Love On Contract

You're Mine

I glanced down at her semi-naked body taking in her heaving ample chest, strapped into a silk, black bra. My eyes trailed down the smooth, milky skin of her belly to the valley between her legs.

I felt lightheaded, feeling the blood rush from my head to my other head.

She noticed it and covered her exposed bits with her arms. My drunk mind must have been playing tricks on me but she glanced down at my hard member several times.

She was sexy. Sexier than my ex.

I ambled over, coming to a stop before her. As I towered over her lean frame, it occurred to me how petite she was. She looked up at me with doe eyes and her lips slightly parted. I reached up and pushed the hair from our earlier scuffle out of her face.

Damn, she's gorgeous.

“I… we can't –”

Shushing her, I pushed her to the bedroom wall, trapping her against it with weight, grinding my hardness into the steaming valley between her legs. I lifted her chin and lowered my lips to her waiting ones.

“Wait, your wife,” she whispered between gasps.

Wife?

Our first kiss was electric, her soft lips parted and my tongue slid in, darting around like a snake with its head cut off.

Her arms wrapped around my neck and her legs came up around my waist, causing the towel to unravel and drop to the floor.

As our mouths wrestled, I remembered the bed was only two feet away. I lowered her onto the bed, stripping away what little clothing she had left.

For the next couple of hours, groans and moans and the slapping sound of skin and skin filled the room as we went at it relentlessly, neither of us willing to give up as if we had something to prove.

Morning came. I woke up with a pounding headache and her next to me.

My clothes were nowhere to be seen but as soon as I found them, I fished my phone out of my pocket and sent my location to my driver so he could take me back to my miserable life.

****

“We're here, sir.”

I forced my eyes open, nearly getting blinded by all the light pouring in. I guess they delivered on the well-lit parking garage promise.

Why did I do that?

I'd promised myself I wouldn't go on another bender. I thought I was over it. I guess knife wounds in your back take longer to heal when it was your twin brother who did the stabbing.

With my head feeling like it weighed a ton, I dragged myself out of the back seat and lumbered over to the elevator. The ride up was usually a peaceful one but the typically calming music sounded like a nuclear siren blaring directly into my ears.

I felt bile bubbling in my throat, threatening to spill forth at any second. Thankfully, the doors slid open and I stepped out into the hallway.

What the…

Two men in black suits flanked either side of my door. I steeled my nerves, ready for a fight until I recognized them. Dad's men.

Great, a lecture while hungover is just what I needed.

I gave them a nod as I pushed my heavy front door open, finding dad sprawled on my favourite chair, scrolling on his phone, most likely reading the news. He tilted his head down and peered at me over his glasses.

“Wait, let me get my notebook,” I said as I walked to my kitchen for a glass of water.

Coming back out, I found him staring at me with hunched shoulders and his arms crossed.

I braced myself as I dropped onto my couch with a thud. “Okay, let's get it over with,” I sighed.

As soon as he opened his mouth, my phone's speaker blared its annoying ringtone, startling me so much, I almost dropped the glass in my hand.

I fished my phone out of my pocket and let out an exasperated sigh. I turned the phone to dad, showing him the caller ID before answering.

“Dear mother.”

“What important skank kept you away from your brother's rehearsal dinner?” She asked in her signature condescending tone.

“You mean the pre-rehearsal dinner? Also, it's the same skank he's marrying, mom.”

I watched dad rub at his temples, trying to massage away the stress forming into a frown on his face.

“Jesse, how can you say a thing like that?” Mom shrieked. “And she's your…”

I pulled the phone away from my ear and dropped it on the coffee table between me and dad.

On and on she went, barely stopping to take a breath. It was as if there was a tiny person in the room yapping away non-stop. Dad and I sat staring at each other waiting for her tirade to end.

After a couple minutes of disturbed silence, dad gave me a pleading look prompting me to pick up the phone.

“I'll talk to you later, mom,” I said, cutting her off mid sentence before hanging up. “Well, I guess we know how you'll be spending your day.”

