Page 21 of The Company

He doesn’t wait, just turns the corner at the little mechanical room. My feet are in motion as I chase after him.

“Wait!” I pull on his arm and he stops outside the open door to the laundry room. The dryer beeps, signaling that someone’s load is complete. “Where are you going?” My heart is suddenly beating fast at the thought of him walking away.

I get a sideways glance this time. Not his full attention. The glance that says I’m leaving. “I shouldn’t have told you that, I’m sorry.”

He pulls away but I grab him again. “Just stop, please.”

He sighs and does a few little headshakes, like he’s having some kind of internal debate. “That night you took those Ativan, I was on the phone with you?”

He waits, so I answer with, “Yeah?”

“You said, ‘You don’t want to know me… I’m no one.’” He turns to face me head-on now, his expression blank, his mouth a flat line. His eyes impassive and empty. I can see it now. This is a killer’s face. The dimples are hiding underneath the frown. The emotionless facade of a hardened assassin. A man who sees death as nothing personal, just a job to be completed.

“But you’re wrong, Harp. I’m the invisible one. You’re a beacon in the dark as far as I’m concerned. I’m the unknowable one. And if you were my contract, I would kill you.” He stares down at me with those impassive, cold, businesslike green eyes. “Just as sure as I did my brother. Because that’s what I do. That’s who I am. You might have all the moves, but you have none of the venom, lionfish.”

He turns to walk away but I grab him again. “You wouldn’t kill me—”

His hands grab me by the waist and yank me to his chest. “You think you want me? You think you want to know more?” He leans down and breathes into my neck for a moment. “Would you like me to take you, Harper?”

Tingles erupt throughout my whole body and the throbbing between my legs is begging for more contact. More skin on skin. More conversation, more soft, whispered words. More of everything. I want more of everything.

“Because I will. I’m that kind of guy. The kind who’ll seduce a little girl and fuck her wild just because he can make her think she wants him so bad, she’ll spread her legs and do as she’s told.”

“I’m almost nineteen. I can handle more than you think.”

He laughs. “A baby who has no idea what to do with a cock in her mouth.”

I’m ashamed to admit it, but instead of embarrassing me, his words hurt.

“I’m not interested in the babies, Harper. I just take what I want. And you were right to demand to know me before you let me fuck you. Because you reminded me of what I am. Why I’m here.” He yanks his arm from my grip and turns again.

My leg reaches forward and tangles with his, making him stumble, and then I grab his arm and twist. He reacts faster than I can plan the next move, and two seconds later he’s got me pinned to the concrete. Straddling my waist, hands holding me down, hunched over and leaning into my face. “You want me to stay?”

I can’t answer because I’m not sure.

He rises up on his knees a little bit, and then his hands release mine and begin to unbuckle his belt.

I lie absolutely still.

Once the buckle is out of the way, he makes quick work of the button, then the zipper on his pants.

I swallow hard.

“You will take my cock in your mouth.”

I lick my lips and the killer dimples appear in both cheeks.

“I’m gonna take your throat first, Harper. Then your pussy, then your ass.”

I’m not even sure what all that means, other than I’m gonna have sex.

He takes out his dick and pumps it a few times, pulling it up towards his stomach, exposing the long vein, pulsing with blood as it fills and becomes hard and thick. “Put your hand around it, Harper.”

I reach up and gently place my hand around his thickness. Immediately the wetness between my legs is back. I look up at his face for more directions, unsure of what I’m supposed to do. “Stroke me,” he says in a softer voice. “Harder,” he demands when I am timid. I squeeze harder and stroke up and down. Finding a rhythm like our heartbeats out on the beach.

Is this the same man?

I pump faster, and that makes his eyes close to half-mast. “Your little hands on my big cock, Harper. I love it. Now open your mouth.”