Weak for Him (8 page)

"Most women say that to
me."

"I was talking about the
car?"

"This? This is my baby, and I am
quite keen on her."

He smoothed his hand over the body
of the car. "This is
my
V."

He pulled the keys from his
pockets and clicked the button. Her car horn lightly honked twice,
and then he placed my bags in the trunk.

"Come on, baby. I'm going to take
you on the ride of your life."

I didn't know if he was talking to
me, or the car, and it didn't matter. Mr. Felton didn't have to
tell me twice. I slid onto the mocha-colored seat and buckled
myself in. The smells of Mr. Felton and the soft, smooth leather
with double stitching filled the car.

Mr. Felton threw the car into
first, and the tires squealed from the parking lot. Two women stood
outside the hotel and watched us with their mouths wide
open.

"What are you smiling about?" he
asked.

While weaving in and out of
traffic and taking every back street available, he glanced at me. I
couldn't tell him that I was thinking about our last time together
and how I apparently had J.B.F hair and smelled like
sex.

"Nothing."

The car accelerated, and a
gravitational force pushed me against the seat. We were pulling
some G's down the freeway, and then immediately exiting. His V
vroomed. She wanted to go, and the truth was I wanted to, as
well.

"Can I drive?" My leg shook in
anticipation.

"I never let a woman drive my car.
Especially those who can't drive
stick
."

"I know how to drive stick, but
it's not like you would know that."

The grin on his face grew in
size.

"I actually
do
want to
know."

My cheeks burned, and I could feel
my body temperature rise, so I tried to pay attention to the fading
city and calm down. He took an off ramp and sped down the open road
surrounded by desert. V hummed and purred the whole way coaxing me
calm.

"Sometimes when I'm stressed or
need to get away from business, V and I will take a ride. She seems
to be the only woman who can fully satisfy me with no fucking
lip."

"Maybe if you didn't treat women
like shit, you wouldn't get lip from them."

He cocked his head toward me and
his jade eyes sparkled.

"It seems the only disrespectful
woman I know—with a dirty mouth and balls bigger than mine—is
you."

"If your balls are as big as your
ego, then I would expect mine to be gigantic."

Mr. Felton slammed on the brakes,
and V veered off the road. Dust flitted behind us like a smoke
trail from a burning engine.

He grabbed the bottom of my chin
and forcefully made me look at him.

"A shame that pretty mouth is so
fucking filthy. It's a real shame. But that's why I am going to let
you drive her. I want you to see how a real woman should act under
my hold."

My jaw dropped, and he opened his
door. I ran around to the other side with way too much excitement
in my bounce. I could mark driving an Aston from my bucket list.
Before I slipped in, Mr. Felton closed in on me against the
car.

"Just know, V is loyal, and madly
in love with me. Don't be a bitch towards her."

When I was behind the wheel, V and
I connected. She purred and begged for me to drive her wild. After
buckling, I looked at Mr. Felton, who looked out at the wisps of
clouds above. He gave me a head nod and a hurry up gesture with his
hand.

With a kick of the clutch and snap
to first gear, I made a U-turn and raced down the road. Power and
pavement called my name, and I gunned it.

"Faster," Mr. Felton
whispered.

Barely tapping the gas pedal
caused us to fly down the road.

"See how she responds?"

"Yes."

"You and V are no different. Full
of fierceness and beauty."

I watched the road carefully and
tried to understand the direction of the conversation.

"You both must listen to me and
respond when I give a direction."

I could feel him staring at me,
but I kept my eyes on the road.

"If I tell her to do something,
she does it without a fucking peep."

I pushed harder on the gas, ninety
felt like nothing.

"If I tell her to stop, she asks
me when."

Winding curves and Desert
Mountains filled the background.

"And I give her what she needs to
do her job, and be good at it. I tune her up. I make her ready to
perform at full capacity."

The throttle hit one hundred miles
per hour.

"She can't do anything without me.
I drive her. I control her. She is mine. And so are
you."

And then the bright red and blue
lights flashed in the rearview.

"Shit. Shit. Shit."

I couldn't concentrate.

Adrenaline shot through my body as
I pulled the Aston onto the rocky gravel on the side of the road.
Before I could grab my wallet from my clutch, the police officer
tapped on the window. A man with dark black hair and a handlebar
mustache leaned over to get a closer look.

"Yes, officer?"

"I've been following you for a few
minutes. Do you know how fast you were going?"

"Umm…" I thought playing stupid
girl would pay off. It didn't. Not with Mr. Asshole sitting beside
me.

"What's the issue, Officer
Black?"

"At one point, I clocked you at
one hundred miles per hour. Do you know the speed
limit?"

"I'm not sure. I'm actually not
from here."

Mr. Felton leaned over the
console. His head was close to mine.

"Felton."

"This is Jennifer Downs. She's
actually new to the area, and I thought I would let her drive
V."

The officer stood unamused, but
there was a flicker of something in his eye:
recognition.

"I should bring you both to jail
for driving so fast. It's reckless," Officer Black said.

"Reckless is your middle name,
isn't it?" Mr. Felton whispered in my ear, and I could feel his
lips lightly touch the edge of my neck. My breathing accelerated
and my chest rose and fell with each breath.

"I've warned you several times,
Finnley. Next time, I will bring you to the station. Being
reckless, playing with young women, it isn't healthy."