Dad shook his head and took a deep breath, knowing she would call him soon ranting about how much of a terrible son I was.

“Before you say anything, you already know how I feel about this whole thing and you're not going to change my mind so don't bother.”

“Despite your attempts at subtlety, I think everyone knows how you feel.”

I couldn't help chuckling. Dad sure knew how to ease rising tensions.

“Did I ever tell you how I came to take over Jilly Victuals?” Dad asked.

I raised an eyebrow at him. “What's there to tell? It's been in the family for generations and you inherited it from grandpa.”

He laughed as if I'd cracked the best joke. “Yes, I did,” he said after composing himself. “But it wasn't that simple.”

I could feel his gearing up to tell me another one of his many stories. At least this was a new one.

“You see,” he started, “in my younger years, I was every bit the rascal you are. Some would say even worse. I would drink, gamble, get with every girl that would glance in my general direction. I wasn't a rockstar but I lived the lifestyle. My father, your grandfather hated that–

“Like mom hates me.”

“Jesse, she doesn't hate you,” he said. I rolled my eyes because it seemed more like he was trying to convince himself of that than me. “Don't interrupt. Your grandfather hated every bit of my lifestyle. He would hold interventions, family meetings, send me to military boot camps, rehab centres – anything he thought could kill me.” He sniggered as if remembering those times.

“I really did give him a tough time. But he was my father and he never gave up on me. After everything he'd tried, he finally did something that he thought was guaranteed to work – a Hail Mary.” He leaned forward as if he was going to tell me a secret. “He arranged for me to get married to his friend's daughter, your mother. At the time we couldn't stand each other and–”

“So business as usual?” I said with a scoff.

“Jesse!”

“Sorry.”

“We could barely stand each other. We’d argue all the time; always at each other's throats. But there were good times, great times even.” His lips curved into an unmistakably genuine smile. “One of those times led to the birth of you and your brother. But even through it all, I never stopped living that lifestyle. I would go out and party while your mother took care of the both of you.

“I could afford it – well, my father could. This all continued until he threatened to disinherit me. Your mother promised that if that happened, she would leave and take the both of you and I would never see you again. My dad was right; I couldn't bear the thought of losing my family so I got my head out of my ass.

“It took a while but I learned everything I needed to know about running a company from my father and even longer before he was comfortable enough to let me run it without him.”

“I guess I really am your son, huh?” I hadn't realized when I sat up, hanging on to his every word. “You must be proud of Tristan then. Everyone's proud of Tristan…”

Good ol’ golden child Tristan.

The grim look on his face took me by surprise. “Tristan… he's a good boy. He has good intentions but he is…”

“Gullible? Naive?”

He would never allow himself confirm it but he knew I was right.

“With proper guidance, he can be a good leader but that girl… we – you can't let her get a hold of that much power. It's your responsibility since you brought her into our family.”

The last time I'd been enraged at something my father did was when I was a teenager, but what he said had my blood boiling in my veins. “So it's my fault? I made him stab me in the back? My own twin? Mom cuddled him all his life and treated me like I was s**t; you stood by and did nothing. Nothing!”

I wanted him to yell at me. To tell me it wasn't his fault. Anything that would justify my anger toward him but he sat calmly and watched me rage. If I weren't so mad I would have been impressed by his ability to remain cool as a cucumber in the most tense of situations.

But he was right. I did open the gates for Debbie to bring her sorry ass in. And once the manipulative b***h set her sights on Tristan, it was over for him.

My anger subsided and I slumped back into my chair. “What am I supposed to do now?” I asked him. “Once Debbie runs out of pre-wedding event ideas, they'll get married. I'm supposed to what, find a wife before then? I couldn't even trust the girl I'd dated for year around my brother.”

“Your mother and I didn't love each other when we got married.”

“You still don't.”

He scoffed. “We do. It's an unconventional love between us. If you want, I can arrange something for you.”

