The Stand Off (24 page)

“Him?
Him
?” he roared as
he towered over her.

“Yes, him.” She stood her ground,
refusing to be backed down by him.

“You’re not leaving this fucking
house. Call and cancel that date
now
!”

“No, and it’s not a date.”

“You better fucking call him or I
will knock him out the second he steps foot on this property,” he threatened.

“No! I’m going to that business
meeting; I promised him that I would help him. It’s just this one time, it will
never happen again.”

“It’s not going to happen now.”

“I promised him.”

“I don’t give a fuck what you
promised him, you’re not going! You think that I’d allow you to go on some
fuckin date?”

“It’s not a date; it’s a business
meeting,” she yelled.

“Not in that dress it’s not.” He grabbed
the front of her dress and pulled it forward, giving a generous view of her
breasts. “You see this?”

“I’m wearing a blazer, too,” she
said as she looked down to see her breasts on full display.

“No you’ll be wearing my hand
print on your ass. If you go on this date, there will be severe consequences.”

“How many times do I have to tell
you it is not a date? It’s a business meeting, and I’m going!” she snapped at
him.

“If you know what’s good for you,
you will cancel that date
now
!” he warned her, clearly out of patience,
but she didn’t care.

“I will be in and out in less
than an hour,” she tried to reassure him.

“You’re playing with fire,” he
warned her in a serious tone.

“Be reasonable, Dean,” she
scoffed.

“I am being reasonable, very
reasonable! You’re not going on that date. This is your last chance to call him
and cancel. Do him a favor because I’m going to hurt him.”

“I need to finish getting ready;
he should be here soon,” she said impatiently as she stared into his eyes.

“He’s coming here to pick you
up?” he stormed, his eyes wide and red with anger.

“Yes.”

It was literally all that Dean
could take. He grabbed her and held her against the wall.

“Good, he can stand outside your
door and listen to me fuck you,” he growled as he yanked her dress back up to
her waist. He stuck his middle finger in his mouth to wet it and then thrust
his hand into her panties.

“It’s not what you think; it’s
just a meeting. He wants me to tell his associates how he helped me,” she tried
to explain as he began to manipulate her clitoris.

“He helped you do what?” He
applied a little more pressure.

“Construction on the building…a
while ago,” she turned her head as she blatantly lied to him.

She felt horrible doing it and
was suddenly consumed with guilt. But now was not the time to tell him about
her private detective. She would tell him but not like this; she would wait
until he was calm and Clifton was not on his way. She knew that Dean would feel
betrayed if he knew that she was helping the man who had helped her fight
against him. He wouldn’t understand right now.

“Look at me,” he grabbed the back
of her head with his free hand, forcing her to face him. “Don’t you look away.”

She wanted to turn her head as
his thumb vigorously circled her clit. Her legs were shaking, the muscles in
her thighs were jumping and she was becoming light headed as the fever took
ahold of her.

“Are you going to cancel that
date?” he asked as he felt her body react.

“No,” she whispered stubbornly as
her breath caught in her throat. She could feel the orgasm begin.

“I’m not sharing you with
anyone…ever. You’re not leaving here,” he hissed as the orgasm took ahold of
her.

“Oh
shit
,” She cried out,
holding him for support as the orgasm rocked her body.

He watched her face as she came
and then bent to whisper in her ear, “You’re mine until the day that you die,
Lux, so you better get used to this.”

***

Pixie opened the door and was
surprised to see Clifton. He stood in the doorway, wearing an expensive suit,
and holding a big bouquet of red roses.

“Hey it’s our personal private
dick. What are you doing here?” Pixie asked with a smirk.

“Hi Pixie; I’m here to see Lux,”
he smiled widely.

“My Lux?”

“Yes,” he nodded.

“Does she even know that you’re
here?” Pixie looked doubtful.

“Yes, we are going out tonight,”
he nodded.

“Oh. Then by all means, do come
in.” Pixie smirked and started to chuckle. She stepped to the side and let him
enter.

“Thank you,” he said with a nod
as he walked into the living room.

“Wait here. I’ll just text Lux
and let her know that you’re here,” she told him as she grabbed her cell and
texted Lux.

Lux picked up her cell phone to
see the message from Pixie.

Clifton is here to see you…
Sneaky girl

“He’s here.” Lux informed Dean.

Dean felt a powerful rage explode
through his body.

He grabbed Lux and immediately
put his hand over her mouth. With the speed of light he took off his belt and
quickly buckled her wrists behind her back. He picked her up, carried her to
the closet, and locked her in using the outside deadbolt. He turned the music
up to drown out her yelling, took a deep breath to control his rising rage, and
then headed downstairs to meet her date.

Lux had heard him lock the door
from the outside. She’d gotten that lock years ago to prevent her sister from
stealing her clothes.

“I should have just let her rob
me,” she whispered to herself as she turned her back to the door and kicked it.
She kicked it a few times before she gave up. It was pointless; the music was
too loud for anyone to hear. Besides, she had a sinking feeling that everyone
else in the house was distracted by Dean and Clifton.

Dean froze in his tracks when he
saw the man standing by the door holding a dozen red roses.

“I know you,” Dean barked aggressively
as he pointed an accusing finger at Clifton.

“Um no, you must have the wrong
guy,” he smiled and looked at Pixie. “I get mistaken for people all the time.”

Dean felt a rush of rage the
likes of which he’d never experienced. He began to breathe through his nose
like a bull and had the posture of a wild animal ready to charge. Dean glared
at him through eyes that promised certain death.

“Outside,” Dean hissed through
clenched teeth as he nodded towards the door.

