“I take it you had a great first day of work,” she said.
“It was good. It felt good to work again.” I smiled.
“Well, I hope you’re hungry, and I hope you like Mexican, because I’ve been craving it all day.”
“Mexican sounds good.” I smiled.
****
As Adalynn and I were sipping margaritas and eating chips and salsa, I decided to ask her about Ian’s father. It really bothered me what Jordyn had said about him and I wanted to know if it was true.
“Tell me about Ian’s father,” I said.
Adalynn looked at me strangely and as if I had just touched on a taboo subject. “Why do you want to know about Richard?”
“My friend, Jordyn, from Java Hut did an interview with Ian about three months ago and she said that she met his father and he was the rudest person she’d ever met. I guess I was just curious, since Ian hasn’t mentioned him. I didn’t know if they were close or not.”
Adalynn picked up her glass and looked at me. “Ian and his father are very close. Richard can be mean and crude. He has very little respect, if any at all, for women. I think that’s where Ian gets his attitude from. Ian’s mother passed away when he was eight years old and left Richard to raise their only child. After she died, Richard never remarried. He just bounced from woman to woman. From what I hear, he has women all around the world that drop everything when he comes to town.”
“Wow. He sounds like a real gem,” I said. “I guess that explains why Ian is always with different women,” I said as I looked down.
Adalynn put her hand on mine. “Rory, I get the feeling that you’re falling for Ian and it’s not a good idea. I don’t want to see you get hurt. He’s a charmer and he’ll make you fall hard and fast. But, in the end, he’ll break you.”
A small smile escaped my lips as I removed my hand from hers and took a sip of my margarita as I lied to my friend. “Don’t worry, I’m not falling for him. He can’t break me anymore than I already am. No one can.”
Adalynn told me that she had just started her own magazine company called Prim and she was hoping, as she put it, to kick Vogue’s ass out of the water. Her goal was for Prim to become one of the most respectable and high-powered magazine companies around. She told me that Ian had helped her get it off the ground and that he was a major contributor. I admired Adalynn a lot.
“Oops, look at the time. I better get you home.”
I pulled my phone from my purse, and I noticed I had 35 missed calls and 45 text messages; all from Ian. I looked at Adalynn as I showed her my phone. Her eyes widened as she looked at me.
“Well, I’m going to say that Ian was trying to get a hold of you.”
As soon as I went to call him, my phone died. Adalynn drove me back to Ian’s house and as soon as we walked through the door, Ian came storming through the living room.
“Where the f**k have you been?! And why the f**k didn’t you answer your phone?” he screamed.
“Calm down, Ian. She was with me. I picked her up from work and we went to dinner.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down, Adalynn.”
“Leave her alone. We had a good night and you’re not going to ruin it. Now, I have to go. I’ll call you tomorrow, sweetie.” She smiled as she hugged me.
As soon as the door shut, Ian’s glare burned through me. “Do you know how many times I tried to call you, not to mention all the text messages I sent you?”
“Yeah, I do. I saw it when I pulled out my phone from my purse.”
“Then why the f**k couldn’t you answer?!” he screamed as he stepped closer to me.
“I didn’t hear it ring.”
“You didn’t hear it ring? Do you even have the ringer volume turned up?” he continued to yell.
He was frightening me and it threw me back to a night when I was a child. I started to shake as I ran up the stairs and into my room, heading straight for the corner where Ian had found me the past few nights. I sat with my back against the wall and curled myself into a ball. I closed my eyes tightly and buried my head, trying to escape the memories of that night. I heard the door handle turn and my heart started beating faster than it already was. I cried as I whispered over and over, “Please don’t hurt me. Please don’t hurt me.”
I felt a soft touch on my hands. “Oh my God, Rory. I would never hurt you. I’m so sorry,” he said as he wrapped his arms around me and held me. “I was just so worried about you and when you didn’t answer your phone, I immediately thought you were in danger and I couldn’t find you. I felt helpless.”
“He wouldn’t stop screaming. ‘Who do you think you are, spying on us? I think I need to teach you a lesson little girl,’ and he grabbed me by my hair. My aunt came in the room and told him to leave me alone and not to waste his time on a piece of shit like me.”
“Jesus Christ,” he said as his grip tightened around me.
I finally started to calm down. As much as Ian had scared me moments before, he was now comforting me. His voice and touch were both warm and apologetic. I broke our embrace and wiped my eyes. Ian took my face in his hands.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. Please don’t ever fear me. I will never hurt you.”
I stared into his eyes as he desperately apologized to me. “I’m sorry,” he whispered as he brought his lips to mine and kissed me softly.
His hand wrapped around the nape of my neck as his kiss grew more intense. A low growl came from the back of his throat as I parted my lips and he slipped his tongue inside. I reciprocated and he went crazy, like an untamed beast. He halted and looked at me, breathless from our kiss.
“I want you so bad, Rory. I want to f**k you. I want to taste your sweetness and I want to bury myself deep inside you.”
He had me at the first “I want.” I had never wanted anything or anyone more badly in my life than I wanted Ian Braxton inside me. I knew it would change me and I didn’t know if I was ready for it. I sat there, breathless and aching, as I smiled at him.
“You sure have a lot of wants.”
Ian chuckled and put his forehead on mine. “Do you want me, Rory? Do you want me to f**k you? I need an answer,” he said.
“Yes. I want you.”
“You want me to what, Rory?”
He was putting me on the spot because I never had said that to anybody and I was feeling embarrassed. But, I managed to spit out the words if it would get him to touch me again.