Chapter Text
Doused in shadow, I woke up slowly. One by one, as I opened my eyes, each of my body parts reminded me of the night before by aching in pain. I touched my neck; it was tender. My legs shook as I lifted them. My lips felt bruised. Five long scratch marks led all the way down from my chest to my waistline and stung slightly as I traced them. Small blemishes shaped like fingerprints fanned over my hips. I grazed my nails over them, feeling nostalgic. I stretched, smiling.
Until I realised...
There wasn’t anyone beside me. She’d ditched me. After all of that?
I rubbed my face and dragged myself up into a sitting position. My spine shrieked in protest. As much as I’d been sober the night before, so much of it was a blur. What the fuck had we been doing? Stunts? I’d never been this beaten up after sex. I bit back my grin. Oh, but I’d adored every agonising second.
To top it all off, I walked past the mirror and caught sight of long, thick red marks extending over my lower back, butt and the back of my thighs. Those were the most painful to the touch. No short skirts or crop tops today.
I searched the room once more, with a fleeting hope Elaine hadn’t completely abandoned me, but it was futile. I checked the time.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” I cursed as my stomach dropped. I flung myself around the room; dressing myself, packing my bag, brushing my hair - doing as much as I could to be on time for my flight at eight-thirty.
I ran down the stairs with my suitcase, my heels in my hand, a little less makeup than I would have liked, and my heart racing. If I missed this plane, it would be hours until the next one. I didn’t want to have to stay in this mangly place for longer than absolutely necessary.
I checked out and exited the hotel, waving a taxi towards me from the pavement. However, upon glancing casually to my right, I did a double take.
I gasped.
It was Elaine.
In a fitted black tracksuit and obnoxious sunglasses, she was almost unrecognisable, but I knew that hair and those hands anywhere. She handed her suitcase to her chauffeur without thanking them and lazily plonked herself down into the large white SUV. The ordinary-looking, dickhead of a man from her table the night before stood talking to a body guard. I took a mental picture of the company name on the car: Promethium Pharmaceuticals. It wouldn’t be the last of her I’d see. I’d make sure of that.
A honk next to me made me jump. Quickly, tearing my gaze away from the woman who had - predictably - abandoned me, I stuffed my suitcase in the trunk and slid onto the back seat. Reluctantly, I stuffed my feet into my heels.
“The airport,” I instructed the driver, who nodded. I didn’t bother trying to make boring conversation with him. I didn’t speak any Mexican. I didn’t want to learn to.
I pinched the bridge of my nose and opened my phone, readying myself for the trip back. Checked some emails. Fixed a couple of discrepancies. Let my neighbour know I was on my way home.
But fuck, I couldn’t get Elaine out of my head.
“Hi, I’m here to see Miss Elaine Markinson,” I said sweetly to the receptionist at Promethium Pharmaceuticals.
It had only taken a quick Google search for the address and a skim-read through the company’s website to find out who Elaine was. My heart pumped in my chest. A thousand scenarios of our upcoming interaction played in my head.
“Do you have an appointment, ma’am?”
“Miss rather than ma’am, thanks,” I corrected them. “And no, I don’t, but it’s urgent.”
“I’m afraid I can’t let you inside without an appointment.”
I bit my lip, cursing under my breath. “Can you tell her I’m here at least?”
“I can. Who shall I say is asking?”
“Maeve. Maeve Jackson. Tell her I brought her coffee too.”
They nodded, despite being slightly discombobulated, and niftily dialled on their telephone. I waited somewhat patiently, leaning on the counter, sipping my iced coffee.
“Sorry to bother you, Miss Markinson. There’s a Maeve Jackson here to see you. She said she brought you coffee.”
I strained my ears but couldn’t hear anything from the other side of the phone. I gazed in a bored stupour at the wondrously nonsensical sculpture in the middle of the lobby. I wonder how many coffees you could buy with the amount they paid for that ugly thing?
Mid-sip, I realised that the receptionist was trying to catch my attention, making me choke slightly as I stood up straight.
“Miss Markinson will see you, Miss Jackson.”
“Oh, she will? That’s fucking fantastic.” I pulled my bag further up my shoulder and propped my sunglasses up onto my head. “Now she can explain this fuck me and leave me nonsense.”
“Sorry?”
“Nothing.”
I waltzed down the passage through the security gate, my hair fluttering about my back and waist, and glanced at each door as I passed them, looking for Elaine’s name. I found it quickly. Of course, it was the one office with its blinds closed.
I rapped on the door. It opened almost immediately. Elaine stood, taken aback only a little, with her weight on one leg and her newly manicured nails tapping the doorframe. Her eyebrow was cocked. I pushed past her, taking another sip of coffee. I placed hers on her desk and took a disinterested look around her office before letting my eyes settle on her sexy figure. I grinned.
“So,” I began, walking up to her. “We need to talk.”
“You found me on another fucking continent.”
“It wasn’t hard.”
“Geez.”
“You can’t fuck me like you did and then just leave, Elaine.”
She laughed mirthlessly, moving away and picking up the coffee I brought for her. I lifted my eyebrows as she took a sip. She smiled and shook her head. My smirk oozed with satisfaction. I’d guessed her order right.
“Fine,” she said begrudgingly, perching on the edge of her desk and licking her lips.
“Fine, what?”
I crossed my arms, frowning, trying not to get too caught up in the deep purple hickeys on her chest that even her blouse wasn’t opaque enough to hide. I stuffed my hands deeper into the crooks of my elbows to conceal the rings around my wrists. I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from thinking about it.
Unfortunately, Elaine noticed, and ignored my question. She smirked. “You’ve got an itch for it now, haven’t you?”
I sniffed, shrugging. “What?”
She pushed herself off the table and strode towards me. “I’ve left something on you. You’ve got an itch that we both know only I can scratch.” She enunciated every word. I felt like a sailor and she was the siren. Utterly irresistible.
I tried to ease my breathing as she pressed me back against her bookshelf. The hard edges elicited sparks of pain in the slap-marks on my lower back. I took a futile hold of one of the shelves as her hands settled on my hips.
“You’ve got bruises and grazes in places you never knew you wanted them. Aches like nothing you’ve ever had before. And it definitely took you an extra minute to get out of bed this morning, didn’t it?”
“I want it all over again,” I breathed, unable to look her in the eyes because of how entrancing her red lips had become.
“Oh, I know, baby. And you’ll get it.” She leaned in and bit down on my gold earring. I heard her teeth graze the metal. She tugged on it gently. “‘Cause guess what? I fucking loved it too.”
I tipped my head back and laughed, clutching her shoulders as she pushed herself between my legs, melting me into her. My entire body shrieked. Whether in pleasure or protest, I didn’t know.
Nor did I care.