Domination (Explicitly Yours 2)

“I want to celebrate,” he continued. “But I have no one. I’m alone. So I walk into a strip club looking for anybody, but I see this girl on stage with long, black hair and kitten ears on her head—furry black triangles. She looks over her shoulder and directly at me with the bluest eyes. She’s got this body men kill for and is wearing a fucking—are you still with me?” He gestured up and down at her. “It looks like a bikini made of goddamn diamonds. It’s so bright, it almost blinds me when the spotlight is on her. She’s the most stunning thing I’ve ever seen. I have to have her. Her.” He pointed into the distance. “That one. I pay for Cat Shoppe’s most expensive room. I pay to see her dance, for her attention. She gets so close to me that our legs touch, even though that isn’t allowed. She’s flirting. I tell her I need her—I’ll do anything, pay anything for her. I offer her a grand, but she shakes her head. Five grand. She just smiles. Ten thousand dollars. She looks me right in my eyes, bats her lashes like a little cunt and says—”

“I’m not for sale,” Lola whispered.

“That’s right,” he said. “But you were wrong, weren’t you?”

Lola wavered on her legs, reaching back to steady herself on the mattress. She narrowed her eyes on him, recalling the young, handsome man from that night. “That was you at Cat Shoppe.” Her entire body shook. “You knew who I was on the sidewalk at Hey Joe?”

“Yes.”

“Why? Why are you doing this?”

“You thought you were too good for money I broke my back to earn. Because you couldn’t give me that one fucking thing on the most important night of my life. Because—” He faltered, leveling his eyes on her.

For a brief second, he looked as pained as she felt. The whole thing was made even more shocking by the fact that there were depths to him she hadn’t even scratched.

He’d earned that money so he would be enough. So nobody could turn him down or walk away from him, because in his eyes, everybody had a price. Perhaps he was right. She’d once thought she could never be bought, no matter the amount.

“I hurt you,” she said, hating the break in her voice.

The pained look vanished. “I promised myself nobody would ever make me feel that way again. There would be nothing my money couldn’t buy. And then there you were again out front of Hey Joe, just as beautiful as that night ten years ago. It was like no time had passed. And when you returned my tip and insisted there was no connection between us, I was just as weak.” He splayed his hands over his chest. “You’re the only person who does this to me, Lola. You’re a threat to everything I’ve worked for.”

She shook her head. “I’m not a threat. I didn’t hurt you on purpose. You...you can’t do this.”

“It’s done. I’ve proven anything can be bought. Today, I get back the power you took from me.”

“I am not a thing to be overcome. I’m a person.” She clutched her throat. Her skin was burning. “If this were true, you would’ve told me after the first night.”

“I tried, believe me.” He crossed his arms. “But you, so stubborn, had to go and say that buying someone’s body didn’t count. It had to be their heart.” He hesitated only a moment, but he’d gone too far down whatever path he was on. He couldn’t seem to stop himself, even as Lola’s heart broke right in front of him. “I was going to end it there, but you wanted to play. And as you know, I’m not one to turn down a challenge. She thinks her heart isn’t for sale? I’ll buy that too, I thought. You only have yourself to blame for loving me.”

A challenge. That’s what this had been about. Conquering her, teaching her a lesson, winning a game. He’d been dropping hints along the way, most likely for his own amusement. “Fuck you,” she uttered. “You think my life is a game?”

He uncrossed his arms and ran both hands along the bridge of his nose. “It was until it wasn’t. I realized tonight, with you in my arms, telling me you love me, how wrong I’ve been. But I promise you, from the first minute, I meant everything I said, Lola. I never lied about how I felt. I want you—”

She scrambled back so fast when he reached for her that she landed on the bed. “Don’t you dare fucking touch me.”

He grabbed the comforter on both sides of her and pulled it, sliding her back toward him. He jerked her to her feet by her biceps. “You want to test me? You’ll lose. Want to fucking run away from me? You can’t. Fight me all you want.” He kissed her hard. “Hurt me. I can take it. But you can’t outrun me. You’re strong, but you’re not strong enough to take me on. You might as well give in.”

Her knees threatened to buckle. There was undiluted pain and frustration in his voice. He loved her, even if he couldn’t say it. She loved him. And she’d never wanted to hurt anyone worse in her life. She looked him in the eye and said, “I want my money.”

It took a moment for anything to register on his face. His mouth parted. “Your money?”

She had to fight not to look away from him. He’d hurt her, and words were all she had. She struggled to push him off. “That’s all you’re good for. All I am is my pussy and all you are is your money. So give it to me so I can go.”

He tightened his grip. “That’s not true, and you know it. That isn’t what we are.”

She dug deeper. Sank her claws into her pain. What he’d done deserved her worst. “Go buy some more people, and get the fuck out of my life. Build your empire and run it all by yourself. Alone. No matter how much money you spend, you will never have me, and you and I will never have what Johnny and I do.”

He tilted his head with a jerk as if his lid were about to fly off. “Liar. Earlier you said—”

“Earlier I was hysterical,” she spat. “I thought I was going to die. I don’t even know what I was saying. I love Johnny, and I just want to go home to him.”

He raised his chin, looking down at her. His jaw worked back and forth as he breathed through his nose. He pushed her backward hard and stormed to the closet. Her chest stuttered viciously as if collapsing in on itself. She wanted to run away from him and to him in equal parts. She needed to believe in his arms around her, but every time he’d touched her, it was a lie. It was to get something from her—not just something, but the most valuable thing she had to give. Her heart.

He reappeared with a brown package like the one he’d brought to her apartment the night before. “Here’s the other five hundred grand,” he said, tossing it. It landed with a heavy thump at her feet. “Now get the fuck out.”

She only needed to be strong long enough to leave that presidential suite in one piece. The money was heavier than she expected, and she had to heave it from the floor into her arms. She walked right up to him, standing under his nose. “Coward. There’s a reason you had to have me that night and a reason you’re still thinking about me ten years later, and it wasn’t to win some stupid game.”

“You’re probably right. And it’s the same reason you’re still standing here when I told you to leave.”

She gripped the package until her fingers hurt. “You could’ve had me without the money,” she said. “You could’ve come back for me, but you were too scared to even try. Now you’ve lost me. I took your power, and that means you’ve lost your game.”