Page 7 of The Fae Menagerie
Wow. I'd never had someone throw my upbringing in my face two minutes after meeting me before. People were always too afraid I would turn on them and have them killed or something.
My family wasn't connected to the mafia. We didn't have to be. We lived on the backs of fools, people who gambled away their life savings for luck to look their way.
Love wasn't the same, was it? If it was, I was willing to bet the house on it. My mom loved my dad, and their relationshipworked. They were happy together. I'd never experienced attraction, let alone love, but I yearned for it.
Deep down, I knew my father wasn't serious about having me killed, either. My bodyguards had stopped too many attempts on my life when they could have looked the other way. At first, he'd wanted to scare me into reconsidering my life choices. Now that the heiress was married with a baby on the way, he wanted me to take the next marriage proposal, no questions asked.
"Love should be mutual," I said. "You've never fallen in love?"
"No." He glanced at me again, and the deep green of his eyes hypnotized me. I found myself leaning toward him.
"You?"
The word broke my strange obsession and reminded me of my current situation. I didn't trust him. I'd been one meeting away from solving all my family problems, and then he'd dragged me down here.
"No. It's hard to find the right person when the wrong ones keep claiming your time."
"I'm sorry," he whispered, returning his focus to his knees. They were also beautiful, long and lean, where mine were knobby. He'd wrapped the weird shirt he wore around his thighs. Not that it mattered. I'd already seen his cock. It was longer and thicker than I'd expected for his build, though not big enough to hide the largest set of balls I'd ever seen.
I cleared my throat to keep from thinking about his genitals. If history served, I wouldn't be interested, even if he were interested in me. Everyone said I was picky, but it felt more like broken.
"You've had sex, though, right?" he asked.
"None of your business." I threw the same line he'd given me back at him.
I'd never wanted to have sex, and any time someone tried to take advantage, I'd screamed bloody murder for my bodyguard in the next room.
Bret hadn't pushed that far. I thought he'd understood my boundaries, but he became my ex when I caught him cheating on me.
I'd tried to surprise him for lunch, and I found him bending an intern over his desk instead.
He feigned ignorance."You mean … this isn't you?"
The intern was my height and went to my salon for the same blue highlights, but his hair was much lighter than mine, and his features were blocky and square, where mine were pointed and angular.
"I was thinking of you the whole time,"Bret said when I pointed out our differences, all while the poor kid pulled his pants up and tried to hide the tears streaming down his face.
"Let me make it up to you,"Bret pleaded.
"By fucking me over your desk?"I'd stared him down until he finally looked away. He was taller than me, and he tried to use his bulk to make me cower, but nobody could defeat my will."No, thank you. We're done."
I dragged the intern to the elevator, and he gasped when I hit the button for my floor instead of the lobby. His name was Edward, he told me when we got to my office. He begged for his life and wouldn't leave the doorway, for fear I would toss him out the window.
"I'm promoting you to my assistant,"I reassured him.
After a bit more conversation, when he finally sat in the chair opposite, I convinced him to work for me. Over the last few months, he'd been instrumental in getting the different gaming commissions on board with our new app.
Or so I'd thought. If Bret wanted to kill me, he must have thought he could replace me. He might have gathered information through Edward …
No. Edward had sworn his loyalty to me, and Bret was such a confident piece of shit. He probably thought he could win the deal with hutzpah alone. As my mom would say,"Oh, to have the confidence of a mediocre white man."
I'd never exuded that level of confidence, though my skin color matched Bret's. I tried to fake it as I turned back to Doyle. "Since I'll be staying, care to show me around?"
He hopped off the couch and looped his arm around mine in a formal gesture. He was encroaching on my personal space, and yet, he wasn't. He barely touched me at all, and though his wings hovered inches from my shoulder, I didn't feel them the way I normally sensed another's presence when they loomed over me. Regardless, my hyper-vigilant nerve endings didn't know what to think of his proximity, and it made me jumpy.
He led me to an arched doorway to our left. Ancient wallpaper covered with pastoral scenes decorated the interior wall. Beyond it, the kitchen spread out before us with all the modern amenities of home: running water, hand-crafted cabinets with intricate scrollwork, and another door to a corner pantry.
Doyle tugged on the pantry door, but it wouldn't open. He grumbled under his breath, and the stuck door gave way, banging against the wall. Despite having watched the entire scene play out, I nearly jumped out of my skin at the sound.
