"Tae, my dad will be here soon!" Desiree struggled, pressing her palms up against the warm expanse of Taehyung's muscular chest as he hovered above her. 

Nestled between her legs and his hands planted on the table at either side of her hips, he grinned boyishly before diving in for her lips again. 

She winced at the feeling of the cold, steel tabletop beneath her as it came into contact with her bare back.

".....It'll be quick, I promise!"  he whined lowly, ".....Des, I need you..." 

Des closed her eyes in momentary surrender, all it took was those three last words to melt all her resolve against what was about to happen.

She let herself get lost for a moment before coming to her senses. 

"Tae, I need to lock up and go home...." she giggled, wriggling around in protest as he roamed hungrily, over her legs, waist, stomach. 

She shivered under the soft kisses and warm caresses from his mouth, to her neck and shoulders.

"Tae, please?" she pleaded, reluctantly and sighed in pleasure and relief as his mouth retracted its suction from her neck. She wasn't sure how much longer she could resist him if he kept on going.

"Okay, fine..." he pouted. 

Taehyung backed away slowly, allowing her to hop off the kitchen counter-top behind the beach Bar.

Desiree walked out to the front of house and started closing up. It was already empty and she had sent all the employees on their way, before Taehyung showed up suddenly with a cunning smile and delightfully wandering hands.

Des had creating an elaborate tale of a night on the town gone wrong where she had somehow wound up intoxicated. She explained to her dad the following morning that it was only best to check into a hotel in town and spend the night there rather than attempting to drive home under the influence. Des' father was of course, very upset and disappointed.

But in Desiree's opinion, it had gone over much better than the truth ever could've so she decided to stick to her fabricated tale instead. Regardless of the consequences.

"It's just hard for me," he looked down at his crotch, his heart-shaped lips pouting sadly "I mean , literally!...."  

Des snorted rubbing his cheek and giving him a sympathetic kiss on the nose.

"I never see you anymore..." Taehyung continued while following after her.

"Well that's because my dad thinks I'm an untrustworthy, underaged, raging alcoholic now!" Des grumbled, rolling her eyes.

Taehyung fought a smirk, trying not to laugh at her misfortune.

"What was the excuse you gave to your dad, again?"he asked.

Desiree sighed loudly, throwing her head back and placing her hands on her hips tiredly before answering.

"That I went out and had a drink which I shouldn't have and I was too drunk to drive home so I stayed in a hotel by myself until the next morning."

Taehyung scoffed, shaking his head and smirking.

"And he actually bought that?"

"I mean...I guess, I don't know." She swept past him and he tailed her as she cleared a couple forgotten glasses from the bar top.

"...So now he insists on dropping me off and picking me up from work which is kind of a damper on whatever scraps of social life that I had..."

"Couldn't you think of a better excuse, I mean one that wouldn't have gotten your car taken away?" 

"Uh...no....Like what?"

"Well you could have tried telling him the truth?"

Des cocked an eyebrow.

"That I was screwing some hot guy on the beach until sunrise?" she smirked before scrunching up her nose and staring at Taehyung, "Yeah, that would have gone down really well!" she said sarcastically, turning away and pulling the guard rails down over the bar and locking it firmly. 

"And besides, my 'punishment' is only for two weeks. I'm already nearly half way through!"

Taehyung trailed behind, following her every move. She went over to the side gates where she began twisting the keys in the pad lock. He then looped his his muscled arms around the small of her waist, pulling her in towards him. The heat of his chest on her back and the slight bulge of his manhood that rubbed against her behind made her body tingle with desire.

"No...." He placed a kiss at the back of her neck making her stop working at the locks. 

"I meant, you could have told him that you spent the night with a friend..." he kissed her nape again lightly, letting his lips brush the tiny hairs at the base of her neck and his warm breath tickle her skin. Des let out a small whimper, feeling immediately turned on by his touch in spite of the circumstances. 

"A friend, huh?"

"Yes....a very special friend," he stuck his tongue out to lightly flick her earlobe. 

The soft, wet sensation sending a gentle shiver down her spine.

Des spun around in his arms to face him.

