“I’m very capable of completing my work load,” I reply calmly.
“Oh, I bet you are,” she laughs teasingly. She’s definitely flirting with me. My dick twitches at the thought, but then the memory of Patience last night comes to mind—her beautiful body tied to my bed and laid out bare for me to nip and suck and take as my own. I tell my dick to calm the fuck down. This is not the pussy it wants. Lillian can have all the Botox and fillers she wants, but she’ll never be anything but a speck of dust when it comes between her and Patience. There just isn’t any comparison.
I feel out of sorts. Confused by my own tumbling thoughts. I’m trying to control them, but the more I fight to understand what’s bothering me, the more stressed I feel.
I’d thought Lillian was attractive, if not a little old, when I first met her, but as the minutes have ticked on, I’ve realized she’s nothing. There’s only one woman I want, and it’s not this dried up old hag pretending to be something she’s not. My friend, my mistress, my fucking counselor. When, in fact, she’s Elite, and wanting these tasks completed.
She wants to hurt Patience for the Elite’s gain.
Worse, she wants me to hurt Patience, and I can’t do anything but obey because I’m her pawn in this game of fucking chess, and that pisses me off even more. I’m no one’s pawn, and Patience doesn’t deserve this.
She deserves more.
She deserves better. She deserves someone worthy of her body.
And I’m none of those things.
I’m angry. The fury coursing through my veins like dry ice.
It’s been two weeks since I felt like this, but it’s like the anger never left me.
“Fuck this. I need to go,” I say, standing up abruptly and pushing back from Lillian. I have to get out of this shitty claustrophobic office. I need Patience.
“Don’t disappoint me, Samuel. I had high hopes for you,” she snaps.
I really need to go. I want—no,need—to see Patience. I want to feel her naked and writhing underneath me, calling my name and clawing at my back while she comes apart riding my cock.
I’ll never have enough of her, I realize with growing anxiety. I’ll never have enough of her body or her kisses or her mind. Something has changed in me, and I don’t know what. But somewhere in these past two weeks, I’ve found something more important than my vengeance. I found someone more important than my need for retribution.
I found peace, calm.
I found Patience, and perhaps myself.
I need to speak to my brothers. I drag a hand through my hair, feeling sick.
Lillian doesn’t look too happy about me leaving. She frowns and heads back around her desk.
Fuck. I hope she doesn’t tell Maxwell I bailed. He’ll ask me why I left, and then Sabella will give me shit, and fucking fuck, this is bullshit.
God, when will I be free of him?
When you man the fuck up and do what The Elite needs you to do, my subconscious drawls.
Break Patience’s heart…that’s all I need to do.
The thought sickens me.
Without another word, I march from Lillian’s office.
I jog across the parking lot, feeling a manic sort of hysteria crawling down my spine as the urgency grows. I light a cigarette, inhaling the deathly smoke into my lungs and blowing it out quickly, but it doesn’t calm me. I look up as I reach my car, finding Pride leaning against it, my heart thudding in my chest like it does before I go into the ring to fight, the anticipation thrumming in my veins.
What are the fucking chances?
“The task. Is it done?” he asks dryly, his expression dark. “I need to know you’re getting it done.”
“No,” I reply shortly, taking another long drag on my cigarette, wishing it was weed. Where the fuck is Sloth when you need him?
“Thought you said it was an easy task?” He looks tired, like this shit is taking a toll on him. He doesn’t have to fucking break Patience’s heart. I do.
