As always, Dad stands tall and poised, taking the microphone and knowing he was born to lead. He begins his speech with a story. Surprisingly, I listen with interest.
Then, a hand wraps around my waist, forcing my eyes to close from the smallest of touches. My stomach flutters in anticipation, but at the same time, my heart slowly begins to bleed. What we’re doing has no happy ending.
It’ll only destroy more people.
“Hunter,” I whisper. “Not know.”
I can almost smell the whisky on his skin. This is very unlike him. Usually, he is in control, but something has gotten to him. Maybe, it was our fight.
“Alexandra, I need you …”
His hand slides up my thigh, but just as I’m about to push him away, he yanks my panties down.
“We can’t here,” I warn him. “My father is—”
“You’re mine, you understand.” His words sound more like a plea. This desperation we both feel even though we know what we’re doing is wrong.
You’re mine…
The words repeat and explode like dynamite this time, breaking the walls inside me until they crumble into a heap on the ground. I open my mouth to say something, but he manages to enter me, causing me to gasp.
This is wrong. We shouldn’t be doing this here.
My body is betraying me, desperately wanting him, but all I can think about is my father talking right over the loudspeaker.
The voices inside me don’t stop, all battling with each other to speak the loudest. I desperately craved Hunter’s touch, but something has changed between us.
“Family is why I’m here,” I hear my father say.
Family … family … the word stabs me in the heart.
A small cry escapes me. I can’t do this. At the same time, Hunter pushes forward and groans. He stills his movements as I try to fight back my tears. Slowly, he slides himself out and zips up his pants.
As quick as it started, it ended just as fast.
I turn around to face him, fueled by emotions. “Are you trying to destroy my father?”
“Alexandra, what kind of a question is that?”
“Answer me,” I demand, glaring at him. “At the board meeting, I saw you hush Carol when she spoke about Harperlex. Earlier tonight, Chester threatened me. He said if I leaked anything to my father about what you’re doing as so-called payback, then I’d be fighting a big lawsuit.”
Hunter angrily fixes his tux jacket then wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. He bares his teeth, glaring with cold eyes.
“Jesus fucking Christ, Alexandra. Stop acting like a child. Business is business.”
His outburst leaves me speechless. So, he was trying to destroy him all along, so he needed me as bait. I’m nothing more to him than a joke.
“So, then I was bait?” A sharp pain spreads across my chest. “You used me to do what exactly?”
“Don’t even go there,” he mutters.
“Why? It makes perfect sense that …” I trail off as my brain switches to last night and the removal of my birth control.
You just let him fuck you bareback.
With no protection.
I clutch my stomach, unable to breathe. Nausea has a chokehold on me, making me faint and slightly dizzy. Hunter watches me, but he has no sympathy because, of course, he is just a man.