50 Shades of Drake 3 and 4

Chapter Forty-Four

    When you were taken for granted by someone that you liked or loved, sometimes you put up with it. Maybe you figure that over time, the person you love will come around. But no matter how much you loved them, there came a breaking point, a point in time when you were no longer content with being mistreated or passed over for someone else. Brian was fast approaching this point.

    There were many factors to consider. Destiny was young. She was much younger than the women he was used to dating. Reminding himself that gave him a whole nother complex to stress out about. Because she was young, though, she was still taking time to figure out who she was and what she wanted. He got that. He understood that, because he'd lived through it.

    In addition to Destiny being young, she was in a strange phase in her relationship. Aubrey had let her go, but hadn't really let her go. It was the epitome of mixed signals. Aubrey tells her that she is single, but from the sounds of it, she and Aubrey had made promises to each other the night they'd rendezvoused at Graham Enterprises. Their relationship was in the strangest limbo, which made it hard for Destiny to fully detach from. Brian understood that, too.

    He also had to consider their current living situation. Being around each other constantly, without exposure to many other people in their off work hours, was going to result in sexual tension - especially with how attracted to her he was. After the night he'd witnessed her pleasing herself while calling out his name, it was safe to say that she genuinely found him attractive also.

    Psychologists ran studies on the effect that tragedy had on the human psyche. Grief, anguish, and near-death experiences often resulted in heightened awareness of one's own mortality, which tended to drive people to partake in activities they wouldn't, normally.

    Which is why I tried to reason with her last night, he thought now as he set a breakfast plate down in front of her. That's why I tried to tell her that she was only hitting on me because of the text message she got from Aubrey. She wouldn't listen. She kept kissing me, and touching me, and ultimately wound up backing down. Leaving me standing there with my heart in my hand, like a dumbass. And this morning...she wasn't trying to hurt me by saying that she wanted to give Aubrey a chance to explain that text message. But she did. Because I thought that maybe, we could finally have our chance to be something. He walked down the length of the table and sat at the other end, wanting to put as much distance between her and him as possible.

    He didn't judge her for her actions last night, and he didn't hate her for them. She was going through a lot, and so was he. At the same time, though, he had to protect himself from getting his heart completely broken. That meant he had to strengthen his defenses against the feelings he had for her. The next time she hit on him, and with Aubrey's batting average thus far there would be a next time, he would have to turn her down. He would have to refuse her. I love her to death and I'd lay my life down for her, but I can't keep getting hurt by her running back to Aubrey.

    "You look like you've changed your mind," she said, not giving her pancakes a second glance.

    "About playing hookey?" he asked, scooting his chair forward. "Not at all. I mean...I am kind of worried about how it will look for us to both be out of the office the same day. But after the night we had, I don't think anyone will blame us."

    "I wonder how much everyone knows," she mused, picking up her fork.

    "I can message Zorica in a few hours to see what people are saying." With those words, he started digging into his food. He could feel her eyes on her; he rarely ate this ravenously, but the food served to be a distraction from her.

    They lapsed into silence, eating without conversation. Then he took his plate into the kitchen and went into the living room. The living room had been left in disarray the previous evening. The bowl of water still sat on the couch. The washcloth she'd used to clean him up was half in and half out of the bowl. Briefcase, shoes, her purse, their phones, all discarded.

    No good can come from remembering last night, he told himself, but that didn't stop the image of Destiny on his lap, kissing him with every ounce of passion she had. Clearing his throat, he picked his briefcase up from the floor and carried it over to the couch. He set the briefcase on the couch and picked up the bowl and blood-stained washcloth. With a quick stride, he took the bowl into the kitchen, washed it out, and tossed the washcloth into the garbage can.

    He returned to the living room, withdrew his laptop from his briefcase, and booted it up. Thankfully, the media was laying off of Graham Enterprises, but it was still not the ideal time for him to run off with Destiny playing hookey. Not to mention the fact that the media will probably lay back into us once they catch wind of someone being killed in the building. They're going to have a field day with that. He checked his company e-mails. With a sigh, he brought up a blank e-mail window and flexed his fingers over the keyboard.

    Somehow, he needed to come up with a way to explain to the board and company executives that Aubrey would be out of the office. There was no way that he would tell them Aubrey would be gone for forever. If he did that, the board would have the option of choosing someone else to lead the company.

    Destiny entered the room. "You're working?"

    "Checking e-mails and trying to think of how to warn the board, the executives, and human resources that Aubrey will be out of the office for awhile." He frowned at his laptop monitor.

    She sat down next to him on the couch.

    He moved away from her, creating more distance between them.

    "Are...are we okay?" she asked him.

    "Yeah, we're fine," he said, typing out a greeting into the e-mail window.

    She touched his arm.

    He closed his eyes and inhaled sharply. "I said we're fine, Destiny."

    "Look at me and tell me that," she demanded.

    Fuck. I'm trying to be the good guy here. I'm trying to give her space, since she wants to wait for Aubrey. What the hell else does she want from me? He turned his head and looked at her, keeping the expression on his face blank. "Yeah?"

    "Tell me that we're okay."

    He searched her eyes. The pleading look in them was enough to kill some of his resolve. "Destiny. We're fine."

    She didn't look like she believed him.

    "If we're going to be able to take the day off, I need to get this e-mail out. Okay?"

    "Okay," she said, her eyes growing sadder by the minute.

    A part of him wanted to comfort her, but the selfish part of him said that that was Aubrey's job... when Aubrey finally got around to getting back so he could claim his girlfriend.

    "Can I just ask you one more thing?" she asked him.

    He lifted his eyes and stared over the top of the monitor. "Yeah. What is it?"

    "Why were you so sure last night that Aubrey's text message was a part of some scheme?"

    That would be the question she asked him. Out of everything she could have asked, she would have to ask that. He wrestled with a response that sounded detached and impersonal, but in the end he had to answer truthfully. Turning and looking at her, he said, "Because I know how hard it would be to leave you. I just don't think Aubrey would pick up and leave you like that. I think it would be impossible for him to."

    Tears gleamed in her eyes, and he told himself that they were happy tears, happy because it meant that there was hope with Aubrey. Anything to convince himself that the tears weren't sympathy or pity for him.

    He turned back to his computer monitor and added, "You're a hard woman to walk away from."