“Good idea,” Clifton rushed
outside.

“Oh shit! How do they know each
other?” Kiki gasped as she looked at Pixie.

“I have no idea. I expected
Clifton to recognize Dean, but I would have never guessed that Dean knew
Clifton,” Pixie said in shock.

“Where the fuck is Lux?” Graves
asked.

“Oh, I’m sure she will be down
momentarily,” Kiki answered.

“I think we should monitor this
situation to make sure that Dean doesn’t kill the Detective,” Pixie suggested.

“Good idea, but we’re going to
monitor it from inside. I’m not going out there; Dean is scary when he’s
pissed,” Kiki frowned.

Once they were outside, Clifton
stopped, but Dean kept walking, pushing him back.

“You thought that you could hide
behind a new hair color and contacts? You honestly believed that I wouldn’t
recognize the man that tried to destroy my reputation?” Dean asked, chest
butting Clifton for a second before he stood still.

“Says the man who stole my
fiancée.”

“I told you, I never stole her
from you. She offered sex and I took it; there was nothing else.”

“But you know that she believed
there was,” he said with a touch of madness in his eyes.

“There wasn’t. I was upfront with
her from the beginning.”

“You should have tried to explain
it harder.”

“I explained it; anything after
that is not my job,” Dean said.

“You ruined everything, you
destroyed her, and you destroyed me in the process,” he cried as if her were in
pain.

“This is your attempt at revenge?
Trying to take Lux from me? You picked the wrong girl for that. Not only would
she not allow it, but neither would I.” He grinned as he took another menacing
step towards Clifton, who immediately took a step back.

“That’s where you’re the fool. I
know Lux a lot more than you think I do. In fact, I know her better than you.”

“You don’t know her at all.”

“I’m her Private Detective.”

“Bullshit.” Dean was a moment
away from slugging him in the jaw.

“Where do you think she got all
of that evidence against you? Who do you think gave her those pictures of you
and the governor’s wife?”

“That’s a lie.”

“Who else would give her those
pictures of your brother’s fiancée?” Clifton suddenly grinned with delight when
Dean’s face dropped. “Oh she didn’t tell you about the pictures of you and your
brother’s fiancée? You do know about the pictures correct? Well of course you;
it should be a household topic by now; Lux made sure of that.”

“You fucking liar,” he seethed,
ready to attack.

“See for yourself; she keeps the
pictures in her top dresser drawer. We’ve been working together all along;
working together to destroy you, from the inside. Why do you think she’s with
you? You tried to destroy the one thing she would kill for; do you really think
she’s forgiven you? Now who is the fool?” He chuckled.

Dean felt his rage explode like a
Molotov and without another thought, he tackled Clifton to the ground. He began
to swing his fists, pummeling Clifton’s face. Clifton tried to punch back but
found himself in defense mode, trying to block the blows raining on his head.

“Oh fuck!” Pixie cried as she and
the rest of the girls ran out of the house to break up the fight.

“You fucking liar! You stay the
fuck away from her!” Dean roared as he continued to punch him. Clifton was
covering his head, so the majority of the blows landed on his arms and upper
body.

Pixie and Kiki grabbed Dean by
his arms but realized instantly they were no match for his strength.

“Please Dean, you’re going to
kill him,” Pixie pleaded, holding onto Dean’s arm. Her grip tightened when her
body was flung forward with the strength of the punch he delivered to Clifton.

“Someone go find Lux!” Graves
screamed as she tried to grab Dean from behind.

As if the name Lux was attached
to some deep, magical spell inscribed on his brain, Dean automatically stopped
swinging the moment he heard it.

“I’m warning you, you stay the
fuck away from her,” Dean threatened Clifton in a murderous tone as he slowly
stood up. “If I see you near her or if you come here again, I will beat you to
within an inch of your life.” Dean stepped away from him and headed into the
house.

“Wait, Dean!” Kiki tried to stop
him, but Pixie grabbed her arm.

“Let him go,” Pixie told her.

“But,” Kiki objected.

“We can explain it all to Dean later.
Right now, we should deal with the private dick while we have the chance.”
Pixie scowled at Clifton.

“Good idea,” Kiki grinned
sadistically as she turned her anger towards Clifton.

“Pixie, it’s not what you think,”
Clifton tried to explain as he held his bloody nose and attempted to stand.

“You tricked us,” Pixie said in
disgust as she kicked his arm out from under him; sending him back to the
ground.

“Pixie please, it’s not me, it’s
Dean,” Clifton pleaded.

“You had ulterior motives the
whole time.” Kiki shook her head slowly.

“We don’t take kindly to
manipulation,” Graves said.

“Especially when it concerns our
sister,” Pixie finished as they circled around him.

“Wait!” Clifton cried as he threw
his hands up in defense.

“To late to wait.” Pixie grinned.

***

Dean ran through the house like a
battle ram. He took the steps three at a time and rushed to Lux’s room. He went
straight for her dresser. He didn’t expect to find any pictures; he wanted to
prove Clifton wrong. He wanted to go back down stairs and continue to beat him
up while he laughed in his face. Lux would never do that, and he would prove
it. He opened the top drawer and saw a large envelope. His gut twisted as he
opened it and saw the pictures of him and the governor’s wife. He felt his
heart drop when he saw the fake pictures of him and his brother’s ex-fiancée.

Clifton was right.

Dean felt his blood begin to boil
as the pain in his chest increased. It had all been a lie, every bit of it. He
had been a fool from the start. He’d actually fallen for the one type of woman
he had spent his life trying to avoid. His father had been right all along.