Play with Me

He shrinks back as if I’ve hit him, stares at me as if I’m some creature he’s never seen. Cursing under his breath, he runs a hand over the back of his neck. “This isn’t what I meant to happen. I only … I wanted to tell you I’m sorry. If I could take it back—”

“Stop, Kent. This changes nothing.”

“I still love you.”

“Go back to Texas. Just … go.”

“The holidays are less than three weeks away. We need to be together. We’ll get our families together. We can be a family again.”

“Oh, please. You were the catalyst that destroyed what family I had left. This is my home now. This is where I’ll spend Thanksgiving.”

“Your father—”

“Is a bastard.”

“He’s never gotten over losing your mother. He uses Elizabeth—”

“Damn you, don’t say her name. Don’t. This conversation is over.” I turn to leave.

His hand comes down on my arm, and somehow Damion is there, his body shielding mine, his warmth easing the icy chill that is everything to do with Kent and my old life. “Let her go,” Damion orders, his voice a cool command laced with a threat.

I squeeze my eyes shut for several beats, waiting for what will happen next. Kent lets go of me, and in the same instant Damion pulls me close, his arm is around my shoulders, and we are walking toward the elevators. For a dozen or more steps there is only him and me, and nothing else matters. Kent is gone. This nightmare walk down memory lane is over.

Reality comes to me with a hard slap at the sight of Terrance walking toward us. Damion and I are touching each other in public, and Terrance is the one who called Kent. Those two things represent another chapter of this nightmare.

“Make sure he doesn’t get back on the property,” Damion tells Terrance as we meet up with him, and I take the momentary distraction of their conversation to dart under Damion’s arm and around Terrance.

“Kali!”

I hear Damion shout, but I do not stop. I spot an open elevator and slip inside moments before it closes. I hesitate only briefly, then punch the button for the office floor. If I go to my room, Damion will follow, and I will cave and let him in. I can’t talk to him until I figure out what I’m feeling. Not right now. I won’t talk to him right now.

Hugging myself, I wait for my floor, trying to stop the shaking. Damn it, I’m weak. I don’t want to be weak. The elevator dings for my floor and I exit. Dana is on the phone and waves at me, giving me a smile I just can’t return. At my desk, I all but fall into my chair and will myself not to cry. I grab a stack of mail and start opening it, trying to stay sane.

I know the moment Damion is in the lobby, the scent of him blistering my nostrils. He is like a drug. I think I’ve become that to him, too. He is risking too much for me. I have to leave here, and him, and it’s going to destroy me.

Suddenly he is standing beside me, towering over me. “Let’s go talk.”

I don’t look at him. “No. Not now.”

“Kali—”

I turn to him and snap, “Not. Now.”

“Yes,” he says, turning my chair to face him, his hands on the arms. “Now.”

“Write me up, Damion, fire me, but I am not ready to talk.”

“Hey, Kali—”

The sound of Dana’s voice makes me cringe, and I can’t even look at her. “I, uh,” she stammers from behind me, and I hear her departing steps.

“Either come with me,” Damion warns tightly, “or I’ll pick you up and carry you.”

“Don’t even think about it.”

He pulls me to my feet and drags me into his office, shutting the door and locking it. I try to escape and at least put distance between us. His hand comes down on my arm and he turns me to face him.

I blast him. “You just told the whole damn place that we’re together when we haven’t even really been together. Why would you do that? Why?”