TRAPPED BY HIM

CHAPTER TWO: A Dull Pain

Lucas

Damn it.” I cursed loudly. “One more tap and I swear to God, I’ll not be held responsible for slamming your face into the wall, Derek.”

It was 7:30pm on a Saturday, and I was standing in the middle of a sauna wearing nothing but a towel and sweating out of my ass, while Derek, my best friend, tapped carelessly away on his lap. It irritated me.

Derek stood up, and joined me, his green eyes twinkling with mischief. The i***t was enjoying every bit of my misery and it prickled.

If it was not for the fact that Derek was like a brother to me, then maybe I would have gone ahead and slammed his face into the wall.

There were two things I hated and one of them was people mocking me. I also hated jokes, and I didn’t play around. I preferred people when they were scared of me.

Derek was the only exception, since we’ve been friends since middle school. But today, I wasn’t in the mood and he was pushing it. And especially on a day like this that rankled with the bitter taste of my own defeat.

In fact, it was Derek's idea to come sit in a hot room–an excuse for a sauna. His twisted idea of cheering me up.

“Remind me again why you lost that contract?” Derek c****d his head slightly to the side as he stared at me down. He was possibly the only person on earth that was not scared shitless of me.

Ignoring him, and putting a safe distance between the two of us, I fished out my phone from my robe and turned it on.

I didn’t necessarily need to use it, but I was in no mood to be reminded that I had just bonked a very important contract.

But Derek would not be ignored.

I felt it before I registered whatever was happening. The next thing I knew, I was smack dab against the hot wall, my towel coming loose, and my vision blurred. The ringing in my ears disoriented me even more.

My shoulder blades stung and the back of my head burned. It was hard to pinpoint the exact place I felt discomfort, as pain consumed me. He’d punched me. Hard.

“Ready to talk now?” I heard Derek ask from somewhere around me.

I peeled myself from the wall, and tried to focus my vision. The walls of the sauna painted a soothing mixture of sunset gold and white, spun slightly, and for a brief moment, I felt like I was attached to a spinning wheel.

Derek was a professional wrestler and MMA fighter which made him, unapologetically an unpleasant person to be with at times. Although, I wasn’t one to talk. I could hardly call myself pleasant–I lived alone in a penthouse Condo with walls as gray as my heart–or so I've been told.

The truth was, I didn’t really care about anything that was not directly affecting my finances.

Well, until her.

“You didn’t have to do that. I would have talked anyway.” I spat out through gritted teeth. The pain in my head was reduced to a dull throbbing now and my vision was getting clearer.

At least I could make out Derek’s smug face.

“You’ve never been this distracted since our college days. What happened? You prepared for this for months.” Derek was peering directly at me, his forehead scrunched up in confusion.

I bit my lower lip and swore under my breath. I refused to admit it to myself for while now, but the moment the words fell out of my mouth, I knew they were true.

“My new assistant, Cily Tate. She’s driving me crazy.”

“A woman?” A small smile crossed Derek’s face as his eyes widened.

“I can’t believe it either. But that Cily just drives me, so…”I trailed off, clenching and unclenching my fists.

I didn’t understand her and it made me furious. It also made me furious that she carried herself in a way that silently challenged my authority.

I was losing control amongst my employees and that was not a good look.

But instead of admitting all that to Derek, I glared at him instead and pushed his hand away when he tried to help me up.

“Forget it. I’ll make it so hard for her that she has no other choice but to quit.” I grunted to Derek. “She’s got to pay for making me lose this contract.”

I could not explain why my blood boiled whenever she walked into the room, or whenever she handed me my schedule like any good assistant would, I’d prickle with anger.

“You’re just an asshole. Have you ever considered that?” Derek asked, returning my glare.

I fixed Derek a look. “Have you ever considered that maybe she thinks she’s too good for the rest of us? She has a degree in Computer Engineering and from damned Yale!”

“That’s fancy. Why did you hire her, then?” Derek went back to his spot and I watched with disinterest as he relaxed into the sauna.

“That is the problem. I didn’t hire her. HR did.” I replied, and then cringed at how whiny I sounded.

“Then just fire her.”

“I cannot do that. Not without reason.”

Derek shrugged, but said nothing else. I didn't tell him that the reason she infuriated me so much was that she affected me so much.

Her eyes–those hazel eyes that made something inside me stir.

Her lips. “Fuck.” I muttered under my breath as I tried to push the image of her pink luscious lips from my mind.

All I wanted to do was pin her to the wall and bite those lips, and it doesn’t help that she keeps talking back.

No one affected Lucas Ross, and definitely not Cily.

I would make sure of that. Even if I have to break her to get her out of my mind.

Whatever it took.