Page 83 of Bound By Brielle (Crave & Cure Productions)

“Stop it,” he growls. “Do not speak about her so crassly.”

I step back. “So you defend Winnie’s honor but have no problem attacking mine?”

“I–” he starts but stops, scrubbing his hand down his face with a sigh. “I’m sorry that I judged you. Isn’t this the ultimate fucking act of karma, hmm?” he raises his hands in the air to send home his rhetorical question. “I did judge you and I’m sorry. I know from personal experience that it was wrong.”

“Karma isn’t enough, Dad. You belittled me and now you’re here to what? Fix things for us or is this about making things good for Winnie?” I genuinely don’t know at this point. I thought I knew him, I really did. He’s always been selfish and driven, gruff and disconnected from emotion. But the way he defends her to me, that hurts.

“With you!” he says, his voice raising a bit, heads around us turning. With my hand pressed to my belly, I lean in, keeping my tone quiet.

“I don’t want to talk about this here. Because you are not turning my night intoyournight.” I step back, wiping the top of my lip with the back of my wrist, finding my anger has made me dewy. “I’ll see you at dinner.”

A moment later, Lance is sweeping me away, bringing me back to Aug and Ezra. “I’ll tell you after,” I whisper to him as he quietly asks “Well?”

“You know,” Mr. Leon starts as we approach, Aug's eyes on Lance, reading him for information no doubt. “Your father was the first parent to call me.”

I snort my embarrassment, sipping my drink before I say, “Well, I can’t imagine many parents calling on behalf of their twenty-six year olds.”

He shrugs. “I think it’s kind of nice.”

I cock a brow and I’m pretty sure Aug and Lance do, too. “Nice?”

He shrugs again, blinking down at me. “Yeah. I mean, he had a lot of questions about the program and then questions about Crave, and Augustus.”

People move in groups around us, laughing, smiles easy, conversation light. In a way, I’m jealous of their simplicity but without my complications, I wouldn’t have Aug and Lance.

I swallow, but find my mouth unusually dry. “He asked…questions?”

Mr. Leon laughs. “You needn’t look horrified. He was respectful and genuine and had a lot of really good questions. I actually enjoyed our talk.”

I choke a little on my tiny sip of seltzer. “What?”

He finishes his drink right before waving to someone across the room. “Good job this semester Brielle. I’m happy that you stuck with your assignment and found a home where you least expected.” God he doesn't know how true that sentence really is. “Good luck at Crave. You’ll be amazing and congratulations on graduating.”

He wanders off toward the person whom he waved to, and I stare at him as he falls into conversation with another graduate student. I turn my focus back to Aug and Lance who are beaming proudly at me. I refuse to look back and see if my father is still there, or if he’s already stalked off.

With a lift of my chin I smile back at them. “Okay, it’s been an hour and a half. I’m ready to go.”

Aug reaches into the breast pocket of his suit jacket, producing a thick white envelope. “You know we want you at Crave, but we failed to mention what the offer entails.”

He passes it to me, and my eyes warm, my chest flooding with pressure. I knew they’d offer me a position, it’s something we’d discussed in bed one night, not too long ago. I’d be a director there, same as both Lance and Aug, and have control of my first feature within the first six months. Salary would be hammered out with legal, but it would be greater than base salaries at some big film production companies, not adult films either.

I tear it open and unfold the letter, letting the shredded envelope sail to my high heeled feet. My eyes take in line after line of Times New Roman, the font holding so much good news, so much promise. Then I see it. The signing bonus.

“Fifty thousand dollars for a contract signing bonus?” I clutch the paper to my chest and shake my head, the back of my neck growing sweaty as my pulse skyrockets with my disbelief. “Please don’t do something special for me, I can’t look everyone in the eye at Crave if they think I got the hook up.”

Aug’s lips twitch and Lance’s fall to a thin line before he says, “Tuck got fifty, I got fifty, fifty is standard. Don’t worry, the only place you’ll get special treatment is at home.”

Holy shit. “I actually earned this,” I say or ask, I’m not sure which because with everything that’s happened in the last week, I’m incredibly overwhelmed.

Aug takes my mouth in a slow, hot kiss, not trying to hide us away from the eyes all around. They’ll know he’s my mentor, and as he pulls back and Lance takes over, laying a passionate, sizzling kiss to my mouth, I get lost in the feeling of love and comfort and stop worrying about what anyone around us thinks.

“You earned this, and we’re honored to have you on board,” he says against my lips before pulling away. “But we have dinner reservations.”

Dinner, with my father and Winnie. His girlfriend? I turn and find him still here, looking at me as I glance at him over my shoulder. His smile is small but he does indeed smile before tipping his head to us and exiting.

Lance feeds my arms through my coat behind me, having nabbed it from the rack nearby. “Tonight is a good night. You’re done with graduate school, you’ve nabbed a contract at Crave, and we’re going to have a lovely dinner and go home and fuck your brains out,” he whispers, making my cunt pulse for the first time in hours.

Aug links his arm with mine, stuffing my papers away into his pocket again. “And we’re going to have a calm discussion with Quincey and Winnie, and keep an open mind and open heart, because that’s what we’ve asked them to do with us, right?”

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