[ 03 ]

Titan was smirking at me. The bastard, I thought wildly. My fists clenched at my side and I held back from punching him square in the jaw.

James glanced between us, sensing the tension in the air. "Otterson, come into my office so we can talk," he said finally. Slanting a glance at Titan, he told him, "Thanks for your time, Connor."

Titan nodded and sauntered off, not before flashing me a grin. Breathe in, breathe out.

"You're late," James said, not bothering to look my way as he walked back into his office.

I shut the door and turned to face him. "I'm sorry, I only heard your message at three, and I rushed here as soon as-"

James held up a hand, cutting me off immediately. "Details of your incompetence do not interest me."

I held in a giggle. Did he just quote The Devil Wears Prada?

He glared at me. "Is something funny?"

I straightened my face. "No, sir."

"Right, back to the subject at hand. Do you think your client will give a fuck about the reason why you weren't there when they asked you to?"

"That is-"

"No! They won't. All they'll care about is that you were not there."

"I under-"

"You live on their schedule, not the other way round! Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir," I answered immediately. "But-"

"No buts, Otterson. Bore someone else with your excuses. Now, let's get to your assignment."

That shut me right up.

James threw over a file, the blue folder sliding across his messy desk. "Read through it and tell me if you have any questions."

I opened the file eagerly. "What kind of case is this?"

"You'll be protecting the son of Harvey Black."

I glanced up, bemused. "Who?"

"He's a new face in Fortune 500," he said.

"I'll be protecting his son?"

James nodded.

My brows knitted together. "Please don't tell me this is a babysitting case. I bought James that teddy bear like two weeks ago!"

"As much as I appreciate you doing that, I'm not one to mix business with pleasure."

I refrained from rolling my eyes. Bullshit. "James adores me," I told him.

"That she does, but-"

"And she made me pinky-promise her to go with her to some school carnival next week."

James' eyes widened as realisation dawned upon him. His stance shifted to one of wariness. "You wouldn't."

"Oh I would," I assured him, looking him straight in the eye.

My boss crossed his arms as his eyes narrowed at me. "Otterson."

"Come on, Sir. It's just one case, I'm sure you can find someone else to push it to."

James groaned and threw his hands up. "The Blacks have potential, Otterson. I can't just randomly assign someone else this case. If we screw this up, we lose them as clients for good."

I shrugged. "Alright, have fun explaining to James why I'm not there on-"

"I'm not done speaking," James cut me off, his voice hard and authoritative.

My eyes immediately shot to his.

A sigh left him as he rubbed his temples. "If you do this well, I'll promote you to the top three. That's all I'll give you, don't ask for more."

My jaw dropped. "Top three? Are you serious?"

"Only if you do this job well, Otterson. The Black's can be a very lucrative client, since they're up-and-coming and all."

My heart was beating viciously as blood rushed through me. This is huge! "I promise you I won't let you down, James."

My boss rolled his eyes and turned his focus back to the papers on his desk. "Now get out of my office."

I saluted him. "Aye aye, captain!" Then I skipped out of his office, practically giddy with happiness, only to bump right into something tall and hard.

My face twisted into a scowl as I looked up to see the person I'd ran into. When I saw who it was, my scowl deepened.

"What?" I taunted. "Couldn't stay away?"

Titan scoffed. "From you? You wish." He paused. "What did James say?"

My brows rose. "Curious, aren't we?"

He crossed his arms and leaned to one side, choosing to keep silent.

I gave a short laugh. "Haven't you heard, my dear?" I said silkily, my voice a pitch lower than usual. "Curiosity kills the cat."

Titan growled low in his throat. "Are you trying to distract me?"

I looked at him beneath my lashes and my mouth curved involuntarily. "Maybe."

His hands grabbed at my chin and before I could react, Titan's lips crashed onto mine.

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As I pulled up the dress over my bodice, I felt warm lips press against my shoulder.

"Thanks for the fuck, beautiful," the man behind me whispered against my skin.

I laughed out loud. "How romantic, Titan."

His shoulders lifted in a casual shrug. "I know, I just have a way with words. Don't swoon, princess. You're going to fall."

My relationship with Titan was... complicated, to say the least.

Sure, I hated his guts with every fibre of my being, and so did he. But that didn't mean I was blind.

Any hot-blooded woman who ever had the pleasure of laying eyes on Titan Connor would have wanted to sleep with him. And I was no exception.

It started one night when we both got drunk and conveniently forgot that we were supposed to hate each other to the core. After that, it just kept happening and somewhere along the way, it became routine.

That was how I ended up in some kind of weird enemies-with-benefits relationship with Titan.

The sex didn't make me hate him any less, though. Outside of the bedroom, we both still loathed each other with a special kind of passion.

As a person, I despised him. As a woman, I lusted for him.

The man was hung and he knew how to use it. Which was always a deadly combination.

My fingers smoothed out the remaining creases in my dress and I straightened up.

"See you," I said to him before walking out of the door. The Elites had several conference rooms for meetings with the big-shots, but they were empty most of the time. Titan and I always used one of these rooms - there wouldn't be any messy business about going to each other's houses and what not.

"Wait!" he called out, causing me to stop in my tracks. "What did James say?"

I let out a laugh and continued on my way, choosing not to answer his question.

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The blonde in front of me was tapping her foot impatiently against the ground with her lips pursed. "Well?"

I forced myself to hold her gaze, praying for Kaden to come in right at that very second. We were at Kaden's apartment, but he went out on a dinner date with some chick he picked up at the coffee shop earlier. "Well what?" I said, trying to sound confident. Don't back down.

