Conviction (A Stand-alone Novel): A Bad Boy Romance (16 page)

Ayden's cheeks and chin were shadowed with stubble. I remembered the delicious friction of it against my bare skin and blushed. Then I closed myself and gave in to the sensational memories.

When I opened my eyes, I caught a flash of blue.

"Are you awake?" I asked.

"No, and I certainly was not watching you sleep," he muttered against the softness of the pillow.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" I yanked the pillow from under his head and whacked him with it.

"Turns out I was the one sleeping while you were watching," Ayden laughed.

Our playful wrestling was cut short by the buzzer on my front door. I leaned over Ayden, teasing us both where our bare skin met, and grabbed my phone. I pulled up my security feed and scowled.

"It’s David," I said.

Ayden grabbed his pillow and snuggled back under the covers. "Tell him I said 'hi.'"

I slapped his shoulder as I got up and found a pair of exercise pants and tank top with built-in support. I hoped David would think the rosy hue on my cheeks was from a strenuous work-out. The color deepened as I thought about all the strenuous things I wanted to do when I got back to Ayden in my bed.

"Good morning, David. This is a, well, strange surprise." I opened the door only wide enough to talk to him.

"Can I come in? Autumn, we really need to talk." He put his hand flat on the door and pushed, but I resisted. "Please. I was wrong to push you away. We've worked so well together in the past. Think about that, Autumn, please."

"We worked well together with Jace as a buffer. That's all gone now," I said.

"It doesn't have to be. Don't you think Knight Holdings would benefit from the old team sticking together? We're the ones that really know the ins and outs. We should work together, support each other," David said. He brushed the back of his hand across his mouth and tried a different approach. "I've always admired you, Autumn. You've got the common touch, the educated mind. Together we could really do great things."

He pushed on the door again, but I shook my head and stood firm. "I'm sorry, David, but it comes down to the fact that I do not trust you. You need to be aware of the fact that I have access to all the company records, even yours."

"Jace really trusted you," David muttered.

"Yes, he did."

"He trusted me too," David whined. "Why doesn't anyone remember that?"

"Please leave him out of this," I snapped. "The point is I've seen too many dead accounts and suspicious transactions in your name to have complete trust in you. Can you explain those away?"

"Are you kidding me?" David screeched. "You expect me to sit down and explain all my transactions to an assistant? I'm the one that should be scrutinizing your work and double-checking your figures. You seem to forget that I'm the business manager and the interim CEO of Knight Holdings. And I need your help, Autumn. I need you on my side."

He shoved hard against the door, and I lost my grip on it. The door slammed against the wall and David hurried inside. He rolled his eyes at the door and wiped the back of his hand over his mouth again.

"David, this is very inappropriate. Please leave," I said. I blocked him from taking another step inside my home. "We can talk about this later at the office. We'll set a meeting, and I'll bring those sandwiches that you love."

He could not answer because his jaw had gone slack. I blinked at him, almost frightened until I realized what he was looking at. Ayden sauntered into the room barefoot in nothing but his dress pants and a white undershirt.

"Anyone else want coffee?" Ayden asked.

I dug my fingernails into my palms and said. "No, thanks. David was just leaving. I've got everything under control."

It was too late. The damage was already done. David was pale and silent. He staggered a few steps towards the door and then spun around. The color returned to his face with a vengeance, and he turned almost purple before the words formed in his mouth.

"You two are together? I bet that was his sick plan all along. You really are a stupid bitch underneath it all, aren't you, Autumn. I knew it."

"That's enough, David. Time to leave," I snapped.

"You know he's the one that killed Jace or had him killed, right? I bet he was plotting it the whole time he was in jail. Figured out just exactly how to make it look like an accident," David snarled.

"You know, I could say the same thing about you," Ayden said. His voice was deadly calm. "I could point out how much you had to gain once Jace was out of the way. And you were the last person to supposedly see him alive."

