There was only one being who could make a portal like this, and it was the one person in existence who I couldn't just outright kill.My father.
So it looked like that asshole was sending people to try to get me to cross over again. I thought he had given it up after I had a demon courier deliver the head of the last being he had sent a couple of years ago, but no, he’d wised up. He’d learned from his mistakes, like always, and this time he’d sent someone who really got under my skin. Someone who got close enough, dangerously close enough to completing the task.
Too close.
I crushed the portal key in my hand, even though it was a one-time use token, just to make myself feel better. I walked over and chucked the pieces into the trash. It was by a slim chance that I hit that button at the perfect time. I wouldn’t get so lucky again, but if the past was anything to go by, he wouldn’t send another after me for a couple of years.
I sighed, moving forward as I needed to get to work. To take my mind off the last twenty-four hours and get myself on track. It was just good sex. That was it. I kept telling myself that as I tore off his shirt, resisting the urge to smell it, to catch just a whiff of his scent, of his delicious power.
That was another misfortune about how this all played out. Even if he hadn't completely filled me up—completely satisfied the void inside of me—he did a better job than any other before him. His power seemed unending until this morning. It was like he’d needed time to recharge his reserves or something.
It had been intoxicating to be able to feed like that, to constantly pull from both his power and my sin magic. When they mixed together, entering my body at the same time for just a quick second, I felt full. The feeling faded away, but for the first time ever, I could say that I’d felt that.
I’d even tested it out last night during some of our sessions—taking demonic magic and then taking his power—but it wasn't until I absorbed them both at the same time that I got that brief reprieve from feeling empty. It was an electrifying feeling that I really hated that I had to give up.
I banished the thoughts from my mind, knowing that in order for me to get over all of this, I would need to focus wholly on something else, and the next best thing was work. I stepped into the shower and filled my entire hand with soap, telling myself that the first step was to rid his scent from my body, to wash away his claim on me.
I rubbed my hands together, lathering the soap until bubbles formed. I went to put it on my chest and hesitated. Not something I planned to do, but my hands stopped involuntarily, hovering over my skin as I thought about his words, thought about his touch, his licks, and his bites.
There were going to be some things that I wouldn't be able to wash away with soap, and apparently my own body didn't want to wash him from it. But I had to do this. I needed to in order to not be a mess when I went to work.
I wasn't about to admit that Con West almost had me, not just to throw me through a portal, but almost had me. I was about to ask him to go to dinner tonight if he was still in town, because I wanted to see him again and wanted to talk to him over a meal. Then fuck his brains out. But I still wanted the other part too. I forced my hand to my skin, spreading the soap all over and scrubbing my skin hard.
I stood under the shower until the water ran clear, staring at the drain. I watched it like the stain of him was getting washed away. I would get past this. I always did. But this one was going to hurt.
AfterIshowered,puton my outfit from last night, and headed home for a fresh pair of clothes, I started to feel like myself again. Fuck him. Fuck him right up his ass if he wanted to work for my father. If he’d really cared, he would’ve told me and we could’ve figured out how to get him out of whatever deal my father was holding over him. But, no. He just had to go through with it. Well, fuck him.
I changed into some boss bitch clothes: a black pencil skirt with lacy cutouts on the sides, red come-fuck-me heels, a small black corset that barely covered my nipples, paired with my favorite choker that had a blood red drop diamond at the center. I felt fucking fantastic. All my mistakes washed away as I made myself look sexy as fuck.
I went to work, purposely taking the long way around just to make sure that I could get as many eyes on me as possible. It was times like these that I wished I could feed off my own sins, because pride was riding high with me today and it would be delicious to taste it all day. A few men who watched me walked into poles or tripped over sidewalks and it made me tremble with glee.
See, I didn't need that guy. I could have anyone I wanted, a whole sea of people to fill me up if I so wished.
But I didn't. I wanted the yummy taste of victory and triumph that only he provided.
I shook those thoughts out as I walked into the office. It was game time. I didn't have time for insecurities or silly wants. No, I had to make every move in here count. Every step had to ensure that this den of sharks knew who the one to be afraid of was.
I marched into my room and sat at my desk. Less than five seconds later, Cass walked in with her clipboard. In that moment, I felt better. I felt like nothing had changed, thatIhadn't changed because of last night. Everything was how it should be, and my mind and body settled.
“So, for today, we have a few disgruntled clients that you have to deal with. It wasn't the fault of our agents or anything like that. It was more that they don't like their deals anymore and want to renegotiate. Since you are the best, the other agents asked that you handle these two. Is that okay with you?”
I looked at her with her brown hair in a bun and her normal blouse and navy pencil skirt and smiled.
“Oh, yes. Today is exactly the kind of day for this job. Print me out a copy of each contract, and I will go over them now. Do we have time before they come in?”
She lifted the first page on her clipboard. “Yes. It looks like Mr. Ramos is at one PM and Miss. Arny is at three PM.”
“Great!” I clapped my hands and rubbed them together in excitement. “Get me those contracts, and I will have two new ones for each of them. One that I will offer first and the second one that they will take.”
She nodded as admiration peppered her gaze. “I’ll let them know you are on it.”
She lifted her fist at me, A. telling me that she had been watching too much K drama lately and B. that she had faith in me. At that moment, she didn't know how much I needed that. I lifted up my fist in solidarity. Yes, I was going to have two wins under my belt today, no matter what.
Todaywasofficiallytheworst. Not only did neither of the clients take the first deals, but they had so many amendments to the second deals that it was hardly worth it. I almost lost one of them until I promised that they could promote and record a spotlight Christmas show because, for some reason, their manager had told them that anyone who was truly serious would have a Christmas show.
By the end of the day, I was in a worse mood than when I started. The only good thing was that I was so preoccupied with what was going on with these two clients that I didn't have a moment to think about Con West and what happened this morning.
Now that it was five PM and the last client had just left, I slumped onto my chair, feeling angry and tired at the same time. I started to analyze what those two people were arguing about with me, and it felt like I had been arguing with demons. But I checked, and they’d been from the human side of the business. They were just prima donnas who had the right lawyers to teach them exactly what they should say to ensure they got what they wanted. And it worked.
