WICKED GAMES | COMPLETE

THIRTY THREE

Andie

With increasing boredom, Andie browsed as the games on the shelves slowly morphed into the same, unremarkable mass.

They all look so unoriginal, she complained to herself. Cradling the stack she had already picked out, Andie reached for a title she vaguely recognised from reviews.

Tired of searching further, she went to pay and was met with a poster plastered on the wall behind the cashier.

SPECIAL BUNDLE!
RED SKY + WASTELAND

INCLUDES EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
WITH MILES MASON

BUY[SOLD OUT]NOW!

Damn it, Andie swore when she saw the picture of Miles on the poster. Why did he have to look so disgustingly handsome? She wasn't sure if she was upset because of his face, or because she couldn't buy the bundle even if she wanted it.

"Interested? We got many ladies coming in asking about the Miles Mason special edition," the cashier rattled as he scanned her games. "We still got one in the back though – one of the girls never came to get it."

"What?" Andie blurted. "I'll take it!"

"Alright, I'll add it in." He reached behind and pulled out the shiny casing. "It'll be $100. You know, I don't get why you girls would pay so much just to look at –"

"Just ring it up please," Andie hurried him. He raised his eyebrows and chucked it in the bag.

"Andie?"

She startled and turned to the door, blinking in disbelief.

"Andie. Can we talk?"

She stared. It was like seeing a person she thought was dead.

Lucas.

Oh no.

╳◯

Andie couldn't believe where she was.

She stepped into the once-familiar space. Cologne and laundry soap lingered faintly in the air, a phantom scent from a past she thought she'd left for dead.

"Make yourself comfortable. You know where everything is," Lucas said as he locked the door and hung up his coat.

The apartment looked exactly as she remembered. The marbled floor gleamed and met the sleek white walls, where a flatscreen TV sprawled across its entire length. Atop a velvet black carpet the large grey fabric divan sat in the middle of the room, its pillows immaculately spaced apart.

It was the condo they had been saving up for, until he went and screwed everything up.

"What do you want, Lucas?" Andie crossed her arms, refusing to get comfortable. It had been seven months since they broke up and Andie had finally moved on, when who would show up but the man of the hour.

In two broad steps, Lucas was towering over her, his blue eyes piercing into hers.

"I want to prove to you that I am worth it. We are worth it. You can't give up on us."

Refusing to drop her guard, she snarked, "What are you going to do now? Gift me a necklace?"

He chuckled softly, and in one motion, pulled out a tiny silver box and dropped to one knee. Andie's breath hitched in her throat.

"Andie, I didn't know what I had until I lost you. I spent all these months thinking of all the ways to bring you back to me, and now I finally have you here. Will you marry me?"

Time seemed to screech to a halt as Andie stared in wide-eyed shock at her ex-boyfriend, bending the knee before her. It was a scene she had pictured for many gruelling years, that she had fantasised in her waking and sleeping hours. It had consumed her with anxiety until she could no longer stand the hemming and hawing that Lucas had pulled.

"No," she murmured weakly and cast her gaze to the floor.

"What did you say?"

"I said no, Lucas," she raised her voice and glared at him forcefully.

"But wasn't this what you wanted –"

"Yes, it was what I wanted – last year, and the year before, and the year before that. I wanted you to show me you cared, but all you showed was that I wasn't a priority in your life."

"Andie," Lucas sighed and got up. "Please, give me the chance to prove that you made a mistake."

He closed the gap between their bodies and cupped her face in his hand.

"I will do anything to change your mind."

She felt her heart waver. What if things could be even better than they were? What if this was her answer to getting over Miles? She knew Lucas had it in him, he just needed the push.

What if the breakup was the push he needed?

"I..." Before she could muster the rest of her words, Lucas pressed his lips against hers. The feeling was so familiar, yet so foreign.

As she fought her internal battle, she felt his hand running up her right thigh beneath her dress and landing on her butt cheek.

He squeezed it, then without warning, gave it a hard spank.

A loud moan rushed from Andie's lips involuntarily, and she bit down on her bottom lip to silence any other misleading sounds.

"I know how much you like being spanked," Lucas muttered into her ear, squeezing her cheek. "You even wore a thong today. Leaving your ass out like that."

She whimpered at his harsh words, but he was right. She had always liked a bit of rough play – the kind that Miles did just right – and Lucas was always too selfish in bed to care.

But here he was now, touching her the way she always wanted.

The way she had been craving since Miles left.

He spanked her cheek again, jolting her forward against his chest.

"Don't you want to feel your skin tingle under my touch? I'll make you feel like a fucking princess."

"N... No..."

"No?" Lucas squeezed her harder, and she felt him readying for another slap.

"No!" She conjured up her willpower and shoved him back. Her breath heaved from her chest as she clutched her bag close, forcing herself to resist his touch.

"Andie, will you just –"

"Lucas, please." She smoothed her dress and calmed her breath, slowly making her way to the door. "I can't do this again with you. Things are complicated enough and I just can't deal with all of this."

"But you don't have to anymore. I will treat you so right, you won't ever want to leave again."

"I don't want that, Lucas," she asserted, her hand on the door.

He stepped forward, glowering with intimidating determination. "I will get you back, Andie. Whatever it takes. I will never give up on us."

Dread tingled through her body as she hastily yanked the door open and marched out of the apartment, all too aware of Lucas' cold blue eyes boring into her back.