Eros: The Obsession

Chapter Eleven

Jun comes to an agreement with Aldo Montesi. He has to fly down every three months or so to oversee the shipments and trade-offs at one of Montesi's more elite clubs, Rouge. In between the trade-offs, Jun is to see his old clients.

The younger man isn't too fond of the arrangements but he also isn't too fond of dying, so he makes due with it. A small compromise is worth keeping Tara alive, even though the woman seems hell-bent on ignoring him.

He tries to call, tries to text her, but nothing works. She completely ghosts him. He knows that she still has her phone on her, a quick perusal of her social media has told him that much, so the only conclusion is that she's ignoring him.

Jun tries not to let it upset him but he keeps pondering over what he might have said to scare her away. And when he eventually deduces that he hasn't done anything that she hadn't explicitly asked for, he gets angry. Frustration bubbles within his chest, soiling his mood and bursting forth in a flurry of violence. He kicks at his desk, sending all of his old memorabilia crashing to the floor. The lampshade shatters across the wood and in his anger, he doesn't notice the piece of glass that pierces into the underside of his foot.

With a loud cuss, Jun stumbles back into the bed. The pain sears up his foot, adding to his already volatile mood – and for a moment, Jun imagines just picking up a piece of glass and dragging it across his throat. He imagines the giant stain his blood would leave, imagines the distraught face Tara would make when she finds out. A sick pleasure licks up his chest at the thought of her falling apart because of him, because her regret and longing is so intense that she realizes all she needs is to be with him. He imagines her shattering a glass bottle, trembling fingers picking up a shard of glass as she slices her throat open to experience exactly what he would.

A loud slam from somewhere in the distance drags Jun back to the present and the haze that had been upon him slowly dissipates. As the last dregs of the image float away, guilt begins to burn its way up his chest. He knows how f****d up his feelings are, knows that he might do more harm than good to Tara. And as Jun curls in on himself, his foot still bleeding out, he cries. Hot tears streak down his face and stain the sheets as everything finally comes crashing down.

He falls asleep like that, losing so much blood that he eventually passes out.

And then he has the dream.

In his dream, his head is enveloped between two soft thighs, something sweet wafting up to his nose as his tongue and fingers work in tandem. He doesn't know it's Tara, but at the same time, he does. The deep chocolate of her thighs, the way Jun's fingers press into the fat of them so perfectly – the only person he wants it to be is her. And when she winds searching fingers into his hair and moans unabashedly, he's suspicions are confirmed.

He kisses his way up her body, teeth and tongue dragging across the most sensitive parts almost instinctively. And then his lips slide over hers, and Jun gets lost in how perfectly they fit together. He gives himself over to the feeling, letting his body do what it wants.

As he pulls back, he stares into deep brown orbs, almond-shaped and glistening prettily as she gazes back at him with a look of unabashed pleasure. His fingers drum down to her chest, tapping against the place over her heart teasingly –

And then he shoves his hand through her chest, past bone and muscle. His fingers clench around the beating organ with possessive intent, wrenching it out with a flourish. He brings it to his mouth, licking at it before taking a bite into it.

And Tara smiles all the while.

Jun shoots out of bed with a gasp, his lungs working overtime as he pulls in deep breath after deep breath, trying to calm his erratic heart. He's soaked with sweat, his sheets and clothes drenched with the liquid. His member is achingly hard but Jun can't even contemplate getting himself off when he feels such overwhelming shame and terror.

Once he has finally calmed down, he gently lowers himself back into the bed, although his body continues to tremble violently.

He doesn't let himself fall asleep for the rest of the night.

When Jun returns to the city, no one is there to greet him. He knows that Tara is at home, had caught the tell-tale sound of dishes from within her apartment, but when he knocks on her door, there is no answer. He calls out to her but she doesn't reply. So with an annoyed scoff, he stalks back to his apartment, flinging his things into the hallway and making a ruckus as he goes about unpacking everything.

They don't walk to work together, the next day either. Jun waits for Tara for over half an hour but eventually gives up and makes his way to work alone. When he gets to the office, he finds out that she had gone to work earlier than usual. She greets him with a tight smile and dark bags under her eyes. She doesn't join him for coffee or for lunch. She doesn't stay to work on the footage with him, simply giving him instructions on what to do before she leaves for the day.

Jun feels a mixture of confusion and resentment. He doesn't understand why she's acting this way and when he tries to ask, she brushes him off with a shoddy excuse. Even the rest of the team seem to notice their distance.

"You and Tara get into a fight or something?" Tucker asks him when Tara brushes off his offer to make her a cup of coffee.

"No," Jun replies with a furrow of his brows. "I'm not sure why she's acting like this."