Officer Black lifted an eyebrow
and leaned on the car.

"Exactly why I don't let women
drive my cars. They can't seem to control themselves. Won't happen
again,
officer
."

Unspoken words were exchanged
between Mr. Felton and the cop, and then he left. Just like that. I
should have at least gotten a warning, but received nothing. Mr.
Felton had the power to persuade the law. In Texas, I would have
been handed a ticket quicker than I could roll down the
window.

"How long have you been
dancing?"

"I never said I
danced."

"Your legs did."

Amazed how unfazed he was at the
potential ticket, I stared into his face.

"My adrenaline is pumping so fast
right now. I can't even think."

He grabbed my wrist. My heart beat
a million miles per minute.

"Wow. Did the flashing lights turn
you on?" He laughed at my expense.

It was being pulled over combined
with your deadly sex appeal, I wanted to say, but
didn't.

"Always the asshat, aren't
you?"

"Only when you are the ass, Ms.
Downs."

Leaning forward in his seat, he
programmed the GPS to bring us home
.

I followed the route, and could
see faint city lights in the distance. Another mile and I would be
home, well, his home.

A tall cement fence lined the side
of the road, and I knew we were almost there. Following what the
GPS said, I turned into to a gate-blocked driveway.

"The code is 0619. Press enter,
and the gate will close behind you."

Tall golden gates slowly opened
and closed whenever I drove through. In the distance sat a fortress
of a house. It was pure architectural genius with large windows
lining the outside instead of walls. There was more glass than
siding. I glanced inside as we passed, and could see two women
inside leaning over the kitchen bar. Okay, house was an
understatement, but somehow I expected nothing less than a fortress
funded by sex.

"Welcome to my private compound.
Felton Estates."

I rubbed my hands over the
steering wheel before I removed the keys from the ignition and
handed them to Mr. Felton.

"Told you V would give you the
ride of your life. She's never disappointed."

As I opened the door, he pulled me
back into the car. I turned my body toward him.

"Before you go in, you must know
you moving here is simply protocol."

"Is that what yesterday was as
well? Protocol?"

"Since you understand. Shall
we?"

My first orgasm was fucking
protocol.

With a beat, he opened his door,
grabbed my bags from the trunk and handed them over. The sparkle in
his eyes vanished; it was every woman for herself because he had
turned all business.

"Since I was five."

"Excuse me?"

"I've been dancing since I was
five. Trained in jazz and ballet and danced my way through
college."

He swallowed, and I caught the
hint of a smile form on his face, but it never
manifested.

White marble steps led up to the
double wooden doors. Inside stood Paisley, Jesse, and another girl
whom I hadn't met yet.

"Everyone, please welcome Ms.
Jennifer Downs to the house. She is new to the business, and I hope
that each of you welcome her as if she were a long-lost
friend."

Jesse scoffed, and Paisley elbowed
her. Mr. Felton stared at Jesse until she looked away. The other
girl, pretty with dark brown hair and blue-gray eyes, had freckles
sprinkled across her face like stars in the night sky. There was no
pattern to her prettiness. She had a natural quality about her. Not
innocent but not fake, I couldn't explain it. Her hair flowed
midway down her back, and she wore it in a tucked-in side swoop.
She smiled at me, and I smiled back. A kindred spirit in a room
full of tigers, I supposed.

"Lori, won't you show Jennifer to
her room?" Paisley asked.

She didn't complain, or give dirty
looks, or act upset by my presence. Instead, she introduced herself
formally and grabbed a suitcase from my hand, and we walked up the
stairs. I couldn't help but stare up at the high ceilings or
memorize the various abstract paintings on the wall.

The upper floor had several doors
lined against the wall, and I wondered how many women lived here at
one time.

"Don't worry. You'll get used to
being here. It doesn't take long."

Her words and voice were
reassuring, soft, and motherly, although she couldn't have been
much older than me.

"How many women live
here?"

"Right now there are five of us
here, six including you. The rest of the girls have their own
places but drop in occasionally. Here we are."

The fourth door on the left would
be mine.

Inside were beige walls, a sleigh
bed, and a large window with a balcony. At least I had
that.

"I'm right next door," she said as
she pointed to the right, "if you need anything."

I smiled.

"I'm happy you're here, Jennifer.
It seems everyone else is sewn into cliques. Plus it's nice to no
longer be the new girl."

She gave a sincere smile and shut
the door.

I unpacked my clothes and laid
them in the dresser and then opened the balcony door and stepped
out. The backyard had a hot tub and a pool, and a patio bar and
pool house. I only imagined the kind of sex parties that happened
down there. My mind went wild with naked people strutting around
the pool, having sex with one another in the corner, and the moans.
Oh gosh, the nasty moans. Sometimes my imagination even scared
me.

Three knocks tapped on the door,
and I barely cracked it. Mr. Felton leaned against the frame only
enough for me to see his face.

"Yesterday was a mistake. I wanted
to apologize."

"It's not like I enjoyed it
anyway."

"Of course you didn't. I wouldn't
expect a
virgin
to."

"Bastard," I whispered.

And then he walked
away.

Ten

M
r. Felton and I didn't
cross paths for weeks. The memories of getting naughty in his
office were just that, memories. Mistake memories, if I were to
term them correctly.