The Arrangement 22 (The Arrangement 22)

I shake me head. “Not at all. I’m on the pill. I’m not sure what happened.”

She shrugs. “Life happens unexpectedly sometimes.”

I love that song. I nod at her. “Yes, it does.”

CHAPTER 16

Holy shit. There’s a baby inside of me. A baby! This can’t be happening. I’m so excited I can’t think. I fly to Black’s and realize I need to slow down and focus. She cannot know about this. Ever. I need to be a cold businesswoman, just like her. If Black doesn’t believe me, if she isn’t certain I’m done with Sean and will do anything for whatever comes next, I’m screwed—we all are. I let out one more baby squee and lock the thought in the back of my mind along with a bunch of other things I can’t deal with right now.

This part of the plan weighs heavily on my shoulders, crushing me. I roll to a stop in front of Black’s office building.

“You can do this, Avery. You can do this,” I chant, not really believing. I yank on the rearview mirror, intending to give myself a more elaborate pep talk. It comes off in my hand. I look down at the plastic clip on the back and flip the mirror over in my palm. The glass shines up at me, and I start laughing. Even though Sean repaired and restored this car from bumper to bumper, it still had an original part. I smile to myself and sink back in my seat.

My life has taken a wild tangent, flying into territory I would never have dared to glance at, leading me to walk into a war zone as the prey and the prize. No wonder why Mom was always frantic. They hid this from me so well that I never had a clue. Dad always made sure we were under the radar and Mom was a mom. What more could a kid ask for?

Leaning forward in my seat, I place the mirror on the dashboard and run my hand over my tummy one last time thinking it’s a girl. It must be. I can feel it, which makes no sense.

I say to the baby, for the first time and possibly the last, “You and I won’t run. We won’t hide. We’ll be free from all of this. I promise you that.”

Determination I didn’t know I possessed flows up my spine, straightening me, filling me with courage. I will survive. I’ll get through this. I have to do it. For her.

When the elevator doors open, Gabe is there. He’s in his black suit and white shirt. A dark tie is knotted around his neck, and his well-worn shoes are freshly shined. He nods at me, and presses a button with one beefy finger, taking us to the top floor.

“Good evening, Miss Stanz.”

“Hey, Gabe.” I stand with my shoulders back, eyes straight ahead.

He says nothing about Mel or Sean. Nothing about tonight’s plan, but I know he has my back. I nod at him when the doors slide open, then exit the elevator. In long sleek strides, I pace across the floor, passing empty desks, and walk straight into Black’s office without knocking.

“Hello, Miss Black.” I speak with authority, with confidence I didn’t feel until a few moments ago.

She’s at her desk, annoyed I entered unbidden. “Avery, your manners could use work.”

“As could yours.” I’m clutching my purse in front of me and tip my chin up.

Black offers a half smirk and rises. A red dress hugs her slender form, scooping at the neck, and following her figure down to just below her knee. A thick gold chain hangs around her neck with three decorative keys dangling on the end. Each is a different shade of gold—yellow, white, and rose gold. One key is simple, plain, while another has diamonds glittering along the shaft. They're the keys from her nightstand, the set hidden in the secret drawer. Her lips are blood red. Coupled with her angular features, dark eye makeup, and dark hair, she’s immaculate. No better than that. Miss Black always looks better than everyone. She prides herself on it.

She arches a perfectly plucked brow as she saunters toward me, her slender arms loosely folded across her ample chest. “Did we grow a backbone?” She stops in front of me, looks down into my face less than a foot away.

“Perhaps it was there all along.” I’m careful not to smirk and repress my emotions, hiding them. They’ll fuck me over royally. I have to be cold, mirror her exactly. She needs to think I like her, that I want to be like her. She needs to believe it wholeheartedly.

Black laughs lightly. “I would have seen it.”

“I know you did.” I step closer to her and meet her intense gaze. Black isn’t the type of woman you fuck around with. She’ll wipe the floor with me if I piss her off. There’s a fine line between confidence and arrogance. I hope I’m on the right side because eating carpet doesn’t sound appealing. “You saw it in me from day one. You knew my potential, and you called me out. I was the fool who denied it.”

Black inhales slowly, like she’s drawing on a cigarette. Her eyes are locked on mine, crushing me under her gaze. “Flattery is unbecoming.”

“Facts,” I correct, “are far from flattery, Miss Black.”

She narrows her eyes to slits and sweeps her gaze over me. With a manicured nail she points to the scale. “Do it. Stop wasting time.” Her last three words aren’t sharp. I can tell she likes having her ego stroked, so I don’t see it coming when she blindsides me.

I drop the dress and stand on the scale. She measures me, writes it down, and then sits on the edge of her desk without giving me permission to dress. So I stand there, scantily clad, staring at her polished, red, fuck-me heels.

Her voice is deep, direct, and laced with a warning tone. She balances the pen between her fore and middle fingers, moving it up and down. A fidgeting movement that isn’t like her at all. I wait for her to speak and remain quiet, taking in the tension in her jaw and the way she tries to look relaxed, but she doesn’t quite pull it off. I wouldn’t have seen it when I first met her, but I do now. She’s worried.

“I have a problem, Avery. A very serious dilemma. How am I to know, to be entirely confident you’ll do whatever I ask without question tonight? In the past, you’ve proven reckless, and with this client, you can’t be. You have to obey me completely without any insight, without any reason. I don’t think you’re capable of it. Your figure, yes, it’s perfect. He prefers a woman with wider hips, even in an advisory role. But your discipline is utterly lacking.”

I don’t argue with her. I feel the entire plan shifting out of my hands, heading toward a free-fall. It has to be now, tonight. Everything is in place. For a moment, I think she knows we were in her house. Maybe Connie told her. Maybe she noticed the missing letter opener. Damn it.

In the past, my thoughts would have played across my face like a movie, but not tonight. I stand there, shoulders squared, relaxed but confident. A thought crosses my mind. It’s slightly insane but I noticed it before, and it’s impossible to ignore now. The way Black’s eyes linger on my hips and the swell of my breasts. They remain there too long. Her lips part and she blinks slowly, thinking about something she can’t have—something she wants to do but knows she shouldn’t.

I act. She has to believe it’s sincere, or it won’t work. I’m not this woman. I don’t feel this way—but I know she does. I step toward her in my heels and inhale slowly, letting the air make my chest rise. My breasts strain against the sheer lace, filling the bra. I come within a whisper of Black’s face, close enough to kiss her, but not touching. I move my lips slowly, careful to barely brush the side of her mouth when I speak.

“Perhaps you never realized where my loyalties truly reside.” I pull back slightly, enough for her to catch my eye. When our gazes lock, my pulse roars in my ears.

Her gaze drops to my lips, then my bra, and back to my mouth. “Loyalty is rare.”

“I’m aware.”

Black eyes me cautiously, but she doesn’t pull away. “What are you suggesting?”

“Nothing that you don’t already want.” The words drip off my lips, slowly, surely.

Black is enthralled, watching me closely, breathing so hard that her chest swells making her tits brush mine for a moment before she exhales. Black lingers, fighting it. She knows I’m dead, gone after tonight. I suspected she wanted me, but I had no idea how much. Standing t