Flesh: Part Fourteen (The Flesh Series Book 14)

Flesh

Part Fourteen

SKY CORGAN

Text copyright 2015
by Sky Corgan.

All rights reserved.

No part of this
publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
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photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of
the author.

CHAPTER ONE

“
Can I ask you
something?” It's taken everything in me to be patient enough
for Janice to put her purse down. Weariness is etched across her face
from a long night of work. She doesn't look like she wants to talk,
but she's the only one who I think might understand the way that
Lucian feels.

I should be content
with the fact that he called me this afternoon. We only spoke briefly
over the phone, but it made a big difference in how I feel about our
relationship. He's doing his best to show that he cares, that I'm not
just some fling to him. Still, the fact that he won't leave Flesh is
gnawing on me like an unpredictable wild animal that might tear me
apart at any moment.

I'm doing my best to
accept that he needs Flesh, but the woman in me just doesn't want to
allow it. Even though I do want him, I never wanted this warped
relationship. Knowing that he touches other women, that he sees them
naked, it makes me feel sick to my stomach. Besides, my mind keeps
flitting back to our scene. He put his hands on me in a very sexual
way, even when he was giving me the Flesh treatment. Does that mean
he touches them the same way? If he does, it's just as good as
cheating.

“
I'm tired,
Amy.” Janice wrinkles her forehead.

“
I'll try not
to take up too much of your time.” I give her a pleading look.
If I don't discuss this with her, I probably won't sleep all night.

“
Are you sure
it can't wait until tomorrow?” She sits down on the sofa beside
me and starts taking off her pink and white sneakers.

“
Things are
getting better with Lucian,” I begin, ignoring her obvious
exhaustion.

“
That's good,”
she replies absentmindedly. “But?”

“
But he
refuses to stop working at Flesh.”

Janice sighs, her
shoulders slumping. I can see the tension mounting in her jaw
muscles. She takes a deep breath, sucking back potentially hurtful
words. “I wish you would just get over him.”

“
Part of me
understands why he doesn't want to stop. We did a scene together,
and...” I search for words to explain things. “I can't
give him what he needs.”

“
Of course you
can't. You're not a submissive.” She pulls her socks off in
jerking motions.

“
That's not
what I meant.”

“
What do you
mean then?” She relaxes back against the sofa, closing her eyes
and wiggling her toes.

“
I don't think
it so much bothers me that he wants to keep working at Flesh as it
does that I don't trust him. I mean, it gives him the perfect
opportunity to cheat on me. I don't know what the other women who go
in there look like. What if he can't stop himself and does something
with one of them?” The very thought makes me chest throb with
pain.

“
It bothers
you that he still wants to work there.” She casts a sarcastic
sideways glance at me. “Don't even try to lie about it. I know
you too well.”

“
It does
bother me.” I sulk. “I know I can't stop it though. I
mean...”

Janice turns to me.
“I want to be supportive of your relationship with him, I
really do. But I think we all know this isn't going to have a happy
ending.”

“
It could.”
It sounds more like a question than a statement.

“
It won't.”
She shakes her head. “But I know you're already committed to
him. I just wonder how long it will take before he completely breaks
you.”

“
Well, that's
not very supportive.” I frown.

“
No, it's
being a realist.”

“
We've made
progress. He's stopped avoiding my calls.” I can feel my teeth
clenching as anger starts to well up inside of me. Maybe talking to
her about this was a bad idea after all.

“
How much
effort does it take to pick up a phone?” She rolls her eyes.

“
Look.”
I gesture out in front of me as if I'm trying to dispel the negative
feelings that the conversation is causing. “I just need to know
that he's not sleeping with other women, and I need your help for
that.”

“
How am I
supposed to help with that?” She cocks an eyebrow at me.

“
Ask your Dom
what Lucian does next time you go to Flesh. Ask him if Lucian is
still sleeping with clients.”

“
And how do
you expect me to fit that into a conversation?” She scoots to
the edge of her seat as if she's just waiting for an opening to get
up and leave.

“
I don't know.
I was hoping you could figure something out.”

“
Why don't you
just ask Lucian?”

“
Because I
don't know if he'll tell me the truth.” I draw my hand up to my
temple, feeling the beginning of a headache coming on.

“
Look, Amy,
the solution is simple. If you don't trust him, then don't date him.
I'm not going to spy on your boyfriend for you. That's high school
bullshit, and I have enough on my plate as it is.” Janice
stands, speaking down to me in a condescending tone. “He's your
problem. You deal with it.” And then she stomps off to her
room, leaving an air of tension behind that makes my eyes well up
with tears.

