But that isn’t what bothers me the most. I keep worrying about what Victoria will think of all this. She doesn’t look happy in those photos, running away from the vultures. She was already skittish before, and now this. The only saving grace is that none of the photos show her face.
I knew when I saw her in that club I should have just turned around and walked back out. I’d already told myself I was only going to indulge in her once, promises be damned. I don’t even know what I was thinking telling her I’d like to see her again. I don’t ‘see’ women, I fuck them. Pure and simple. But when she walked into that club, everything changed.
The way she was dancing, and that fucking dress…. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. It was a pull too strong to resist. I needed to feel my hands on her again, to let every man who might even think about fucking her know who she belonged to. And she ate it up.
I had never, in all of the women I’ve been with, seen a woman respond that way to my touch. Sure they tried faking it with their shitty acting skills thinking I would be none the wiser. But they didn’t like my rough hands or my harsh words. They were high society princesses, wanting to be treated as such.
But not her. She was different. She soaked up everything I had to give her, and there was no fucking way she was faking that. It made me wonder why. For the first time in a long time, I felt a twinge of guilt for what I was doing. For what I liked. Because I didn’t want to take advantage of someone who was vulnerable. And it was clear, this girl wanted to be vulnerable to me. But I’d had a taste of her, and it wasn’t nearly enough.
I tried to get her off my mind, even resorting to calling up Anya. But when she came over and started on her mind numbing tangent about how hard she was working to lose five pounds, all hope was lost. I politely tried to get rid of her, but even she knew something was up. She told me she’d never seen me so high strung before and offered to help me relax. When I rejected her, she left in a fit of rage.
Even as I jacked off in the shower tonight, my thoughts went back to Victoria. It’s getting fucking ridiculous. And I know what needs to be done. I’m sure once I show her what I want to do to her, she won’t have me anyway. So I need to get it over with.
I reach for my phone and hit the speed-dial. It’s now or never.
Chapter Nine
Victoria
The sound of someone banging on the front door wakes me with a jolt.
I roll over and groan, tangled up in my dress from last night with a throbbing head. I can hear Alanna talking with someone for a moment, and then the door shutting. A moment later she appears in my bedroom door with a gold box in her hands and a big smile on her face.
“Delivery for Miss Kelly,” she belts out her best English accent. “Courtesy of Mr. Maddox.”
“It’s way too early for this,” I mutter, flopping back onto my pillow.
Alanna sits down beside me and nudges me with the box until I give in. I open it carefully, removing a white card with a note written on it.
Victoria,
I hope you slept well and dreamt only of me.
I want to see you today.
Call me.
Gabriel
His phone number is written on the back of the card in the same perfect penmanship. I set the card down and proceed to look beneath the tissue paper. Inside is an arrangement of the most beautiful chocolate covered strawberries I’ve ever seen, no doubt from some fancy confectionary company. Alanna grins as she helps herself to a strawberry and brings it to her mouth seductively.
“Ooh, Victoria this is food porn.”
I shut the box and set it down beside me, picking up the card to read it again. This situation is getting out of control, but I can’t help myself. I want to see him again too. I want to feel his hands on my body again. I can’t stop thinking about him. I know this is probably the same way he always lures women in, with these cliché notes and boxes of chocolates designed to make them feel special. But I don’t care, I want him anyway.
“You have to see him again, Toto.” Alanna interrupts my far away thoughts. “I have to live vicariously through you because I’m dying to know how this plays out.”
I chuckle at the dreamy look on her face and grab a strawberry for myself. “I don’t know. I want to, but I don’t know if I should. He seems like bad news.”