For some reason, my mind showed me a picture of that girl from the previous night – my guardian angel. My mind was still in a haze and I couldn't remember all that happened but I knew she'd rocked my world. Visions of our bodies intertwined, the sounds of her moans filling my ears as I gave her my all. It was heaven.

A smile formed on my lips. “No, I'll handle it.”

Dad got off my couch and straightened his clothes. “Remember Jesse, the fate of our family's legacy depends on you. No pressure or anything.” He calmly walked out leaving me to ponder on the difficult task I had to accomplish.

My phone started ringing again and I nearly flung it across the room until I saw who it was.

“Hey big bro. Don't hate me for not calling earlier. Are you okay?”

“Oh I'm great, Remi. My brother and my ex are getting married. What's there not to be happy about? Calling to scold me too?”

She sighed. “You know I wouldn't do that, Jesse. I just wanted to know if you're okay.”

“Yeah, I know. You're Switzerland.”

“I'll come over if you need.”

“No, I'm alright. I just need to sleep off this hangover.” An idea popped into my head. “Say, that PI you used for your little situation with your friend, do you still have his details?”

“She’s not my friend.” She spat with venom in her voice. “What are you planning, Jesse?”

“Oh, calm down. It has nothing to do with the lovebirds. I need him for something else.”

“Okay, I'll send it but I'm not involved. You got his details off the internet, if anybody asks.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Take care. Call me if you need anything, okay?”

“Sure, Remi. Bye.”

As I sat staring at the ceiling, slowly drifting off to sleep, I wondered what kind of messed up tradition my family had. Dad and mom clearly didn't love eachother but that was the yardstick to prove his readiness to lead?

My twin's situation was proof enough of the system's flaws.

What a joke.

****

“Who is it?”

Her voice was just as soft as the curves of her body as I remembered it.

I rapped against her door once more, hoping she would hurry up to open the door.

“Give me a sec–”

Her words caught in her throat as soon as her eye landed on me.

“What are you–”

I pushed past her into her tiny apartment. It looked even smaller than last time I was there.

“That night was a mistake, okay? I don't know what came over me. I was angry at your wife and…”

“Who is this wife you keep talking about?”

I recalled her saying something similar that night and I couldn't figure… wait, she didn't think…

She looked at me puzzled. “Your wife – well I guess you aren't married yet.”

The picture was forming in my head. “So you f****d me to get back at her?”

“No, I…”

“She's a b***h, I know, but sleeping with an engaged man – you aren't really better, are you?” I shook my head.

“No, I… it's not like that. I didn't mean to –” Her brows furrowed like she was thinking about something. “How did you get here so fast? Last night, I left you drunk here. Then you were at the party and then you were here when I got back. How did you do that?”

I smirked, as realization dawned on me. “So you slept with me thinking I was my twin brother.” I was torn. On one hand, she probably hated Debbie as much as me; on the other, how could I trust her if she knowingly slept with an engaged man?

Her eyes nearly popped out of her head. She staggered back placing her hand on her chest like she'd been punched.

It stung. As much of a front as I tried to put up, it stung deep.

I don't know how the incompetent fool did it. Why was he always one step ahead? He could barely wipe his own ass but I'm the black sheep? Even this angel wanted him.

At least she wasn't the saint I thought she was so my conscience wouldn't judge me for doing what I had to do.

I stared at her, steeling my nerves. “Your boss, she loves her work, everything she's built, right? I'm going to take it away from her. Take everything and burn it to the ground and when she's writhing on the ground in tears, I will tell her you made me do it. Tell her it was all your fault and that you could have prevented.”

“Wha– why would you do that?” Her eyes brimmed with tears and her lips quivered. “I never did anything to you. Why won't you people just leave me alone?”

“That doesn't have to happen. I need your help and as long as you play along, things will go along smoothly.”

Defeated, she wiped the stray tears that managed to slip out of her eyes. “What do you want?”

“We are going to get married.”