Under His Control (For His Pleasure, Book 18)

Under His Control (For His Pleasure, Book 18)

By Kelly Favor

© 2014 All Rights Reserved

As if her brain was on a delay, Kennedy replayed Nicole’s words over in her mind.
“Now get the hell out of my house. And I never want to see you or hear your name
again.”

Nicole’s words pierced through the haze of alcohol and lust and fear that had given Kennedy all of her courage.

The pure hate and disgust etched on Nicole’s features was enough to completely undo Kennedy, and the tears started to pour down her cheeks. “I’ll leave, but I just want to know why you hate me so much.”

Nicole’s eyes grew wide, as Red tried to calm her. She ignored him, her gaze now trained only on Kennedy. “You have the nerve to ask me why I hate you?”

“Please, Nic,” Red said, his hands on her shoulders. “Don’t—“

“You’re a groupie,” Nicole spat. “You want to seduce my husband. You think I haven’t come across a dozen girls just like you prior to tonight?”

Red stared at Nicole, his jaw hanging open. It was almost comical, except that it was real, and horrible, and Kennedy wanted to throw up.

“Nicole, I don’t think that’s the case,” he said. “I really don’t.”

Nicole turned to Kennedy again. She folded her arms and glared at her. “Fine then. So if you’re not just a groupie, tell me what this is. Tell me what the hell is going on in my house and what you think you’re doing.”

“I’m just…I was just…” Kennedy stammered.

“I know something’s wrong here,” Nicole said, pointing a finger at Kennedy now.

“Something’s off about you, and I want an explanation now.”

“I’m…”

Nicole stared at her. “You’re what? Just say it already. Say whatever you have to say and then get out of my life forever.”

“I’m your sister.”

Now it was Nicole’s turn to be speechless. Her mouth opened and shut. Red was watching them both with a confused, almost horrified expression. “Listen, I think we all need to dial this down,” he said. “This needs to be discussed another time. Emotions are running high, and this is just too much.”

Kennedy nodded. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I wanted to, but I got scared.”

“You are not my sister. It’s impossible.” Nicole shook her head slowly from side to side.

“Actually, I’m your half-sister. We have the same father.”

“How dare you?” Nicole said. “That’s crazy. That’s just complete nonsense.

You’re nuts. You are nuts, you know that?”

Red was holding Nicole now, trying to console her and also getting between Nicole and Kennedy. It seemed as though Nicole would have liked to throttle her if she’d been able to just get to her.

Kennedy’s throat constricted, as she struggled to understand how everything had spun out of control so quickly.

It wasn’t supposed to have happened like this. She was still holding the cocktail dress in front of her body, like a shield.

Suddenly, Easton reappeared. He was fully dressed and somber. His eyes were hollow and ghostly in the dark hallway. “I’ll take Kennedy home,” he said. “I think we should both go now.”

Red nodded. “I think that would be best.”

Nicole’s lips curled in repulsion as she looked at Kennedy one last time. “You are pathetic,” she yelled, and then she turned and ran away, disappearing down the corridor.

Red sighed. He looked at Easton. “Are you sure you’re okay to drive?”

“Yeah. I’m fine. Nothing like an absolute train wreck of an evening to sober you up.”

“Get her home safe and make sure she’s all right to be alone,” Red said, seeming to take note of Kennedy’s distraught expression. “I need to go and be with my wife now,” Red finished. “You can see yourselves out.”

Red turned and left, and then it was Easton staring at Kennedy, his expression cold and without emotion. “Get dressed,” he said. “Quickly.”

She pulled on the cocktail dress, not caring about what Easton was thinking as she once more revealed her body to him. She felt as cold as he looked, and nothing was important anymore.

Everything was destroyed. She’d never felt so devastated in all her life.

Once she had her dress and heels on, Easton started walking out, maintaining a distance of a few feet between them at all times.

When they got outside, he turned to her. “Is it true, what I heard you say in there?”

Kennedy nodded mutely.

“Look me in the eye,” Easton demanded.

She raised her head and looked at him. “I’m her sister. That’s why I came to work at the agency.”

