Page 26 of His to Possess
“It’s not up to you!”
“Like fuck it isn’t.”
“Philip!”
He leans down, face inches from mine. “You’re not leaving this penthouse, Lilah. You’re not going back to that apartment, you’re not going back to that bar to get pawed at by drunk assholes, and you’re most certainly not going back to Club Rendezvous.”
“You think you’re going to keep me from my job?” I gasp, unsure if I should be angry or worry about the man’s sanity. He looks a little unhinged right now, and the things he’s saying are nothing short of crazy.
“It’s not your job anymore,” he says coldly. “I’ll have my associate tell your boss you quit.”
I gape at him. “Fuck you.”
Something flashes in his eyes—maybe anger. Or maybe something darker. “That’s the plan, right?” he sneers. “For me to fuck you? You were begging me to do just that in Rossi’s office last night, weren’t you? Is that what you were looking for when you came spying in my shower?”
My cheeks flame red and Philip shakes his head. “You were desperate for me last night. Yet now you won’t even follow the simplest instruction.”
“I was insane,” I spit out. “To ever think I could let you touch me. I’d rather it be anyone but you.”
I see the hurt cross his face, but I don’t give a shit. He has no right to treat me like this, no right to be so controlling. So nasty.
He leans in closer, lips a breath away from mine. I can see the anger and hurt flashing in his eyes, but he manages to keep himself as controlled as ever, his words silky smooth, almost sweet.
“You’re going to do exactly what I tell you, love,” he murmurs. “Because you owe me.”
“I don’t owe—”
His lips find my ear. “You can consider it interest for the million-dollar down payment I put on your pussy last night.”
Everything in me goes cold, the hurt hitting me so quickly and so fiercely it feels like being slapped.Do not cry,I order myself, biting the inside of my cheek.Don’t you dare cry.
I’m so busy struggling to keep myself in check that I hardly notice that he’s gone rigid. He takes a step back, then another, giving me much needed space. I refuse to look at him—still, I can feel the regret radiating off him. “Lilah. I’m so…fuck. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have—”
I push back from the wall, slipping around him, face carefully averted. “Excuse me.”
“No, wait.” He sounds almost desperate as he reaches for me, but I snatch my hand away. I’ll fall apart if he touches me. “That was a shitty thing to say.”
It was. Beyond shitty. Part of me wants to curse him out, to slap his face. But there’s a bigger part of me that’s whispering that he has a point. I’m the one who tried to sell myself—why on earth should I expect respect from him now?
More than anything else, I know that if I stand here in this room with him for another second, I’m going to cry. And I refuse to let Philip Matthews see me cry.
“Excuse me,” I say again, moving quicker this time so he can’t catch me. I half expect to hear him follow me, but I make it to the guest room without incident. I close the door behind me, leaning back against it and squeezing my eyes shut.
I’m so stupid. There was one moment there, looking up into his eyes, where I actually allowed myself to imagine it. To take him at his word that he wanted to help me, that he could protect me. Whether motivated by our family connection or the fact that he knew me when I was a kid didn’t matter. What would it be like to have a man as powerful as Philip in my corner?
It was so easy to picture it. The security he could give me. The help he could give my brother. My mother, too, if she was willing to take it. Maybe I could even go back to school.
The million-dollar down payment I put on your pussy last night.
“You stupid fool,” I mutter, rubbing at my stinging eyes. I know better than to let myself get caught up in pointless fantasies. There’s no white knight coming to save me from my problems. And no one is going to make this go away for me out of the goodness of their heart—not even Philip Matthews.
When it comes to men, there’s always a price.
Philip
Ihave never in my life felt like such an unbelievable asshole.
And that’s really saying something, because I’m not generally regarded as Mister Sunshine.
