The Owner of His Heart

CHAPTER SEVEN





INSIDE his private office bathroom Nathan got rid of the condom and did his best to ignore his cock, which was painfully erect and practically screaming at him to go back out there to the delectable woman bent over his desk. He forced himself to splash some water on his face first. He had to calm down, he told himself, keep himself disengaged. He could have sex with Layla Matthews, but he couldn’t let her in like the last time.

This short trip to the bathroom, reminded him of the first and only double date he’d gone on with Andrew and Layla about three months after she and his brother officially started dating. Andrew had invited him to the Sinclair mansion’s game room for a round of pool and presented the double date as his idea, but it had only taken a few pointed questions on Nathan’s part to get to the real scheme.

“Layla thinks we should have a better relationship,” Andrew confessed. “She’s an only child and she doesn’t understand why we’re not closer.”

Nathan moved to the right side of the table to line up his shot. “And you do whatever Layla tells you to do, right?”

Andrew’s fingers tightened around his stick. “She’s had a hard life, and she doesn’t ask for much. I figured I could do this one thing for her.”

Nathan took his shot, but just missed sinking the green ball into a corner pocket. “And I’m sure the fact that you’re f*cking her has nothing to do with all this altruism.”

Jealousy curdled in Nathan’s stomach at the thought of Andrew having access to something he wanted, something he wanted bad. His masturbation fantasies had been fully taken over by the few encounters he’d had with Layla, mostly glimpses and short conversations, before Andrew came down to collect her for their dates.

But when he looked to his brother for his response, he noticed Andrew just stood there, his demeanor stiff, which is how he acted when he was embarrassed.

Nathan stood up straight with the realization: “You haven’t had sex with her yet.”

Obviously agitated, Andrew set about lining up his own shot. “She’s not ready.”

“She’s a ripe college freshman. How much more ready can she be? I go through at least two of those a month.”

“Not that it’s any of your business, but she’s a virgin. I don’t want our first time together to be painful or uncomfortable for her, so I’m letting her set the pace.” He took his shot, but it only sent the ball he was aiming for bouncing off two walls before it came to a meek stop just a few inches away from a corner pocket.

This left the table open for an easy shot from Nathan, and he took it without hesitation. “Man, you’re whipped,” he said to his brother. “If it were me, I already would have tapped that so hard.”

He lined up his next shot, trying to ignore the thrill of possessive joy that lit up in his heart. Just because Layla and Andrew hadn’t had sex yet, didn’t mean he was any closer to making his fantasies come true with her. His thoughts darkened again. A girl like Layla would definitely want to give her virginity to a guy like Andrew. He still didn’t stand a chance with her.

He sank the last ball into the right side pocket, effectively winning the game.

Andrew huffed and put his stick away as if he were glad this farce of brotherly bonding were over. “Like I said, Layla doesn’t ask me for much. Can you just play along and not be an a*shole? For once.”

Nathan had agreed to the double date, but only because he didn’t like this longing for someone he couldn’t have. Maybe, he told himself, spending more than five minutes in her company would finally kill his crazy lust for her.

He showed up to the date slightly tipsy, forty-five minutes late, with not one, but two dates in tow, his girlfriend of the moment and one of her friends, a pretty co-ed who she’d assured him would be open to a threesome later that night.

“How’s it going,” he asked them as he and his two dates settled in the booth. He peered at their dishes over his sunglasses. “I see you ordered without us.”

Layla moved closer to Andrew, rubbing his back in a pre-emptive bid to get him to stay calm. Nathan noticed her affectionate gesture, and felt his jealousy spike once again, even though, unlike Andrew, he was sitting next to two women who were actually willing to have sex with him.

“You’re late,” Andrew said, between gritted teeth. “We assumed you weren’t coming. And could you take off the sunglasses? It’s dark outside.”

Nathan’s answer to this was to slide them further up his nose and say, “I’ve got to take a piss.”

He climbed out of the booth. “Get whatever you girls want and a cheeseburger for me.”

“Okay,” his girlfriend of the moment agreed with a giggle.

He’d congratulated himself on finding yet another way to ruffle his straight-laced brother’s feathers in the bathroom. But when he came out, the co-ed had left and now only this month’s girlfriend was sitting on his side of the booth, looking uncomfortable and somber.

