run off to. She was pissed off with me as it was, but I needed to send my mind elsewhere tonight. She was my beautiful escape from reality; if only I could fuck her instead of my hand to the mere thought of her. An imagination could only get you so far before your body and mind started craving the real thing. And I had been craving her for months.
When I got to my truck, the app had loaded and pinpointed her current location for me, but she wasn’t where I had hoped she would be. She was at that same fucking rundown apartment I sat outside of this morning.Why the hell was she back there again?
Adding to my already shit mood, I climbed into my truck and drove to the address, parking a block away like before and waiting for her to leave—at least, I hoped she would. If she stayed the night, I was going to bust down every door and then drag her ass out of there. I had no right to do it, but I had every right to lay claim to the woman I desired most.
There was a gnawing feeling in the back of my mind that kept telling me she was sleeping with someone, and this was where he lived. I couldn’t see any other reason why she would have started coming here more and more frequently as of late.
