The Mindf*ck Series

Chapter 9

𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭
𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨.
—𝘈𝘭𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘌𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘪𝘯

𝗟𝗢𝗚𝗔𝗡

“You got laid,” Craig says as I walk in, holding my coffee that I barely managed to get in time this morning.

I forgot what it was like to lose myself in a girl. And I know I’ve never lost myself in someone so much as I did last night and this morning. Lana is the most unexpected surprise of my life.

I keep waiting to find a flaw, but can’t seem to find one. No one can be that perfect. Not that I want to jinx it. I also don’t want to find out she’s married or something. So I’m close to doing the unthinkable, because she has my head all kinds of fucked up.

“Maybe,” I tell him, smirking when he groans.

“The Ice Princess took you but not me?” he asks as I drop to my desk chair and pull up the databases I need.

“It drives you that crazy she didn’t eat up your charm,” I drawl.

“There’s a reason I’m the face of this department, and it isn’t because I’m the best looking—though we both know I am. The point is, girls eat me
up. Women, mothers, daughters, aunts, sisters, nieces… We fuck up, and I explain it away with a charming smile and an ‘aww shucks’ sort of attitude while throwing in a deep sense of remorse. Anything and everything will be forgiven if you have the right face. It’s the truth. Humans are shallow—all of us. Pardon me for finding it a little suspect that she literally had zero interest in me, yet turns around and fucks you.”

“I think Logan is way hotter than you,” Hadley chimes in, coming to prop up beside me as Craig scowls at her. “And despite what you think, not all women are that shallow. Most of us find someone attractive if they have the right qualities.”

“Bullshit,” Craig scoffs. “I’ve done plenty of research on the matter. I’m not just talking out my ass.”

I roll my eyes as they continue to bicker, and I start my search. No marriage certificate. No divorce. No children—not that I’d mind, but I’d still like to know. No…living relatives… Shit.

No one? She has no one at all? I already know she doesn’t have any personal social media. Just her business profiles, even though there’s no mention of her partner on any of them.

I don’t dig any deeper than that. I feel like I’ve invaded her privacy enough. Everything else needs to be things she tells me when she’s ready— like the car accident that scarred her.

It must have been a bad wreck, considering one scar travels from her left hip to her right breast. Another one is on her right side, jagged and large. They’re old. I could tell from looking at them.

I should have shown her my scars, but I was too busy exploring her body the rest of the night to give her time to explore mine. Every time she tried, I lost control, feeling her hands on me seemed to turn me into a horny teenager all over again.

“You have serious trust issues,” Hadley says, drawing me out of my own head.

I notice Craig is gone, but Hadley is reading the latest search over my shoulder. I close out of it and shrug.