“I’ll figure something out.” I zipped the bag closed and turned to stare at her and the sympathetic stare she gave me. “I’m tired of being the butt of every joke in this house. I’m something now, Brea, I work for the deputy mayor. I thought Dad was happy with me, but they still….” My shoulders slumped again and the energy that had driven me to pack disappeared, leaving me tired. “They stillhateme.”
“They don’t hate you.” She didn’t sound convinced, however, and her eyes turned sad.
“I need to get out of here for a while,” I murmured, slinging the bag strap over my shoulder. I hadn’t realized how heavy it would be, and I nearly toppled over at the sudden weight shift. I grabbed the hanger hooks for the suits and winced as they dug into my palm.
“Max—”
I raised my chin and stepped past her. She didn’t try to stop me, but I hadn’t expected as much. Walking down the curved stairs back to the first floor felt like the longest the trip had ever been, and I noticed Mom coming out from the dining room just as I reached the bottom. She stopped and stared at me, her ice-cold eyes unfeeling, and then she moved again as though she hadn’t seen the duffel bag over my shoulder and the hangers with my suits clutched in my hand.
Well, fuck her. I don’t need any of them.
With that thought, I snatched my coat off the rack near the door on the way past and walked straight out of the house toward my black Lexus. I hung the suits on the back-seat grab handles and threw my duffel into the trunk before I got into the driver’s side. Staring intently at the steering wheel, I suddenly realized Brea was right—I had nowhere to go. I didn’t have friends or any other family. There was no one.
The only place I had outside of home was city hall, and it had showers and locker rooms, right? Hating that it’d come to this, I started the car and drove down the long, winding driveway of the Kalinski Estate, heading toward the city again.
Getting into the building wasn’t difficult. The security guard, Frank, knew me well from my already long stint as an intern, and he let me in after I gave him a sad tale about how I had a lot of work to do. Technically he shouldn’t have, but Frank was a nice guy who liked taking the young ones under his wing. He’d been working here for over fifty years.
So that’s where I spent the night, curled up on the couch in the office I shared with Jean-Paul.
The next morningI was up and showered before Jean-Paul arrived. The gym facilities came in handy, and staff cards made it easy to get in and out of all the rooms, except those we actually weren’t allowed in, like the mayor’s office.
By the time my torturer showed up, I was already at my corner of his desk—the far left-hand side of the massive, curved thing had gradually turned into my workstation—stapling those same papers he had me doing yesterday. He paused in surprise, gaze narrowed on me when I glanced up with a short nod.
“You’re early,” Jean-Paul said, a cup of coffee held tightly in his hand. His auburn hair was particularly wavy today, and I was insanely jealous of how naturally put together he appeared. I always felt like I was a mess, but everything about him was flawless. Without exception, he wore the nicest suits. Today was a navy-and-burgundy-checked three-piece with a white shirt, and it looked amazing on him. I didn’t know which I hated more, how good he looked in his suit, or the fact that I found the sadist so damn sexy. Probably both.
“I’m always early,” I snapped, tone harsher than I’d wanted.
“Not this early.” He moved his suspicious gaze to Mr. Elwood’s office door, and I resisted the urge to throw the stapler at him. He’d only get me for workplace harassment then, and I really would be out the door on my ass. I needed this job more than ever, now that I didn’t have a place to stay. The sad thing was the job barely paid me anything.
“I wanted to get ahead today.” I slumped forward and stapled one of the documents harder than I should have and the sound of ripping paper made me cringe.Double fuck and donkey balls.
Jean-Paul slammed his coffee on the desk and some sloshed out of the tiny drinking hole in the takeout cup, landing on my hand. I hissed and glared, and he actually gave me an apologetic look. “Listen up, pretty boy.”
He placed his hands on the desk and leaned closer until I could feel his breath on my lips.You think I’m pretty?nearly slipped out of my mouth, but I kept it in.
“I don’t know what you’re up to, but don’t get any funny ideas. Your mommy and daddy won’t save you from the consequences of your actions, got it?” He crowded even closer, and I sucked in a deep breath. “I willdestroyyou, boy. Put you over my knee like a miscreant child and spank your ass until it’s as pink as those cheeks on your face.”
An image flashed through my head of exactly that scene—Jean-Paul sitting in his chair, me over his lap with my pants around my ankles, and his palm making red splotches all over my skin with every strike of his hand. Fiery need flushed through me hot and quick, a pulse of electricity that lit up my insides, and my cock plumped in my already too-tight pants. I flushed hot with a combination of lust and embarrassment and tried to stutter words, but nothing came out.
Jean-Paul chuckled as he straightened. “Learn your place, Maxwell. It’s beneath me.”
“Okay.” The word slipped out before I could stop it, and my eyes widened. I’d absolutely love to be beneath him—if he wasn’t such a dick. He enjoyed the pleasure of tormenting me way too fucking much.
He frowned, his head cocking like he wasn’t quite sure why I’d said that, but I turned away from him to go back to stapling. I ignored him as he grabbed his coffee again and stalked over to his spot at the center of the massive desk.
And that’s how we spent the day—in silence. The only time we talked was when Jean-Paul told me to do another job, which was mostly more boring office tasks I could do with my eyes closed. I shut up and did as he ordered, though, because I had no choice.
At one point Jaxson came in, and while he gave me a short, nonchalant look, he focused on Jean-Paul. They chatted like old friends until Mr. Elwood came back from whatever meeting he’d been in, and then he and Jaxson kissed like lovesick fools.
I couldn’t look away. I’d never expected them to actually love each other. I’d thought Jaxson had used his body to get the job. The rumors all said that’s how he got high grades in college, too, and I’d assumed sex with the deputy mayor was just another stepping-stone. A part of me felt bad for what I’d done, but it’d all worked out in the end.
Jean-Paul had told me to say sorry, but I didn’t know how. Sorry wasn’t in a Kalinski’s vocabulary, or at least that’s what Dad always said—“A Kalinski is always in the right, Maxwell. We don’t apologize. Ever.”He’d slapped me so hard on the back that day my teeth had trembled with the force, but I’d been happy he’d stopped five minutes of his work to actually talk to me.
“Hellooo, Kalinski!”
Jean-Paul’s voice jarred me out of my thoughts, and I glanced at him, eyes wide. “Yes?”
He frowned at me and then back at Jaxson, who shrugged. “I said I want you to get us lunch. Go. You know what we like.”
