Chapter 21: Chapter 21

C H A P T E R - - - - F O U R T E E N - - - - S E L E N A

“You know, I really think about you a lot man,” Matteo said to Reidan, his voice a bit softer and more difficult to make out. “You don’t have anybody. I know, I know, you’re constantly fucking girls in the city. That must be nice. But it’s not like me. I’ve got people in my life that I’m close to. You… you just have servants. Isn’t that right?”

Reidan didn’t say anything, or at least not anything that Selena could hear. She knew he wasn’t going to mention her, though, despite Matteo’s baiting. After all, he had almost as much to lose as Selena did. He’d threatened her not to tell anyone about their relationship; given how gentle and caring he otherwise was, it was clear to Selena that he was desperate to keep his little “habit” of domination under wraps.

“Matteo, it’s late. I need to sleep. You do, too. We’ve still got a lot of work to do getting Dad’s business in order, not to mention the funeral,” Reidan said, a stern edge appearing in his voice.

“All right, all right,” Matteo said, his voice becoming more muffled as if he was heading back out of the apartment. “I’ll see you tomorrow, right?”

“Yep,” Reidan said before slamming the door shut.

Selena stayed in place, standing awkwardly in the middle of the bedroom, waiting for Reidan to fetch her. It was probably fine for her to go ahead and leave the penthouse, but she was nervous about doing something that Reidan disapproved of. She knew that, outside of the playroom, he wouldn’t be unreasonable about Selena making her own decisions, but she still cared about doing what he wanted. Maybe I like him more than I thought, she thought, her stomach sinking as she considered that possibility.

In any case, Reidan appeared a minute later, opening up the bedroom door and gesturing for Selena to follow him outside. “Sorry about that,” Reidan said, sounding genuinely apologetic.

“No problem,” Selena lied, even though her heart was still pounding a little too quickly in her chest, making her feel queasy and off-balance. “It was your brother, right?”

Reidan nodded, placing his hand on the base of Selena’s back to lead her away from the bedroom and back towards the main entrance area of the penthouse. “He’s always butting in where he doesn’t belong. He’ll behave though. I’ll make sure of that.”

Selena found herself smiling despite her latest surge in anxiety. Reidan seemed to have that effect on her, helping her calm down even when her nerves went wild. “Well, thank you for tonight. I really appreciate... everything you did.”

For a second, Selena was sure she was hallucinating, but she thought she saw Reidan’s cheeks go a little red. Is he… blushing? Selena bit the inside of her lip to keep herself from smiling and giving herself away. God, he was so cute. It was unfair, honestly, not to mention amazing, that someone so sexy and so commanding could also be so adorable.

“You’re welcome,” Reidan finally said, his tone stiff and uncomfortable even as his cheeks became pinker.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” Selena asked as she pulled away from Reidan’s touch, resisting the urge to run back into his arms and sweep him up into a kiss.

“Definitely,” Reidan replied, and Selena was relieved to see a slight smile spread across his lips, lighting up his eyes in a way that Selena tried to commit to memory. She didn’t want to forget this moment, this one beautiful, soft moment between them, before they had to go back to pretending that they were just colleagues.

She forced herself through the front door, turned on her heel, and headed down the hallway outside his apartment, fighting hard to keep herself from rushing back inside and attempting to stay the night. God, it was so tempting to try, but she held herself back, heading downstairs to the ground floor of the fancy apartment complex, and then outside into the bitter cold.

She was halfway to the road, where a town car presumably waited for her as it did the night before when she left Reidan’s apartment, when a figure, all in black, sprung out of the shadows, stopping her in her tracks.

“Hey, there, pretty lady,” the man said, smiling so viciously that the white of his teeth cut through the night’s darkness like a knife. It was Matteo. Of course.

Selena inwardly berated herself for not waiting longer to leave Reidan’s apartment. Of course, Matteo would be waiting outside like a disgusting little creep. It was just the way he was. It was stupid of Selena not to anticipate that, honestly. Now she’d have to come up with an excuse, quickly, before Matteo figured out the truth.

“Hello, there, Mr. Bianco,” Selena said, hoping that if she was polite and overly respectful that Matteo would leave her alone. “Visiting your brother?”

“Just saw him, actually,” Matteo replied, a slick smirk sliding across his face. “You know, you look better than usual, Selena. What is it? Pilates, yoga? Fucking my brother?”

“Excuse me?” Selena summoned up as much manufactured outrage as she could and screwed up her face to show that she was offended. “How dare you!”

“Oh, save it,” Matteo said, his smug smile slipping off his face as quickly as it had appeared, replaced by something scarier, something more disturbing. He looked hard and mean, older than he really was, his shoulders squaring up under his jacket like he was preparing for a fight.

Selena felt chilled to the bone, backing up a pace to put more distance between their bodies. Matteo just walked forward, cutting the space between them in half. He could probably see how scared she was, how hard she was breathing now that he was closer to her. But that didn’t stop him from narrowing his eyes, looking at her like she was a piece of trash standing in his way.

“I know what you’ve been doing tonight. Quite the slut, aren’t you?”

“You don’t have a single idea what you’re talking about,” Selena said through gritted teeth, maintaining a mask of confidence, even though it probably wasn’t very convincing, given how much she was trembling. He could probably see how her fingers were shaking, even as she reached into her coat pocket, her hand scrambling to find the handle of the knife that she carried around with her. She’d never had to use it before, and she was hoping and praying that she wouldn’t have to do so tonight either. But she had to be ready, just in case.