He looked tired and angry and desperate. And that was scary.
“What do you need?” I asked. His eyes lingered over my body for a long time then flicked back up to my face. He turned away from me and looked around the little studio apartment. I had a feeling he wasn’t going to answer that one.
My father put me in an apartment when I got into Graduate school, saying that he wanted me to have my own independence. I knew the truth; he wanted to have his own independence. No one to look over him while he made his mistakes.
So he had my uncle put me up in this little apartment, and honestly? I went happily. Because I wanted to be independent. Live my own life. I wanted to be able to come and go as I pleased and not answer to anyone.
That was my part in his downward spiral. I stepped back, and I let it happen. All for my own happiness. The happiness which I wasn’t willing to give up.
So being here, staring at a man who stood in my sacred space, it was making me edgy. I put a hand on my hip and looked at him.
“What are all these books?” he asked.
“I study the history of the American industrial age,” I said as he leafed through it. “Particularly the role of women in it.”
“Do you? So you go to school for, what, history?” he asked.
I crossed my arms, “I’m working on my Ph.D. at the University of Baltimore Maryland.”
“Oh, fancy girl?”
“Not really.” It wasn’t easy. I commuted into classes, and they were overwhelming. When I wasn’t working I was studying and writing, paper after paper. I didn’t need a teacher’s assistantship, but I still never had enough time.
“What are you doing today?” he asked suddenly as he turned and looked at me. I had no idea what this had to do with my original question.
“I have a paper I need to write,” I tried to give him an excuse. Any excuse to get him out of my apartment. He was making my breath hitch and my palms sweat with every second he was around.
I didn’t want to be attracted to a man like this, didn’t want him here, so if I willed him away I could get back to my life.
“Can you do it later?” he asked. I knew it wasn’t going to be that easy.
I thought for a moment, and then I nodded. “Yes, why?”
“I want to take you out,” his eyes flashed. “I have some errands to run in your neck of the woods and I wanted to see you. Come with me.”
“What?” I asked, stunned. I hadn’t expected him to come here for anything other than a booty call. That I could resist, at least temporarily. I could turn him away. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”
I didn’t know if I could control myself around him. I was fighting the urge to relive the other night as it was.
“Get your coat. I want to take you out.” He grinned, the tension gone from his face.
I grabbed my coat and followed him out of the apartment. “Where?”
“Nowhere special, not really.” He put his hand on the small of my back and guided me through the hallway. “Just a few errands.”
With just a touch, he was able to force my mind to think of nothing but him. The way he touched me, the way he made me feel two nights ago. It all came rushing back to me with just his touch.
I would’ve followed him anywhere at that moment just to keep him touching me. This was what I was hoping to avoid. We walked out the doors and down to a very sleek looking black sedan.
“This yours?” I asked. I shouldn’t have been surprised when I saw just how nice the luxury vehicle was. It suited him.
“Get in,” he said as he opened the door for me. I slid into the passenger’s side and let out a sigh. It was the most comfortable thing I’d ever sat in.
He got in wordlessly and drove until we were at Marley Station Mall, a broken down mall that was a living relic of the nineties. It still had the chrome on the signs and the neon light that highlighted Glen Burnie’s industry.
I hadn’t been in the mall since I was a teen. There were nicer malls just a twenty-minute drive away, and this one smelled of stale smoke and old walls.
“The old mall?” I asked.
“I need to make a stop first. You can wait, or come with me.” He looked at me, and I blushed. I felt like he saw underneath my clothes every time he cast his eyes on me. Each peek my way turned me bright red. It was because he saw it all. My entire body had been bare to him, and he devoured it.
What was worse was that I wanted him again. I spent the entire ride uncomfortable, squirming in my seat, my body hot with him so close to me.
My mind flashed to the way he moaned as he slid his cock into me. The look on his face, it was like he was getting a hit of a really good drug.
“I’ll come in,” I said as I got out. The muggy heat of late summer hit me hard as we walked in the building. The Bay area was known to be humid, but this was insane.
“Warm today,” I said.
“Yeah, I had to let the workers go home early, couldn’t keep the factory cool enough.”