The water sprayed down on us, and just when I thought I couldn't take it anymore, he stopped, pulled out, and I cried, "Ah no, I was so close."
He shook his head. "No. We're not done. Wrap your arms around me." He turned me around slowly and nuzzled into my throat.
Then he picked me up, braced me up against the wall, and without preamble, he slid home again. "This time, when you come, I want to watch you."
And I knew in that moment that there was no walking away from East Hale. He would break me in a way that I'd never been broken before. Leaving him might actually kill me. I was lost. I was falling. That crash landing was going to hurt like a bitch.
But there was a part of me that just didn't care because this felt much too good.
He held me up by my ass. He drove into me. Muttering dirty things and love things. "God, you feel so good... I love being inside you... I cannot stop fucking you... Never letting you leave... That's it, baby... This cock belongs to you..."
With him murmuring against the hollow of my throat, I came apart. Shattering. Giving every piece of myself to East. Knowing I might never be whole again.
With a roar, he came inside me. Holding me in place, biting down on the skin at my collarbone. Jesus Christ, he was going to leave a mark. And I wanted him to. What did that say about me that I wanted to be claimed by someone? In particular, this someone. Someone that had more secrets than I could ever hold. But I was his. And he was mine.
Nyla
For once I was not late for brunch. Dad hated it when anyone was late.
I figured after the disaster of dinner at Denning’s just the two of us would be a
better idea. Problem was, when I turned up at his house in South Bank, he didn’t answer. Nor did he answer my first three texts.
I tried his office phone, same result. I eventually just let myself in, only to find the place empty and quiet. Sort of a mausoleum atmosphere. Even though I could tell the flat was empty, I still called out. "Dad? Dad?"
The photo on the bookcase caught my attention almost immediately. In it, I was eight. We'd been on holiday in Santorini. Mom was gaily planting a big sloppy wet kiss on the side of my face. I was laughing at the wind. Dad was watching us indulgently. And in the background, just in the corner, there was a man. He was in silhouette. And he was watching us as if observing. I didn’t know why, but I sort of got a melancholy feeling. I’d never thought to look at him before. But now I felt like he'd been watching us, sort of feeling like an outsider.
I was probably giving far too much credit to my thoughts about a random man in a photo, but for some reason, he’d caught my attention.
“Dad?” I called again.
No answer, as I’d suspected. I checked the calendar in his office, and it indicated that he had planned to be in the office for an early meeting. Had he forgotten brunch? Maybe he was still there.
I locked up behind myself and quickly jogged down the stairs back to my car. I couldn't shake the idea that I was being watched, though. Someone had eyes on me. Was that East? Was he watching me right now?
I should be annoyed or concerned or irritated, but I let it go, and fifteen minutes later, after I haphazardly parked my car in the parking lot, I took the stairs two at a time to the glass doors and yanked. Amelia was blowing up my phone.
"Amelia, yeah."
"Oh, there you are. I have something I want to show you. I’ll shoot you an address.”
“Oh, okay. Is it urgent?”
“Nope. It’ll keep, but text me when you have a second.”
“Okay, will do.”
I impatiently swiped my ID. I didn't bother with the elevator because it was notoriously slow and instead just jogged up the stairs. I found my father in the conference room staring at his computer as I burst in. "Dad, I've been calling you half the morning."
He lifted his head briefly before turning his attention back to the screen. "Dad, are you listening?"
“Sit down, Nyla.”
I frowned at him. “Okay… Everything all right? You missed brunch and I—"
“Nyla, I’m sorry, love, but I need your badge.”
“Excuse me?” I frowned, unable to compute the words he was saying. “For what?”
“That dinner with Denning.”
“I didn’t do anything. I didn’t even want to go to that dinner. I was forced. And furthermore, he was the one who acted inappropriately.”
My father did that silent thing he always did when I was a child, signaling he wanted me to shut up and listen, so I did.
“He did act inappropriately. He is also on administrative leave for two weeks.”
“So why are you punishing me then?”
He sighed. “I wish you wouldn’t look at it that way. But Denning has filed reports on you, every insubordination, every break of protocol. I had to do something, Nyla.”
“So what, you're just rolling over?”
“You have been given a long lead. Too long. And then you turn up at dinner with a…”
“Were you going to say suspect? Do I need to remind you that you warned me off looking into them? You did that.”
“I know. And I was right. There is nothing illegal that I can find on Mr. Hale. But you knew that was going to set Denning off. It’s a pattern with you, Nyla. You can’t let anything go. You can’t leave well enough alone.”
“It’s what makes me a good agent.”
He folded his arms. “It’s what keeps you from being a great