Easton shook his head and walked to his car without replying. He didn’t bother to open the door for her, but simply got in the driver’s side.

Kennedy got in the passenger side and sat miserably, cold and hung over and feeling as though a nuclear bomb had somehow detonated and blasted apart her whole life, yet somehow left her intact.

He started the car and then began the drive down the long road leading out of the Jameson estate.

The car was silent, although Kennedy sniffled as tears continued to run down her cheeks. She didn’t bother to wipe the tears away. She didn’t care that Easton was watching her blubber and sob and be as pathetic as Nicole had said she was.

Everyone hated her now—there was no point in fighting it.

“If what you said is true,” Easton began.

“It’s true,” Kennedy interrupted. “Why would I lie? What do I have to gain by making something like that up?”

“Nicole seemed to think you were lying,” Easton replied. “How do you explain that?”

“I don’t know. Maybe she didn’t want to believe it.” Kennedy closed her eyes.

“I don’t know what just happened. Everything went wrong. It all went completely wrong. It wasn’t supposed to be this way.”

There was another protracted silence as they both were lost in their own thoughts.

“You should have told me the truth,” Easton said.

“If I’d told you the truth, you’d have wanted nothing to do with me.” She looked over at him.

He glanced uneasily at her, and his eyes were still hungry, still wanting. But he was also clearly disturbed. “You don’t know what I would or wouldn’t do, Kennedy.”

Easton looked back at the road ahead. “Only now you’ve left me no choice.”

“I understand,” she whispered.

“You’ve put my career on the line too,” he said. “Do you understand that?”

“I don’t see how.”

“Because, Red knows you and I were…entangled. And he also knows you’re Nicole’s sister. How does that make me look?”

Kennedy shrugged. “I have no idea what Red thinks. He’ll blame me, probably.

You didn’t know anything—you can tell him it’s all my fault.”

Easton shook his head and sighed. “I didn’t want things to end this way.”

“I know.” Kennedy let the tears roll down her face. She looked at Easton, unashamed that he would see her staring. She wanted to look at him one last time, to remember what it was like to be close to him.

In this moment, he looked positively gorgeous. Even with the look of pain and confusion on his face, Easton was so handsome, so sexy, and there was an aura of protectiveness that emanated from him.

She knew that he was genuinely distraught, but at the same time, he no longer trusted her, and she understood that completely.

Easton looked over and met her gaze for a long moment. “There’s no way to fix this,” he said softly.

“I know.”

“And I can never see you again. I can’t risk it.”

“Yes, I know that too.” She took a deep breath and released it. “But maybe we could have just one night…tonight. Would you do that for me?”

He thought about it and she saw his hands tighten on the steering wheel. “Are you really a virgin or was that part of the story, part of the character you played?”

“None of it was a story, or a character. Everything was real—I just left out one very important detail.”

“So you say.” Easton bit down and shook his head. “No, I have to take you home, Kennedy. There can’t be one last time for us. We never really had a chance.”

The car was silent again, as Kennedy accepted his final rejection. It seemed all too fitting, in its own way.

When he pulled the car up to her apartment building, he stared straight ahead.

“Goodbye,” he said coldly. But she heard the strain and anguish in his voice.

“Bye.” She opened the car door and began getting out, but then she felt Easton’s warm hand on her back.

“Kennedy,” he rasped.

She turned and looked at him. He was leaning across the seat, and he grabbed her by the arm, firmly, pulling her back to him.

She felt completely at his mercy. “I don’t know what you want,” she said, as he moved against her.

He stared into her eyes, and his expression was one of intense, complicated need.

“You know exactly what I want. You’ve known from the very beginning.”

“I told you that I’m yours if you want me.”

His eyebrows lowered. His other hand grabbed her hip and slowly dragged her even closer to his body. “Don’t say that,” he growled. “You have no idea what you’re offering.”

She licked her lips. “I’ll do anything you say. I’ll put your cock in my mouth right now if that’s what you want. Just tell me, Easton.”

He brought his lips to hers, so they were almost touching. She could smell him now, and she could see the pores in his face, the small wrinkles at the corners of his eyes.

Easton was real, masculine, completely overpowering her with his mere presence.

