Mate for you [a Kyle O'Reilly story]

3 Power over you

I closed my eyes and tried to take a deep breath. But I did not succeed. It was as if a heavy rock was lying on my chest. These eternal discussions began to consume me. I told myself that Kyle had no influence on me, but deep down I knew I was fooling myself. He had the ability to make me feel 100 things at once. And I wanted nothing more than for that to stop.

With a deep, tired sigh, I pinched the bridge of my nose as I listened to the men compare the latest designs for merchandise. One voice was louder than the others. Or at least it seemed that way to me.

"I don't know. Those colors and the font... It doesn't represent us in the way we would want it to. For the reDRagon merch, there should be a lot more to it." Kyle said as he looked at my latest designs.

"Really? I think Amy did an excellent job. And in our experience, anything she's designed sells best." said Matt as he looked at the design in question.

"Don't worry about Kyle, Matt. He's rejected everything I've done so far. And rest assured it has nothing to do with the quality of my work. He's just too petty to admit he likes it," I said, looking to Kyle for his reaction.

He snorted and threw his head back with a spiteful laugh. Then he shook his head.

"My God. Do you really think everything I do here is about you? You've delivered better things. I'm just not... impressed. To be perfectly honest, I never really was." he replied.

"Oh yeah? Strange. It didn't bother you when your merch sold fantastically and you made a ton of money off of it." I countered.

"You know what-" he started.

"It' s enough. It's been going on for two months. I can't hear it anymore. I know you have a difficult past, yet I expect you to behave professionally. Find a way to work together or I will," Tony said, slamming his fist on the table.

"We'll leave you to it. I expect you to find a solution. Today." he continued, then motioned to everyone else present to leave the room.

For quite a while, it was dead silent in the room. Only the ticking of the clock on the wall could be heard. Then Kyle cleared his throat. He slid back and forth in his chair. I knew he wanted to say something, but would really rather not say it. He probably would have preferred to sit there and be silent for all eternity.

"Any ideas?" he murmured.

"Well..." I began, taking my iced coffee and standing up.

With slow steps, I circled the table and stood next to him, leaning lightly against the edge of the table.

"We'll pretend to get along. The truth... will be our secret." I finally said.

That was probably the easiest solution, because I wasn't willing to put my job on the line. I didn't want to start all over again.

"Oh, I'm sure you'll manage. You've always been good at keeping secrets. No price is too high for you to keep your secrets. I remember that very well." he replied in a firm but quiet voice.

"Don't start," I said.

"Why not? If you had told me whatever it is...if you had helped me understand your opinion, your decision.... maybe things would be different between us today." he explained to me. His brown eyes seemed darker than usual to me.

"On the contrary. It would have only changed your mind about me faster." i replied.

It was something I was sure of. Because of this secret, I had a bad opinion of myself.

"I guess you'll never know. I'm just wondering what could have happened that was so bad that you messed up your whole life?" spoke Kyle, looking at me questioningly.

"That's something you'll never know, Kyle," I said as my mind wandered off.

"Amy, listen-" he began as he stood up.

I was so surprised that the iced coffee slipped out of my hand and fell directly onto his thighs.

"Fuck!" he cursed as the cold beverage soaked into the fabric of his pants.

"I'm... I'm sorry." I mumbled as I instinctively grabbed the napkins off the table.

I was already trying to pat his pants dry when it finally occurred to me what I was doing. Kyle grabbed my wrist and stopped me.

"Just don't. I don't need your help." he growled.

His eyes were so close to mine that I froze. My breath caught in my throat. I swallowed hard as I tried to control my thoughts.

"You've always needed my help, Kyle." I breathed as I rubbed his thigh once more.

Then I quickly straightened up again, grabbed my bag and my drafts. Too late, I had realized the situation I was about to get myself into.

"I will get you back for this." I heard Kyle say. His breathing just as fast as mine.

From the looks of it, we still had that strange power over each other. That certain something that drew us to one another from the beginning.