50 Shades of Drake 1 and 2

50SOD II: Chapter Ninety-Six

    Their eyes locked and their hearts cried out for each other, his eyes just as pained as hers were. Destiny moved forward slowly with her hands clasped together in front of her.

    Aubrey remained seated because he feared that if he stood up, he would run to her and crush her in the tightest embrace she'd ever felt in her life. On the outside, he was the perfect visage of calm. Beneath the surface, he ached to feel her in his arms, ached to kiss her and hold her and promise her that everything would be okay between them. Keep it in check, Aubrey. "You said you needed to see me."

    She nodded, and the sadness in her eyes almost killed all of his resolve. "I saw the press conference last night."

    His lips curled into the smallest of smiles. "How did I do?"

    "Your speech was perfect. I was very proud of you."

    "Thank you," he said softly. "That means a lot to me, coming from you."

    She turned her head. He thought he saw her shaking, but he could have been mistaken on that.

    "Is something the matter?" he asked her.

    "Everything is. Everything is wrong." She looked back at him. "I think we should come up with another plan. Together. I don't want to stay away from you. I don't like this."

    "I've thought about it from every angle, trust me."

    "We could just...be together, and live the way we want to, and if Palmer finds out that we're together, really together, so what?"

    He drummed his fingers on his desk, the only act depicting the complete lack of calm that he felt. "...So he would most likely try to kill you."

    "I don't want to be apart from you." Her bottom lip quivered.

    He licked his lips and stroked his jaw. "We have talked about this, Destiny. All right? You agreed that we could stay apart from each other until Palmer is arrested."

    "I don't agree anymore. I take my agreement back."

    He nearly laughed at her petulance. It was adorable, in a way. But this wasn't a laughing matter, so he held it in. The truth of the matter was that he was just as frustrated as she was. Seeing her this tormented about being away from him was oddly comforting to him. For some reason he had expected her to fall for Brian.

    She stared at him for a moment, then started to walk around his desk.

    He watched her wordlessly.

    She came to stand beside him.

    Lowering his eyes, he wheeled around in his chair so that he was facing her.

    Slowly, she knelt down to the floor and kissed one of his knees, then looked up at him.

    His only response was a sharp intake of break. He could feel his resolve weakening and unraveling - fast.

    She bowed her head and pressed a kiss to his other knee. Then she looked up at him again. "I miss you so much, Sir."

    He stared down at her, unable to hide the intensity from flaring up in his dark eyes even if he wanted to. His heart started to pound in his chest. "I miss you too," he whispered. "But we can't do this. We can't be together right now. You know why. You know it's not because I don't...it's not because I don't have feelings for you anymore. Of course I do. But if anything happened to you, it would be because of me. That would kill me. So...I miss you. I miss you so much, but...we just can't. Not right now."

    Tears shined in her eyes, and he hated himself for creating them.

    "Up," he said gently.

    She stood up.

    He patted his thigh, looking up at her.

    She sat down on his lap.

    He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her shoulder. "I'm sorry for all of this. I can tell that you're having a hard time. So am I. Trust me, I am. I'm trying to hide it from you. I'm trying to be strong for both of us. But you coming in here like this..." He took a deep breath. "I need you to be strong, okay? I know this is hard, but I need you to hang in there for me. Can you do that?"

    She started to shake her head, but the pleading look in his eyes stopped her. "I hate not being able to talk to you," she said, her voice strained. "There's no way we can talk? Text? Nothing? In TV shows, they use disposable phones. We can't do anything like that? Or Instant Message each other using random user names?"

    "Nothing involving computers," he told her. "The disposal phones, maybe. I'd have to check with my investigator to see if that's an option."

    She looked hopeful.

    He reached up and touched her face. "You are the sweetest, most adorable thing I have ever set my eyes on, do you know that?"

    She leaned down and kissed him.

    He was caught off-guard, but he returned the kiss without thinking. Force of habit. Force of habit and a major mistake, because once the kiss started, he never wanted it to end. The kiss deepened, and it deepened and it deepened, until they had no choice but to pull back from it, so they could gasp for air. He stared up at her with his brows drawn together. Knowing what he wanted to do, but also knowing that he shouldn't do it. He did it anyway. He angled his face up and kissed her again, smoothing her hair back from her face and tightening the arm he had around her waist.

    There were no words to describe how much he'd missed the feel and the taste of her lips, or her sweet scent. Having her on his lap, in his arms, giving herself to him, felt like heaven on earth. He wished he could freeze time in this moment and not have to worry about the future, but unfortunately he didn't possess any powers over time. All he had was now, and he took advantage of right now. He kissed her to his heart's content, and kissed her some more. He kissed her lips, her cheeks, her nose, her eyelids, her forehead, her neck, every piece of skin his lips could find. He would have kept going, but the phone on his desk rang.

~~~~~~

    "Ignore it," Destiny told Aubrey, kissing along his jawline.

    "I can't. Not with everything that's going on." He picked up the phone. "Thank you for calling Graham Enterprises, this is Aubrey Graham. Yes. How did you get my direct extension?" He listened to the caller on the phone. "Yes, my building manager would have it, but why...?" His eyes widened.

    Destiny frowned at him and mouthed the word, "What?" His arm tightened around her again, nearly to the point of being uncomfortable.

    "Yes. No, of course. I understand. I'll be there." He hung up the phone and stared at it in disbelief.

    "What is it?" she demanded. "You're scaring me."

    He turned his eyes on her. "That was the police. They just found Carlos in the condo I gave to you."

    Her heart stopped. "No."

    "He was...he was killed." He looked like he didn't believe the words, even as he said them.

    She shook her head. "No!" she cried out, and immediately covered her mouth, remembering that she was in his office. She jumped off of his lap and walked away from him, trying to swallow the scream that was building in her throat.

    "I have to go to the building. They want me there. They want me to tell them if anything looks out of place, out of the ordinary."

    Tears streamed down her cheeks. She couldn't control it. Carlos? What did he do to anyone? And his family, oh my God...His family. I don't even know how to contact them. How could this happen? Why would this happen? Would it have happened if I were there, staying with him?

    Aubrey stood up and walked over to her. He wrapped his arms around her. "Now do you understand why you and I can't be together?"

    She slid her arms around his waist and cried into his chest.