“Perhaps there’s some way I can talk to your sister, and—”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” She pushed away from her desk and stalked toward me. She narrowed her eyes as she approached and snapped, “That’s what I get for trying to be nice!”
She stormed out of the office and down the hallway, leaving a trail of outrage, irritation, and a hint of peppermint behind.
As I watched Christina push through the bathroom door, a movement to my right caught my attention.
Nikole stood leaning against her office door frame. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
I frowned, still staring after Christina. “You didn’t warn me. You never said she was a hellcat.”
“She’s not. She’s very caring.”
“You could have fooled me.”
“She has a hard time accepting help from others, that’s all. Even though she’s always the first person to offer it to me. Give it some time. If I hear of anything else, I’ll speak to her again.”
“I don’t know what sort of trouble she and her sister are in, but it’s never good when one of them comes out of it battered and bleeding.”
“I know. But you can’t help someone who doesn’t want to be helped.”
“Yes. I can.”
I wouldn’t make that mistake again.
I stalked down the hallway toward the bathroom and waited for Christina. I would approach her less formally this time, perhaps try cracking a joke.
When she opened the bathroom door a few minutes later, she rolled her eyes at me. “Are you still here?”
“Yes, and I’m not leaving until we talk about this.”
She scrunched up her face. “Why? Why is this important to you? You know shit about me.”
“Because my friends asked me to help and they’re worried about you. And that’s good enough for me. Let’s just sit in your office and chat. Maybe you’ll find that I can offer you something you can’t do.” I smiled, hoping she would see reason in having a team of people help her out.
She smiled back.
Finally, I was getting through to her.
She stepped closer to me, backing me up into a corner and away from prying eyes. Then, in one quick movement, she pushed herself up against me. I grinned widely, liking where this was going. But before I could enjoy her heaving chest against mine, she grabbed my balls, gripping them tightly between her fingers.
A sharp pain shot from my groin to every nerve ending in my body. My lungs seized from the immense agony that tore through me. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move, couldn’t speak.
I’d been tortured in foreign prisons, and held at gunpoint in dark alleys, but never had I’d been inflicted with as much pain as her tiny, well-manicured fingers were wreaking. Perhaps because my dick had already been hard with her breasts pressed against me. But this was the worst pain I could ever recall.
“Just so we’re clear, and there’s no confusion. I. Do. Not. Need. Nor. Want. Your. Help. And the next time you feel the need to push your protection onto me and ignore my requests, I want you to remember this moment and how it feels to cross me. Do you understand?”
I grunted, but that wasn’t good enough for her. She twisted her wrist and a blue haze clouded my vision.
“I. Understand,” I ground out, biting back the pain.
“Good.” She released her hold on me and I sucked in a breath of air through clenched teeth.
I stayed where I was, unable to move, unable to do anything other than watch her go. When the pain finally receded and I knew I could walk out of there without crumbling to the floor, I finally stepped away. I walked out, taking myself and my balls as far away from that woman as humanly possible.
4
Will