"She gets like that sometimes," Eric shrugs, "When she's stressed or dealing with something she doesn't know how to deal with."

"But she's not acting like this with anyone else," Jun huffs in frustration. "I can't fix things if she doesn't tell me what I need to fix."

"Maybe she finally realized that she had a crush on you and now she feels bad about it," Eric says.

"What?" Jun and Tucker ask at the same time.

Eric stares at them with a blank expression before his brows raise and he asks, "You guys didn't know?"

"Of course not," Jun grumbles. "How could we have known."

"She blushes every time she's around you, man," the journalist responds with a chuckle. "And don't get me started on the moony way she looks at you when she doesn't think you'll notice."

Jun tries not to let the statement get to his head, but a little speck of hope blooms within his chest. "And you're sure?"

"I've known Tara long enough to know when she acts different with someone," Eric nods. "I think she's just struggling with her feelings now because she doesn't want to hurt you or Ren."

"Man, that sucks," Tucker sighs, patting Jun on the shoulder. "A lesser man would probably try win her over." It's then that Jun realizes that neither men even consider him a threat to her relationship with Ren.

"You don't think I'd try get between them?" Jun asks in a carefully neutral tone.

"I would hope not," Tucker chuckles. "Ren and Tara have been together forever. I wouldn't want to see anyone get between them. Not even you."

"But what if I could treat her better?" he asks, brows furrowing in offense.

Tucker and Eric seem to realize something at the same time. Both men fall silent, appraising Jun with an unreadable expression. He stiffens under their gazes, hoping not to give away too much of his intentions.

"Maybe that's for her to decide," Tucker says in a careful tone.

"And maybe she already has," Eric adds with less tact. Jun's eyes narrow at the implication in his tone but he doesn't retaliate with what he wants to say.

Instead, Jun huffs out a breath of laughter and grins, "I'm just messing with you guys. I wouldn't do something like that."

They both relax, equally relieved smiles on their faces as they nod in his direction. Eric speaks up again as the tension dissolves. "Good. I'd hate to have to put you in your place if you did." It's not an empty threat.

Jun fingers curl into his fists, his grip so tight that his nails pierce into the skin there, creating red welts all across his palms. He keeps his expression friendly and open, throwing back a snarky joke in response to Eric, but a part of him simmers with rage at the audacity of the man's words. They change the topic soon after, but that feeling of indignation sticks with him throughout the day.

And then Caroline starts flirting with him.

Jun brushes off her advances at first. She's nice enough with a pretty heart-shaped face and a curvy waist, but he doesn't feel that overwhelming pull to Caroline that he does with Tara. Instead, he feels a shallow indifference. He knows it's probably unfair of him to give so little attention to someone who wants him when the person captivating his thoughts won't look in his direction, but Jun can't help how utterly nonplussed he is by Caroline's attention.

And then he notices the way Tara's head turns in his direction when the red-head is around.

It starts off subtly at first, with nothing more than a simple flickering of her eyes before she goes back to whatever she's doing. But it gets gradually more noticeable as time passes by. Fleeting glances turn into long, unreadable staring, and Tara's indifference turns into a near fixation with Jun the moment Caroline enters the room.

And Jun enjoys the attention.

He likes the way Tara's eyes seem to harden every time Caroline brushes a teasing hand across his shoulder, likes the way her fingers clench around her lunchbox every time Caroline takes a seat next to him.

He plays up his interest in the red-head, playing the part of shy, new co-worker so that both woman think he's trying to pursue something more. Caroline gets progressively more bolder with her advances while Tara gets progressively more obvious with her disapproval.

Jun wants to question the reporter, wants to figure out why Tara's so affected by his attention being on someone else when she clearly didn't want anything to do with him – but she doesn't give him the chance to. She avoids him whenever Caroline isn't around, forcing Jun to stoop to seeking the red-head out just to get some kind of reaction out of Tara.

And then Caroline asks him out.

She does it in front of their team – in front of Tara – and because Jun is petty, he says yes.

They go out for dinner one Friday evening after work. She takes him to a quaint Italian place in the city, just formal enough that she can wear a skin-tight black dress. It hugs her curves flatteringly, the makeup she wears also accentuating her looks.

And Jun is attracted to her.

He enjoys the attention she gives him, enjoys the idea of someone wanting him. Which is why, when she leans in to kiss him after their date, he accepts. Her lips are soft and she tastes like the alfredo pasta she'd ordered. She gets a little bolder as well, running her hands along his chest, nails scraping against the fabric of his shirt.

So when she pulls away with kiss-swollen lips and hooded eyes dark with lust, Jun invites her to his apartment.