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“Forgot my pen,” he said as he motioned to the pen on the conference room table. “A friend gave it to me a while back… it’s a cheap piece of shit, but I keep it for… sentimental reasons.”
His voice was husky as he spoke and he had yet to release me. It took everything in me not to shove him off.
“I’m glad I ran into you, Aiden,” he said. “I wanted to tell you again how excited I am to be working with you.” His thick fingers slid down my chest and I could feel the power in them as he applied just a little too much pressure. Anger slid through me as I fought the urge to grab one of his hands and twist it. That would wipe the smug smirk from the asshole’s face.
“I saw your brother out there,” Bomber murmured. “He seemed very excited about our arrangement. Made me think now that we’re working together, you and I could have an arrangement of our own.”
The second Bomber’s hand clutched my necktie and used it to pull me toward him, I grabbed his wrist, forcing him to let go. The sudden, decisive movement forced him to take a step back and he bumped into the wall behind him. As badly as I wanted to tell him to go fuck himself, I reined in my temper. Bomber’s eyes had gone heavy with a mix of surprise, fury, and lust. The man definitely wasn’t used to being manhandled, but he was getting off on it just a little bit, too.
Two months ago, I would have been in seventh heaven at the prospect of using sex to take him down a notch.
But now…
Now I just wanted to get the fuck away from him.
And find Ash.
“I don’t think so. Now, if you’ll excuse me,” was all I said as I pushed away from him and left the room. By the time I reached the elevator where Bomber’s agent was waiting for him, I already had Beam Me Up Latte’s number pulled up on my phone. I barely spared the agent a glance as I stepped into the elevator, and I didn’t miss a very pissed-off-looking Bomber heading toward us.
I didn’t bother holding the door for him.
It took next to nothing to convince Emily to give me Ash’s address, and twenty minutes later I was standing in front of his door. I’d expected him to live in a run-down building outside of Manhattan, but I was stunned to discover he lived in a posh high-rise in Midtown. It wasn’t quite as luxurious as my own building, but it was definitely several steps up from what a barista-in-training could afford. I reminded myself that there could be a million explanations and knocked on his door. My heart was in my throat as I waited. When there was no answer, I took out my phone and dialed his number. I heard his phone ringing through the door before it was suddenly cut off. My stomach dropped out as I realized what it meant— that he’d silenced the phone when he saw who was calling.
I bit back the urge to pound on his door and order him to let me in. Instead, I placed my hand flat on the door and leaned my forehead against it. “Ash, baby, please,” I said, loud enough so he could hear. “I just need to know you’re okay.”
Silence.
A good thirty seconds of it.
Then, “I’m okay, Aiden. But I… I don’t want to see you.”
The relief at just hearing his voice threatened to send me to my knees. But it wasn’t enough. Because my insides were screaming at me that I needed to confirm what my heart already knew was true.
“I can’t leave until I see you, Ash. I’ll camp outside your door all day if I have to.”
Nothing.
“Ash, please,” I said softly, not sure if my voice was loud enough to carry through the door, but I couldn’t get past the fear clogging my throat to speak any louder. I could feel tears stinging my eyes as the seconds ticked by so slowly I was sure they had to be moving backward. So much time passed that I turned, prepared to let my back slide down the door so I could sit against it for however long it took for the damn thing to finally open.
But the sound of a lock disengaging had me freezing. And as the door opened, I found myself not wanting to turn around.
Not wanting to see what I knew in my gut I’d see.
The need to confirm Ash was okay overruled the need to hide from the reality I was about to face, so I turned. I’d told myself I wouldn’t react, but I couldn’t stop the tear that slipped down my cheek or the strangled sob that tore free from my throat as I took in the man before me.