“What’s going on?” he asked her as he sat down.

Before she could answer, Layla covered her hand with hers and said, “Michelle has an essay due tomorrow, so she decided to cut out. I told her grades were more important than whatever she had planned with you two tonight. She’s on scholarship you know, so she really can’t afford to waste her time on…” She took a significant pause. “…people who might not have her best interests at heart.”


Nathan glanced at Andrew, who was slouched back in the booth and smirking at him. “That’s cool,” he said, refusing to blow up like Andrew obviously wanted him to. He took off his sunglasses and leaned toward Layla. “Maybe you can take her place.”

“Hey,” Andrew said, sitting up. “Don’t talk to her like that.”

Again Layla rubbed his back, soothing him with just the right touch. “It’s okay, I can take care of myself.” She turned her eyes back to his girlfriend. “No, I prefer to engage with people who actually care about me, so I’ll have to pass. Jessica, I think we have that in common, right? It’s better to be with someone who cares even a little about you than with someone who’s just using you for sex or who makes you feel like less of a human being. Right?”

Jessica nodded and said in a voice so soft he could barely hear her, “Right.”

“Oh, come on,” Nathan said.

This time Layla pinned Nathan with a look of blazing fury that took him by surprise. “No, you come on. Jessica is smart and generous. She deserves better. Do you care about her? Even a little?”

Jessica also turned toward him, waiting for his answer. And a thoroughly unfamiliar feeling assailed him: Guilt. “I don’t want to have this conversation,” he said, refusing to meet Jessica’s eyes.

Layla turned back to Jessica. “Do you care about Nathan?”

“I do,” Jessica said. “A lot.”

“Then, Nathan, you owe it to Jessica to tell her how you feel.”

“I don’t owe her anything. You’re the one who started this conversation.”

But then the normally up-for-anything Jessica surprised him by saying, “You can’t even say you care about me a little?”

He made a few calculations and decided to just go with the truth. “No, I can’t really say that. You’re a fun girl, but—”

She slapped across the face. “You’re an a*shole, Nathan Sinclair. Let me out.” She pushed at him until he slid out of the booth, allowing her to slide out, too.

But before she left in a huff, she stopped long enough to say, “Thanks, Layla. It was great meeting you.”

“You, too,” Layla said.

They all watched her stomp out of the restaurant. The waiter chose that moment to come over with three plates of food.

“Oh, here’s your cheeseburger,” Layla said.

Nathan plopped back down on his now empty side of the booth. “I hate you,” he said to Layla.

She grinned. “Hate’s such a strong word. Eat your cheeseburger.”

Both she and his brother were obviously trying very hard not to laugh.

“I’m not hungry,” Nathan said.

“Apparently Michelle and Jessica weren’t either. Look at all this food they left behind. If I were Jessica, I would have at least asked for a to-go bag before slapping you and storming out.”

Andrew lost his battle not to laugh, letting go of his mirth with a huge splutter of air. That set Layla off. She giggled leaning her head again Andrew’s shoulder. And though Nathan wanted to stay angry at the both of them, he felt a strange bubble of humor crawling up his chest, and before he knew it, he was laughing too, just as amused by what had happened as Layla and Andrew.

The three of them ended up staying at the diner until one in the morning, talking about everything from current television to their classes at Carnegie Mellon to Nathan’s own future plans.

That was the conversation that convinced Nathan to stop partying and start applying to colleges. It was also the conversation that escalated his feelings for Layla from lust to love. But Layla’s original plan to bring the brothers closer had failed. By the time he and Andrew made it home, after dropping off Layla at her dorm building, Nathan disliked his brother even more. Not because of their many differences, but simply because he had Layla and Nathan did not. And at that point, there was nothing Nathan wanted more than to have Layla for himself.

Nathan snapped out of the memory, arriving back in his inner office bathroom. The object of his long ago obsession was now in his office and waiting for him in a most tantalizing position. He threw one more handful of water in his face, and imagined what he’d do to her next. He wanted to taste her this time, feast on her until she keened his name and begged him to do whatever he wanted to her.

But when he walked into his office, he found it empty. Both Layla and her clothes had disappeared, leaving nothing behind but the lingering smell of the sex they’d just had and Nathan’s complete and utter fury.