His breath was minty, but slightly alcoholic. His eyes were steely and demanding. She felt the strength and heat of him through his clothing. Easton’s lips brushed her lips, and as she tried to kiss him, he pulled back.

“No,” he said. “Just stay still.”

“Okay.” She breathed, but barely.

“Tell me what you want,” he said.

She could hardly think with the closeness of him, the need to have him. If everything else was lost, she could still at least have Easton touching her, making her his.

Kennedy wanted just one moment of pleasure with him, even if there would be nothing afterward. “I want you,” she said.

“That’s not why you came here.”

“To New York?”

He nodded, still looking into her eyes, still holding her tightly.

She shuddered, trying to balance her desire for him against the logical part of her brain, which was trying to answer his questions. “I came to New York to be close to Nicole. I wanted to get to know her, and I wanted her to get to know me—without her realizing our connection.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know—“

“Don’t lie to me,” he growled, releasing her. “Of course you know why.”

Kennedy fidgeted under Easton’s appraising and judgmental gaze. “I didn’t want her to think I was after something—money, fame…I wanted to prove myself.”

“Don’t you realize that you’ve made yourself look like the very thing you were trying to avoid?” Easton said, his tone acid. “You lied, got yourself hired under false pretenses, and now you look deceitful and conniving.”

Kennedy looked away from his penetrating stare. “Yes, I realize that.”

“You’re too smart,” Easton said. “I don’t believe it.”

“Maybe it was just an excuse,” Kennedy sighed. “I wanted to get away from my old life. This was what I came up with. Moving to New York, coming to work for you, starting fresh. I needed this.” She finally met his eyes once more.

Easton looked at her still. “How can I trust anything you’ve told me? Now that I know you’ll lie, keep secrets, do whatever you need to do to further your own ends?”

“I suppose you can’t trust me. But I never told anyone what happened between us.”

“But you might, if it suits you.”

“No,” she said, shaking her head emphatically. “Never.”

“I don’t believe you.” He breathed hard. “Maybe you’re even recording this conversation.”

She looked at him, her jaw quivering. “You really think I’d do that to you?”

“No.” He looked away from her. “No, I can’t continue with you.” He grit his teeth, seeming to struggle with some invisible force.

She reached out a hand and put it on his strong thigh, and his entire body went rigid.

“Easton, please. Just give us tonight.”

“Remove your hand, Kennedy. Right now.”

She didn’t move it, though. “I can’t let you go without at least trying.”

He stared straight ahead. “This isn’t your place. You listen to me, you take orders from me.”

“Except I’m fired, aren’t I?” she laughed.

Now he gave her a sidelong glance. “You’re definitely fired.”

“So I don’t take orders anymore.” She slid her hand up toward his bulging crotch.

Suddenly he grabbed her hand and turned toward her, his eyes blazing. “Who do you think you are?” he said, the intensity of his voice and expression almost frightening.

“I don’t know,” she gasped.

“Well it’s not my job to show you.” He let go of her hand, and then tilted his head side to side, as if working out a kink in his neck.

“You want me,” she whispered. “I know it.”

“You don’t know anything,” he said. “And you’re dangerous to yourself, and anyone who gets involved with you.”

She looked down. Her eyes filled up again. “That’s a horrible accusation.”

“It’s the truth.” His voice softened. “Perhaps you really did just make a mistake coming to New York. You’re naïve, sheltered, and confused. Well this isn’t the place for someone who’s trying to make sense of life, trying to discover themselves. New York chews up and spits out the needy and greedy and desperate. It makes a mockery of your aspirations and big dreams. New York is a city that deals in reality—a harsh reality.

There’s no room for coddling and pats on the back.”

“I don’t need a pat on the back.”

“Don’t you, though?” he said, looking at her intently. “It seems to me that all you’ve done is try to look for validation from people outside yourself. Well, it’s not going to happen.”

His judgments landed like body blows, almost physically wounding her. She felt everything as if it were an actual punch, slap or kick. And that was when Kennedy bristled, her fighting spirit rising to the surface. She looked at Easton, saw him standing on high and making pronouncements about her, and she hated him a little.