Chapter 165 NO TOUCHING.
KAI’S POINT OF VIEW.
Her words stung.
They hit me with such a painful force that it made me want to scream out in pain. All this time, I've held resentment towards her for everything because I thought she abandoned me without a final word. Little did I know that she was suffering for years. While I drowned in my wealth, revelled in my power and the control privileges it gave me, while I signed multi-million dollar deals, she had to live on scraps, while trying to care for her mother.
I felt bad….no….I felt like the dirtiest gutter in the world.
“Aurora…” I started, but before I could get another word out, they dried in the back of my throat. I couldn’t think of anything else to say. How do you apologize for something you never knew? For something you never caused?
I wanted to beat her father up until the fucker was barely recognizable. I wanted to hurt him so bad he’d regret every single day he treated my Aurora like this.
“What?” she hissed, her eyes shining with tears and obvious hurt. She looked dejected, bitter, and in so much pain that I wanted to pull her much closer to me until she was hidden in my embrace. “Too broken for you now, Kai…or should I say boss?” She looked away with a pained scoff, her eyes looking over the private suite. “After all, you own me, or at least my body.
I work for you; I dance in your club for hundreds of men even though I would rather be elsewhere. Do you think I’m some whore now?”
“No.” I shook my head, pushing myself closer to her before I could stop my body. I wanted to be close to her, I wanted to hide her from all this shit so she wouldn’t have to suffer like this….not anymore. “Never, my little moon.” Her eyes flashed with recognition mixed with even more pain at the nickname I’d called her that day on the rooftop where we’d kissed.
“Don’t call me that.” Her voice was now devoid of emotion.
“Why, moon….you loved the name the first time I called you that.” I chuckled and pulled her much closer to me. She didn’t fight my hold. “I'm so sorry all this happened to you, Aurora. I wish I could go back in time to help you against all this, but since I can't, please, let me fix this.”
“How? How on earth are you going to fix all this shit, because there’s no way I can quit dancing, Kai. My mother's bills, my savings for college, my mother’s recovery bills, her therapy….the debts…..there’s so much to cover, so unless you have a job for me…oh wait!” she lets out another pained laugh. “I haven’t finished college, so no other job for me. At least none that pays well.
You know, I tried getting a job at a fast food place before, and none of them would take me because…I was refusing to fuck the damn manager. So no Kai. You cannot fix this shit just by saying you want to.
I can't work elsewhere.”
“Come home with me,” I whispered before a thought could even form in my mind. That made her pause in her fidgeting around me. She was still in my arms, her beautifully matured body full of perfect curves, resting in my arms, the heat and warmth rolling off her made me fight the urge to bite my lower lip, blood rushing to my cock at the thought of her in my house….the temptation….fuck me.
What the hell did I just say?
If she’s in my house, my celibacy run is going to fail. I hadn’t touched another woman in a long time….not since our kiss, and my revenge fuck of almost every woman who cared to offer her tits to me. In the past six months, I hadn’t touched another woman because I wanted to honor the memory I had with Aurora, even though it felt fleeting.
If she’s in my house, under the same roof as me……shit.
“What?” she whispered, clearly taken aback by my suggestion, her eyes wide and her lips parted. “What are you saying?”
I swallowed, already regretting the hard-ons I would have to bear with her under the same roof as me. “I’ll take care of everything. Come live in my house with me, Aurora. Quit this job, I'll pay your mother’s bills, clear all the debts, get your mother in a better hospital with enough doctors and nurses to watch her each night at Theo's mother’s hospital…. She’ll be well cared for, baby.
Come home with me, and you’ll get to start college again… whatever you want to use money for; I’ll get it for you. But please, let's leave this place, and start again.”
“And be your whore.” She blinked at me and pushed herself away from my hold. “You want someone you can fuck anytime you want, right? That’s what this is about, Kai….you want my body in exchange for getting all these problems off my hands.” She appeared hurt, angry, and haunted.
I wouldn’t lie that her being under my roof felt like the devil’s work, but it was more for her safety than for mine. As much as I would like to deny it, I knew exactly the kind of man her father was, especially because of the news announcement coming out in a week.
I approached her slowly, like one would a wounded lioness….because that's who she is. “Aurora, listen to me.” I started. “Your father is much worse than you can ever think, and if I'm right, your very existence, as well as that of your mother, poses a great risk to him and his plans for election in the coming week. He plans on announcing his bid for the presidency very soon; if news of your existence, or the work you do, or the fact that your mother has been abandoned reaches the press, they will eat it up, his approval ratings will drop, and you know what will happen after that?”
Her eyes widened in realization….because she knows exactly what it means.
“My mom’s in danger.” She whispered.
” Not just her, Rory…you too. Your father, like every single fucking politician in the state of New York, would stop at nothing when it comes to their quest for power, and you, your mother….you could be standing in the very way of that. Before they come for you, let me help you. With one phone call from me, your mother will be safely tucked away in a hospital close to my apartment building. She will receive the best care, as well as round-the-clock security from Ace’s security company….
This can be resolved with two things: a phone call from me and a yes from you.”
She gulped, her eyes flashing with acceptance, her shoulders loosening the former tightness in them as she approached me. “If this happens, we can’t… we shouldn’t…” she trails off, her eyes flashing with heat mixed with hesitation as she bobbed her throat with a swallow.
Even she knew that we were teetering on the edge of temptation should this happen….with her under my roof, all bets were off. I didn’t trust my resolve with her, not with the threat of old feelings awakening, and her looking like that with a body meant for nothing but sinful things.
“Of course,” I whispered back, the lie rolling off my tongue because I knew I wouldn’t last a fucking week with her……the need was too powerful in me. “I understand, Aurora.”
“Good…it would be for the best.” But we both knew the truth… we were nothing but liars to ourselves….no one could outrun their desires… and especially not us.