"Don't play dumb with me, Jade Otterson," she warned, her tone icy cold and clipped.

A sigh escaped me. "Fine. I fucked Titan again. Happy?"

Madison shook her head. "No. I am most definitely not happy."

"It's the last time though, I sw-"

"If you're just going to lie to me, at least come up with something more convincing."

I sighed in defeat. Madison was my best friend in high school and we never lost contact. In fact, our friendship only grew stronger after graduation. She pursued college while I went for security training.

She's known me since I was 14. I should've known there was no way I could lie to her, no matter how well I could lie to myself.

"Jade, I don't need to lecture you on how toxic this thing you have with Titan is again, do I?" she scolded, sounding like a parent disciplining an errant child.

"I know," I said mournfully. "But I just can't seem to stop." This was the best way to deal with Madison. Fighting with her based on reason and logic would only get you killed. The girl was a law major.

She scoffed, settling further into the couch. "Just tell him he won't be getting some for the rest of your life. How hard can that be?"

"Trust me, Madi. It's not that easy. I mean, I don't get awesome sex very often and you're telling me to walk away from no-strings-attached sex? No-strings-attached sex that blows my mind, by the way." I didn't care if it was TMI. There was no limit with Madison.

My best friend made a face. "C'mon. He can't be that good."

A slow smile spread across my face. "Oh, he is."

"Gross."

I laughed. "Now, don't act all innocent, Madi. You're in college. You probably have a more scandalous sex life than I do."

She threw a pillow at me, her face heating up in embarrassment. "Shut up."

I could only laugh again at her beetroot face. "Cute."

"Who's cute?" A new voice entered the conversation.

I turned to see who it was and grinned when I saw Kaden. "Madi."

Kaden settled on the couch with us, his arms and legs spreading comfortably. "Ah, can't say I disagree. But as much as I enjoy having two beautiful ladies in my apartment, I have someone coming over and I really don't want to give her the wrong impression, so if you don't mind..." he trailed off, giving both of us a hopeful look.

Madison gaped at him in mock horror. "Are you for real?"

"Is it the girl you were on a date with just now?" I asked.

Kaden grinned. "Hell yeah."

Rolling my eyes, I pulled Madison up off the couch. "Fine. Just kick us out of your apartment at 10pm for sex."

He laughed obnoxiously loud as I dragged Madison out. "You know I love you, J!" he called out.

I ignored him and slammed the door shut. As we took the lift down to the lobby, I tried to think where we should go.

The smell of exhaust gas from vehicles surrounded us when the moment we got out of the building. "Where are we going?" Madison asked, her nose wrinkling at the sweet scent of city pollution.

I shrugged, trying to navigate through New York's traffic. My God, the cabbies here were insane. "You're the one in college. Take me somewhere wild."

She pursed her lips in thought for a while before the knot between her eyebrows smoothed out. "I know just the place."

I glanced at the glint in her eye and the playfulness of her smile and my mouth curved. "Let's go, tiger."

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"Where the fuck are we?" I shouted into Madison's ear, trying to get her to hear me over the music.

"Wreck! It's newly opened and I've always wanted to check it out," Madison responded in my ear, sounding as if she didn't have to put effort into being heard. How did she do that?

We squeezed past the mess of sweaty bodies and humping couples and managed to get to the bar. "Two Vodka Martini, please," Madison ordered.

"That's presumptuous of you," I remarked.

"Please. Like you ever get anything else."

I smiled at how well she knew me. "Touché."

Our drinks came and just as Madison was about to pay, the bartender stopped her. "Your drinks have been paid for, lady."

"What?" Madison sounded bewildered. "By who?"

The bartender cocked his head to the left. "By the gentleman over there."

I turned to look, trying to spot the man that paid for our drinks. It should have been impossible, seeing how many people there was in the club but the man was staring straight in our direction.

The glitter in his eyes caused by the lighting in the club sent a shiver down my spine. The good kind of shiver.

I lifted up my glass and he nodded in acknowledgement. Tilting my head back, I downed my drink.

The man didn't come over and I made no move to go to him. The night passed with Madison and I dancing on the dance floor, occasionally rubbing up against some stranger.

"Is it just me," Madison said breathlessly when we were back at our table, "or does everyone look hot as fuck here?"

Laughter spilled out of me. "It's the vodka, girl. You won't be saying that if you were sober."

She giggled. "You might be right." Then, she spoke again. "Ooh girl, five o'clock. Tall, Dark and Dangerous is coming your way."

My body stiffened. "What's his ETA?"

Before Madison could reply, a smooth voice caressed my ear. "Hello, beautiful."

I turned, finding myself caught in the stranger's gaze. The familiar glint in his eyes told me that he was the same man who bought us drinks.

Madison stood up and winked at me slyly. "Maybe it's time you forgot about your enemies-with-benefits thing with Titan."

I glared at her retreating body. Traitor!

"Want to dance?" The man asked, his hands sliding against my waist.

I barely remembered my reply, but it must've been a "yes" because the next thing I knew, I was being swept up in his arms, his body hard against mine.

We danced sensually to the beat of the music, our bodies flowing perfectly against each other. The rest of the night passed in a blur as I lost myself to alcohol and the promise of a one-night-stand.

Maybe Madison was right. Maybe this was what I needed.

Those were the last thoughts I had before I was swept up and seduced by what the club - and the man in front of me - had to offer.

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not even gonna lie this was definitely a filler chapter. no the guy in the club isnt the male lead. but he is someone who will be introduced later in the story. please do vote and leave a comment!! [ also this story got ranked last week which is insane since it had only been up for a week then so thank you guys for your support !!!!!! ]

until next time,
fleur xoxo