these years. My body was screaming at me to let him pounce, but my sanity was reminding me that my body was stupid and the rest of me wasn’t suicidal.
He crowded me until my ass hit the conference table. It put me in a very awkward position, knowing it was the perfect height for what would be a nightmare come true. Because that’s what Gage was; a beautiful, addicting nightmare.
“Don’t flatter yourself, Mystic,” he snarled. “You’re not worth risking a multi-million-dollar project on. Not to mention, I don’t play games when it comes to money.”
I gave him a tight nod, ignoring the insult. “Okay. I’ll just let Mr. Cavanaugh know that we’ve come to an agreem-”
Gage smirked and it made him look evil. “We didn’t come to an agreement,” he said, his voice like a whip. “I don’t know what you think this is, but I’m the boss here, Mystic. We don’t agree on shit. You do whatever the fuck I tell you.” It took everything in me to squash the feelings of longing, love, and, yes, arousal, because Gage was standing before, being everything that had drew me to him when we were younger.
Except, now, he was a grown man capable of so much more, and my body has been starved for him for so damn long, it was a miracle I wasn’t begging him for it as we speak.
Of course, that was never our game.
Gage took.
Gage took while I surrendered.
If he touched me, I’d push him away.
If he grabbed me, I’d fight him.
If he hurt me, I’d shamelessly, pathetically, let him use me, and I think we both knew it.
The hate and resentment were real, but we weren’t ignorant of what it was that brought us together in the first place all those years ago. We could feed our sick cravings judgement-free with one another.
But then I wanted to laugh because I was standing here, believing a man who looked like Gage, and was as wealthy and as powerful as he was, hadn’t been feeding his demons all these years. I was sure there were hordes of women who’ve jumped at the chance to let him control them, use them.
Suddenly, the weight of seeing this man again almost brought me to my knees. I was grateful the conference room table was holding some of my weight because I wasn’t sure if I had the strength to endure much more of this exchange. If we were going to get through this-if I was going to get through this-we needed to remain professional and distant.
I took a deep breath and did my best to keep my demons at bay. “Look, Gage, Mr. Cavanaugh is my boss,” I said, ignoring his outburst about him being my boss. “I take direction from him. I understand that you are the point person on your end, but I’m also aware of how all of this works. This project is a joint interest with your company and CI. However, the CEO’s don’t handle the details. Just assign an assistant from your company and I’m sure he or she and I can figure it out.”
I watched, petrified out of my mind, as he pulled his hands out of his pockets, planted each hand on either side of me, flat on the table, and leaned into me. His dark blue eyes were light brewing storms, full of destruction and lacking mercy.
When there wasn’t any room left between us, he said, “You’re right, Mystic. The research or leg work isn’t my job to do anymore. However, I think I’ll make an exception on this project.”
That’s when I knew.
Gage was going to make my life miserable and the only way out, that I could see, was to tell him what happened all those years ago. It might not make a difference, but I had to try. I couldn’t lose my job and I didn’t want to be at the mercy of his hate.
It might not help, but it couldn’t hurt.
“Gage, when I left-”
“Don’t,” he seethed before pulling away and taking a step back from me. “Just don’t, Mystic. Nobody gives a fuck about something that happened ten years ago.”
I straightened and arched a brow. “Clearly you do or else you wouldn’t be coming off as such a jerk,” I challenged.
“Either you have a shit memory, or you were never paying attention, Mystic. Newsflash: I’ve always been a jerk,” he replied, his voice cruel.
“Not to me, you weren’t,” I reminded him.
His laugh was dark and without humor. “You really are