"Does that mean you want me to tell my dad about us?" her big, hazel eyes locked onto his deep, dark ones, "... Like, officially?"

Taehyung suddenly appears, crestfallen and her excitement instantly fades at his contradictory reaction to the words he had just spoken a minute ago.

Desiree felt confused by his behaviour, once again. 

This is the way things had been since he revealed his alleged break up.

Thinking that he and Nathalie were no more, Des had been elated at the chance to immediately fill her place as his girlfriend. Unfortunately for her, she instead found herself in a limbo of waiting yet again. 

This time, because Taehyung wasn't quite ready for another relationship after having just gotten out of 'a long and serious one', he'd explained.

She tried her best to be understanding an most of all, mature. But it was hard for Des. The uncertainty and most of all, the underlying feeling of rejection.

"You know that I can't do that," he said, sighing and taking his arms away from her.

The loss of his embrace left her feeling cold.

On the outside, as well as inside.

Her feelings were hurt.

How could someone who could set her soul ablaze with so much passion in an instant, manage to always leave her feeling tremendously dejected and desolate in another?

Desiree felt her countenance fall into a frown and she looked up at him, feeling disappointed.

"Well, why not? Don't you like me, Tae? ... Isn't that what you meant when you said that I should have told him about my 'special friend',  just now?"

"I- Des, I don't know what I meant!" Taehyung rubbed his fingers harshly over his eyes.

She knew this was a sign that he was shutting down.

"Look, I gotta go...I'll see you around okay?"

"See me around? Don't you wanna hang out...I get my car back in four days....we could...."

"I'll think about it, alright?" he said, already halfway to the door.

"Oh.. alright..." she mumbled sadly in response.

Des could feel the lump forming in her throat and her stomach turned at the familiar onset on uncertainty that occurred every time he had to leave.

She knew that she could not be sure of when next he would call or text her. 

She didn't want to ask either. Not sure about what actions or inactions would result in a loss in her favour with Taehyung.

"Tae!" she shouted before he could slip out of the rear exit fully.

Turning around, her threw her a questioning smirk that made her heart leap. 

She didn't want him to forget her, for however long they would be part because she didn't know.

'Maybe I should have let him stay and make love to me like he wanted? You need to lighten up Des! I could have called dad and made another excuse, right? Oh, I should have!' she reprimanded herself internally, heart hammering at the sight of him walking away.

"Tae, I'll ...I-" she stammered. 

It wasn't a good moment to say what she wanted to say so instead she smiled, blushing brightly and he returned a kind one, to her relief.

"I'll miss you," she simply stated after that and his smirk lifted into drop-dead, gorgeous grin that made her heart melt.

"...and I'll miss you too babygirl," he winked, pouting his lips into a quick air-kiss and then disappeared.

Des stared down at her shoes quietly for a moment.

                                                                ***

Footsteps echo into the pool house.

Taehyung stirs from his trance in front of the computer and looks up to find Mr. Suleman standing in the doorway behind him.

"How are things shaping up?" he asks. His voice, hard and coarse like gravel. It echoed across the sparsely decorated room. 

Modern and minimalistic furniture stood in the vast space and Taehyung could see a glittering view of the infinity pool that lapped quietly over its unseen edge from where he sat behind the lofty glass windows.

"Good. Everything looks fine," Teahyung answers stiffly. He arose from his place in front of the machine to face the tall, dark man in a suit who towered in the doorway to his office.

"I'm keeping an eye on the stock and we should receive more information with a tip off by tomorrow afternoon. The bonds I transferred last month will mature today. I've sent you an email with details for your action."

He shoved his hands in the pockets of his shorts and strode out of the room past the man, careful to avoid showing his anger that seethed beneath the surface.

Taehyung lived in the pool house off of the Suleman mansion. 

Having refused to cohabit with his daughter, Nathalie until after the wedding, even though the two had grown up together as young adults and lived under the same roof like family until their high school graduation.

But everything was different now and Taehyung desired to have his own space for as long as it lasted until their intended marriage.

Especially more so now, that he knew there was no choice in the union between him and Nathalie. He had no problem going along with Mr Suleman's plan but that was before he met Des. 

