He pulls back, a dry smirk on his lips when Felicia, his dear mother, calls him out. He answers his mother, covered in charm, before she leaves. He has always been a manipulative snake—no one would believe me.After all, he’s a brilliant lawyer from the elite social class, and I am a nobody.
“You’re disgusting.”
“My sweet, you can’t fight me. I was the only one who cared for you.” A lie. I take a step backward when he clutches my arm with a polite smile. “I’d let you suck my cock though, just like old times.”
Stephan continues to speak, but I don’t hear him or see him. Everything becomes blurry, and I feel my world falling apart. I feel the demons of my past haunting me again. I start to sink in my own nightmare, letting it consume me, not looking for an escape anymore. I feel weak. Destroyed. Broken. I lose hope until someone pulls me out of my nightmare.
I don’t know what happened, but Stephan is now a few inches away from me, and a strong arm is protectively encircling my waist. I look up to see my escape. Aaron LeBeau. A white shirt contrasting with his tanned golden skin and dark jeans—the man exudes power no matter what he’s wearing. Just his presence makes me forget my momentary pain. He’s like a shield, and for the first time, it feels like Stephan can’t reach me anymore.
“Ma belle. Are you okay?” Aaron tightens his grip on me, testing my reaction. I nod, managing a gracious smile even if I know my eyes are wet and my body is shaking. “You look good wearing my jacket.” His face is cold as stone, but his comment appeases me. How can simply his presence calm me down and ease my fears?
He narrows his eyes at Stephan, taking a step closer to him, dominating him by his charisma and his height. The two men stare at each other. I’ve never seen Stephan so weak and impuissant. He can’t compete against Wolf.
“Do you have a problem with my girlfriend?” I peer at Aaron, dazed by him calling me his girlfriend and by his authoritative tone. But he doesn’t look at me and keeps tightening his gaze at Stephan. He is rescuing me. Again. And I don’t mind. After all, nobody has ever stood up for me before.
“Girlfriend?” Stephan’s face goes awry, like the thought of someone liking me shocks him to the bones. “No, no problem, man.”
Wolf’s gaze darkens in disbelief at Stephan’s comment. I can’t stay here anymore. I can’t let Stephan manipulate him. “Aaron, let’s go,” I beg him, and he finally breaks eye contact with the ghost of my past, before twining his fingers with mine and pulling me away to the corner of the hallway.
“How can you let him talk to you that way?” Aaron’s tone is imposing and enraged. He crosses his arms on his chest, clenching his jaw.
I want to reply that I’m emotionally broken, that Stephan damaged me and my capacity to feel alive, to believe in myself. That I’m weak and a mess. But instead, I snap at him, “Why did you say I was your girlfriend?” He uses flirting to change the conversation? Well, I use anger.
He lowers his eyebrows, clearly not expecting my answer. “Are you seriously asking me that?”
I’m about to leave. I can’t support this—people telling me what to do, being everyone’s puppet, having to explain myself. But Wolf captures my arm, stopping me from leaving. His touch is nothing like Stephan’s. It’s the opposite—warm, protective, addictive. It’s a touch I’m not used to feeling. “I couldn’t let him treat you that way,” he adds.
Oh, no, it’s until now, I realize he heard Stephan’s words insulting me, reducing me to nothing. He saw how weak I was. He must take me for—
“You look beautiful,” Aaron states as if he could sense my doubts rushing back.
Beautiful…One word can cause you suffering while another can make you feel alive again. One person can make you feel the worst about yourself when another awakens a new part of yourself you didn’t believe existed until you met him. My lips curve into a smile, and I’m thankful that he doesn’t push me to open up to him. Maybe that’s because he understands me. Wolf certainly has demons of his own, just like me.
“Let’s get out of here,” he commands.
I nod and follow him toward the exit. We step outside the hotel, and I notice a red LaFerrari Aperta, a car that costs more than two million dollars, in front. I smile, not even surprised by his choice of car. We enter his fancy babe-magnet, and Aaron revs the engine with a powerful sound that makes my heart bounce. There is something magnetic about him. I still can’t figure out what it is. I mean, I’ve never been turned on by a man racing his engine, but Aaron creates in me a new need, a new obsession. His tongue darts out of his mouth before licking his upper lip as he switches to the next song,Who I amfrom the Score, pulling his sunglasses on. The lyrics couldn’t symbolize him more. And I wish someday, someone will nottry to change me.
We make a quick stop at my hotel room so I can gather my things quickly and change before my flight back to New York. I agree to go with him to God knows where—even though I don’t trust myself with Wolf. I apply a slight touch of mascara and some gloss as an attempt to look pretty. I decide to wear my lucky white lace summer dress and my brown heels. It has a deep V-neck, so I choose to not wear any bra under it. I bite my lips nervously, is that too much? Will I look ridiculous revealing that kind of cleavage with my small breasts?Screw it.Screw my insecurities.
I head down to see Aaron waiting for me next to his sports car. When he sees me, he takes off his sunglasses, laying eyes on my whole body, observing every inch of it. I can’t help but wonder what he is thinking. When I approach him, my confidence starts to vanish.I look ridiculous.I put my hair in front to hide my cleavage and pull my dress down. I try to mask my discomfort by squeezing my bag in front of my breasts. I’m used to being invisible, not in the spotlight. He opens the car door for me, and I rush to enter when—
“Wait,” he says, stopping me from taking a seat.
His eyes drag over my body once again. What is he gonna say? Is there something wrong? But instead, he takes my bag and throws it on the seat. He brushes my hair softly with his hand and pushes it behind my back, exposing my cleavage. My eyes are begging him to stop contemplating me, to stop torturing my insecurities, to stop comparing me with—“You look gorgeous, Elle. Never hide yourself.” I look into his eyes, questioning his sincerity. He isn’t smiling; he is staring at me with a deep intensity. He meant that.
“Your jacket.” I hand him his leather jacket, feeling the need to change the topic.
He hands me mine, and we take our places in his car. My heart is still aching from his compliment, knowing I shouldn’t let it get to me. He raises up his engine, the brutal sound of the motor giving me goose bumps.
“I hope you are ready.” This isn’t a question, but an affirmation.
I raise my eyebrow. “Where are we going, Aaron?”
“That’s for me to know, and for you to find out,” he says seductively, a bad-boyish grin on his face.
I put my seatbelt on in defeat while he puts his sunglasses on and opens the car roof. In one maneuver, he drifts his car out of the parking lot with a powerful speed that makes my heart instantly jump. I grab a hold of the door in surprise. I feel something new, a thrill, a need for speed.
He notices my reaction and smiles in victory. “I hope you aren’t afraid of speed.”
