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Uncle Cliff’s eyes fall on me and I don’t miss the spark of annoyance. He glances at Kyle, Theo and Beth before giving me one of his fake smiles. “Of course. It’s my job to be with my niece and as her manager to make sure the day runs smoothly.”
My vision turns white and I swear the silence in the room is deafening. He looks so proud of himself and the words he said. But I’ve learned how to read the underlying messages. He would never say it’s his job to make sure things go smoothly for me. It was always that my job was to make things easier for him. His words are textbook Ezra Hamilton.
My eyes dart from Theo to Kyle, whose head is bowed, to Beth who meets my own teary-eyed gaze. “Where is he?”
“Who?” My uncle questions, setting his plate full of food down across from me. “Hamilton?” he asks before biting into his egg sandwich.
“Yes,” I manage to breathe out, my fingers clasping together in my lap. I know what he’s going to say. I could tell he wasn’t nearby the minute I walked in here.
“He took a flight this morning back to California.” My uncle shrugs his shoulders, oblivious to the fact that he just shattered my heart and soul.
“What?”
“Come on, Oce. You remember that his contact was minimal. He was only supposed to be here for so long. He fixed you so now he can move on.” I watch as he chews and swallows.
“Fixed me?”
Uncle Cliff’s eyes jump to mine. “Yes. Fixed the mess you were in. You were his client. He was your handler and now he’s moving on to the next client BNE wants him assigned to. He’s known all week that his time was limited. Booker gave me a new contract as your manager for the next business quarter to see how it goes.”
My body wants to fold in on itself. My arms wrap around my middle, protecting myself from my uncle’s painful words. Ezra left. He knew for a long time he was leaving and didn’t say anything. He didn’t prepare me. He just up and left in the middle of the night after I told him I loved him and kissed him. I remember the ruthlessness the first time I met Ezra. I guess it was my imagination that we were at least friends in the past year. Even if he couldn’t reciprocate my love, he could have at least had the decency to tell me he was leaving. And that he was leaving me in this situation with my uncle. Ezra broke his promise. He wasn’t keeping me safe at all.
Chapter Ten
Ezra
Six months later
Ikissed her.
I devoured her.
I didn’t falter or stop myself. She might have pressed her sweet lips to mine first, but the sick part was that I wanted her to. I invaded her space. I let the need to taste her, to feel her, to imagine myself laying her out on the bed and making her mine overrule the rational part of my brain. That need I had for her could have been exposed. We were in a hotel room that wasn’t safe. Anyone could have walked in, could have seen what I was doing to her. I could have been ripped from her life and created a scandal that could have ruined her career forever.
Even now, I can still taste her on my tongue. It's been six months since I walked away. Her birthday passed. She’s now seventeen. I missed holidays and celebrations with every award she takes home. I still wake up in the middle of the night remembering the heat of her skin from that night and thesilkiness of her hair when it wrapped around my hand. She was so pure, so beautiful, I had wanted to rub up against her. Mark her with my touch. It takes daily reminders to keep myself from going back to her, from kissing the shit out of her and letting her ease my throbbing cock. My heart pounds in my chest; my whole body aches from just thinking about it. From remembering her. If I hadn’t left then, I would have never left at all. I would have made things worse for her. We were in our own little world in that room, and eventually, reality outside the door would have come in to bite us. Leaving her meant saving her. I just hope she can forgive me.
“Boss.” Caleb, my new Kyle, knocks at my door. Turning front the window, I see him hovering, waiting to be let in. I push down the slight irritation. Kyle would never hover. After six months though, I’m still getting used to Caleb, but I couldn’t take Kyle with me and leave her alone.
I wave him in. “What do you have for me?”
Caleb closes the door behind him and walks over to my desk. I can see the flicker of unease in his eyes and I’m instantly on edge. “I got word that BNE is looking to add a new stipulation to their contracts. If it's passed and she misses the time frame, she could end up there for the next six years.”
Ocean can’t be in BNE’s care for another six years. She isn’t even eighteen yet, and I know her uncle will do whatever is necessary to ensure she stays with his money-cow for as long as possible. The whole point of leaving her now and keeping my distance publicly was to keep anyone from suspecting how in deep I am over her, so there is no ammunition against her when she is able to leave her contract with BNE. I have my best people scouring all of Booker Townsend and Cliff Heart’s emails and private messages; their meetings are bugged even, just waiting to hear their plan. And making sure that Ocean stays far from it.
“Just keep proceeding how we have been. I want Morgan to pay extra close attention to any off the books meetings these two have. Even if they so much as share a glance at an award ceremony, I want to know about it,” I instruct him. Caleb’s head bows slightly.
“Yes, sir.” He turns to leave and I’m left alone again in my new office. As far as Booker and Cliff believe, I left to start my own handler company that is subcontracted with my uncle. The word around the entertainment business is that if I do that for six months, I’ll be able to move up in his company to a manager. They believe it because I let them. I want them to think my aspirations are bigger and that that is why I left Ocean Heart.
Only I know I left because if I didn’t, I would end up murdering Cliff Heart, and then I’d have buried myself so deep in his underage niece that even a priest couldn't exorcize me from her soul. It would have hurt her in more than one way.
But I won’t stay away forever, and when I return, it will be to steal her from them with a new contract that makes her mine. Until then I’ll keep tabs on her the best I can without appearing too interested. I’m two months away from my uncle writing off that my company is sufficient on its own. He’ll bow out right on her eighteenth birthday, and I’ll slip in to have her sign with me. A public announcement will be made that I decided being a handler was where my passion was and now that Ocean is eighteen and independent, she’ll need my help. And I’ll never give her back.
Her career.
Her money.
Her life.
Her goals.