Thinking Mr. Suleman would have a change of heart after telling him that he had finally found a girl that he liked, Taehyung was surprised to find out the true feelings of the man he considered a father-figure for all these years. 

He thought he would understand and give him a pass on having to marry his daughter because Taehyung was a playboy who never dated anyone seriously before Mr Suleman asked him about taking up with Nathalie after they had finished high school and he started interning at the Bank. 

Taehyung believed that Mr. Suleman might have just been trying to settle him and make him stable by setting him up with Nathalie.  And once he'd found a nice girl he could bring home maybe things would change. 

But he was wrong. The anger lashed out at him and the  physical wounds he sustained two weeks ago were enough to make Mr Suleman's intentions clear.

The marks were long gone by now. Faded into to feint purple and dark brown bruises. You could hardly tell they were even there but the emotional ones remained for Taehyung. 

A small part of him, deep down thought that Mr. Suleman really cared. That he truly considered him a son or at least family.

Taehyung had seen the brutality of Mr. Suleman inflicted upon others before but never thought he would see the day that the man who raised him out of the quagmire of his despair years ago,  would ever do the same to him. 

Rules were to be followed. He had promised when he came into Mr. Suleman's care that he would do as he was told and remain loyal to him. He'd been reminded of his place and the sad reality set in that he was anything but a member of this 'family'. 

He was only a tool to be used in Mr. Suleman's sordid quest for wealth and power at whatever costs. Taehyung's life was not his own. He owed Mr. Suleman too much and he knew too much. If he became a problem for him, he had no doubt that he would go to whatever lengths to get rid of that problem. 

Mr. Suleman didn't care about his happiness or what he wanted out of life. He had Taehyung's future already mapped out and it was only for his own benefit, not Taehyung's.

"Are we done here?" Taehyung grimaced, storming out into the living area and planting himself brusquely on a fancy armchair that took the shape of a spoon.

Mr. Suleman hesitated for a moment before speaking, noting Taehyung's crossed arms in front of him and the flick of his ankle as he waited impatienty to be rid of the man's precense.

"I do hope that we can see past our little er....'falling out' the other day..." he said, coldly.

"What falling out?" Taehyung replied, fending ignorance. 

He had no time for re-hashing past events. He had already learned what he needed to know about the truth of the relationship between him and his mentor.

His heart sank, remembering Desiree. He could see her now, eyes bright and freckled cheeks smiling. 

A part of him wished he had never met her. Because now she was all he wanted and he was hurting her. He knew that. He knew she wanted more from him and he couldn't give her that. Not while he was ensnared in this secret life that he lived behind closed doors.

So he tried to keep his distance from the young girl for days sometimes weeks at a time, hoping that he would forget about her like he did with many others before her but he found it difficult. 

Around her, he felt free for the first time.

Maybe it was the pure adoration in her eyes for him whenever she looked at him or the genuineness in her smile that kept him coming back for more even though he shouldn't. 

She wasn't like any other person he had come to know thus far in his existence. She was sheltered, pure, untainted. 

He couldn't resist her. 

So instead, he decided he would keep her a secret. He knew she wanted more but with the way things were, it would be impossible to give that to her. Unless, he did something to change the order of things of course. 

It would take a great amount of skill and planning along with a lot of courage and effort on his part but it wasn't impossible. He just needed more time.

"Oh, before I go Taehyung," Mr. Suleman turned on his heel and Taehyung drew himself upright as the the man approached him. 

He handed Taehyung a small black box, "Here's a little something to help you out. Things between you and Nathalie need to speed up a bit and I think that this might help," he said, giving Taehyung a steely look so that he knew he had no choice in this matter.

He glared up at him, face blank and their eyes boring into each other. Taehyung's gaze blazing in defiance while the other maintained his authority. 

He broke eye contact, finally and nodded firmly as he departed.

"This is for your own good, boy." Mr Suleman bellowed on his way out.

Taehyung's jaw clenched angrily as his fingers wrapped around the tiny, velvet jewellery box.

His fingers trembled in anger as he flicked it open to reveal a dazzling diamond ring and as the door to the pool house closed behind Mr. Suleman, he threw it forcefully at the wall, not caring where it went. 

                                                           ***

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