"And you fell for all these lies?" David screeched at me. "You realize how this is going to play out, don't you? A court of law is going to take one look at your ex-convict lover boy here and know he's guilty. Then they're going to look at me, an upright businessman, and award me damages. Maybe I'll even sue him for slander."

I tried one more time to make David see reason before Ayden lost control. "No one is accusing anyone else of murdering Jace. It was an accident, and we are all mourning the loss. Now, David, I understand you came here looking for support, and you're upset that you didn't find it. I'm sorry. Please leave."

"How long do you think it will take?" David sneered around my shoulder at Ayden. "I'm betting it will be less than an hour before they decide to send you back to prison. You should think long and hard about what that is going to feel like."

Ayden gently set me aside and bent down to get in David's face. "You want to know what prison is going to feel like? For guys like you, it feels like being a rat in a cage full of snakes. Every step you take is watched and measured. You are hunted from the moment you wake up until the moment you dare to fall asleep. I've seen guys like you shrivel up and die within a month."

"Shut up, you have no idea who I am," David huffed, but he crossed his arms and his eyes darted to the open door.

"Sure I do. You're the man who opened his big mouth and talked his way into shoes he can't possibly fill. So you spend every day trying to scurry around and demand that people below you look up to you, but no one ever seems to." Ayden's voice was cold and relentless. He never broke eye contact with David and stepped forward every time David gave an inch. "That's what prison is like. A whole population of men that can read you like a headline and put you in your place. And, trust me, there's no talking your way to a higher spot in the pecking order. Not in prison."

"Enough, Ayden. David was just leaving," I said.

Ayden stopped talking, but his body language was enough to destroy the smaller man. His shoulders flexed as he took another step towards David, his arms out wide as if taunting him with an open target.

"That's enough, Ayden," David squeaked. "Tell him, Autumn. This is just what I was saying. We're civilized people you and I. Please Autumn. We should work together. You should be on my side."

Ayden jolted towards David. The smaller man broke and skittered towards the open door. He whimpered as he looked from the open door to me and back again.

"Both of you, this conversation or whatever it has become, is over," I declared. "David, you will go home, and we will forget this unfortunate run-in ever happened. I'm sorry that I cannot work on your side, as you say, but I just cannot trust you."

David continued to whine. "Now of all times. I could really be making progress. Jace is gone and now I could finally make some progress, grow the business. It’s about time I can make things right, so I don't have to keep looking over my shoulder. I'm interim CEO. I should be able to make some progress now."

"David," I said gently, "go home."

"What would you know about any of this?" he roared at me.

I stumbled back and Ayden lunged. He caught David by the collar and hoisted him off his feet. They careened through the open door until David slammed against the far wall.

"The board can't have their CEO doing things like this," David sneered.

"Things like harassing an employee in her home?" Ayden spat.

"Who knows? Maybe I'll suggest to the board that it was you that harassed Autumn in her home. Who are they going to believe?" David asked.

Ayden pulled back his fist and only hesitated for half a second. The hit swung hard and crashed into the wall two inches from David's ear. The plaster shattered and left a gaping hole.

David slithered out of Ayden's grasp and straightened his rumpled suit coat. He was deadly pale and shaking as he turned and walked down the hallway and out of my building.

"He's gone," I whispered, but we could both still feel the outrageous confrontation, and it would linger for hours.

Chapter Eleven

Ayden

I unloaded the last filing box I had brought from Jace's house. The office was sleek and modern with a dark-stained desk and low bookshelves that did not conceal the fishbowl glass walls. I decided that in order to fight David's attempt to take over Knight Holdings, I had to be present. He was always up to something.

As if on cue, I glanced through the glass wall on my left and saw David loping down the hallway. There was no way he did not see me setting up my new office, but the short man continued on his way without a second glance. Ever since he had run into me at Autumn's apartment, David had pretended I did not exist.