***

I tap my flower pen
on my desk, staring at my monitor blankly with a hollow feeling in my
chest. It seems that my relationship with Lucian is always causing a
divide with my friendships. It's not really his fault though. It's my
fault for always whining about him. My fault for pining after him and
putting him before the other more important relationships in my life.
My fault for expecting other people to go above and beyond to protect
my feelings.

Lucian is out of my
league emotionally. I'm ill-equipped to handle the bizarre adult
situations that our relationship has forced on me. All of my dating
life, I've become accustomed to things flowing smoothly. The
rockiness of trying to be with such a complicated man is not
something that I was ever prepared for.

I stare across the
room at the back of Derrick's head, at his shoulder length
dirty-blonde hair hanging in soft waves. He's been a saint through
all of this. So has Janice. Sometimes, I don't feel like I deserve
their friendship.

Maybe I should just
give up Lucian. Perhaps it would be better if my life returned to the
way it was before I met him—boring and loveless. But we've made
so much progress. He feels like a project I've been assembling piece
by piece. I can finally start to see the outline of something whole.
All I need to do is break the wall inside of him that needs Flesh.
It's the last step in having a normal relationship with him. I feel
like we've come too far for me to give up now.

I have way too much
time to think about it. My email inbox remains empty of any
correspondence from him. Days pass by, and though Lucian and I keep
contact at night, he doesn't seem interested in making progress on
his interior design project.

Unfortunately, I'm
not the only one who has taken notice of that. On Thursday, Tyra
calls Derrick and me into her office for a meeting.

“
What's
up?” I ask, feeling a bit stiff. It's obvious by Tyra's hard
expression that she's not very happy, which is never a good thing.

“
The
Reddick project.” She doesn't even look at us as she swivels in
her chair, dragging her long red nails across the top of her desk.
“Have either of you heard from Doctor Reddick lately?”

Derrick glances over
at me as if he expects me to fess up about sleeping with the client.
Suddenly, the room feels ten degrees hotter.

“
No,”
I lie, shaking my head. “Have you, Derrick?” I turn my
attention to him.

He rolls his eyes,
which I fear is a dead giveaway that something more than meets the
eye is going on, but then he says, “The guy isn't exactly fond
of me. Why would he contact me?”

Tyra flattens her
palms on her desk and gazes up at me. “Have you tried reaching
out to him?”

“
I
Cc'd you in the emails I sent to him.” Well, all the ones that
didn't contain anything personal. “He's unresponsive.”

She lets out a long,
labored sigh. “Shit.”

Derrick and I both
go rigid. It's not often that Tyra curses, and when she does, it's
usually followed by a chewing out.

Instead of saying
anything else, she picks up the phone on her desk and punches in a
number, her nails making angry clicking sounds. “Hi Doctor
Reddick,” she fakes a pleasant tone. “This is Tyra
Rollins at Environ Design. I was just calling because no one here has
heard from you in a while and I wanted to make sure that you still
wanted to continue forward with your interior design project. Please
give me a call whenever you get this.”

SLAM!

Derrick and I both
jump when she puts the receiver down. She sighs again before looking
up at me, causing a tremor of fear to race down my spine.

“
I
want you to keep trying to get in contact with Doctor Reddick every
day next week. You will email him and call him. If we don't hear from
him by Friday, then we'll know he bailed on his contract. If you do
hear from him, then speed things up. I don't care how you do it, but
get the furniture into his house and get the money. It's bullshit
that this is taking so long.”

“
Yes,
ma'am,” I meekly reply. Somehow, I knew we would eventually get
to this point with how Lucian has been dragging his feet on the
project. I just never thought that Tyra would be so hostile about it.

“
Rich
flighty...,” she hesitates, “people.” It's obvious
that's not the word she wanted to use, but she's trying to calm
herself down.

“
I
hope that if he bails, you won't think this discredits up from
working with future high profile clients,” Derrick dares to
say.

Tyra holds up her
palm to him. “Derrick, I don't want to talk about this right
now. You're both dismissed. And close the door on your way out.”

I'm never happier to
leave. The tension in the room was thicker than molasses. There was
no way to cut it. All you could do is drown in it.

As soon as we're
outside of Tyra's office and Derrick has closed the door behind us,
he grabs me by the arm and pulls me to the side, speaking to me in a
low tone. “What in the hell is up with that rich asshole?”

“
I
don't know.” The stress returns in an instant as I feel
attacked for yet a second time.

“
Amy,
you've got to do something about this. This isn't just about making
your boyfriend happy. Our careers are at stake. If Lucian bails, then
neither one of us will probably ever hear the word bonus again.”
His dark eyes bore into me, but I can't force myself to meet his
gaze. Now I feel like so much rests on my shoulders. If I can't get
Lucian to finish the interior design project, then Derrick will be
pissed off at me, and who knows what Tyra will do.