Unfortunately, I could not do the same. It was impossible to forget how he had spewed nonsense and yelled at Autumn. I had personally repaired the dry wall in the hallway, but things had definitely changed. David knew I was a direct threat and not about to give in to his tantrums. It was better if we pretended not to see each other in the glass-walled office.

I forced myself to turn back to my new desk. I was sorting through a mess of files when Autumn appeared in the doorway and saved me with a bright smile.

"Nice to see you here, Mr. King," she said.

I watched her lean on the doorframe, pop her hip out, and cross her delicate ankles. It was hard not to wish for solid walls.

As if reading my mind Autumn laughed and said, "Good thing they're mostly sound proof because I really want to tell you how hungry I am, and I'm not talking about food."

Her randy statement was made with such an expression of mundane conversation that I was impressed as well as turned on. Flirting with Autumn in the open forum of the office was another new challenge I was going to have fun mastering.

"Well, I'm sure there's nothing unusual about us taking an early lunch together. In fact, I'm sure Darla can put a meeting on the books for us." I pried my eyes off Autumn's tight sheath dress.

"Poor Darla," Autumn sighed. She stood up and glanced out towards reception. "David has been after her all morning. He wants every employee to use the new calendar app so he can monitor what everyone is doing every day. No wonder there seems to be an upswing of technical problems today."

"Speaking of our nosy co-worker, has he said anything to you?" I stood up and tried again to organize the papers on my desk.

"No, not yet. Here, let me help you with that." Autumn stepped over to my side of the desk but stopped when she heard my sharp inhale.

"Sorry," I muttered, "I'm just not sure how casual I can appear with you this close to me."

Autumn's cheeks warmed as she gathered up the papers and retreated to the opposite side of the desk. "Too bad about that early lunch idea because I heard a few of the visiting board members mention they want to take you out to lunch."

"So David hasn't completely knocked me out of the running yet?"

Autumn neatly shuffled the papers and filed them away. "Not at all. The board members are not easily swayed either way."

"Is something wrong?" I reached out for the stack of mail Autumn was sorting, but she pulled back.

Her face was pale and a sheen of sweat glistened near her blonde hairline. "No. Everything's fine. Do you think we can meet at the home office after your lunch?"

"I like the way you think," I grinned.

It was hard to stay focused on impressing the board members over lunch when all I could think about was Autumn waiting for me at home. As my town car drove through the tall wrought-iron gates and dropped me at the front door, I realized for the first time I was thinking of Jace's mansion as home. It had been a long time, even longer than my prison sentence, since I had thought of any place as home.

I grinned as I walked up the wide front steps and under the archway of wisteria. It really did feel like home, and I knew it was because of Jace. When my mother passed away and things unraveled at home, the only place I felt like I fit in was at Jace's side. In a way, he had become my home and now that he was gone, the only place I felt the same way was in the space he had left behind.

Not that I was complaining. Sure, it might have been harder if Jace had been dirt poor and living in a shanty by a bog. The Las Vegas mansion was an easy choice, but what surprised me was how comfortable I really felt there.

I resisted the urge to wander through the house and continue to marvel over the new feeling. Instead, I went straight to the home office and winked at Jace's portrait.

"Alright, alright, you were right and I was wrong. We would have fought tooth and nail over me living here while you were alive but, you were right, this is home. I don't think I'll ever be able to thank you enough," I said to the oil painting.

"You know I'm doing all of this for you," I continued, as I sat down at the desk and put my feet up. "I'm fighting off your weasel of a former business manager, bringing ideas for new technology to Knight Holdings, and doing my best to play nice so the board elects me. Not bad for a kid that could never complete a fifty-yard play."

I looked around the office and had to take a few deep breaths. It all felt right, but that did not mean it did not overwhelm me. Sometimes the weight of the changes trampled over me like a herd of cattle and left me breathless.

"Everything okay?" Autumn's bright voice pulled me from my thoughts. "You look so serious. The board members didn't make you nervous did they?"